• Energy Research
• 2016-2025close
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Abstract The central role of occupants for achieving energy savings in residential buildings is increasingly recognised. Simulation programmes able to take into account occupant behaviour are considered to be powerful tools for bridging the gap between the predicted and the actual energy consumption for new buildings. Nevertheless, the majority of residential buildings that will constitute the housing stock in 2050 have already been built today, therefore occupant behaviour and building simulation tools need to be fully exploited for supporting the renovation of existing housing stock. The aim of this paper is to explore the role of occupant behaviour modelling in supporting decision-makers dealing with the design of renovation strategies for residential buildings. An Italian multi-family public housing building is assumed as case study to estimate the influence of three dimensions linked with occupant behaviour – management of the thermostat, management of the heating system, variation of building characteristics – on energy heating consumption. The results show that, while the occupant behaviour influences the heating loads up to 1/3 in case of high level of building retrofit, the less the building is renovated, the higher is the behavioural impact in absolute terms of energy reduction. Therefore, in order to be effective, renovation strategies are required to design appropriate informative instruments at an early stage to support behaviour changes towards responsible energy consumption.

Abstract This paper aims to present a feasibility study of the innovative plant for methanol synthesis from carbon dioxide-sequestered by fossil fuel power plant and hydrogen, which is produced by water electrolyzer employing the over-production on the electrical grid. The thermo-economic analysis is performed in the framework of the MefCO2 H2020 EU project and it is referred to the German economic scenario, properly taking into account the real market costs and cost functions for different components of the plant. Three different plant capacities for methanol production (4000 10,000 and 50,000 ton/year) have been investigated, assuming an average cost for electrical energy to feed electrolysers and analyzing the influence of the most significant parameters (oxygen selling option, methanol selling price and electrolysers’ capital cost) on the profitability of the plant. The analysis has been performed in W-ECoMP, software for the thermo-economic analysis and plant optimization developed by the University of Genoa.

Abstract This paper presents experimental and numerical investigation of mistuned forced responses of an integrally bladed disk with full set of underplatform dampers (UPDs). This research aims at providing: 1. An experimental benchmark for nonlinear dynamics of a mistuned bladed disks with UPDs. 2. A numerical model that can account for features of a mistuned forced response level. Accordingly, a detailed experimental campaign is conducted on a static test rig called Octopus. This rig is specifically designed to investigate the dynamics of a full-scale integrally bladed disk (blisk) with UPDs in a noncontact manner so that the dynamic response of the system is not modified. The effect of mistuning on experimental forced response levels is assessed and a linearized model is proposed to predict the modulation of frequency response functions (FRFs) due to the frequency splitting. In the development of the model, the mistuning pattern identified from the linear blisk without UPDs is used and it is assumed that adding the dampers does not change the structural mistuning of the blisk. In this study, the fundamental mistuning model identification (FMM ID) was employed to identify the mistuning pattern of the blisk. It is shown that the proposed model successfully predicts the modulation of linear mistuned FRFs. The linearized model is also able to predict the modulation of nonlinear mistuned FRFs in stick condition (when nonlinear friction damping is negligible) with a good accuracy validating this assumption that adding the dampers does not change the mistuning pattern.

Dolomite-based binders are characterised by interesting technical and environmental features. For their synthesis, sources of both CaO and MgO are required. The idea developed in this work is to couple the synthesis of dolomite-based binders, starting from a natural dolomite, through the concept of concentrated solar energy (needed to drive the endothermal dolomite calcination process) in fluidised bed reactors. To this end, a fluidised bed system, where the concentrated solar radiation is mimicked by the use of Xe-lamps (short-arc), has been set up and operated. Natural dolomite (sieved in the 420-590 ?m size range) was calcined at a nominal temperature of 850 °C, and bed temperature profiles during solar-driven calcination were investigated. Then, four binders were prepared by mixing slaked dolomite (obtained from the hydration of solar calcined dolomite) with either blast furnace slag or coal fly ash as supplementary cementitious materials. The binders were hydrated for curing times ranging from 7 to 56 days. X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction and combined differential thermal and thermogravimetric analyses were employed as characterisation techniques both to analyse the chemical composition of starting materials and to investigate the evolution of the hydration in the four systems.

It's not only the carbon in the trees Forest loss affects climate not just because of the impacts it has on the carbon cycle, but also because of how it affects the fluxes of energy and water between the land and the atmosphere. Evaluating global impact is complicated because deforestation can produce different results in different climate zones, making it hard to determine large-scale trends rather than more local ones. Alkama and Cescatti conducted a global assessment of the biophysical effects of forest cover change. Forest loss amplifies diurnal temperature variations, increases mean and maximum air temperatures, and causes a significant amount of warming when compared to CO 2 emission from land-use change. Science , this issue p. 600

In the present work the influence of accelerated mineral carbonation on the leaching behaviour of basic oxygen furnace steel slag was investigated. The environmental behaviour of the material as evaluated through the release of major elements and toxic metals under varying pH conditions was the main focus of the study. Geochemical modelling of the eluates was used to derive a theoretical description of the underlying leaching phenomena for the carbonated material as compared to the original slag. Among the investigated elements, Ca and Si were most appreciably affected by carbonation. A very clear effect of carbonation on leaching was observed for silicate phases, and lower-Ca/Si-ratio minerals were found to control leaching in carbonated slag eluates as compared to the corresponding untreated slag sample as a result of Ca depletion from the residual slag particles. Clear evidence was also gained of solubility control for Ca, Mg and Mn by a number of carbonate minerals, indicating a significant involvement of the original slag constituents in the carbonation process. The release of toxic metals (Zn, V, Cr, Mo) was found to be variously affected by carbonation, owing to different mechanisms including pH changes, dissolution/precipitation of carbonates as well as sorption onto reactive mineral surfaces. The leaching test results were used to derive further considerations on the expected metal release levels on the basis of specific assumptions on the relevant pH domains for the untreated and carbonated slag.

In this paper a grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) cascaded H-bridge (CHB) inverter with embedded storage units is proposed. The multi-input single-output inverter architecture allows a distributed maximum power point tracking (DMPPT) approach, thus mitigating the mismatch effects. The energy storage units (ESUs) embedded at each dc-link provides more flexibility to the power circuit compensating for the inherent variability of the PV sources. The proposed power system ensures a continuous power supply to the grid also in case of PV power fluctuations due to irradiance conditions as well as to the MPPT. In particular, the presence of a storage element allows a voltage sweep on the PV source to be implemented, thus guaranteeing the maximization of PV energy harvesting, with no detrimental effect on the power delivery to the utility network. The numerical results, carried out on a single-phase nineteen-level PV CHB inverter, reveal the improved performance of the proposed design and control technique.