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Toward Sustainability: A Focus on Innovative Renewable Energy Harvesting Systems

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2022) | Viewed by 11935

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Engineering, Western Sydney University, Penrith Campus, Sydney 2751, Australia
Interests: BIPV; phase change materials; solar thermal collector; nanofluid; rainwater harvesting and oxide semiconductors

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne City Campus, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
Interests: renewable energy; energy harvesters; ferrofluids; energy systems; heat transfer

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Guest Editor
Institute of Water and Environment, Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology, Gazipur 1707, Bangladesh
Interests: urban meteorology; water-sensitive urban design; GIS and remote sensing in water and the environment; climate extremes

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville Campus, Melbourne 3010, Australia
Interests: renewable energy; combustion; chemical kinetics; emission treatment; supercritical water oxidation; gas phase oxidation; carbon capture process technology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The world is moving with an unprecedented pace, and to keep up with the economic development, the need for energy will continue to increase. One of the main concerns around dealing with the current situation is the source and nature of energy. It is generally agreed upon by most energy experts that burning more fossil fuel cannot be the solution. Thus, the search for new energy sources that are renewable in nature and sustainable for the long term is ongoing. There are two primary dimensions to this research: (i) exploring new renewable energy sources and (ii) improving the performance of the existing technologies that are used to harness energy from renewable energy sources. The aim of the current issue is to report the recent advancements in both of the abovementioned directions. There are many technologies in the market, such as photovoltaic panels, solar thermal collectors, wind turbines, geothermal appliances, and hydropower plants that have a huge potential to become the primary energy provider. However, all these technologies have one common issue, which is the efficiency of the system. The main scope of the issue is to present the current scenario of all these technologies and discuss future directions.

The Special Issue will also cover topics related to energy policy, energy systems, compact design, relation to power grid, renewable energy standards, public awareness, and promotional strategies for large adaption. There are many technologies that are not implemented since people are not aware of their development. Additionally, the risk of new technology is blocking the progression of a wider adaption. Discussions on how technology can be transferred to a regular person are of interest.

Dr. Md Abdul Alim
Dr. Md Khairul Alam
Dr. Md Imran Hosen
Mr. Mohammad Ashraful Alam
Guest Editors

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • solar panel
  • operating temperature
  • hydropower
  • phase change material
  • solar energy
  • photovoltaic thermal
  • heat sink
  • photovoltaic module
  • buildings energy consumption
  • efficiency enhancement
  • passive cooling
  • numerical modelling
  • surface temperature
  • indoor thermal comfort
  • thin films
  • semiconductors
  • thermal energy storage
  • sensible heat
  • materials selection
  • optical and electrical properties
  • solar thermal collector
  • nanofluid
  • wind turbine
  • biofuel

