Hybrid books for interactive digital storytelling : connecting story entities and emotions to smart environments

Nowadays, many people use e-books, having high expectations regarding their reading experience. In the case of digital storytelling, enhanced e-books can connect story entities and emotions to real-world elements. In this paper, we present the novel concept of a Hybrid Book, a generic Interactive Digital Narrative (IDN) artifact that requires seamless collaboration between content and smart devices. To that end, we extract data from a story and broadcast these data in RDF as Linked Data. Smart devices can then receive and process these data in order to execute corresponding actions. By following open standards, a Hybrid Book can also be seen as an interoperable and sustainable IDN artifact. Furthermore, according to our user-based evaluation, a Hybrid Book makes it possible to provide human sensible feedback while flipping pages, enabling a more enjoyable reading experience. Finally, the participants positive willingness to pay makes it possible to generate more revenue for publishers

Small-Scale Decentralized Energy Systems : optimization and performance analysis

Small-scale polygeneration energy systems, providing multiple energy services, such as heating, electricity, cooling, and clean water, using multiple energy sources (renewable and non-renewable) are considered an important component in the energy transition movement. Exploiting locally available energy sources and providing energy services close to the end users have potential environmental, economic, and societal benefits. Furthermore, integration of thermal and electro-chemical storages in the system can decrease fossil fuel consumption, particularly when applying a long-term perspective. Despite their promising potential, the global share of power generation by these systems, including the combined heat and power (CHP) systems, is relatively low in the current energy market. To investigate the applicability of these systems, their competitiveness in comparison with conventional energy solutions should be carefully analyzed in terms of energy, economy, and the environment. However, determining whether the implementation of a polygeneration system fulfills economic, energetic, and environmental criteria is a challenging process. Additionally, the design of such systems is a complex task, due to a system design with various generation and storage modules, and the continuous interaction between the modules, load demand fluctuations, and the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources. In this research study, a method to identify the optimal size for small-scale polygeneration systems and suitable operating strategies is proposed. Based on this method, a mathematical model is developed that can optimize the design in terms of energy, economy, and the environment relative to a reference system for a given application. Moreover, the developed model is used to investigate the effects of various parameters on the performance of the system, including, among others, the selected operating strategy and load characteristics as well the climate zones through a number of case studies. It is concluded that the application of a small-scale polygeneration energy system potentially has considerable energetic and environmental benefits. However, its economic feasibility varies from case to case. The concluding remarks are primarily intended to provide a general perception of the potential application of a polygeneration system as an alternative solution. It also provides a general understanding of the effects of various parameters on the design and performance of a complex polygeneration system. The results from various case studies demonstrate that the developed model can efficiently identify the optimal size of a polygeneration system and its performance relative to a reference system. This can support engineers and researchers as well as investors and other decision makers to realize whether a polygeneration system is a good choice for a specific case

Design Optimization of a Small-Scale Polygeneration Energy System in Different Climate Zones in Iran

Design and performance of polygeneration energy systems are highly influenced by several variables, including the climate zone, which can affect the load profile as well as the availability of renewable energy sources. To investigate the effects, in this study, the design of a polygeneration system for identical residential buildings that are located in three different climate zones in Iran has been investigated. To perform the study, a model has previously developed by the author is used. The performance of the polygeneration system in terms of energy, economy and environment were compared to each other. The results show significant energetic and environmental benefits of the implementation of polygeneration systems in Iran, especially in the building that is located in a hot climate, with a high cooling demand and a low heating demand. Optimal polygeneration system for an identical building has achieved a 27% carbon dioxide emission reduction in the cold climate, while this value is around 41% in the hot climate. However, when considering the price of electricity and gas in the current energy market in Iran, none of the systems are feasible and financial support mechanisms or other incentives are required to promote the application of decentralized polygeneration energy systems

Optimal planning and design method for complex polygeneration systems : A case study for a residential building in Italy

