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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "G: Energy and Buildings".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 June 2023) | Viewed by 24398

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Prof. Dr. Xiangfei Kong

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Guest Editor

School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China
Interests: phase change material preparation and energy storage; low carbon energy supply and performance improvement in buildings; healthy built environment construction; renewable energy utilization
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Dr. Tailu Li

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Guest Editor

School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China
Interests: matching technology of energy supply and consumption; clean energy supply technology in buildings; temperature and humidity independent control; low-medium grade thermal energy utilization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Population growth and living standard improvements result in tremendous energy consumption and serious global warming. Space heating and cooling have always been one of the major energy consumers all over the world. In order to achieve the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 ºC, low-carbon energies, especially solar energy and geothermal energy, along with other kinds of renewable energies, are becoming increasingly important as energy resources for buildings. Such low-carbon energies for cooling and heating buildings can greatly contribute to mitigating climate change and achieving carbon neutrality. There exist huge differences in energy attributes, meteorological conditions, building properties, and operating characteristics, so low-carbon energy systems integrated with buildings should adjust to meet local conditions. The latest findings can be applied to a wide range of low-carbon energy systems beyond the cases of countries of study.

This Special Issue aims to present and disseminate the most recent advances related to the theory, modelling, process, design, simulation, application, and economic assessment of all types of low-carbon energy technologies for the heating and cooling of buildings.

Prof. Dr. Xiangfei Kong
Dr. Tailu Li
Guest Editors

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Keywords

solar heating and cooling
geothermal heating and cooling
district heating and cooling
combined cooling and heating
thermal energy storage
heat pump
cogeneration
renewable energy system

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 3608 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of the Contribution of China’s Car-Sharing Service to Carbon Emission Reduction

by Xinyue Cao, Haizhu Zhou, Han Li and Xiangfei Kong

Energies 2023, 16(14), 5518; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16145518 - 21 Jul 2023

Viewed by 1936

Abstract

In light of carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, China has attached great importance to energy savings and carbon reduction. Carbon reduction in the transport sector is critical to achieving the two-carbon target, as it accounts for 9.41% of total carbon emissions. As the sharing economy grows, car sharing is considered to present excellent carbon reduction potential in the transportation sector. However, the current research is focused on car sharing usage, with a lack of research on the carbon reduction capability of car sharing in China. Hence, this study aims to investigate the carbon reduction capacity of car sharing, including usage rates of car-share services and changes in travel behavior, through an online questionnaire combined with carbon emission data from the transportation sector. The study aims to analyze the contribution of car-share services to carbon reduction in the transportation sector under the current model. The well-to-wheel (WTW) approach is employed, including the energy consumption of vehicles and carbon emissions in the production process. The research results indicate that the introduction of car-sharing services increases driving energy consumption; however, this increase is offset by the decrease in carbon emissions as a result of the production process. Therefore, the overall effect is a reduction in carbon emissions of 1.058971 million tons in 2021, accounting for 1.95 percent of total transport carbon emissions. In addition, the impact on different modes on carbon emission reduction is also explored in this study. The results demonstrate that the private car disposal rate shows the most significant influence on traffic carbon emissions; a 10% reduction in the number of private cars can lead to a 2.48% carbon reduction. The relevant conclusions of this study can provide support for the future development of car sharing in China and the reduction of carbon emissions in the transportation sector. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Carbon Energy Technology for Heating and Cooling of Buildings)

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20 pages, 1154 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thermodynamic Performance Comparison of CCHP System Based on Organic Rankine Cycle and Two-Stage Vapor Compression Cycle

by Tailu Li, Jingyi Wang, Yao Zhang, Ruizhao Gao and Xiang Gao

Energies 2023, 16(3), 1558; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16031558 - 3 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2052

Abstract

Owing to different temperature rages of power generation and refrigeration in the cogeneration system, for the sake of selecting the working fluids that are suitable for both power generation and refrigeration simultaneously, 17 commonly used working fluids are evaluated in this paper, based on an organic Rankine cycle coupled with a two-stage vapor compression cycle system in different geothermal fluid temperatures. The performances of working fluids under different working conditions, and the maximum power generation as well as cooling capacity are analyzed. Additionally, the main parameters are analyzed to optimize the system performance. The results indicate that net power output has a local maximum where it corresponds to the optimal evaporation temperature. Besides, the lower the critical temperature, the greater the thermal conductance, and the pressure ratio decreases with evaporation temperature. Hydrocarbons all have higher total heat source recovery efficiency. R1234yf, propane and R1234ze, R152a have excellent maximum net power output when the geothermal fluid temperature is low and high, respectively. R134a always has better maximum net power output and cooling capacity. The net power output is used for cooling, and the COP is closed, therefore, maximum net power output results in the maximum cooling capacity. In addition, that of propane and R1234yf are excellent until the geothermal fluid temperature are 140 °C and 120 °C separately. R1234ze and R152a are good when the geothermal fluid temperatures are 140 °C and 150 °C, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Carbon Energy Technology for Heating and Cooling of Buildings)

