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Owing to their high luminous efficiency and tunable emission in both red light and far-red light regions, Mn4+ ion-activated phosphors have appealed significant interest in photoelectric and energy conversion devices such as white light emitting diode (W-LED), plant cultivation LED, and temperature thermometer. Up to now, Mn4+ has been widely introduced into the lattices of various inorganic hosts for brightly red-emitting phosphors. However, how to correlate the structure-activity relationship between host framework, luminescence property, and photoelectric device is urgently demanded. In this review, we thoroughly summarize the recent advances of Mn4+ doped phosphors. Meanwhile, several strategies like co-doping and defect passivation for improving Mn4+ emission are also discussed. Most importantly, the relationship between the protocols for tailoring the structures of Mn4+ doped phosphors, increased luminescence performance, and the targeted devices with efficient photoelectric and energy conversion efficiency is deeply correlated. Finally, the challenges and perspectives of Mn4+ doped phosphors for practical applications are anticipated. We cordially anticipate that this review can deliver a deep comprehension of not only Mn4+ luminescence mechanism but also the crystal structure tailoring strategy of phosphors, so as to spur innovative thoughts in designing advanced phosphors and deepening the applications.

In this poster, the authors present how biomass can broaden our conception of nature to ensure a sustainable future. It is a collaborative and inter-disciplinary work that criticises the modern concept of resource and recognises the interdependence within ecosystems and their limits. Biomass reanchors our needs in their materiality and reminds us that interactions on ecosystems cannot be seen solely through the prism of services and production. Non-humans are not just a decoration to be used for human consumption but are an ally for sustainable prosperity thus they should be treated as such – and biomass is a good place to start. The authors argue that there is an urgent need to redefine our sensibility to the non-humans, the ethics of our interactions and of our own needs which goes hand in hand with a necessary arbitration and debate on the useful and the superfluous final services for humans.

Goal: An optimal operation strategy for wind farms to maximize total energy production, minimize wake interaction, and provide grid balancing services to transmission system operators.

Sustainable agriculture leads today to important questions about the diversification of agricultural production and sources of income for farmers, the use of rural and arable land for food and non-food crops, the contribution of agriculture to climate change fighting and the supply of renewable energy. Bioenergy from agriculture is at the heart of these concerns, integrating sustainable development key components: environment and climate change, energy economics and energy supply, agriculture, rural and social development. The lack of primary and reliable data on bioenergy externalities from agriculture and the lack of decision-making tools are important non-technological barriers to the development of bioenergy from agriculture on a large scale, and, consequently, to the achievement of the national and regional objectives of sustainable development with respect to greenhouse gas mitigation, secure and diversified energy supply, rural development and employment and the future of agriculture. Furthermore, the recent worldwide controversies about transport biofuels, food shortages and increasing prices have demonstrated the urgent need for sustainability criteria applied to biofuels and bioenergy. Within this current sustainable development framework, a project entitled TEXBIAG integrating experts from 4 research institutions is financed by the Belgian Science Policy. The final objective of this project is to lead to an actual and significant contribution of bioenergy from agriculture to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, to a secure and diversified energy supply and to farmers' incomes and rural development. To reach this final objective, the project develops three specific tools: (1) a database of primary quantitative data related to environmental and socio-economic impacts of bioenergy from agriculture integrating biomass logistics; (2) a mathematical model monetizing bioenergy externalities from agriculture; and (3) a prediction tool assessing the impacts of political decisions made in the framework ofthe development of bioenergy from agriculture on different economic sectors (energy, agriculture, industry, and environment). An integrated interface tool will be programmed where access to and update of the three tools will be prepared. The project methodology will be conducted for a given number of scenarios with sensitivity analysis wherever possible. The three main target groups that will benefit from the project are: the government officials and policy makers in the field of agriculture, energy and environment in Belgium and its two main regions, the small, medium and large energy companies and the agricultural sector

Energy performance regulations for buildings are continuously updated. Projections within the future are being made, fixing now what will be the standards for new buildings for the following decades. The construction sector itself is also evolving, trying not only to follow those new rules, but often trying to look ahead, developing, testing and launching today the prototypes of tomorrow’s buildings and components. To optimise public and private decision making, one has to analyse both the current status as well as the ongoing evolutions and the interactions between the market and the regulatory framework. Within this scope, analyses are conducted in Flanders on the EPBD-database, which contains detailed data on all new residential buildings since 2006. The analysis presented in this paper shows the impact and importance of specific regulations and incentives. In spite of the tightening regulations, huge discrepancies remain visible between a small yet increasing group of low energy, and passive house ‘pioneers’ and premium hunters, as opposed to a trailing group, flirting with the legally imposed limits. The analysis of the data therefore proves the role of as well as some challenges for future decision making, while quantifying the real status and evolutions of the building sector.

