scholarly journals Towards Energy Self-consumption and Self-sufficiency in Urban Energy Communities

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Valeria Todeschi ◽  
Paolo Marocco ◽  
Guglielmina Mutani ◽  
Andrea Lanzini ◽  
Massimo Santarelli
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Local Energy ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Battery Systems ◽  
The Impact

In Europe, 70% of citizens live in urban areas and consume around 75% of the primary energy supply. In order to reduce the impact of energy consumption and improve the competitiveness of local energy systems, Energy Communities may help to address the challenges of urban sustainability and energy security through local energy production and self-consumption. Solar, biomass and wind are the main sources of renewable energy that are generally used in cities. However, not all the sources available in urban environment are usable, due to the limited availability, or other technical or non-technical limits and constraints. In order to promote renewable energy technologies in buildings it is necessary to consider architectural, cultural, energy, technical and economic feasibility. This work defines a methodology for the optimal design of grid connected PV-battery systems in urban environments. The model was applied to two districts located in the city of Turin with the aim of evaluating the technical feasibility of combining multiple residential users at city level. The purpose of this work is to promote self-consumption and self-sufficiency from the network, using the integration of solar energy with PV-battery systems, and to reduce electrical losses in favor of both the single user and the distribution system. Results show that different values of self-sufficiency and self-consumption can be reached depending on the shape and dimension of each building. It was shown that it is possible to satisfy the current requirements to become an Energy Community in an urban environment with good levels of self-sufficiency.

The energy cost of water independence: the case of Singapore

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 787-794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lenouvel Vincent ◽  
Lafforgue Michel ◽  
Chevauché Catherine ◽  
Rhétoré Pauline
Keyword(s):  
Energy Cost ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Demand Management ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Water And Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Energy Footprint ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Local Water ◽  
The Impact

Finding alternative resources to secure or increase water availability is a key issue in most urban areas. This makes the research of alternative and local water resources of increasing importance. In the context of political tension with its main water provider (Malaysia), Singapore has been implementing a comprehensive water policy for some decades, which relies on water demand management and local water resource mobilisation in order to reach water self-sufficiency by 2060. The production of water from alternative resources through seawater desalination or water reclamation implies energy consumptive technologies such as reverse osmosis. In the context of increasing energy costs and high primary energy dependency, this water self-sufficiency objective is likely to be an important challenge for Singapore. The aim of this paper is to quantify the long-term impact of Singapore's water policy on the national electricity bill and to investigate the impact of Singapore's projects to reduce its water energy footprint. We estimate that 2.0% of the Singaporean electricity demand is already dedicated to water and wastewater treatment processes. If its water-energy footprint dramatically increases in the coming decades, ambitious research projects may buffer the energy cost of water self-sufficiency.

scholarly journals FEATURES OF ASSESSMENT OF ANTHROPOGENIC LOADS ON NATURAL COMPLEXES

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 19-24
Author(s):  
P. Evdokimov
Keyword(s):  
Urban Environment ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Anthropogenic Impact ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Regulatory Documents ◽  
Dialectical Approach ◽  
The Impact

the article describes the problems of assessing the anthropogenic impact of human activity on natural com-plexes surrounding urbanized territories. Among the main research tasks are development of methodological foundations for assessing the quanti-tative and qualitative composition at anthropogenic impact on natural complexes surrounding urban areas. The main method of this research include a dialectical approach that focuses on generally accepted logi-cal research methods (analysis, systematic approach, generalization) and their synthesis using relevant in-formation materials. The author considered various methods of assessing the impact of various factors on the environment, and also carried out the examination of urban decisions related to the appointment of a category (status) the natural resources included in the urban environment in Moscow. The Russian capital is a European metropolis, the largest city-millionaire in Europe and a typical object of research to identify the effects of various anthropogenic factors. The implementation at economic activity in the metropolis is accompanied by the emergence of problems, the solution of which has not been found yet. Analysis of methods for assessing the impact at the various factors on the environment was carried out taking into account the provisions in regulatory documents governing the appointment for protected areas urban environment. Provisions of regulatory documents and decisions of executive authorities designed to use natural (forest) resources in urban environments. The absence of approved methods for assessing certain types of land plots with a protected status was identified. The main factors affecting the quality of biogeocenosis were identified. The main features of the applica-tion methods for assessing the status and possibility in recreational development in territories of varying de-grees at development are considered.