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 4918 KiB  
Article
Assessing Wind Farm Site Suitability in Bangladesh: A GIS-AHP Approach
by Md Rabiul Islam, Md Rakibul Islam and Hosen M. Imran
Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 14819; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142214819 - 10 Nov 2022
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3116
Abstract
Wind energy is one of the most attractive renewable energy sources because of its low operating, maintenance, and production costs as well as its low environmental impact. The goal of this study is to discover the best locations in Bangladesh for wind farms [...] Read more.
Wind energy is one of the most attractive renewable energy sources because of its low operating, maintenance, and production costs as well as its low environmental impact. The goal of this study is to discover the best locations in Bangladesh for wind farms to be built and operated efficiently. This study applied the Geographic Information System (GIS) and Analytical Hierarchy (AHP) methodologies to examine the eight important parameters upon which the suitability of locations is highly dependent. This analysis finds that Bangladesh has large regions appropriate for wind farm installation, with 3718.76 km2 and 16,631.14 km2 classified as being of “very high” and “high” suitability, respectively. It was also observed that wind speed, land slope, and elevation each had a height-weighted criterion of 32%, 27%, and 12%, respectively, when picking suitable locations. However, the overall viability of this study in identifying suitable sites has been evaluated based on ROC and AUC techniques and found satisfactory as per AUC value. The knowledge gained from this study will help the sustainable and renewable energy development authority (SREDA) of Bangladesh to expedite the renewable energy investment process and will ensure greater certainty in resource development. The findings of this research can be considered as baseline information for the wind energy sector. Full article
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20 pages, 1776 KiB  
Article
Optimal Allocation of a Hybrid Photovoltaic Biogas Energy System Using Multi-Objective Feasibility Enhanced Particle Swarm Algorithm
by Hussein M. K. Al-Masri, Abed A. Al-Sharqi, Sharaf K. Magableh, Ali Q. Al-Shetwi, Maher G. M. Abdolrasol and Taha Selim Ustun
Sustainability 2022, 14(2), 685; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020685 - 9 Jan 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2678
Abstract
This paper aims to investigate a hybrid photovoltaic (PV) biogas on-grid energy system in Al-Ghabawi territory, Amman, Jordan. The system is accomplished by assessing the system’s reliability and economic viability. Realistic hourly measurements of solar irradiance, ambient temperature, municipal solid waste, and load [...] Read more.
This paper aims to investigate a hybrid photovoltaic (PV) biogas on-grid energy system in Al-Ghabawi territory, Amman, Jordan. The system is accomplished by assessing the system’s reliability and economic viability. Realistic hourly measurements of solar irradiance, ambient temperature, municipal solid waste, and load demand in 2020 were obtained from Jordanian governmental entities. This helps in investigating the proposed system on a real megawatt-scale retrofitting power system. Three case scenarios were performed: loss of power supply probability (LPSP) with total net present cost (TNPC), LPSP with an annualized cost of the system (ACS), and TNPC with the index of reliability (IR). Pareto frontiers were obtained using multi-objective feasibility enhanced particle swarm optimization (MOFEPSO) algorithm. The system’s decision variables were the number of PV panels (Npv) and the number of biogas plant working hours per day (tbiogas). Moreover, three non-dominant Pareto frontier solutions are discussed, including reliable, affordable, and best solutions obtained by fuzzy logic. Double-diode (DD) solar PV model was implemented to obtain an accurate sizing of the proposed system. For instance, the best solution of the third case is held at TNPC of 64.504 million USD/yr and IR of 96.048%. These findings were revealed at 33,459 panels and 12.498 h/day. Further, system emissions for each scenario have been tested. Finally, decision makers are invited to adopt to the findings and energy management strategy of this paper to find reliable and cost-effective best solutions. Full article
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20 pages, 10609 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of the Melting Performance in a Conical Latent Heat Thermal Unit Having Variable Length Fins
by Mohammad Ghalambaz, S.A.M. Mehryan, Mahboobeh Mahdavi, Obai Younis and Mohammad A. Alim
Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2667; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052667 - 2 Mar 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2417
Abstract
A conical shell-tube design with non-uniform fins was addressed for phase change latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES). The shell was filled with nano-enhanced phase change material (NePCM). The cone aspect ratio of the shell and the fins aspect ratio were adopted as [...] Read more.
A conical shell-tube design with non-uniform fins was addressed for phase change latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES). The shell was filled with nano-enhanced phase change material (NePCM). The cone aspect ratio of the shell and the fins aspect ratio were adopted as the geometrical design parameters. The type and volume fraction of the nanoparticles were other design parameters. The investigated nanoparticles were alumina, graphite oxide, silver, and copper. The finite element method was employed to solve the natural convection flow and phase change thermal energy equations in the LHTES unit. The Taguchi optimization method was utilized to maximize the melting rate in the unit. Two cases of ascending and descending conical shells were investigated. The outcomes showed that the shell-aspect ratio and fin aspect ratio were the most important design parameters, followed by the type and concentration of nanoparticles. Both ascending and descending designs could lead to the same melting rate at their optimum design. The optimum design of LHTES could improve the melting rate by up to 18.5%. The optimum design for ascending (descending) design was a plain tube (a cone aspect ratio of 1.17) filled by 4.5% alumina-Bio-PCM (1.5% copper-Bio-PCM). Full article
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20 pages, 48292 KiB  
Article
Latent Heat Phase Change Heat Transfer of a Nanoliquid with Nano–Encapsulated Phase Change Materials in a Wavy-Wall Enclosure with an Active Rotating Cylinder
by S. A. M. Mehryan, Kaamran Raahemifar, Leila Sasani Gargari, Ahmad Hajjar, Mohamad El Kadri, Obai Younis and Mohammad Ghalambaz
Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2590; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052590 - 1 Mar 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2811
Abstract
A Nano-Encapsulated Phase-Change Material (NEPCM) suspension is made of nanoparticles containing a Phase Change Material in their core and dispersed in a fluid. These particles can contribute to thermal energy storage and heat transfer by their latent heat of phase change as moving [...] Read more.
A Nano-Encapsulated Phase-Change Material (NEPCM) suspension is made of nanoparticles containing a Phase Change Material in their core and dispersed in a fluid. These particles can contribute to thermal energy storage and heat transfer by their latent heat of phase change as moving with the host fluid. Thus, such novel nanoliquids are promising for applications in waste heat recovery and thermal energy storage systems. In the present research, the mixed convection of NEPCM suspensions was addressed in a wavy wall cavity containing a rotating solid cylinder. As the nanoparticles move with the liquid, they undergo a phase change and transfer the latent heat. The phase change of nanoparticles was considered as temperature-dependent heat capacity. The governing equations of mass, momentum, and energy conservation were presented as partial differential equations. Then, the governing equations were converted to a non-dimensional form to generalize the solution, and solved by the finite element method. The influence of control parameters such as volume concentration of nanoparticles, fusion temperature of nanoparticles, Stefan number, wall undulations number, and as well as the cylinder size, angular rotation, and thermal conductivities was addressed on the heat transfer in the enclosure. The wall undulation number induces a remarkable change in the Nusselt number. There are optimum fusion temperatures for nanoparticles, which could maximize the heat transfer rate. The increase of the latent heat of nanoparticles (a decline of Stefan number) boosts the heat transfer advantage of employing the phase change particles. Full article
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