Energy Academic Group Compilation of Abstracts 2012-2016

This report highlights the breadth of energy-related student research at NPS and reinforces the importance of energy as an integral aspect of today's Naval enterprise. The abstracts provided are from theses and a capstone project report completed by December 2012-March 2016 graduates.http://archive.org/details/energyacademicgr109454991

Integration of Data Driven Technologies in Smart Grids for Resilient and Sustainable Smart Cities: A Comprehensive Review

A modern-day society demands resilient, reliable, and smart urban infrastructure for effective and in telligent operations and deployment. However, unexpected, high-impact, and low-probability events such as earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, and hurricanes make the design of such robust infrastructure more complex. As a result of such events, a power system infrastructure can be severely affected, leading to unprecedented events, such as blackouts. Nevertheless, the integration of smart grids into the existing framework of smart cities adds to their resilience. Therefore, designing a resilient and reliable power system network is an inevitable requirement of modern smart city infras tructure. With the deployment of the Internet of Things (IoT), smart cities infrastructures have taken a transformational turn towards introducing technologies that do not only provide ease and comfort to the citizens but are also feasible in terms of sustainability and dependability. This paper presents a holistic view of a resilient and sustainable smart city architecture that utilizes IoT, big data analytics, unmanned aerial vehicles, and smart grids through intelligent integration of renew able energy resources. In addition, the impact of disasters on the power system infrastructure is investigated and different types of optimization techniques that can be used to sustain the power flow in the network during disturbances are compared and analyzed. Furthermore, a comparative review analysis of different data-driven machine learning techniques for sustainable smart cities is performed along with the discussion on open research issues and challenges

Integration of Small-cells Powered from Renewable Energy in LTE Networks

The carbon footprint of cellular base stations is continuously increasing, due to their large power consumption that accounts for more than 50 % of all of the cellular network infrastructure, and because of the large growth rate experienced by the cellular infrastructure. To address this problem, the work in this thesis investigates the feasibility of powering cellular base stations from harvested renewable energy. In addition, this work studies network architectures where the power consumed in the LTE macro base stations (called eNB) is reduced by integrating small-cells (e.g. micro, pico, and femto cells) into the LTE network, forming what is known as heterogeneous networks. Four different cellular network architectures are implemented: eNB-Micro, Micro only, eNB-Pico, and eNB-Femto. This work studies the performance of the architectures in terms of time operating from renewable energy, and the received signal quality improvement. Simulation results show that the implemented architectures operates from harvested renewable energy up to 93.9 % of the time for the case of the eNB-Femto architecture, and the probability of receiving SINR larger than 10 dB is increased from 0.25 (in the standard homogeneous LTE network) to up to 0.65 in the implemented architectures

Urban surface uses for climate resilient and sustainable cities: A catalogue of solutions

Abstract In the current scenario of massive urbanization and global climate change, the urban surfaces and their characteristics have a key role, as they significantly influence the quality of life in urban areas, as well as their environmental conditions. To shed light on the role of urban surfaces in fostering climate resilient and sustainable cities, this paper proposes a catalogue of solutions for the urban surface use. The catalogue presents the main surface uses suitable for the built environment, and discusses the potential conflicts and synergies among them in the view of a multiple and integrated utilization of urban surfaces. Reviewing studies published in the last 15 years, this study aims to answer three major questions: (i) which solutions do exist, (ii) where can these be applied, and (iii) which benefits do they provide. The discussion demonstrates that the use of urban surfaces might lead the development of multiple opportunities for improving the existing urban environments and supporting not only environmental, but also social and economic resilience. Finally, it emphasizes the need for specific quantitative and qualitative approaches to address the multi-disciplinary challenges posed by the design and implementation of surface uses, and the evaluation of their contribution to site-specific objectives

Columbus Climate Adaptation Plan

The Columbus Climate Adaptation Plan (CCAP) is the result of four years of effort that involved looking critically at climate change impacts, risks, and vulnerabilities in Columbus. The result is a set of prioritized actions that should be taken by city government, regional organizations, and residents to make the city more climate resilient. This document utilizes our understanding of Earth processes and climate change to help inform our local public policies. The CCAP Task Force sought involvement of stakeholders, technical experts, and the general public in developing this plan

Energy & Transportation Planning: evaluating an integrated active pavement template for transport interchange zones, as a renewable energy strategy for informal trade - The case study of the Warwick Transportation Precinct located near the eThekwini Central Business District.

Master of Town and Regional Planning. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2017.In trying to find alternate renewable energy sources and harnessing methods, the one method that could have mass scale potential within the Warwick transportation precinct is that of integrated active pavements. These are pressure membranes or piezoelectric material that could be integrated into the pavements of high frequency mobility spaces, to harness the mechanical pressure and convert it into electric energy. By formulating a spatial template for transport interchange zones (taxi ranks) within Warwick Junction and along Julius Nyerere Road, by conducting on-site observation studies, focus group interviews with public traders and in-depth interviews with municipal officials and civil society organisations and pedestrian counts along the corridor, we could map out the potential catchment areas for harnessing mechanical energy from pedestrian and vehicular traffic; this would be in accordance with tolerance thresholds of the piezoelectric materials used. Beyond the implementation of such a spatial template within Warwick Junction, we also hope to expand the scope of the municipal renewable energy strategy to include piezoelectric pavements and the mutual existence of public traders. The latter party, public traders, has been marginalized over time whenever development has come upon the Warwick Junction Precinct and therefore, the voices and views of public traders have been largely considered within this research. Even though renewable energy strategies can be simple in process, the conceptualization of integrated development would call upon an urban development strategy that is resilient and is able to maximise the knock-on effects of socio-economic growth, local innovation and carbon emissions reduction. By understanding the spatial function and socio-economic nature of mobility spaces, we can explain how pavements have a dual purpose that could see local off-grid energy-generating systems, making a positive contribution towards local renewable energy generation and in improving spatial efficiency by acknowledging all variables that make up an African City