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Abstract The implementation of energy efficiency measures is an effective way to gain energy savings in the Italian residential sector. This paper assesses the embodied energy impact related to the envelope insulation and evaluates the energy and carbon payback of the efficiency measures. The proposed method consists of (1) an estimation of the baseline operational energy consumption, (2) simulations of realistic retrofit solutions and, (3) the assessment of the ‘retrofitting’ embodied energy and the energy and carbon payback time calculation. The payback is based on the comparison between the saved operational energy and the embodied energy of the materials selected for insulation. Ten Italian cities are analysed, and the results show a deep dependence on the climate zone. In Northern Italian cities, envelope insulation gains relevance as the energy and carbon payback periods are shorter, about 3 years against the 84 years for the Southern city of Palermo. The optimal thickness is estimated for the city of Milan considering the building’s typology, the insulation materials, and the energy payback. This study shows how the total energy savings can be used as a criterion to obtain design indications.

Active Magnetic Regeneration (AMR) is a configuration that allows magnetic refrigeration to be suitable also for room temperature applications. This work is intended to detect, by means of a 1-D numerical model, the influence on the regenerator performances of the working condition ambient temperature (T(CURIE) +/- 20 K) and of the operating parameters fluid mass flow rate (utilization factor 0.5 divided by 3.5) and cycle frequency (0.1 divided by 0.6 Hz). Simulations show that, tuning the fluid mass flow rate, a gadolinium AMR (395 g, f = 0.25 Hz, Delta B = 1.7 T) can reach a maximum cooling capacity of 130 W and a 40 W cooling power over a temperature span of 30 K. A COP of 5 can also be achieved with a temperature span of 30 K and a cooling power of 35 W. Frequency has a weak influence on the AMR's COP, while the ambient temperature is crucial. The system loses the 60% of cooling capacity if the ambient temperature is 20 K away from the material Curie temperature.

The ways in which the highly coercive permanent magnet affects the performance of a faceplate magnetic clutch are considered, with constant torque and dimensions.

Abstract In order to develop a deeper understanding of the behaviour of commercial automotive lithium-ion pouch cells under short-circuiting conditions, two scenarios were experimentally investigated and compared. Firstly, experiments were conducted by internally shorting 15 Ah cells by full nail penetration using three different nail materials; copper, steel and plastic. A second set of experiments involved externally shorting the cell tabs using an external circuit with a range of resistance values. In both scenarios the cell electrical and thermal response were determined by the shorting resistance. In the case of nail penetration there was a clear distinction between the outcome of the conducting and non-conducting nails, although the outcome using conducting nails suffered from poor reproducibility. The poor reproducibility was attributed to the variation in the contact resistance between the nail and the cell layers. Correlating the outcome of both tests can be used to estimate the shorting resistance and construct the current profile during nail penetration test.

The technological development of preparing bio-oil from low-temperature hydrothermal conversion of agricultural and forestry waste has positive significance for alleviating the shortage of oil energy supply and reducing environmental pollution. This paper selects typical oxides (Al2O3, CeO2, MgO, SiO2, TiO2, and ZnO) as catalysts to set up a low-temperature (220 °C) hydrothermal conversion process of cotton stalk containing pretreatment processes including chopping. For moderate amplification estimation, lab-scale experimental data is used as a benchmark for calculation, and the functional unit for this study is set to be a 1 kg bio-oil product. The results suggest that the cerium dioxide-involved process with the highest bio-oil yield and highest synthetic consumption, and the silica-involved process with the lowest bio-oil yield, caused the highest environmental impact, resulting in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 67.729 kg CO2e/kg and 60.001 kg CO2e/kg, respectively. It indicates that catalysts need to consider the balance between synthetic consumption and catalytic performance. Magnifying lab-scale data to an industrial scale using scale-up frameworks introduces a low model uncertainty, as the practical value had little effect on the overall evaluation results. However, existing equipment data should be used to reduce the uncertainty of the model itself. The environmental sustainability of bio-oil production by low-temperature hydrothermal liquefaction still needs to be improved, especially by catalyst recovery and bio-oil yield improvement.

AbstractThis paper proposes a Maxwell's equations finite difference time domain (FDTD) approach for electromagnetic transients in ground electrodes in order to take into account the non linear effects due to soil ionization. A time variable soil resistivity method is used in order to simulate the soil breakdown, without the formulation of an initial hypothesis about the geometrical shape of the ionized zone around the electrodes. The model has been validated by comparing the computed results with available data found in technical literature referred to concentrated earths. Some application examples referred to complex grounding systems are reported to show the computational capability of the proposed model. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

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Cross-border electrical interconnection projects are getting more attention all over the world. In this context, cost-benefit allocation is especially important due to the need for fair sharing of power trading benefits among the countries as well as allocating the investments in capital-intensive power lines. One convenient way of dealing with these issues is using cooperative game theory. However, even fair allocation methods, such as the Shapley value, do not guarantee the stability of negotiations on cross-border interconnection projects. The result of the allocation process strongly depends on the individual system’s data provided by each party involved. In this regard, the parties could have incentives to strategically provide data that would benefit themselves in the cost-benefit allocation process, potentially hindering the stability of the coalition. In this paper, we address the negotiation stability issues in terms of players strategic behavior and manipulability of cost-benefit allocation rules.