• Energy Research
• 2021-2025close

Abstract Ceramic industry manufacturing requires a great amount of thermal energy. Its sustainability and environmental impact demand an effort to develop more efficient technologies to reduce the consumption of fuel, mainly natural gas. In particular, the sanitary-ware production sector presents a defined special map of consumption through the manufacturing process because of the heat amounts and thermal levels of temperature. The aim of this research is to quantify the potential reduction of fuel consumption within a standard factory of sanitary-ware articles. The scope of it covers the main gas consumers, namely, kilns, dryers, heating units, or boilers. The method is based in a simulation of the process by modeling the thermophysics of the consumers, then plotting the heat recovery from one to another in order to save natural gas input. The research shows how the thermal requirement would be cut by almost a half within the factory consumption. It is consequently concluded that efficiency, environmental impact, and sustainability of this industrial sector would be improved, so as the global economy related with a potential growth of this industry, mainly in developing countries. Graphical abstract Highlights Thermal consumption reduction in a sanitary-ware factory is presented and validated. Heat recovery from kilns provides thermal energy for the rest of the thermal consumers. Energy management accounting as an extension to environmental management accounting is provided. The proposed method produces reductions of resources and economic improvements.

[EN] The authors of this paper analyze the use of biogas-powered micro-Combined Heat and Power (micro-CHP) systems for residential microgrids to enhance their resilience during blackouts. With the increasing frequency of natural disasters, ensuring power system reliability has become a critical concern. Microgrids can provide a solution to this problem by integrating distributed energy resources and operating them independently of the grid. The authors of this paper investigate the design and implementation of biogas-powered micro-CHP systems for residential microgrids. The paper concludes with a discussion of the potential of biogas-powered micro-CHP systems as a key component of resilient and sustainable energy systems in the future. SI

Despite that previous research exists, there is a need for further research on the quantitative aspects of this Nexus. Existing Water-Energy-Environment Nexus management tools and frameworks are based on indicators aiming to model the whole system, analyze the involved resources, and test potential management strategies. The environmental, social, and economic consequences of actions already taken and ongoing projects require important focus because of the strong relationship between water and energy supply, and that both are key issues for society’s development and sustainability. The present research focuses on the indicators that the Water-Energy-Environment Nexus tools and frameworks use to analyze the whole problem. Existing tools often require large amounts of data, becoming a time-consuming process that lowers the capacity to evaluate the political problems of high pollutants. With the aim of accelerating time evaluation, this research builds an indicator to rapidly evaluate the Water-Energy-Environment Nexus implications of replacing fossil-based power generation systems with wind and photovoltaic renewable energy systems in the water-scarce region of the Canary Islands. This indicator allowed the rapid evaluation of storylines in a small system with well-defined boundaries. Results show that the water sustainability index improved by 6.2% in comparison to fossil-based plants, while reducing 2750 tons of CO2. Although this methodology can be easily applied in different scenarios and locations, it further development to evaluate system boundaries and to provide extensive results.

This study investigates the implementation of passive design strategies to improve the thermal environment in the extremely hot climates of Brazil, Portugal, and Turkey. Given the rising cooling demands due to climate change, optimizing energy efficiency in buildings is essential. Using the Trace 3D Plus v6.00.106 software, typical residential buildings for each country were simulated to assess various passive solutions, such as building orientation, wall and roof modifications, glazing optimization options, window-to-wall ratio (WTWR) reduction, shading, and natural ventilation. The findings highlight that Brazil experienced the higher discomfort temperatures compared to Mediterranean climates, with indoor air temperatures exceeding 28 °C all year round and remaining between 34 °C and 37 °C for nearly 40% of the time. Building orientation had a minimal impact near the equator, while Mediterranean climates benefited from an up to 10% variation in energy demand. Thermal insulation combined with white exterior paint resulted in Şanlıurfa experiencing annual energy savings of up to 26%. Optimal roof solutions yielded a 19% demand reduction in Évora, while WTWR reduction and double-colored glazing achieved up to a 35% reduction in Évora and 19% in other regions. Combined strategies achieved energy demand reductions of 44% for Évora, 40% for Şanlıurfa, and 32% for Teresina. The study emphasizes the need for integrated, climate-specific passive solutions, showing their potential to enhance both energy efficiency and the thermal environment in residential buildings across diverse hot climates.

[EN] Different Zero-Energy Building (ZEB)-related definitions considering its four main dimensions, such as zero energy, zero carbon, zero exergy and zero cost, have been proposed by different investigators. Among these, exergy-based definitions are relatively low in numbers. In this regard, the main objective of this present study is to propose net zero extended exergy buildings as a new concept, which combines extended exergy and net zero exergy building concepts and is a measure of the exergetic footprint. This concept setups a balance between extended exergy accounting of electricity from the grid and electricity generated in building. The proposed methodology is applied to a building available in the literature for heating and cooling seasons. Results show that 450Wp peak power and 44.181 kWh electrical energy must be obtained for meeting the electricity demand of the building. Another novel result is that the extended exergy accounting of the electricity generated by PV panels is bigger than the extended exergy of the electricity taken from the gird meaning that exergetic footprint of the electricity generated by PV panels is bigger. However, this result must be interpreted for the whole life time of the system. SI

Sustainable energy development in the farming sector is an essential strategy to respond the combined challenge of achieving a reliable and affordable solution but including mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Intensive breeding farms require maintaining an adequate indoor thermal environment that results in high energy demands, usually covered by fossil fuels and electricity. This paper addresses the application of the combined slurry technology for a particular pig farm that currently uses a diesel boiler to supply the piglet heating energy needs. The study also considers different options based on closed ground source heat pump systems. After the design of the slurry alternative and the geothermal ones, notable advantages are detected compared to the existing diesel system. Results show that the implementation of the slurry technology implies an important reduction of the operational costs, which, in turn, involves short amortization periods for this system in relation to the diesel one. Greenhouse gases emissions are also highly reduced in the slurry alternative based on the low electricity use of the heat pump. The environmental side is reinforced by the reduction of polluting substances such as methane of ammonia derived from the descent of temperature of the slurry.