scholarly journals THE PARADIGM OF ECONOMIC ENERGY SECURITY BY ORIENTATION ON RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES

2020 ◽  
pp. 114-125
Author(s):  
Tetyana DERKACH ◽  
Denys CHEBANENKO
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
National Economy ◽  
Energy Security ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Energy Sector ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Energy Prices ◽  
Equal Distribution ◽  
The Impact

Introduction. The topic of renewable energy today is one of the most relevant and requires consideration from the point of view of all components of this process, namely economic, financial, environmental, technological, and others. The transition to renewable energy is already irreversible today since natural resources are depleted, fuel prices are the subject to significant fluctuations, and the stable growth of the national economy is ensured by energy security. The purpose. The purpose of the article is to analyze the volume of global energy consumption, to analyze the impact of the introduction of renewable energy sources on the development of the national economy, to ensure energy security with the depletion of hydrocarbon resources and a slight diversification of their suppliers. Results. Today the Ukrainian economy is the most energy-intensive. Unstable energy prices are a threat both to the global economy and to each country separately. Therefore, in the event of a decrease in the supply of traditional energy resources, the importing countries experience the greatest difficulties. The existing tendency in Ukraine to increase the consumption of traditional energy sources, combined with the absence of a targeted policy aimed at reducing the volume of environmental pollution, will lead to an increase in negative economic consequences. The advantage of renewable energy sources is their equal distribution throughout the country (with the exception of water resources). This feature leads to the formation of one of the main characteristics of power systems based on renewable energy sources, namely, their decentralization. It should be borne in mind that the world energy market is made up of state and non-state participants. Non-state participants are showing an upward trend. However, the state should have the greatest influence on the national energy sector. Renewable energy is an area that, in the Ukrainian context, depends on state support, namely economic and administrative incentives. The dynamics of the development of renewable energy should be combined with the balanced development of the fuel and energy sector in Ukraine. Conclusions. The process of development and transition to renewable energy needs a systematic approach. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are needed to assess the transition to renewable energy. An effective strategy for the transition to the introduction of renewable energy technologies should be justified by economic feasibility. The transition from traditional energy to renewable sources should lead to energy security, which contributes to stable economic growth, political independence, and improving the quality of the environmental component.

Sustainable energy solutions for thermal load in buildings - Role of heat pumps, solar thermal, and hydrogen-based cogeneration systems

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Praveen Cheekatamarla ◽  
Vishaldeep Sharma ◽  
Bo Shen
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Heat Pumps ◽  
Total Carbon ◽  
Coefficient Of Performance ◽  
Renewable Energy Resources ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Economic and population growth is leading to increased energy demand across all sectors – buildings, transportation, and industry. Adoption of new energy consumers such as electric vehicles could further increase this growth. Sensible utilization of clean renewable energy resources is necessary to sustain this growth. Thermal needs in a building pose a significant challenge to the energy infrastructure. Supporting the current and future building thermal energy needs to offset the total electric demand while lowering the carbon footprint and enhancing the grid flexibility is presented in this study. Performance assessment of heat pumps, renewable energy, non-fossil fuel-based cogeneration systems, and their hybrid configurations was conducted. The impact of design configuration, coefficient of performance (COP), electric grid's primary energy efficiency on the key attributes of total carbon footprint, life cycle costs, operational energy savings, and site-specific primary energy efficiency are analyzed and discussed in detail.

scholarly journals The Impact of Connecting Distributed Generation to the Distribution System

10.14311/986 ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (4-5) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. V. Mgaya ◽  
Z. Müller
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Distributed Generation ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Electric Energy ◽  
Reducing Power ◽  
Effective Capacity ◽  
Voltage Profile ◽  
The Impact

This paper deals with the general problem of utilizing of renewable energy sources to generate electric energy. Recent advances in renewable energy power generation technologies, e.g., wind and photovoltaic (PV) technologies, have led to increased interest in the application of these generation devices as distributed generation (DG) units. This paper presents the results of an investigation into possible improvements in the system voltage profile and reduction of system losses when adding wind power DG (wind-DG) to a distribution system. Simulation results are given for a case study, and these show that properly sized wind DGs, placed at carefully selected sites near key distribution substations, could be very effective in improving the distribution system voltage profile and reducing power losses, and hence could  improve the effective capacity of the system. 

