Search

Integrating photovoltaic technology has undergone significant development in recent years, owing to its manifold advantages. One of the most recent domains where this technology has found application is within the transportation sector. The utilization of this technology possesses the potential to initiate a new revolution in transportation by enhancing the range and reducing fuel consumption in vehicles. The performance of these systems is influenced by numerous factors, which have been thoroughly examined in this study. These factors have been categorized into three broad groups: installation site, solar cell characteristics, and environmental conditions. It is important to note that these conditions are inherently interdependent, so this study reveals that the radiation incident on the roof of a van can be 1.09–3.85 times greater than the radiation incident on its sides, according to varying meteorological conditions and different seasons. The current research serves as a valuable foundation for future investigations in this field, offering a targeted and practical overview of the work conducted thus far and summarizing the current state of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the installation of efficient lighting sources and Information and Communications Technologies can provide economic benefits, energy efficiency, and visual comfort requirements. More advantages can be derived if the public lighting infrastructure integrates a smart grid. This study presents an experimental multifunctional infrastructure for public lighting, installed in Palermo. The system is able to provide smart lighting functions (hotspot Wi-Fi, video-surveillances, car and pedestrian access control, car parking monitoring and support for environmental monitoring). A remote control and monitoring platform called "Centro Servizi" processes the information coming from different installations as well as their status in real time, and sends commands to the devices (e.g. to control the luminous flux), each one provided with a machine to machine interface. Data can be reported either on the web or on a customised app. The study has shown the efficient operation of such new infrastructure and its capability to provide new functions and benefits to citizens, tourists, and public administration. Thus, this system represents a starting point for the implementation of many other lighting infrastructure features typical of a "smart city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new energy balance model of outdoor swimming pools assesses their heating demand. • The proposed model was validated using the experimental outdoor data set. • Lowing the operating water temperature by 1 °C cuts energy consumption by about 11 % • Anti-evaporative cover usage reduces energy demand, with up to 30% savings. • Local wind conditions play a key role in outdoor pool energy consumption. In the Mediterranean region, outdoor swimming pools, despite having lower energy consumption compared to indoor pools, are nonetheless highly energy-intensive structures, offering significant opportunities for energy efficiency improvements. Although there are numerous studies in the literature, few of these works have been dedicated to estimating the energy consumption of outdoor pools while considering typical local meteorological conditions and their occupancy rates. This paper presents a novel energy balance model for outdoor pools that incorporates the latest correlations for calculating evaporation due to forced convection and sky temperature, a new phenomenological model for assessing the enhancement of evaporation as a function of occupancy rate, and an approach that takes into account atmospheric stability conditions in defining wind-related heat losses. The model successfully predicts the annual energy consumption data for outdoor Olympic swimming pools in Greece with a mean absolute percentage error of less than 12 %. Simulations of an outdoor swimming pool operating with water at 26.5 °C and in which the cover is not used present indicate a specific thermal energy consumption of about 2300 kWh/m2. A decrease in water temperature by 1 °C and the use of a cover result in approximately 11 % and 30 % reduction in consumption, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing street lighting systems, in most of South Italy cities, are often inefficient due to the obsolescence of lamps and luminaires and of ineffective light control systems unable to implement efficient on-off and dimming strategies. Energy efficiency improvement, in street lighting systems, is often one of the key actions to be adopted by Public Administration in their Sustainable Energy Action Plan in the framework of the “Covenant of Majors” activities. As a task of FACTOR 20 project, a set of planning options has been analysed and proposed. Particularly, street lighting efficiency projects have been studied for representative case studies. A detailed survey of the public lighting systems, in Comiso, allowed represent current performance figures such us installed power, luminance and illuminance levels in roads categories, electricity consumption, switching and dimming schedules. A project of system upgrade has been elaborated. To do this, many lighting simulations, energy and economic assessments in three scenarios have been performed. The obtained results show that high improvements of the lighting quality are foreseeable together with large energy and economic saving. An economic sensitivity analysis, has shown how the performance can change. The proposed methodology can be applied in many similar South Italy cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from the results of a life cycle assessment of solar thermal collector for sanitary warm water, an energy balance between the employed energy during the collector life cycle and the energy saved thanks to the collector use has been investigated. A sensitivity analysis for estimating the effects of the chosen methods and data on the outcome of the study was carried out. Uncertainties due to the eco-profile of input materials and the initial assumptions have been analysed.Since the study is concerned with a renewable energy system, attention has been focused on the energy indexes and in particular the “global energy consumption”. Following the principles of Kyoto Protocol, the variations of CO2 emissions have also been studied. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Layout for a dish-Stirling coupled to a geothermal storage system presented. • Energy performance of the cogenerative solar concentrator presented. • Influence of several physical parameters investigated to optimise the system. • Identification of a incentivisation policy for a cogenerative dish-Stirling plant. • Evaluation of energy and economic viability of the cogenerative layout. In the future, renewable energy sources will increasingly represent an efficient energy source capable of meeting the demands of residential and industrial buildings avoiding the emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In this paper, a heat and electric power cogeneration plant implementing a field of dish-Stirling collectors, a seasonal geothermal storage and a system of water-to-water heat pumps is proposed for the first time. The cogeneration plant has been designed both to supply thermal energy to the heating system of Building 9 of the Department of Engineering in Palermo and to produce electricity. The operation of the plant has been tested by means of hourly-based numerical simulations that have been carried out using a numerical model implemented with Transient System Simulation Tool. The experimental data of a pilot dish-Stirling collector, located in the same area, has been used to carefully calibrate the numerical model. Using energy and economic performance indicators, it was possible to select the best configurations among 1440 analysed cases. Results of simulations show that with the best plant configuration, it is possible to cover 97% of the building's annual thermal loads with energy produced by the solar system. The remaining 64% of electrical energy produced by the electric engines is free to be used for other applications. Financial analyses have shown that market penetration of this type of plant would need a strong support through incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]