Mitigating energy poverty: Potential contributions of combining PV and building thermal mass storage in low-income households

The issue of energy poverty has devastating implications for the society, and it has been aggravated in the past years due to the economic crisis and the increase of energy prices. Among the most affected are those with low incomes and living in inefficient buildings. Unfortunately, the bitter reality is that sometimes this part of the population are facing the next question: Heating, or eating? The declining prices of distributed energy technologies such as photovoltaics provides an opportunity for positive social change. Although their use does not address energy poverty directly, substantial contributions may be made. Measurements of indoor temperatures in a social housing district of southern Spain in 2017 have revealed the unbearable temperatures that the occupants have to endure, both in summer and winter. Using this district as a case study, the present work aims to evaluate the benefits of exploiting its rooftop PV potential to cover part of the electricity consumption of the district (reducing the energy bills), and use the surplus electricity to supply power for the heat pumps in the district. Optimal alternatives regarding maximum PV production, maximum self-sufficiency ratio and minimum investment costs have been found, considering as well different options when sharing the available electricity surplus to improve the thermal comfort of the occupants. As far as the authors know, no previous study has followed an approach aimed at energy poverty alleviation such as the one presented in this work. The results show that using the surplus electricity to heat or cool the whole dwellings would improve the thermal comfort of the occupants in average up to 11% in winter and 26% in summer. If all the PV generation was used or more buildings in the area were employed to install PV modules, improvements up to 33% in winter and 67% in summer could be obtained, reducing at the same time the thermal comfort differences among the dwellings of the district

Management and rebuilding energy of existing buildings: diagnostic and characterization procedure energy from measured data

Uno de los factores esenciales para la gestión y rehabilitación energética de edificios existentes es establecer un procedimiento práctico y eficiente, a partir del control distribuido y de la monitorización inteligente, tratando de automatizar los procesos de funcionamiento, conocer el estado de las instalaciones, monitorizar las variables críticas y recibir información on-line y off-line del rendimiento de las mismas con el fin de asegurar las condiciones de confort en un contexto de consumo de energía racional. Todo ello se concretiza en el desarrollo de un nuevo modelo para la predicción del consumo energético de edificios. Esta predicción se realiza en dos niveles: horario, con un modelo derivado de las funciones de transferencia aplicadas a la edificación, y diario, con un modelo simplificado a partir del anterior. El objetivo es conseguir un consumo inteligente de energía, y sobre todo eficiente a través de la implementación progresiva de medidas de ahorro de energía.One of the essential factors for energy management and rehabilitation of existing buildings is to establish a practical and efficient procedure, from distributed control and intelligent monitoring, trying to automate the process of operation, the status of the facilities, monitor critical variables and receive information on-line and off-line performance of them to ensure comfort conditions in a context of rational energy consumption. All this takes form of the development of a new model for the prediction of the energetic consumption of buildings. This prediction is performed in two levels: schedule, with a model derived from the transfer functions applied to the building, and daily, with a simplified model from the previous one. The aim is to achieve energy-smart, efficient and above all through the progressive implementation of energy saving measures.Universidad de Granada. Plan de Control y Monitorización de Edificios del Vicerrectorado de Infraestructuras y Campu

Systematic Simplified Simulation Methodology for Deep Energy Retrofitting Towards Nze Targets Using Life Cycle Energy Assessment

The reduction of energy consumption in the residential sector presents substantial potential through the implementation of energy e ciency improvement measures. Current trends involve the use of simulation tools which obtain the buildings’ energy performance to support the development of possible solutions to help reduce energy consumption. However, simulation tools demand considerable amounts of data regarding the buildings’ geometry, construction, and frequency of use. Additionally, the measured values tend to be di erent from the estimated values obtained with the use of energy simulation programs, an issue known as the ‘performance gap’. The proposed methodology provides a solution for both of the aforementioned problems, since the amount of data needed is considerably reduced and the results are calibrated using measured values. This new approach allows to find an optimal retrofitting project by life cycle energy assessment, in terms of cost and energy savings, for individual buildings as well as several blocks of buildings. Furthermore, the potential for implementation of the methodology is proven by obtaining a comprehensive energy rehabilitation plan for a residential building. The developed methodology provides highly accurate estimates of energy savings, directly linked to the buildings’ real energy needs, reducing the di erence between the consumption measured and the predictions

PHDC: sistemas de enfriamiento evaporativo pasivos e híbridos para edificios – software de prediseño

