Solar walls for high-performance buildings

Passive solar design can reduce building energy demand for heating, cooling and ventilation, while also contributing to the comfort, well-being and productivity of the building’s occupants. The successful application of passive solar features, such as solar walls, requires a good understanding of the factors influencing their energy performance and a correct assessment of this performance during the design process. This paper discusses some basic design strategies for successful application of solar walls and the factors with the most significant impact on their efficiency. It summarizes the principle results and findings of an experimental study, based on dynamic simulations and test site measurements. The energy performance of various configurations of unvented solar walls was investigated in different climatic conditions. The outcomes of the dynamic simulations were used to develop a simplified quasisteady-state model, which can be used for approximate evaluation of the heat gains and heat losses through an unvented solar wall on a monthly basis. The model is compatible with the monthly method of EN ISO 13790.This work has been supported by The National Science Fund of Bulgaria under projects number ДУНК-01/3 (DUNK-01/3) and ДФНИ Е 02/17 (DFNI E 02/17)

Refrigerated warehouses as intelligent hubs to integrate renewable energy in industrial food refrigeration and to enhance power grid sustainability

© 2016 Elsevier LtdBackground Independence from fossil fuels, energy diversification, decarbonisation and energy efficiency are key prerequisites to make a national, regional or continental economy competitive in the global marketplace. As Europe is about to generate 20% of its energy demand from Renewable Energy Sources (RES) by 2020, adequate RES integration and renewable energy storage throughout the entire food cold chain must properly be addressed. Scope and approach Refrigerated warehouses for chilled and frozen foods are large energy consumers and account for a significant portion of the global energy demand. Nevertheless, the opportunity for RES integration in the energy supply of large food storage facilities is often neglected. In situ power generation using RES permits capture of a large portion of virtually free energy, thereby reducing dramatically the running costs and carbon footprint, while enhancing the economic competitiveness. In that context, there exist promising engineering solutions to exploit various renewables in the food preservation sector, in combination with the emerging sustainability-enhancing technology of Cryogenic Energy Storage (CES). Key findings and conclusions Substantial research endeavours are driven by the noble objective to turn the Europe's Energy Union into the world's number one in renewable energies. Integrating RES, in synchrony with CES development and proper control, is capable of both strengthening the food refrigeration sector and improving dramatically the power grid balance and energy system sustainability. Hence, this article aims to familiarise stakeholders of the European and global food preservation industry with state-of-the-art knowledge, know-how, opportunities and professional achievements in the concerned field

Drug Discovery: Phosphinolactone as Ultimate Bioisostere of the Lactol Group

In drug discovery, structural modifications over the lead molecule are often crucial for the development of a drug. Herein, we reported the first in vivo bioisosteric effect of phosphinolactone function in relation to the lactol group constituting the bioactive molecule: Hydroxybupropion. The preparation of phosphinolactone analogues and their antidepressant evaluation towards forced swimming test in mice showed that biological activity was regained and even strengthen

An interactive vocational training tool for the energy performance buildings directive

Summarization: The building sector constitutes approximately the 40% of the total energy consumption in EU. TheDirective 2002/91/EC provides a precise legislative framework for improving the energy performanceof the built environment. [1]It was adopted on December 2002 and entered into force in January 2003. According to the article 15of this Directive all member states have a time period of three years (till January 2006) to implementthe Directive in their own countries. Till today all member states have already or will, in the near future,bring into force relative laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with thisDirective.In this paper an innovative tool concerning the training of European citizens in the implementation ofthe Directive 2002/91/EC (Energy Performance of Buildings Directive - EPBD), that targets to reducethe buildings energy consumption and its efficient use in relation with the protection of theenvironment is presented. Additionally, certain features of this tool that depend on the existinglegislation and restrictions in each country and certain characteristics of the trainees (e.g. profession,scientific background) that influence in a great or in a small extent the training procedure in each caseare analyzed.Παρουσιάστηκε στο: 4th International Conference on Energy Performance and Indoor Climate in Building