scholarly journals Depressed spaces as an instrument for transformation of urban areas

2020 ◽  
Vol 217 ◽  
pp. 02008
Author(s):  
Valentina Kurochkina
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Planning System ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

Recently, more and more often urban abandoned and depressed spaces that were previously used as industrial facilities or temporarily used are becoming the sphere of architectural and landscape transformations. These territories can occupy a significant part of the city. This paper examines the features of the formation of urban planning systems, as well as the impact of depressed spaces on the quality of the urban environment. This paper studies such depressed spaces as abandoned industrial areas and objects of unfinished construction. The paper assesses the impact of depressed spaces, identifies criteria that reflect the nature, scale and features of their impact on the environment, on the safety and quality of the urban environment, as well as their role in the structure of the city as a whole. The principles and features of the formation of such urban depressed spaces, as well as the patterns of their development are revealed. The features of the formation of open public space of urban systems, as well as ways of transforming depressed spaces, aimed at increasing their social significance, integrating them into the general urban development, and improving the ecological and social situation are considered. The paper concludes that the problem of restoration of depressed spaces is very important and urgent today. The creation of a continuous urban tissue is impossible without the reorganization of such spaces, as well as the creation of an integral compositional, functional and communication urban planning system.

Efficient Energy Delivery System of the CHP-PV Based Microgrids with the Economic Feasibility Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hasan Masrur ◽  
Kaisar R. Khan ◽  
Waleed Abumelha ◽  
Tomonobu Senjyu
Keyword(s):  
Delivery System ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Power Delivery ◽  
Energy Delivery ◽  
Electric Distribution System ◽  
Communication Capability ◽  
Energy Grid ◽  
The Impact

AbstractA comprehensive theoretical investigation validated by the measurement is necessary to assess the impact of a microgrid on the electric distribution system. Some key parameters worth investigating are- enhancing economy, reliability, quality, and resiliency of a microgrid. Considering this necessity, a study of energy delivery system in a microgrid and its financial feasibility to integrate into the energy infrastructure has been presented in this paper. A campus microgrid with energy-efficient combined heat and power (CHP) natural gas-fired microturbine and photovoltaic generation has been used as a testbed to evaluate the efficiency of the power delivery. With distributed control and communication capability, this microgrid can be considered as a building block of smart grid that facilitates the inclusion of renewable and energy-efficient distributed generation. Simulation work has been performed to study the economic feasibility to integrate such microgrid into the energy grid. Several cases of remote microgrid operation have been studied to compare the best possible solution.

Development, validation, and demonstration of the VTUF-3D v1.0 urban micro-climate model to support assessments of urban vegetation influences on human thermal comfort

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerry Nice
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Canopy Cover ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
New Model ◽  
Human Thermal Comfort ◽  
Physiological Processes ◽  
The Impact

With urban areas facing future longer duration heat-waves and temperature extremes from climate change and growing urban development, adaptation strategies are needed. Examining the role that increased tree cover and water availability can have on human thermal comfort (HTC) in urban areas as part of these strategies has been done using observations, but further work requires a modelling tool suited for this task. Sufficient model resolution is needed to resolve variables used to calculate HTC, as well as the ability to model the physiological processes of vegetation and their interaction with water and with the rest of the urban environment. The lack of such a model has been identified as a research gap in the urban climate area and has impaired the ability to fully examine the use of urban greenery and water for improved human thermal comfort. A new model, VTUF-3D (Vegetated Temperatures Of Urban Facets), addresses this gap by embedding the functionality of the MAESPA tree process model (Duursma & Medlyn 2012), that can model individual trees, vegetation, and soil components, within the TUF-3D (Krayenhoff & Voogt 2007) urban micro-climate model. An innovative tiling approach, allows the new model to account for important vegetative physiological processes and shading effects using configurable templates to allow representation of any type of vegetation or water sensitive design feature. The high resolution of VTUF-3D is sufficient to examine the processes that drive human thermal comfort (HTC). This allows detailed calculations of surface temperatures, mean radiant temperature (Tmrt), and a HTC index, the universal thermal climate index (UTCI), across an urban canyon. An extensive validation process, using three different observation data sets to validate a number of different and key aspects of the VTUF-3D model, has shown it performs well and is suitable for use to examine critical questions relating to the role of vegetation and water in the urban environment. A demonstration of the model using modelling scenarios of varying canopy cover shows that average peak daytime HTC improvements of 1◦C UTCI (and 2.3◦C UTCI) are possible in doubling (and quadrupling) existing street cover canopies, with localised effects under canopy cover approaching 5◦C UTCI. These scenarios also show the value of the existing canopy cover, as reductions and elimination of existing cover can create reductions in HTC of 2◦C UTCI. In addition, reductions in average air temperature (Ta) across urban canyons can differ by 1◦C between streets with differing canopy cover. After the development, validation, and demonstration of this new model, it is now possible to conduct further analysis to quantify the impact each individual tree can have on temperatures in urban canyons. Further, the model can help inform the optimal arrangement and quantity of trees to maximise temperature moderation effects and be used to generate best practices guidelines for urban greening.