PHDC, es un proyecto internacional, creado con el objetivo de promover el uso de sistemas de refrigeración Pasivos e Híbridos en los edificios entre profesionales de diseño, constructores, propietarios y usuarios. En este artículo, se describen brevemente algunos de los sistemas PHDC. En el marco de este proyecto, el trabajo de investigación realizado produce dos herramientas informáticas para el mejor y máximo aprovechamiento del objetivo del proyecto, las cuales se presentan en este artículo. Las herramientas comentadas son dos: – PHDC AirFlow, en la que se implementa el “método del bucle de presiones” para el cálculo de los caudales de aire que circulan por el interior del edificio. Se analizan los elementos-sistemas-características del edificio, con objeto de integrar un sistema de climatización basado en enfriamiento evaporativo, y se le ofrece al usuario la posibilidad de modificarlos, además se destaca la capacidad de integrar captadores de viento, chimenea solar, sistema de enfriamiento evaporativo basados en medio poroso, micronizadores o pulverizadores. – Y PHDC Energy & Comfort, en la cual se simula el comportamiento térmico del edificio: cargas térmicas, consumos del sistema de refrigeración convencional y ahorro producido al integrar el sistema evaporativo elegido en la herramienta anterior.PHDC is an international project with the objective of promoting use of passive and hybrid cooling systems in buildings between design professionals, builders, owners and users. This article describes some of the systems PHDC analized. Under this project, work of the authors produces two tools for improving and optimization of the objective of project, which are presented in this article. The tools discussed are two: – PHDC AirFlow, which implements the «loop pressure method» for calculating the air flow inside the building. It discusses elements, systems and building characteristics, in order to integrate an air conditioning system based on evaporative cooling, and offers capacity to modify, also user can integrate sensors wind, solar chimney, system based evaporative cooling in porous media, micronisers or sprays. – And PHDC Energy & Comfort, which simulates thermal behavior of building: thermal loads, consumption of conventional cooling system and savings produced by integrating the evaporative system chosen in the previous tool.Unión Europea proyecto de PHDC para la promoción y la diseminación de sistemas de refrigeración pasivos e híbridos downdraught en edificio

Natural ventilation: CFD aerodynamic study about passive extractor and windcatcher

La ventilación natural se ha ganado protagonismo en los últimos tiempos como una medida de ahorro de energía para edificios. Los dos principios fundamentales de ventilación natural son el tiro natural por diferencia de temperatura, y la fuerza del viento. El artículo pretende analizar la aerodinámica de los captadores y extractores de viento mediante fluido-mecánica computacional, optimizando las geometrías de estos elementos, y dando como producto del trabajo un modelo simplificado para poder tenerlos en cuenta el cálculo aeráulico de las instalaciones de ventilación y climatización de los edificios. Concretamente, se caracteriza una base de geometrías de captación de viento, y se elabora una guía para el diseño de geometrías de extracción ofreciendo varias de ellas como producto del trabajo realizado.In recent years, natural ventilation has won popularity as an energy saving measure for buildings. There are two fundamental principles of natural ventilation: natural draft by temperature differences, and wind force. The purpose of the article is to analyze the aerodynamics of windcatchers and wind-extractors by means of computational fluid mechanics, optimizing the geometries of these elements, and giving a simplified model as a result of the work, so as to include it in the aeraulic calculation of the buildings’ air conditioning systems. Therefore, a base for wind catching geometries has been characterized, and a guide for the design of extraction geometries has been developed; several of them are offered as a result of the work undertaken

Sensitivity analysys and potential evaluation using building thermal mass combined with DSM strategies

CLIMA 2019 Congress. Bucharest, Romania, May 26-29, 2019. S.I Tanabe, H. Zhang, J. Kurnitski, M.C. Gameiro da Silva, I. Nastase, P. Wargocki, G. Cao, L. Mazzarela and C. Inard (Eds.)The objective of the work is to develop an algorithm that automatically manages the activation of the heat pump in response to the most appropriate strategies according to the pricing and operating conditions. It is interesting to see if a balance can be reached between the cost savings, the increase in energy consumed, the thermal comfort of the occupants and the contribution to the reduction of the peak loads. The study shows different results and conclusions, highlighting the important influence of various factors on the results obtained, such as user behavior, constructive quality of the building and electric pricing. Connection with a future renewable production can maximize the economic savings; it is interesting the use of buildings as thermal storage of unused photovoltaic surplus. Finally, the possibility of combining these measures with electrical storage and with the possible arbitration linked to renewable production.Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Government of Spain) and European Regional Development's funds (ERDF) project “Zero-Energy Balance Districts Through Algorithms of Adaptive Comfort and Optimal Management of Energy Networks” (BIA2016-77431-C2-2-R)University of Seville (Spain) Plan VI (VPPI-US

