• Energy Research
• 2021-2025close

In recent years, algorithmic-based market manipulation in stock and power markets has considerably increased, and it is difficult to identify all such manipulation cases. This causes serious challenges for market regulators. This work highlights and lists various aspects of the monitoring of stock and power markets, using as test cases the regulatory agencies and regulatory policies in diverse regions, including Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union. Reported cases of market manipulations in the regions are examined. In order to help establish a relevant digital regulatory system, this work reviews and categorizes the indicators used to monitor the stock and power markets, and provides an in-depth analysis of the relationship between the indicators and market manipulation. This study specifically compiles a set of 10 indicators for detecting manipulation in the stock market, utilizing the perspectives of return rate, liquidity, volatility, market sentiment, closing price and firm governance. Additionally, 15 indicators are identified for detecting manipulation in the power market, utilizing the perspectives of market power (also known as pricing power or market structure), market conduct and market performance. Finally, the study elaborates on the current challenges in the regulation of stock and power markets in terms of parameter performance, data availability and technical requirements.

Exporting generated electricity by on-site renewable energy systems from buildings to the grid is only slightly profitable in many countries. Therefore, it is required to investigate the benefits of sharing generated energy in a microgrid within a community of buildings. Exploiting the benefits of peer-to-peer energy exchange between prosumers in a community can make the best use of the on-site generation while reducing their bills. This study elaborates the potential of energy management to minimize the electricity cost of a community consisted of multiple buildings and connected to a microgrid. To implement this, an energy management system is designed based on non-linear economic model predictive control and successive linear programming for sharing the on-site surplus generated electricity between the buildings in the community. Four buildings are simulated and studied as an example of a small community. These buildings are dissimilar in their age, thermal mass, insulation, heating system and on-site renewable energy systems. It is shown that considering the community of buildings as a single entity, the novel model predictive control can be efficiently used for minimizing the energy cost of the community that has various sources of energy generation, conversion and storage, including significant non-linear interactions. Three different scenarios of the energy management system for the studied community are investigated, and the results indicate that the annual electricity energy cost for single buildings can be reduced by 3.0% to 87.9%, depending on the building and its systems, and by 5.4% to 7.7% on the community level.

This study investigates Smart Grid Optimised Buildings (SGOBs) which can respond to real-time electricity prices by utilising battery storage systems (BSS). Different building design characteristics are assessed to evaluate the impact on energy use, the interaction with the battery, and potential for peak load shifting. Two extreme cases based on minimum and maximum annual energy consumption were selected for further investigation to assess their capability of utilising BSS to perform arbitrage, under real-time pricing. Three operational dispatch strategies were modelled to allow buildings to provide such services. The most energy-efficient building was capable of shifting a higher percentage of its peak loads and export more electricity, when this is allowed. When using the biggest battery (220 kWh) to only meet the building loads, the energy-efficient building was able to shift 39.68% of its original peak loads in comparison to the 33.95% of the least efficient building. With exports allowed, the shifting percentages went down to 31.76% and 29.46%, respectively, while exports of 18.08 and 16.34 kWh/m2 took place. The formation of a regulatory framework is vital in order to establish proper motives for buildings to undertake an active role in the smart grid.

Buildings are one of the largest contributors to energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the world. There is an increased interest in building performance evaluation as an essential practice to design a sustainable building. Building performance is influenced by various terms, for example, designs, construction-related factors such as building envelope and airtightness, and energy technologies with or without micro-generations. How well a building performs thermally is key to determining the level of energy demand and GHG emissions. Building standards and regulations, in combination with assessments (e.g., energy modeling tools) and certifications, provide sets of supports, guidelines and instructions for designers and building engineers to ensure users’ health and well-being, consistency in construction practices and environmental protection. This paper reviews, evaluates and suggests a sequence of building performance methods from the UK perspective. It shows the relationships between such methods, their evolutions and related tools, and further highlights the importance of post-occupancy analysis and how crucial such assessments could be for efficient buildings.