Polygeneration energy systems using multiple energy sources (e.g., wind, biomass, solar) and delivering multiple energy services (i.e., heating, cooling, and electricity) have potential economic and environmental benefits over traditional energy generation systems. However, for maximized benefits, such systems must be the correct size and have a suitable operating strategy implemented. In this study, an optimization model is proposed to identify the optimal design and operating strategy of a complex polygeneration system. The system includes photovoltaic modules, solar thermal units, wind turbines, combined heat and power units, energy storages (hot, cold, and electric), vapor compression and absorption chillers, and a boiler. The interactions between these units are managed based on the integrated operating strategies: following thermal load, following electric load and modified base load. A particle swarm optimization is used as an optimization algorithm and the objective function is defined to minimize the annualized total cost, fuel consumption, and carbon dioxide emissions using a weighting factor method. The careful incorporation of the realistic operation of the CHP is considered in the theoretical model. This includes the effects of the part-load operation and outdoor temperature on the efficiency and power output of the CHP. In addition, the size dependency of the unit cost of the chillers and CHP units over the search space is taken into account. With this approach, the achieved results would be as close to real conditions as possible. Six configuration scenarios are examined for a case study in a residential building complex located in northern Italy. It is concluded that implementation of the optimized polygeneration system has energetic, economic, and environmental conservation benefits in all these scenarios. The annualized cost and fuel consumption of the optimal solutions decreased by 3–19% and 10–37%, respectively, for the various scenarios compared to the separate generation system.QC 20180529</p

Optimal planning and design method for complex polygeneration systems : A case study for a residential building in Italy

Polygeneration energy systems using multiple energy sources (e.g., wind, biomass, solar) and delivering multiple energy services (i.e., heating, cooling, and electricity) have potential economic and environmental benefits over traditional energy generation systems. However, for maximized benefits, such systems must be the correct size and have a suitable operating strategy implemented. In this study, an optimization model is proposed to identify the optimal design and operating strategy of a complex polygeneration system. The system includes photovoltaic modules, solar thermal units, wind turbines, combined heat and power units, energy storages (hot, cold, and electric), vapor compression and absorption chillers, and a boiler. The interactions between these units are managed based on the integrated operating strategies: following thermal load, following electric load and modified base load. A particle swarm optimization is used as an optimization algorithm and the objective function is defined to minimize the annualized total cost, fuel consumption, and carbon dioxide emissions using a weighting factor method. The careful incorporation of the realistic operation of the CHP is considered in the theoretical model. This includes the effects of the part-load operation and outdoor temperature on the efficiency and power output of the CHP. In addition, the size dependency of the unit cost of the chillers and CHP units over the search space is taken into account. With this approach, the achieved results would be as close to real conditions as possible. Six configuration scenarios are examined for a case study in a residential building complex located in northern Italy. It is concluded that implementation of the optimized polygeneration system has energetic, economic, and environmental conservation benefits in all these scenarios. The annualized cost and fuel consumption of the optimal solutions decreased by 3–19% and 10–37%, respectively, for the various scenarios compared to the separate generation system.QC 20180529</p

Design Optimization of a Complex Polygeneration System for a Hospital

Small-scale decentralized polygeneration systems have several energetic, economic and environmental benefits. However, using multiple energy sources and providing multiple energy services can lead to complicated studies which require advanced optimization techniques for determining optimal solutions. Furthermore, several parameters can influence the design and performance of a polygeneration system. In this study, the effects of heat load, renewable generation and storage units on the optimal design and performance of a polygeneration system for a hypothetical hospital located in northern Italy are investigated. The polygeneration system shows higher performance compared to the reference system, which is based on the separate generation of heat and power. It reduces fuel consumption by 14&ndash;32%, CO2 emissions by 10&ndash;29% and annualized total cost by 7&ndash;19%, for various studied scenarios. The avoided fuel and electricity purchase of the polygeneration system has a positive impact on the economy. This, together with the environmental and energetic benefits if the renewable generation and use of storage devices, indicate the viability and competitiveness of the system