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AbstractBlack TiO2 has demonstrated a great potential for a variety of renewable energy technologies. However, its practical application is heavily hindered due to lack of efficient hydrogenation methods and a deeper understanding of hydrogenation mechanisms. Here, a simple and straightforward hot wire annealing (HWA) method is presented to prepare black TiO2 (H–TiO2) nanorods with enhanced photo‐electrochemical (PEC) activity by means of atomic hydrogen [H]. Compared to conventional molecular hydrogen approaches, the HWA shows remarkable effectiveness without any detrimental side effects on the device structure, and simultaneously the photocurrent density of H–TiO2 reaches 2.5 mA cm−2 (at 1.23 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)). Due to the controllable and reproducible [H] flux, the HWA can be developed as a standard hydrogenation method for black TiO2. Meanwhile, the relationships between the wire temperatures, structural, optical, and photo‐electrochemical properties are systematically investigated to verify the improved PEC activity. Furthermore, the density functional theory (DFT) study provides a comprehensive insight not only into the highly efficient mechanism of the HWA approach but also its favorably low‐energy‐barrier hydrogenation pathway. The findings will have a profound impact on the broad energy applications of H–TiO2 and contribute to the fundamental understanding of its hydrogenation.

Abstract This paper deals with the numerical study of hydrogen-diesel dual fuel engine characteristics under various diesel injection strategies. Here, CONVERGE CFD software package is used to simulate a hydrogen diesel dual fuel engine, under split injection of diesel. The combustion and spray is modeled using coupled solution of chemical kinetics and fluid mechanics (CFD) equations. The study was performed at four strokes direct injection compression ignition engine. The engine speed (1500 rpm) and compression ratio (19.5:1) remain constant throughout the study. The developed model was validated against already published experimental data of 18.5% hydrogen energy share. The simulation result showed that 8° bTDC was optimum injection timing for single injection case and 16° bTDC was optimum injection timing for pilot fuel injection and 10% pilot mass was optimum pilot mass amount for minimum NOx, soot, CO and HC emissions and higher gIMEP.

The demand for gas turbines with increasing power and efe ciency calls for extremely high temperatures in the hot-gas sections of the engines. These temperatures can only be realized by employing sophisticated cooling schemes. Inadequate cooling may result in excessive material temperatures with reduced reliability and a lifetime of those parts subjected to the hot gas. Based on a survey of the different cooling techniques employed in modern gasturbineenginesandtheirapplicationin gasturbinecombustors, aswellasturbinecomponents,modernaspects and future developments are discussed. Results from laboratory experiments that help to understand the physical phenomena arepresented, as well as theoretical analyses. Thepossibleuse of ceramicmaterialsisdemonstrated by means of tests carried out at the Institut f ¨ ur Thermische Str ¨ omungsmaschinen, University of Karlsruhe. Besides describing current techniques, new developments are assessed and goals for future research are discussed.

Buildings in private and domestic use are responsible for about 30% of the global greenhouse gas emissions attributable mainly to their need for heating and cooling energy. This corresponds to about 40% of the global final energy consumption. Therefore, a viable implementation of building energy efficiency policies is inevitable to realize a transformation of the energy system to mitigate climate change. Within the building sector lies a huge potential for emission reduction consisting in the renovation of the existing building stock and climate-friendly building guidelines applicable to new constructions, both adapting CO2-neutral technology solutions. However, as there are several different pathways leading to a decarbonized energy system, there is always the question which political and technological solutions are most efficient, effective, and feasible. This paper aims to analyze building efficiency policy measures and instruments and the related technological solutions in two front-runner countries of the energy transition, possessing different structural conditions: Germany and Norway. We hence apply a comparative approach which allows us to present and assess the policies in place. The paper answers three research questions: (1) Which policies prevail in Germany and Norway to foster the deployment of energy efficient and decarbonized solutions for residential buildings? (2) How do these policies respond to country-specific barriers to the energy transition in the building sector, and (3) What effects do they have on the actual implementation of technological and societal solutions? This research provides a new insight to the highly relevant topic of energy efficiency in buildings in the context of international Intended Nationally Determined Contribution benchmarking and discusses some unsolved trade-offs in the translation of the global climate governance into the national building sector.

This article demonstrates how a cultural reading of consumption that focuses on the meaning and materiality of domestic indoor microclimates can contribute to conceptual developments in the field of practice theory that refocus attention on cultural patterns, including prevailing norms and prescriptions regarding indoor temperature and thermal comfort. Drawing on evidence collected during a research-led change initiative that encouraged people to reduce energy use in the home by lowering indoor temperature to 18°C, we deploy the heuristic device of “indoor microclimate as artifact” to show how the manifestation of this new artifact initiated significant changes in everyday practices that revolve around heating. We observe that these changes may also spill over into the public sphere – from home to workplace. By making the microclimate a tangible and visible thing, we describe how people appropriate and appreciate this new object of consumption, what it says about different bodies in diverse and bounded spaces, and what the artifact as a commodity reveals about broader systems of heating and energy provision, and associated actors. Due to the increasing spread of central heating and the growing importance of complex technological devices to monitor and control indoor temperature, heating is no longer a practice in and of itself for many urban dwellers in Europe. However, when people appropriate the indoor microclimate, new heating-related practices emerge that can lead to energy sufficiency. We thus argue that by deliberately “materializing” domestic indoor microclimate as part of a change initiative, more sustainable forms of energy use can be made to matter.

Wall heat fluxes can be derived from time resolved measurements of the surface temperature. This paper describes an analytical approach to calculate the heat flux from an analytical solution of the one-dimensional transient energy equation with transient boundary conditions using the Laplace transformation. The results are compared to simple test cases for which the heat fluxes are given in literature. The method is used to calculate the heat flux from a fuel spray to a wall at diesel engine conditions.

Population growth, increasing energy demand and the depletion of fossil fuel reserves necessitate a search for sustainable alternatives for electricity generation. Hydropower could replace a large part of the contribution of gas and oil to the present energy mix. However, previous high-resolution estimates of hydropower potential have been local, and have yet to be applied on a global scale. This study is the first to formally present a detailed evaluation of the hydropower potential of each location, based on slope and discharge of each river in the world. The gross theoretical hydropower potential is approximately 52 PWh/year divided over 11.8 million locations. This 52 PWh/year is equal to 33% of the annually required energy, while the present energy production by hydropower plants is just 3% of the annually required energy. The results of this study: all potentially interesting locations for hydroelectric power plants, are available online.

Significant amounts of energy are used in the conventional methods for drying wet carbonaceous materials such as biomass, low-rank coals, sludge, and manure, because the latent heat for evaporating water is large. An innovative drying process, based on self-heat recuperation technology that recovers not only latent heat but also sensible heat, was developed to save drying energy. Water contained in a wet sample is heated to its boiling point, and the resulting steam is superheated. The superheated steam is compressed to provide a temperature difference for heat exchange. The condensation heat of the compressed steam is exchanged with the evaporation heat of the water from the wet sample. The sensible heat of the compressed steam is utilized to raise the temperature of both evaporated steam (superheating) and water contained in the wet sample (preheating). In addition, the sensible heat of the dried sample is recovered by gas to improve the overall energy efficiency. The amount of energy required for the p...