A Process for the Implementation of New Renewable Energy Systems in a Building by Considering Environmental and Economic Effect

Abstract

Abstract:The excessive use of fossil fuels has led to global warming and air pollution. To solve these problems, interest in new renewable energy system (NRE system) has increased in recent years. In particular, photovoltaic, solar thermal heating, fuel cell and ground source heating system are actively implemented for achieving the zero energy building. Since the initial investment cost of the NRE system is quite expensive, it is necessary to conduct a feasibility study from the life cycle perspective. Therefore, this study aimed to develop the process for the implementation of NRE system in a building for the optimal design. This study was conducted with four steps: (i) establishing the basic information for the system installation; (ii) selecting key factors affecting system performances; (iii) making possible alternatives of the system installation; and (iv) selecting optimal system by considering environmental and economic effect. The proposed process could enable the final decision-maker to easily and accurately determine the optimal design of the NRE systems from the economic and environmental efficiency in the early design phase. The process could also be applied to any other NRE system and could be extended to any other country in the global environment. OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2015, 7 12871 Keywords: new renewable energy; photovoltaic system; solar thermal energy system; fuel cell system; ground source heat pump system

Overview of Solar Energy for Aquaculture: The Potential and Future Trends

“…Based on the intensity of energy for aquaculture by regions, it is showed that Europe and Central Asia has the highest energy intensity with 0.032 TJ/ton, followed by others. The high energy intensity accounts for a large percentage of intensive culture or land-based system [5].…”

Review on mechanical behavior of solar cells for building integrated photovoltaics

“…In the building energy consumption area, the use of HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) is the main way to meet increasing residential comfort requirements and accounts for the vast majority of energy consumption, 50% in developed countries [8] and more than 60% in China [9]. Therefore, reducing the energy consumption of the HVAC system is the key to reducing building energy consumption and is an effective way to deal with the global energy crisis [10].…”

An Energy Supply Chain from Large Scale Photovoltaic Power Generation from Asian Cities to End Users in Japan

“…The combination system of PV and H 2 produced by water electrolyzer using renewable energy sources have been studied numerically as well as experimentally [8]- [23]. Energy and exergy analysis [8] [9] [10], economic assessment [11] [12] [13] [14] [15], environmental assessment [16] [17] and dynamic control procedure in a short time [18] [19] [20] were reported. Though the storage characteristics of H 2 produced by water electrolisys are investigated [21] [22], there are a few reports that investigate the transportation system of H 2 produced by water electrolysis using the power generated by renewable energy sources [3] [23], which are only discussed about CO 2 emission and more investigations are necessary from the viewpoint of energy assessment.…”