To reach net-zero emissions by 2050, buildings in the UK need to replace natural gas boilers with heat pumps and district heating. These technologies are efficient at reduced flow/return temperatures, typically 55/25 °C, while traditional heating systems are designed for 82/71 °C, and an oversized heating system can help this temperature transition. This paper reviews how heating systems have been sized over time in the UK and the degree of oversizing in existing buildings. It also reviews if lessons from other countries can be applied to the UK’s building stock. The results show that methods to size a heating system have not changed over time, but the modern level of comfort, the retrofit history of buildings and the use of margin lead to the heating system being generally oversized. It is not possible to identify a specific trend by age, use or archetype. Buildings in Scandinavia have a nascent readiness for low-temperature heat as they can use it for most of the year without retrofit. Limitations come primarily from the faults and malfunctions of such systems. In the UK, it is estimated that 10% of domestic buildings would be ready for a supply temperature of 55 °C during extreme external conditions and more buildings at part-load operation. Lessons from Scandinavia should be considered with caution. The building stock in the UK generally underperforms compared to other EU buildings, with heating systems in the UK operating at higher temperatures and with night set-back; the importance of providing a low-return temperature does not exist in the UK despite being beneficial for condensing boiler operation. Sweden and Denmark started to develop district heating technologies with limitations to supply temperatures some 40 years ago whereas the UK is only just starting to consider similar measures in 2021. Recommendations for policy makers in this context have been drawn from this review in the conclusions.

The Energy Management System (EMS) is an efficient technique to monitor, control and enhance the building performance. In the state-of-the-art, building performance analysis is separated into building simulation and control management: this may cause inaccuracies and extra operating time. Thus, a coherent framework to integrate building physics with various energy technologies and energy control management methods is highly required. This framework should be formed by simplified but accurate models of building physics and building energy technologies, and should allow for the selection of proper control strategies according to the control objectives and scenarios. Therefore, this paper reviews the fundamental mathematical modeling and control strategies to create such a framework. The mathematical models of (i) building physics and (ii) popular building energy technologies (renewable energy systems, common heating and cooling energy systems and energy distribution systems) are first presented. Then, it is shown how the collected mathematical models can be linked. Merging with two frequently used EMS strategies, namely rule-based and model predictive controls, is discussed. This work provides an extendable map to model and control buildings and intends to be a foundation for building researchers, designers and engineers.

Achieving climate neutrality requires reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the building sector, which has prompted increasing attention towards nearly zero energy, zero energy, and positive energy communities of buildings; there is a need to determine how individual buildings up to communities of buildings can become more energy efficient. This study addresses the scientific problem of optimizing energy efficiency strategies in building areas and identifies gaps in existing theories related to passive design strategies, active energy systems, and renewable energy integration. This study delineates boundaries at the building and community scales to examine the challenges of attaining energy efficiency goals and to emphasize the intricate processes of selecting, integrating, and optimizing energy systems in buildings. The four boundaries describe: (B1) energy flows through the building envelope; (B2) energy flows through heating, ventilation, air conditioning and energy systems; (B3) energy flows through individual buildings; (B4) energy flows through a community of buildings. Current theories often treat these elements in isolation, and significant gaps exist in interdisciplinary integration, scalable frameworks, and the consideration of behavioral and socioeconomic factors. Achieving nearly zero energy, zero energy, and positive energy communities requires seamless integration of renewable energy sources, energy storage systems, and energy management systems. The proposed boundaries B1–B4 can help not only in analyzing the various challenges for achieving high energy efficiency in building communities but also in defining and evaluating these communities and establishing fair methods for energy distribution within them. The results demonstrate that these boundaries provide a comprehensive framework for energy-efficient designs, constructions, and operational practices across multiple buildings, ensuring equitable energy distribution and optimized performance. In addition, the definition of boundaries as B1-B4 contributes to providing an interface for energy-efficient designs, constructions and operational practices across multiple buildings.

Decarbonising heat in the UK by 2050 will require the wider adoption of low-temperature heat. Current systems, largely relying on gas boilers, have design operating temperatures of 82/71 °C (supply/return) while new standards for 4th Generation District Heating are 55/25 °C. Local authorities must set-up strategies to get their buildings “Heat network ready” but this raises the question of the ability for existing buildings to use low-temperature heat. The aim and the novelty of this paper is to establish a relationship between an energy ‘performance gap’ in Scottish public buildings and their ability to use low-temperature heat. This performance gap has been evaluated for 121 non-domestic buildings, primarily schools, operated by The City of Edinburgh Council. Space heating system are assumed oversized by 10%. The results show that renovation of the building envelope, while highly desirable, is not a pre-requisite for using low-temperature heat in pre-1980 constructed buildings, which represent 64% of the stock. It also highlights that post-1980 buildings, predominantly utilising mechanical ventilation systems, demonstrate an increasing performance gap which could limit their ability to use reduced operating temperature, especially in windy conditions.