scholarly journals World Energy Resources and New Technologies

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-35
Author(s):  
Janusz S. Szmyd
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The development of civilisation is linked inextricably with growing demand for electricity. Thus, the still-rapid increase in the level of utilisation of natural resources, including fossil fuels, leaves it more and more urgent that conventional energy technologies and the potential of the renewable energy sources be made subject to re-evaluation. It is estimated that last 200 years have seen use made of more than 50% of the available natural resources. Equally, if economic forecasts prove accurate, for at least several more decades, oil, natural gas and coal will go on being the basic primary energy sources. The alternative solution represented by nuclear energy remains a cause of considerable public concern, while the potential for use to be made of renewable energy sources is seen to be very much dependent on local environmental conditions. For this reason, it is necessary to emphasise the impact of research that focuses on the further sharpening-up of energy efficiency, as well as actions aimed at increasing society’s awareness of the relevant issues. The history of recent centuries has shown that rapid economic and social transformation followed on from the industrial and technological revolutions, which is to say revolutions made possible by the development of power-supply technologies. While the 19th century was “the age of steam” or of coal, and the 20th century the era of oil and gas, the question now concerns the name that will at some point come to be associated with the 21st century. In this paper, the subjects of discussion are primary energy consumption and energy resources, though three international projects on the global scale are also presented, i.e. ITER, Hydrates and DESERTEC. These projects demonstrate new scientific and technical possibilities, though it is unlikely that commercialisation would prove feasible before 2050. Research should thus be focused on raising energy efficiency. The development of high-efficiency technologies that reinforce energy security is presented, with it being assumed that these new high-efficiency technologies are capable of being applied globally in the near future.

scholarly journals Eco-Sim: A Parametric Tool to Evaluate the Environmental and Economic Feasibility of Decentralized Energy Systems

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karni Siraganyan ◽  
Amarasinghage Perera ◽  
Jean-Louis Scartezzini ◽  
Dasaraden Mauree
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Thermal Storage ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Solar Pv ◽  
Levelized Cost Of Electricity

Due to climate change and the need to decrease the carbon footprint of urban areas, there is an increasing pressure to integrate renewable energy and other components in urban energy systems. Most of the models or available tools do not provide both an economic and environmental assessment of the energy systems and thus lead to the design of systems that are sub-optimal. A flexible and modular simulation tool, Eco-Sim, is thus developed in the current study to conduct a comprehensive techno-economic and environmental assessment of a distributed energy system considering different configuration scenarios. Subsequently, an intermodel comparison is conducted with the Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) Pro as well as with a state-of-the-art industrial tool. Eco-Sim is then extended by including the heating demand, thermal conversion (by using heat pumps and solar thermal) methods and thermal storage. A parametric analysis is conducted by considering different capacities of solar photovoltaics (PV), solar thermal panels and energy storage technologies. The levelized cost of electricity, the autonomy level and the CO 2 emissions are used as the key performance indicators. Based on the analysis of a study case conducted in a neighbourhood in Geneva, Switzerland, the study reveals that, with the present market prices for batteries and seasonal changes in solar energy potential, the combination of solar PV with battery storage doesn’t bring a significant autonomy to the system and increases the CO 2 emissions of the system. However, the integration of thermal storage and solar thermal generation is shown to considerably increase the autonomy of the neighbourhood. Finally, multiple scenarios are also run in order to evaluate the sensitivity of economic parameters on the performance indicators of the system. Under the assumptions of the model, to foster investments in solar PV and battery installations, falling installation costs or stronger policies in favor of renewable energy seem necessary for the future.

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