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23 pages, 3697 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A New Type in TRNSYS 18 for Simulation of Borehole Heat Exchangers Affected by Different Groundwater Flow Velocities

by Matteo Antelmi, Francesco Turrin, Andrea Zille and Roberto Fedrizzi

Energies 2023, 16(3), 1288; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16031288 - 25 Jan 2023

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2966

Abstract

Heating ventilating air-conditioning (HVAC) systems have been increasingly widespread in Italy: they can exploit renewable energies, are energy efficient systems, do not directly consume fossil fuels, and in the post-pandemic era, have also been subject to incentive processes by the Italian government. In South Tyrol, subject to harsh climates in both the winter and summer seasons, ground-source heat pump (GSHP) systems can be an excellent solution for the air conditioning of buildings. Unfortunately, too often, the design of HVAC systems with borehole heat exchangers (BHEs) is not adequate, and therefore, an innovative and expeditious numerical solution is proposed. A new numerical element (named Type285), written in Fortran code, was developed for TRNSYS 18 and able to implement the main features of BHEs and the surrounding aquifer. Type285 was compared with numerical models present in the literature (using hydrogeological software such as MODFLOW) and validated with the experimental data. The demonstration of the exchanged energy increase between the BHE and subsoil due to the increase in the groundwater flow velocity was carried out and evaluated. The choice to simulate BHE in TRNSYS using Type285 can be a fast and advantageous solution for HVAC system design. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Carbon Energy Technology for Heating and Cooling of Buildings)

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17 pages, 4952 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimization Methods of Urban Green Space Layout on Tropical Islands to Control Heat Island Effects

by Haizhu Zhou, Qingqin Wang, Neng Zhu, Yitong Li, Jiayu Li, Lining Zhou, Yu Pei and Shuai Zhang

Energies 2023, 16(1), 368; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16010368 - 28 Dec 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2579

Abstract

With the rapid increase in demand for the construction and development of island cities in the South China Sea, the urban heat island phenomenon in such cities should become a key factor to be considered in future urban planning. This paper took Sanya, China as a typical case, and long-term field experiments were conducted in the Mangrove Bay Area in summer and winter. An innovative urban green space cooling model was proposed, using the “green space cooling index” to quantitatively characterize the green space cooling effect, and aiming to minimize the intensity of urban heat islands. This paper studied the optimization method of green space planning and layout under the constraint of a centralized green space total area. Moreover, a genetic algorithm was adopted to optimize the calculation and the layout of the urban green space. The experimental results showed that the urban heat island intensity was more significant at night and was less effective in the daytime during summer. In winter, the urban heat island intensity had a greater effect in the daytime and was less influential at night. Finally, optimization results indicated that the average urban heat island intensity in summer was reduced by 8.8% under the optimal layout urban green space of 0.025 km². The maximum reduction in heat island intensity occurred at 7:00 am (0.48 °C). When 0.0625 km² urban green space was planned, the average urban heat island intensity index in summer was reduced to 0.27 °C, with a decrease of 20.5%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Carbon Energy Technology for Heating and Cooling of Buildings)

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16 pages, 1131 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Research on Carbon Emission Characteristics of Rural Buildings Based on LMDI-LEAP Model

by Haichao Feng, Ruonan Wang and He Zhang

Energies 2022, 15(24), 9269; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15249269 - 7 Dec 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 1974

Abstract

Based on the emission factor method and LMDI-LEAP model, this paper systematically studies the current situation, influencing factors and changing trend of carbon emissions from rural buildings in a typical village located in southern China. The results showed that (1) the per capita carbon emissions generated by the energy consumption of rural buildings is 2.58 tCO₂/a. Carbon emissions from electricity consumption in buildings account for about 96.07%; (2) the per capita building area, building area energy intensity, population size, population structure and carbon emission coefficient affect rural building carbon emissions, with contribution rates of 70.13%, 31.27%, 0.61%, −1.21% and −0.80%, respectively; (3) from 2021 to 2060, the carbon emissions of rural buildings are expected to increase first and then decrease. In 2021, the base year, carbon emissions from buildings were 2755.49 tCO₂. The carbon emissions will peak at 5275.5 tCO₂. Measures such as controlling the scale of buildings and improving the utilization rate of clean energy can effectively reduce carbon emissions, in which case the peak can be reduced to 4830.06 tCO₂. Finally, the countermeasures and suggestions about rural building energy saving and emission reduction are proposed, including improving the construction management, raising energy efficiency standards in buildings, increasing the proportion of clean energy and raising residents’ awareness of energy conservation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Carbon Energy Technology for Heating and Cooling of Buildings)