As energy efficiency becomes one of the key points in the design of most of today's power hungry applications, new and energy efficient approaches and associated technologies find their way towards the customer. Electric double layer capacitors, also known as supercapacitors, are one of these new and interesting products creating new possibilities and solutions to some of today's questions concerning energy efficiency in certain applications. This paper will have a look at the implementation of supercapacitors as peak power unit and energy reservoir in personnel transport system applications, particularly elevator applications. Elevators were and still are built with an energy dissipating resistor to convert the electric braking energy into heat. In the present energy saving economy, this sounds as an inappropriate loss of energy requiring an alternative. Current research involves the use of supercapacitors in elevators to replace this energy dissipating resistor and store the energy in supercapacitors. Thesaved and stored energy can then be reused to power the elevator (e.g. smooth power peaks) or to send energy back to the main power net. This paper presents a basic simulation model along with comments on the supercapacitor pack dimensioning. A cost-benefit analysis, based on the rudimentary model and measurements, concludes the paper.

Office buildings in Chile show higher cooling than heating energy demand. The climate of the country show important differences between cities by the ocean and those of interior regions, located between the coastal and the Andes range. Main cities of Central Chile, where more than 40% of buildings are constructed every year are Santiago and Valparaíso, both located at around 33° S. Santiago presents a Mediterranean climate, with a high temperature oscillation between day and night during cooling period. Valparaíso, by the coast, shows lower temperature fluctuation compared with Santiago during identical period. In order to define design strategies for energy efficiency of office buildings in mentioned cities, a sensitivity study has been made, considering variables like size of windows (window to wall ratio), type of windows (clear and selective glazing, including low e, single and double glazing), use and type of solar protection and use of nocturnal or diurnal ventilation. In opaque facades (walls and roofs), thermal insulation is considered. In case of walls, in order to increase thermal inertia external insulation is assumed. The sensitivity analysis is developed considering a square building containing office rooms on all four orientations. This10 story building has been specially proposed and designed for this analysis. Methodology considers an evaluation of heating and cooling demand of the building in both cities. For this purpose, a simulation software under dynamic conditions has been used (TAS of Environmental Design Solutions Limited). The lowest cooling energy demand is reached when using the lowest window to wall ratio (20%), with solar protection in east, west and north oriented glazed areas. In fact, fully glazed facades in both cities are not recommended. Nocturnal ventilation was highly effective for decreasing cooling demand in both cities. In the case of Valparaíso, due to relatively low temperature during cooling period (maximum lower than 26°C), diurnal ventilation for cooling purposes is also effective.

Bolivia plans significant investments in conventional and renewable energy projects before 2025. Deployment of large hydro-power, wind and solar projects are foreseen in the investment agenda. However and despite the large renewable potential in the country non-conventional renewable technologies are not yet considered to be a main source in the supply chain. The aim of this article is to evaluate the flexibility of the Bolivian power generation system in terms of energy balancing, electricity generation costs and power plants scheduling in a scenario that considers large solar and wind energy technology deployment. This is done using an open source unit commitment and optimal dispatch model (Dispa-SET) developed by the Joint Research Center of the European Commission. National data for existing infrastructure, committed and planned energy projects are used to assess the case of Bolivia. The base scenario consider all techno-economic data of the Bolivian power system up to 2016. A harmonized dataset is gathered and released as open data to allow other researchers to run and re-use the model. This model is then used to simulate scenarios with different levels of solar and wind energy deployment. Results from the analysis show that an energy mix with participation of solar and wind technology with values lower than 30% is technically feasible and indicates that further grid reinforcements are required. International Journal of Sustainable Energy Planning and Management, Vol 22 (2019)

In this study, the performance of ventilation systems with heat recovery in residential buildings with a low energy demand for heating was evaluated. In a completely heated building, the percentage of useful recovered heat will be equal to the nominal effectiveness of the heat exchanger. In the case some rooms are not heated, they will still receive preheated air. This part of the recovered heat will not directly increase comfort, so it does not completely contribute to the energy savings of the building. Simulations were done with TRNSYS to assess the percentage of usefully recovered heat. This value was found to be lower than the nominal effectiveness, but varying with several parameters.