Plants Probiotics as a Tool to Produce Highly Functional Fruits: The Case of Phyllobacterium and Vitamin C in Strawberries

10 páginas, 1 tabla, 1 figuraThe increasing interest in the preservation of the environment and the health of consumers is changing production methods and food consumption habits. Functional foods are increasingly demanded by consumers because they contain bioactive compounds involved in health protection. In this sense biofertilization using plant probiotics is a reliable alternative to the use of chemical fertilizers, but there are few studies about the effects of plant probiotics on the yield of functional fruits and, especially, on the content of bioactive compounds. In the present work we reported that a strain of genus Phyllobacterium able to produce biofilms and to colonize strawberry roots is able to increase the yield and quality of strawberry plants. In addition, the fruits from plants inoculated with this strain have significantly higher content in vitamin C, one of the most interesting bioactive compounds in strawberries. Therefore the use of selected plant probiotics benefits the environment and human health without agronomical losses, allowing the production of highly functional foods.This work was granted by “Junta de Castilla y León” (Regional Government, Grant SA183A11-2) and MINECO (Central Government, Grant AGL2011-29227). Paula García-Fraile is recipient of a postdoctoral researcher contract from Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. José David Flores-Félix was supported by a fellowship of Salamanca University. Marta Marcos García was supported by a fellowship of Fundación Miguel Casado San José. Luís R. Silva is grateful to the financial support from the European Union (FEDER funds through COMPETE) and National Funds (FCT, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) through project Pest-C/EQB/LA0006/2013 and from the European Union (FEDER funds) under the framework of QREN through Project NORTE-07-0124-FEDER- 000069.Peer reviewe

Level of blood pressure control in a hypertensive population when measurements are performed outside the clinical setting

Background: To determine whether the number of optimally controlled hypertensive patients is higher using self-measurement of blood pressure at home and ambulatory monitoring, compared to using conventional blood pressure measurements at the doctor&#8217;s office. Method: An observational, cross-sectional, multicentre, descriptive study of a random sample of 237 primary health care patients, known to be hypertensive, from Badajoz (Spain). Blood pressure was measured at the doctor&#8217;s office and by self-measurement at home. Those patients showing good control by self-measurement were subjected to 24-hour ambulatory monitoring. Optimal control was understood as blood pressure < 140/90 mm Hg when measured at the doctor&#8217;s office, and < 135/85 mm Hg when self-measured at home and by daytime ambulatory monitoring. Results: Mean systolic/diastolic measurements at the doctor&#8217;s office and by self-measurement were 145.6/83.9 and 134.0/78.7 mm Hg, respectively (p < 0.000). In the population optimally controlled by self-measurement and who subsequently received ambulatory monitoring, the mean blood pressure was 121.8/73.4 and 125.6/76.2 mm Hg, respectively (p = 0.002; p < 0.000). When measured at the doctor&#8217;s office blood pressure was controlled in about 29.5% (95% CI 23.7-35.3%) of patients, in 38% when self-measured (95% CI 31.4-44.2%; p < 0.000), and in 24.5% when it was confirmed through ambulatory monitoring (95% CI 15.4-33.6%). Sensitivity and positive predictive values of the office measurements for the detection of patients who were well-controlled by self-measurement were 50% and 64.3%, respectively, and 53.4% and 73.8% as regards ambulatory monitoring. Conclusions: A higher level of control is achieved with self-measurement at home not confirmed by ambulatory monitoring. Therefore, the white coat effect does not seem to influence the percentage of well-controlled patients detected at the doctor&#8217;s office. Office blood pressure does not appear to be useful in distinguishing which individual patients are optimally controlled

Activity breaks. Incorporación de los descansos activos en la educación superior

Los objetivos iniciales del aumento de la práctica de actividad física para la mejora de la atención y reducción de los hábitos sedentarios, tensión y estrés, se han logrado por medio de la implantación de los descansos activos en las clases teóricas. El uso y diseño de los descansos de entre 5 y 10 minutos, ha conseguido mejorar la atención del alumnado que los ha practicado en la hora siguiente de clase teórica. El proyecto se ha llevado a cabo teniendo un grupo control y uno experimental en el que se han desarrollado los descansos activos