• Energy Research

While several actions are being taken to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from land-based transportation, marine transportations are often unnoticed. Ocean-going marine ships are accounted for a large amount of global GHG emissions. Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) are free from GHG emissions and playing an important role in sustainable development by lessening GHG emissions. Integration of RESs in ocean-going marine ships could be an option to make marine transportation free from emissions. Ocean-going marine ships require a large amount of reliable energy to support the propulsive load demand. RESs are intermittent, and a large amount of energy cannot be stored economically by the available energy storage techniques. Additionally, the penetration of RESs in a marine ship is limited by the available area and total weight carrying capacity of that marine ship. Because of these limitations of RESs in marine ships, there is a requirement of integrating other types of energy sources with RESs to support the baseload energy demand and to avoid the variableness of RESs. Conventional fossil fuel-based generators, like diesel generators, can be incorporated with RESs to overcome these shortcomings of RESs. However, as the penetration of RESs is limited to marine ships, most of the energy is supplied by fossil fuel-based generators. Therefore, the integration of RESs with fossil fuel-based generators merely reduces GHG emissions and is not a feasible option to make marine ships free from emissions. Fossil fuel-based generators need to be replaced by emissions-free and reliable energy sources to make the marine ships free from emissions. Small scale nuclear reactors, such as Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and Microreactors (MRs), are free from GHG emissions and are competitive candidates to replace fossil fuel-based generators. In this paper, four different energy systems have been analyzed for marine ships namely ‘Stand-alone Fossil Fuel-based Energy System’, ‘Stand-alone Nuclear Energy System’, ‘Renewable and Fossil Fuel-based Hybrid Energy System’ and ‘Nuclear-Renewable Hybrid Energy System (N-R HES)’ in terms of certain Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The KPIs include the Cost of Energy (COE), Net Present Cost (NPC), and GHG emissions. The results show that the N-R HES could be the best energy system for the marine industry to reduce GHG emissions and improve economic performance. A sensitivity analysis is also carried out by changing certain parameters to reinforce the findings of this study.

Ocean-going ships are one of the primary sources of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Several actions are being taken to reduce the GHG emissions from maritime vessels, and integration of Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) is one of them. Ocean-going marine ships need a large amount of reliable energy to support the propulsive load. Intermittency is one of the drawbacks of RESs, and penetration of RESs in maritime vessels is limited by the cargo carrying capacity and usable area of that ship. Other types of reliable energy sources need to be incorporated in ships to overcome these shortcomings of RESs. Some researchers proposed to integrate fossil fuel-based generators like diesel generators and renewable energy in marine vessels to reduce GHG emissions. As the penetration of RESs in marine ships is limited, fossil fuel-based generators provide most of the energy. Therefore, renewable and fossil fuel-based hybrid energy systems in maritime vessels can not reduce GHG emissions to the desired level. Fossil fuel-based generators need to be replaced by emissions-free energy sources to make marine ships free from emissions. Nuclear energy is emissions-free energy, and small-scale nuclear reactors like Microreactors (MRs) are competent to replace fossil fuel-based generators. In this paper, the technical, environmental, and economic competitiveness of Nuclear-Renewable Hybrid Energy Systems (N-R HES) in marine ships are assessed. The lifecycle cost of MR, reliability of the proposed system, and limitations of integrating renewable energy in maritime vessels are considered in this study. The proposed N-R HES is compared with three different energy systems, namely ‘Standalone Fossil Fuel-based Energy Systems’, ‘Renewable and Fossil Fuel-based Hybrid Energy Systems’, and ‘Standalone Nuclear Energy System’. The cost modeling of each energy system is carried out in MATLAB simulator. Each energy system is optimized by using the Differential Evolution Algorithm (DEA), an artificial intelligence algorithm, to find out the optimal configuration of the system components in terms of Net Present Cost (NPC). The results determine that N-R HES has the lowest NPC compared to the other three energy systems. The performance of the DE algorithm is compared with another widely accepted artificial intelligence optimization technique called ‘Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)’ to validate the findings of the DE algorithm. The impact of control parameters in the DE algorithm is assessed by employing the Adaptive Differential Evolution (ADE) algorithm. A sensitivity analysis is carried out to assess the impact of different system parameters on this study’s findings.

In recent years, there have been tendencies to enable smart cities with interconnected infrastructures and communities. Current engineering design and operation practices are limited to handling individual systems with modeling and simulation, as well as control systems. This paper presents a holistic approach with engineering practice to design and operate interconnected systems as part of smart cities. The approach is based on modeling individual physical systems and associated processes and identifying key performance indicators to evaluate each system and interconnected systems with an understanding of the coupling among systems to increase the overall performance of interconnected systems. The multi-objective optimization technique is proposed to achieve the best performance based on system design, control, and operation parameters. Due to the multidimensional nature of the interconnected systems, a unified interface system with modular design is proposed to achieve the highest overall performance of the interconnected systems with standardized interactions among state variables and performance measures. The proposed approach can allow dynamic updates of the interconnected systems based on model libraries of each system and process. A case study is presented of interconnected energy–water–transportation–waste facilities, whereby modeling is discussed, and performance measures are evaluated for different scenarios using the unified interface design.