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23 pages, 5330 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Preliminary Study on Optimization of a Geothermal Heating System Coupled with Energy Storage for Office Building Heating in North China

by Yapeng Ren, Xinli Lu, Wei Zhang, Jiaqi Zhang, Jiali Liu, Feng Ma, Zhiwei Cui, Hao Yu, Tianji Zhu and Yalin Zhang

Energies 2022, 15(23), 8947; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15238947 - 26 Nov 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1591

Abstract

Geothermal heating is considered to be one of the low-carbon-energy technologies for building heating. Aiming at the problem that the operating cost and investment cost of geothermal heating systems are still high, the conventional geothermal heating system coupled with energy storage for office building heating is studied in this paper. Four operational strategy models of the coupled system are established based on time-of-use electricity prices. A genetic algorithm is used to find the optimal value of each decision variable using minimization of levelized cost of heat (LCOH) as the objective function. The influences of electricity and equipment prices on the optimal values of the decision variables are discussed. Four operation strategies are investigated. If only operating cost is considered in the optimization, comparison shows that the best operation strategy is the one giving high priority to use the energy storage tank for heating during the peak electricity period. However, if the investment cost is further considered in the optimization, the best operation strategy is the one using the energy storage tank for heat load peak-regulating. In addition, based on the minimization of LCOH, an optimal energy storage ratio is found for each scenario, and suitable conditions of using energy storage tank are discussed. The geothermal heating system coupled with energy storage can have a good performance when the peak-valley electricity price difference is higher than CNY 0.566/kW·h (USD 0.0847/kW·h)⁺ or the energy storage tank price is lower than CNY 900/m³ (USD 134.64/m³). The results obtained from this study prove that the cost of geothermal heating systems can be effectively reduced by choosing an optimal operation strategy and using an energy storage device with an optimal energy storage ratio. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Carbon Energy Technology for Heating and Cooling of Buildings)

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20 pages, 5494 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Building Heat Demand Prediction Based on Reinforcement Learning for Thermal Comfort Management

by Chendong Wang, Lihong Zheng, Jianjuan Yuan, Ke Huang and Zhihua Zhou

Energies 2022, 15(21), 7856; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15217856 - 23 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1404

Abstract

The accurate prediction of building heat demand plays the critical role in refined management of heating, which is the basis for on-demand heating operation. This paper proposed a prediction model framework for building heat demand based on reinforcement learning. The environment, reward function and agent of the model were established, and experiments were carried out to verify the effectiveness and advancement of the model. Through the building heat demand prediction, the model proposed in this study can dynamically control the indoor temperature within the acceptable interval (19–23 °C). Moreover, the experimental results showed that after the model reached the primary, intermediate and advanced targets in training, the proportion of time that the indoor temperature can be controlled within the target interval (20.5–21.5 °C) was over 35%, 55% and 70%, respectively. In addition to maintaining indoor temperature, the model proposed in this study also achieved on-demand heating operation. The model achieving the advanced target, which had the best indoor temperature control performance, only had a supply–demand error of 4.56%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Carbon Energy Technology for Heating and Cooling of Buildings)

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24 pages, 4681 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thermodynamic Performance of Geothermal Energy Cascade Utilization for Combined Heating and Power Based on Organic Rankine Cycle and Vapor Compression Cycle

by Tailu Li, Xuelong Li, Haiyang Gao, Xiang Gao and Nan Meng

Energies 2022, 15(19), 7294; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15197294 - 4 Oct 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1920

Abstract

A large population and rapid urbanization dramatically promote the heating supply demand, the combined heating and power (CHP) system for energy cascade utilization came into being. However, the research on the recovery and utilization of condensing heat, the exploration of the coupling law between power generation and heating supply, and the influence of heat source parameters on thermo-economic performance are still insufficient. To this end, two combined heating and power (CHP) systems coupled with an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) and vapor compression cycle (VCC) are proposed, and their thermodynamic and economic performances are optimized and analyzed by the laws of thermodynamics. Results show that the increase of the volume flow will increase the power generation and heating supply quantity of the system, and there is an optimal evaporation temperature range of 130–140 °C to optimize the performance of the system. The increase of heat source temperature will improve the economic performance of the system, but it will reduce the exergetic efficiency. Therefore, two factors should be comprehensively considered in practical engineering. There is mutual exclusivity between the net power output of the system and the heating supply quantity, it should be reasonably allocated according to the actual needs of users in engineering applications. In addition, the exergetic efficiency of the two systems can reach more than 60%, and the energy utilization rate is high, which indicates that the cascade utilization mode is reasonable. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Carbon Energy Technology for Heating and Cooling of Buildings)

