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An understanding of electricity consumption due to residential air conditioning (AC) may improve production and environmental impact strategy design. This article reports on a study of peak and seasonal electricity consumption for residential air conditioning in the region of Madrid, Spain. Consumption was assessed by simulating the operation of AC units at the outdoor summer temperature characteristics of central Spain. AC unit performance when operating under part load conditions in keeping with weather conditions was also studied to find cooling demand and energy efficiency. Likewise final electricity consumption was computed and used to calculate energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). Cooling demand, when family holidays outside the region were factored into the calculations, came to 1.46 × 109 kWh. Associated seasonal electricity demand was 617 × 106 kWh and seasonal performance of AC units around 2.4. Electricity consumption in the whole region was observed to peak on 30 June 2008 at 5.44 × 106 kW, being the load attributable to residential AC 1.79 × 106 kW, resulting about 33% of the total peak consumption. The seasonal cost per household was about €156 and the total equivalent warming impact was 572 × 103 t CO2. The method proposed can be adapted for use in other regions.

The Distributed Activation Energy Model (DAEM) was used to determine the pyrolysis kinetics of wood pellets. The Miura and Maki three­curve method was applied, using heating rates of 10, 15 and 20 K/min to obtain the activation energy, Ea, and the frequency factor, k0. The devolatilization curves were predicted for heating rates up to 200 K/min and compared with independent experimental data obtained with a thermogravimetric analyzer., Proceedings of the 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-10 June 2011, Berlin, Germany, pp. 1686-1690