There are world tendencies to implement interconnected infrastructures of energy-water-waste-transportation-food-health-social systems to enhance the overall performance in normal and emergency situations where there are multiple interactions among them with possible conversions and improved efficiencies. Hybrid energy systems are core elements within interconnected infrastructures with possible conversions among electricity, thermal, gas, hydrogen, waste, and transportation networks. This could be improved with storage systems and intelligent control systems. It is important to study resiliency of hybrid energy systems within interconnected infrastructures to ensure reduced risks and improved performance. This paper presents framework for the analysis of resiliency layers as related to protection layers. Case study of hybrid energy system as integrated with water, waste, and transportation infrastructures is presented where different resiliency and protection layers are assessed. Performance measures are modeled and evaluated for possible interconnection scenarios with internal and external factors that led to resiliency demands. Resiliency layers could trigger protection layers under certain conditions, which are evaluated to achieve high performance hybrid energy systems within interconnected infrastructures. The proposed approach will support urban, small, and remote communities to achieve high performance interconnected infrastructures for normal and emergency situations.

Generating hydrogen by electrolysis in an alkaline system with a green power source consisting of wind turbines (WTs) and photovoltaic (PV) power is a promising and sustainable way to produce clean hydrogen to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study utilized TRNSYS 16 software to perform a dynamic simulation of a hydrogen system. TRNSYS, which stands for Transient System Simulation Program, is a software package designed for simulating the dynamic behaviour of thermal and electrical energy systems. It is widely used to analyze and optimize the performance of various energy systems. This system incorporated a PV power source and a WT for electricity generation, along with an electrolyzer for hydrogen production. The analysis was carried out to evaluate variable weather conditions, specifically wind speed, solar radiation, and temperature. These factors have a direct impact on the system’s performance, influencing the available power as a consequential outcome. The results reveal that, given the specific climate conditions in the Markham zone, Toronto, the integrated renewable system is capable of consistently providing electricity and meeting the load demand throughout the entire year. However, it is noteworthy that on cold days when solar radiation is limited, the WT emerges as the most effective and efficient power source. The analysis also indicates that the system reliably supplies enough energy to meet the laboratory’s load demand. Moreover, the system’s performance is particularly impressive with the WT as the power source, as it can generate a maximum of 9.03 kg of hydrogen per month. In contrast, the PV power source yields only 0.58 kg H2. Additionally, the cost per kilogram of hydrogen (kg H2) is considerably lower when the WT is used, at USD 0.55/kg H2, while it rises to USD 1.5/kg H2 when PV is the power source. These findings underscore the significance of using the most suitable power source, such as a WT, in specific climatic conditions and regions in terms of both performance and cost-effectiveness.

The concept of transportation electrification is proliferating due to its high impact on emission reduction. However, the increased usage of electric vehicles strains the power grid’s charging infrastructure. As a result, to reduce demand on the power grid, lower the emissions, and solve the intermittency problem of Renewable Energy Sources (RESs), a Nuclear–renewable Hybrid Energy System (N-R HES) is proposed in this research to support the load demand of a Fast Charging Station (FCS). Fulfilling the power demand of the FCS while reducing the generation cost and waste of energy is a vital issue, and hence, energy management with optimization is a must for the hybrid energy system. To address this issue, a model reference adaptive control with a mixed-integer linear programming-based energy management method was modelled to accomplish the charging station’s extensive performance. MATLAB/Simulink software has been used to model and simulate the proposed system, and the results are analyzed. The assessment shows that the proposed energy management system offers an optimized performance of the fast charging station integrating with nuclear and renewable energy.

Abstract This paper considers energy conservation practices in Qatar with special emphasis on commercial buildings. Energy conservation approaches are classified into five main areas and an Energy Conservation Matrix (ECM) database for buildings is developed. The ECM maps the energy conservation techniques/technologies to models versus their application domain. Three scenarios (building envelope design, change in customer behavior, and consideration of renewable energy supply) are analyzed to study different alternatives for efficiency improvement. The analysis is done in a case hotel. The analysis shows that, the energy conservation potential of using envelope redesign for the case study is about 7.5% while conservation through behavior change ranges between 2.74% and 15.80%. The conserved energy potential ranges between 10% and 24.12% of the site energy in the combinatorial scenario that integrated envelope design alternatives with customer behavior change. The renewable energy (RE) scenario conserves energy, indirectly, by using green energies generated from renewable sources. The output shows that due to changes as per the three scenarios, total CO 2 emissions of the building are also reduced. The analysis shows that adoption of 30% RE alternative can reduce emissions by about 27% with respect to the reference scenario. It is believed that the scenarios developed in this paper and the results obtained will motivate the designers to consider alternative designs or redesigns in the large scale commercial buildings.

Nuclear fusion is a sought-out technology in which two light elements are fused together to create a heavier element and releases energy. Two primary nuclear fusion technologies are being researched today: magnetic and inertial confinement. However, a new type of nuclear fusion technology is currently being research: multi-pinch plasma beams. At the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, there is research on multi-pinch plasma beam technology as an alternative to nuclear fusion. The objective is to intersect two plasma arcs at the center of the chamber. This is a precursor of nuclear fusion using multi-pinch. The innovation portion of the students’ work is the miniaturization of this concept using high energy electrical DC pulses. The experiment achieved the temperature of 2300 K at the intersection. In comparison to the simulation data, the temperature from the simulation is 7000 K at the intersection. Additionally, energy harvesting devices, both photovoltaics and a thermoelectric generator, were placed in the chamber to observe the viable energy extraction.