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18 pages, 9235 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Uniformity of Supply Air in the Plenum for Under-Floor Air Distribution Ventilation in a Circular Conference Room: A CFD Study

by Xiaolei Fan, Tao Yu, Peng Liu and Xiangdong Li

Energies 2022, 15(17), 6370; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15176370 - 31 Aug 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2752

Abstract

Underfloor air distribution (UFAD) systems are increasingly used for their advantages in improving energy savings, indoor air quality, and thermal comfort. In UFAD systems, an underfloor plenum delivers conditioned air to the air supply diffusers. The distribution of internal air velocity and static pressure in plenums determines the uniformity of the airflow to the occupied zones. As a result, the plenum has a detrimental effect on the characteristics of the supply air and, thus, the resulting indoor air quality and thermal comfort. Nevertheless, most existing studies on underfloor plenums focused on small-scale plenums with a single internal air duct. Large plenums and multiple air ducts in UFAD equipped in large premises are underexplored. In this study, a circular underfloor plenum with a large scale (radius of 15 m, height difference of 0.9−2.9 m) and 503 under-seat diffusers in a conference room was studied using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation (ANSYS Fluent (16.0)). The distributions of airflow velocity and static pressure inside the plenum were analyzed and compared to one concentrated air supply mode and three uniform air supply modes. Based on the air velocity at the center of under-seat diffusers, the outgoing airflow uniformity from the diffusers under four cases was evaluated by the index of air velocity uniformity. The results showed that the multiple supply ducts with bottom air outlets yielded the best uniformity of supply air. The findings of this paper are expected to provide a technical basis for realizing the optimal design of the UFAD system in terms of uniformity of supply air. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Carbon Energy Technology for Heating and Cooling of Buildings)

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17 pages, 3013 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Preparation and Characterization of Microencapsulated Phase Change Materials for Solar Heat Collection

by Hongbing Chen, Rui Zhao, Congcong Wang, Lianyuan Feng, Shuqian Li and Yutong Gong

Energies 2022, 15(15), 5354; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15155354 - 23 Jul 2022

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2048

Abstract

In this paper, a new type of microencapsulated phase change materials (MPCMs) with docosane as the core and titanium dioxide (TiO₂) as the shell was prepared by in situ polymerization. Its phase transition temperature was approximately 40 °C, and it can be used as a phase change material (PCM) in a low-temperature solar heat collection system. The properties of the new material were examined including the microstructure, the chemical elements on the surface of the microcapsules, and thermal conductivity. In addition, to obtain the optimized formula of the microcapsules, single-factor analysis on the emulsifier type, its mass fraction, ultrasonic oscillation time, pH, and core–shell ratio were performed. The results showed that the MPCMs prepared in this paper had a particle size of 2–5 μm and were spherical. Its surface was uniform and smooth without cracks, and the TiO₂ was well dispersed around the docosane, completely coating the docosane without impurities. The MPCMs had good performance in terms of thermal properties and heat storage when using 0.40% SDS as an emulsifier, 10 min ultrasonic, a 3.5 pH value, and a 1:1 core–shell ratio. However, the stirring method, time, and experimental reaction temperature also affected the properties of the material, which was not studied in this experiment. We will continue to study these factors in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Carbon Energy Technology for Heating and Cooling of Buildings)

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19 pages, 5766 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigation of the Heat Transfer Performance of Multi-Borehole Double-Pipe Heat Exchangers in Medium-Shallow Strata

by Wenjing Li, Wenke Zhang, Zhenxing Li, Haiqing Yao, Ping Cui and Fangfang Zhang

Energies 2022, 15(13), 4798; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15134798 - 30 Jun 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1592

Abstract

Just as the double-pipe heat exchanger is being utilized in an increasing number of applications, its research content is also deepening. For this paper, based on the air-conditioning cold and heat source project of a building in Handan, Hebei Province, a 300-meter medium-shallow well double-pipe heat exchanger was used for heating and cooling, and a corresponding heat transfer model was established. The changes of parameters such as the inlet and outlet temperature, heat exchange (with and without a temperature gradient), and borehole wall temperature distribution between a single borehole, double boreholes, and four boreholes over one year in medium-shallow wells were simulated and analyzed. By comparing the obtained experimental data and the simulation data, the accuracy of the heat transfer model was verified. This provides a theoretical basis for the further advancement of the project and lays the foundation for an in-depth study of multi-borehole double-pipe heat exchangers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Carbon Energy Technology for Heating and Cooling of Buildings)

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