Article
Energy & Fuels
Neelesh Soni, Debojit Sharma, Mustafa M. Rahman, Prashanth R. Hanmaiahgari, V. Mahendra Reddy
Summary: A novel solar thermal energy storage system for house heating is modeled, utilizing a parabolic collector to charge a block with compressed CO2 for winter heating. A mathematical model calculates energy storage, consumption, and losses, determining optimal block volume to meet heating demand. Computational analysis showed initial charging taking 55.2 days, with max temperature and stored energy of 324.2 degrees C and 2604 MJ, respectively.
JOURNAL OF ENERGY STORAGE
(2021)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Erin Gaucher-Loksts, Andreas Athienitis, Mohamed Ouf
Summary: This paper studies three configurations of air source heat pumps and building-integrated photovoltaic systems in a solar house and evaluates their energy efficiency and flexibility when interacting with a smart grid. The results show that utilizing the solarium air as the heat source of the heat pump can achieve over 80% energy use reduction.
Article
Thermodynamics
Jiwei Guo, Jiankai Dong, Hongjue Wang, Yuan Wang, Bin Zou, Yiqiang Jiang
Summary: This study investigated the energy consumption and thermal performance of a building with a novel ventilated electric heating floor under different energy systems, finding optimal structural parameters to reduce energy consumption and improve thermal comfort. The ventilated floor with these parameters can significantly reduce heating energy consumption and improve thermal comfort.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Ellen Nordgard-Hansen, Nand Kishor, Kirsti Midttomme, Vetle Kjaer Risinggard, Jan Kocbach
Summary: Government policy has an impact on the sustainability of energy systems designed and operated by homeowners. This study presents a mixed-integer linear programming model to optimize the size and operation of residential energy systems, considering policies and other constraints. The analysis includes parameters such as self-sufficiency and self-sustainability to validate overall sustainability. It is found that ground-source heat pump systems have different optimal uses depending on the presence or absence of feed-in tariffs, and they may not be economically beneficial for homes with low or medium heating requirements. A detailed analysis is recommended before implementing new energy policies to evaluate the sensitivity of an energy system's performance to policy changes.
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Yuchen Ju, Juha Jokisalo, Risto Kosonen
Summary: Short-term thermal energy storage techniques can effectively reduce peak power and accommodate more intermittent renewable energies in district heating systems. This paper investigated the potential of peak shaving through the integration of a thermal storage tank into a substation of a Finnish office building.
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Yuchen Ju, Pauli Hiltunen, Juha Jokisalo, Risto Kosonen, Sanna Syri
Summary: This study explores the application of demand response techniques in reducing heating costs for building owners. By modeling a district heating network in Espoo, Finland, dynamic district heat prices are defined. The results show that demand response control of space heating and a thermal energy storage tank can achieve energy cost savings of 9.6% and 3.4% respectively, and when both approaches are employed simultaneously, energy cost savings of 12.8% can be attained.
Article
Engineering, Multidisciplinary
Lei Zhang, Xuan Ma, Jingyuan Zhao, Jianxin Zhang, Shaobo Fan, Nanyu Wang, Mi Guo
Summary: A considerable portion of China's population resides in rural areas and many rely on additional solar houses to improve their indoor thermal environment during winter. This study focused on evaluating and optimizing the size of additional solar houses for traditional buildings in a village in northwestern China. The results indicated that controlling the width of the additional solar house within a certain range could provide residents with the best indoor thermal environment, offering guidance for future improvements in indoor thermal comfort and energy efficiency.
ALEXANDRIA ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Joao Bravo Dias, Guilherme Carrilho da Graca
Summary: This paper examines the effectiveness of turning off HVAC systems to offset temporary reductions in BIPV output due to passing clouds. The analysis shows that it is possible to reduce HVAC grid energy demand by 60% during the cooling season while maintaining acceptable thermal comfort through HVAC control-based energy flexibility.
BUILDING AND ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Thermodynamics
Juan Hou, Haoran Li, Natasa Nord
Summary: The goal of this study was to improve the energy and economic performance of space heating systems by using a model-based predictive controller. The results showed that the proposed controller achieved significant reductions in heat use, peak load, heating cost, and indoor temperature violation compared to the conventional rule-based control approach. The controller also maintained high performance even in lightweight building constructions with decreased thermal mass.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Qipeng Gong, Fangcheng Kou, Xiaoyu Sun, Yu Zou, Jinhan Mo, Xin Wang
Summary: This study introduces a novel solar passive house integrated with flat gravity-assisted heat pipes (FGHP house) to improve the efficiency of energy utilization, increasing indoor operative temperature by 6.8 degrees C compared to a reference house. The FGHP house can store 36% of absorbed solar energy during daytime and release 41% indoors throughout the day, offering a new potential way to achieve zero energy buildings.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Arkasama Bandyopadhyay, Benjamin D. Leibowicz, Michael E. Webber
Summary: The study shows that residential customers can reduce overall annual expenditure and environmental footprint by investing in solar panels and smart thermostats. However, the capital costs of both storage systems are currently too high to be economically profitable. Lithium-ion batteries are recommended as the main instruments to avoid high demand charges.
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Yuanyuan Li, Ahmad Mojiri, Gary Rosengarten, Cameron Stanley
Summary: This study proposes a residential hot water, heating and cooling system that combines a heat pump with thermal energy storage to reduce electricity demand and adjust peak loads in the electricity network. By combining a solar system with thermal storage, significant reductions in electricity demand and peak loads can be achieved, improving solar utilization efficiency.
ENERGY AND BUILDINGS
(2021)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Curtis Meister, Ian Beausoleil-Morrison
Summary: This study presents a full-scale experimental solar thermal system with seasonal storage for providing space heating and hot water to a two-storey research house in Ottawa, Canada. The key performance parameters were revealed through long-term experiments, showing that under-performing solar collectors and energy losses from the seasonal storage tank had a significant impact on the system's performance. The results serve as a benchmark for future research in the design, economics, optimization, and control of systems with seasonal storage at the building scale.
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Zu Wang, John Calautit, Shuangyu Wei, Paige Wenbin TIen, Liang Xia
Summary: In order to reduce the energy consumption of HVAC systems while maintaining occupants' thermal satisfaction, recent research has focused on optimizing HVAC setpoints or using demand-based control strategies. This study proposes an integrated framework for real-time optimization of HVAC setpoints, using vision-based cameras, predictive HVAC energy and thermal comfort models, and an HVAC temperature setpoint optimizer. Preliminary findings suggest that this framework can lead to significant energy savings and improved thermal comfort for occupants.
JOURNAL OF BUILDING ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Erich Ryan, Benjamin McDaniel, Dragoljub Kosanovic
Summary: This study investigates the use of Thermal Energy Storage (TES) to reduce the peak daily demand of ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems and improve their cost effectiveness. The addition of TES can reduce operating costs by 4.5%, but still incurs a 5.64% increase in costs compared to a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system. However, integrating heat pumps tactically into the CHP system is the most cost effective solution, only increasing operating costs by 4.71%.