Techno-Economic Investigation of Using Solar Energy for Heating Swimming Pools in Buildings and Producing Hydrogen: A Case Study

Abstract

Solar energy is a free and environmentally friendly supply of power that has negligible impact on the environment, and it has long been used by humans through different methods. However, solar energy technology would use for heating water for buildings as an alternative resource, which would help reduce CO2 reduction and safe environment. A data analysis was performed using the RETScreen software, and the financial outcomes that were calculated using two methods. Clearly, the software is operational with two different methods. Both methods indicate that this project is economically feasible. The aim of this study is to evaluate the utilization of solar energy for household and commercial purposes. The first goal is to explore the technical, economic, and environmental aspects of using evacuated glass tube solar collectors to heat water in an indoor pool in the building, having an area of 50 m2, in the city of Yazd, Iran. The second goal is to evaluate the amount of hydrogen that can be obtained from the installation photovoltaic systems in the province. The results also show that this project will decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 142 ton-CO2 over 20 years of the useful life of a collector, thereby indicating the possible significant role of such collectors in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, the findings indicate that installing a single X21-345 photovoltaic system with a performance rate of 20% can result in the production of 2.1 kg of hydrogen annually.

Use of a Hybrid Wind—Solar—Diesel—Battery Energy System to Power Buildings in Remote Areas: A Case Study

“…Since the village has never had an electricity supply system and therefore no system for measuring consumption, it was necessary to estimate the amount of electricity to be consumed in the village. According to previous studies [2], the amount of electricity consumed in a village can be determined based on the number of households, the powerconsuming devices and appliances used by each household, and the consumption of service providers. Using this approach, the electricity consumption of the village was estimated for 20 households.…”

“…Modeling and implementation of solar power systems in a region involve three factors: the amount of solar radiation in that region, the cloudiness (or clearness) index of that region, and the area required for the construction of the power plant [2]. The amount of solar radiation received in a region can be easily estimated based on its geographical location.…”

“…This problem can be solved by either expanding power grids or building off-grid power generation systems. While a large portion (roughly 75%) of the world's electricity still comes from fossil fuel sources [2], the problems associated with overreliance on these fuels, including environmental degradation and climate change due to CO 2 emissions [3], have turned renewable energy sources such as wind [4,5], solar [6], and geothermal [7,8] into viable alternative sources of energy. However, there are still many problems with the use of standalone off-grid renewable systems to meet localized power demand, most notably high investment costs and low reliability due to the inherent uncertainty of renewable energy sources [9].…”

“…The cost of bringing electricity to remote rural communities with very low consumption could be surprisingly high. In many cases, the low demand makes it uneconomic and impractical to build and maintain grid lines in these areas [2]. While it might be a good idea to give diesel generators to these communities, the cost of fuel and the cost of transporting it from other areas could also be significant.…”

“…Therefore, this study is a technical, economic, and environmental evaluation of the use of HRES to power a rural area in southern Iran. The objectives and innovations of this study are as follows: (1) this is the first study on the use of HRES to power remote areas without grid access in Iran; (2) this is the first study to optimize the components of HRES for this purpose; (3) the results can be used for neighboring villages and other underdeveloped areas with similar climate (e.g., in Afghanistan); (4) a sensitivity analysis with 27 parameter settings has been performed on the parameters that might influence the price of generated electricity; (5) this is the first study to investigate hydrogen production from HRES built-in remote areas as a risk reduction solution. Regarding the last item, it should be explained that the government tends to not take the risk of investing in renewable energy in remote rural areas that could become uninhabited in the future, but by bringing hydrogen production into the picture, the present study offers a way to hedge this risk and raise the confidence in the viability of this investment.…”