Selection of biogas, solar, and wind power plants’ locations: An MCDA approach

This study discusses a multi-criteria approach to locating biogas, solar and wind power plants that significantly addresses the challenge of global warming caused by power generation. Because the utility of locations to build renewable energy power plants depends on economic, social and environmental dimensions, after reviewing literature, the sustainable frameworks of criteria affecting the location of biogas, solar and wind power plants were examined in this paper. The offered frameworks are applied to determining the site of biogas, solar, and wind power plants in Iran. The provinces of Iran are assessed as alternatives in this paper. To compute the weight of criteria in the offered framework, data from a sample of experts in Iran are used via an online survey form designed based on the best-worst method (BWM). Using the results of the BWM and the performance data, the overall score are calculated for the various provinces of Iran. The results of this study indicate that energy saving, effect on resources and natural reserves and wind flow, respectively, are the most effective factors for determining the place of biogas, solar and wind power plants, and South Khorasan, Khuzestan, and Khuzestan show the best result for establishing biogas, solar, and wind power plants in Iran respectively

Whole Life-cycle Carbon Assessment of Building Retrofits with Water-Filled Glass (WFG) Secondary Glazing

The existing building stock possesses a proportionally high impact on greenhouse gas emissions due to its low operational energy performance; retrofitting is a prominent strategy in many countries to help solve this, and as such is considered important to achieve a carbon neutral society. Among the energy retrofitting measures (ERMs), those impacting the performance of building envelopes are of primary relevance, especially ones that possess high Window-to-Wall Ratios (WWR) over 50%; these are predominantly found in office buildings built after 1960s. Here, the two dominant ERM strategies are to replace low performing elements, or to add secondary layers to the existing glass. This second strategy in particular is shown to present several benefits, however these are seldom considered and verified within a wider Life-Cycle Analysis (LCA). To this effect, this paper aims to quantify the savings achieved through the ERM of secondary layer addition to existing glazed facades, for a high WWR office building in cooling and heating dominated climate locations (Dubai, London, and New York). This is then evaluated against an LCA for each glazing ERM chosen, to assess how each retrofit affects the embodied carbon produced. Two base scenarios in each city have been simulated in TRNSYS (single and double glass cases), with three standard market options for layers addition (single, double, and water-filled glass). Water-filled Glass is introduced as a potential ERM for the first time, that utilizes a water layer to improve performance. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the holistic efficiency of different ERMs within the transparent building envelope

Controlling Switchable Electrochromic Glazing for Energy Savings, Visual Comfort and Thermal Comfort: A Model Predictive Control

Dynamic façades play an important role in enhancing the overall performance of buildings: they respond to the environmental conditions and adjust the amount of transmitted solar radiation. This paper proposes a simulation-based framework to evaluate the energy and comfort performance of different control strategies for switchable electrochromic glazing (EC). The presented method shows the impact of a model predictive control (MPC) on energy savings and on visual and thermal comfort for different orientations compared to other strategies. Besides manual operation and conventional rule-based controls, the benchmark in this study was a simulation-based control (multi-objective penalty-based control) with optimal performance. The hourly results of various control cases were analyzed based on the established performance indicators and criteria. The cumulative annual results show the capabilities and limitations of each control strategy for an EC glazing. For a temperate climate (Mannheim, Germany), results showed that an MPC for EC glazing provides visual and thermal comfort while saving energy of up to 14%, 37%, 37%, and 34% respectively for facing north, east, south, and west relative to the base-case

Human-plant centric shading control: Considering the impact of shading systems on both occupants’ and plants’ requirements

Traditionally, control strategies are applied to automate switchable electrochromic glazing systems (EC) to save energy and provide comfort for occupants indoors. In addition, the plants’ minimum requirements and the consequences of active shading on the supplemental artificial lighting for plants should be considered when designers want to embrace Biophilic design. This paper introduces a simulation workflow to evaluate the impact of shading activation on both human and plant requirements year-round using combined climate-based daylight (Radiance) and building energy simulation tool (TRNSYS). Finally, the simulated total electricity demand for supplemental lighting for plants in a prototypical office room in temperate climate condition are presented and discussed under different control strategies

Extension of the TOPSIS Considering the Dispersion among the Criteria of Each Alternative

TOPSIS is located in compensatory decision-making methods. The basic principle is that the chosen alternative should have the shortest distance from the positive ideal solution and the longest distance from the negative ideal solution. The existence of incremental and decreasing uniform trend in positive and negative criteria is one of the TOPSIS characteristics in determining positive and negative ideal points. While the utility assigned to the decision maker after a certain level in each criterion will be less tangible. Therefore, in the ranking of alternatives in addition to the value of each alternative in each indicator, the balance among criteria of each alternative should be considered so the alternative that has an appropriate place in an important indicator, but does not have an appropriate place in other criteria, not to be the first chance for selecting. For this purpose, in this paper by adding virtual dimension to the decision matrix that comes from the deviations among criteria of each alternative, we have tried to compensate the mentioned weakness. To evaluate the proposed method, three different examples are presented. Thus, each of the three provided examples, solved by proposed method, TOPSIS, VIKOR, Deng and SAW and then by using the Spearman correlation coefficient the number of significant correlation relationships between the proposed method and TOPSIS with the other three methods were compared. Then, the rating similarity percentage of the proposed method and TOPSIS were compared with VIKOR, Deng and SAW

Harnessing asymmetry to reprogram nonlinear metamaterials on-the-fly with no moving parts

Various two-dimensional fabrication methods, such as deposition, etching, milling, laser cutting, and water jetting, suffer from asymmetry between the top and the bottom surface of fabricated parts. Such asymmetry is usually undesirable and can compromise functionality, or at least add uncertainty to fabricated components. The common practice is to assume symmetry between the top and the bottom surfaces by using average dimensions. In this study, we harness such asymmetry to realize metamaterials with dynamically tunable (i.e., re-programmable) properties. Our metamaterial is composed of identical unit cells with two concentric Archimedean spiral cuts and a permanent magnet embedded in the unit cell's center. By utilizing external electromagnets, we further amplify the fabrication asymmetry, through the inherent asymmetry between a repulsive vs attractive state between the permanent magnets and the electromagnets. We demonstrate the utility of our metamaterials by programming its spatiotemporal response in both time and frequency even in the presence of high amplitude harmonic excitation. Our findings can be utilized for broad range of applications, from seismic sensing at low frequency to ultrasonic imaging at higher frequencies

Bioethanol facility location selection using best-worst method

One of the major factors in the success of renewable energy is finding a proper location for production facilities. At a national level, different parts of a country (e.g. provinces) can be seen as alternatives that can be assessed based on a set of criteria, and ranking them to identify the best location. The focus in this paper is on identifying the best location for the production of bioethanol. After a comprehensive literature review, an evaluation framework is proposed based on the three dimensions of sustainability (economic, environmental and social). Using data provided by a sample of experts in a developing country – Iran – and applying the best-worst method (BWM), a number of decision-making criteria are evaluated. Performance data involving the various provinces of Iran are collected from different sources. The performance data and the weights identified through BWM are used to calculate an overall score for each province, which is then used to rank the provinces, with the province of Khuzestan (closely followed by Tehran) being identified as the most suitable province for bioethanol production in Iran.</p

Energy consumption of SWFG in Beijing, CN

Energy consumption of Smart Water-filled Glass or SWFG (water-filled glass with changing transparency) in Beijing, CNVersion 1.0: Comparison of SWFG with 6 Base Cases (one electrochromic case)Version 2.0: Comparison of SWFG with 7 Base Cases (two electrochromic cases: 2 settings and 4 settings)</div