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Special Issue "Renewable Energy and Energy Systems: New Concept, Design, and Optimization"

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 February 2024 | Viewed by 4666

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jian Zhang

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Guest Editor

Mechanical Engineering, Richard J. Resch School of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Green Bay, WI 54311, USA
Interests: renewable and sustainable energy; thermodynamics; distributed energy system; energy system modeling and optimization; energy incentive analysis

Prof. Dr. Heejin Cho

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Guest Editor

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA
Interests: energy system modeling and optimization; advanced sensor and control system; sensitivity and uncertainty analysis; renewable energy systems; combined heat and power (CHP) system; heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems; integrated and smart building system; nuclear air filtration systems; aerosol measurement technology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Dongsu Kim

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Guest Editor

Department of Architectural Engineering, Hanbat National University, Daejeon 34158, Korea
Interests: whole building energy simulation; advanced HVAC systems; renewable energy systems for building applications; net-zero energy buildings (nzebs); net-zero carbon buildings (nzcbs); smart buildings and cities
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the rapid increase in global energy consumption and environmental pollution, renewable energy systems have received much attention recently due to their environmental and economic benefits. Typically, renewable energy sources include solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, marine energy, hydro energy, and bioenergy, among others. Many researchers have been conducting experimental and theoretical studies on various technologies such as solar thermal collector, photovoltaics, wind turbine, and so on. Additionally, governments and utility companies all around the world have proposed a large number of incentive policies to promote the implementation of renewable energy systems in the real applications.

The intention of this Special Issue is to investigate renewable energy systems from different aspects, including new concepts, novel designs, design and performance optimizations, and potential applications. This Special Issue aims to promote the development of renewable energy systems and help to reduce fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Topics covered in this Special Issue include but are not limited to:

New concepts of renewable energy systems
Novel design of renewable energy systems
Innovative application of renewable energy sources
Renewable energy systems optimization
Techno-economic analysis of renewable energy systems
Distributed energy systems using renewable energy sources
Smart and/or off-grid renewable energy systems for building applications
Energy policies on renewable energy systems

Dr. Jian Zhang
Prof. Dr. Heejin Cho
Prof. Dr. Dongsu Kim
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

renewable energy systems
design and performance optimization
novel concepts applications
distributed energy systems
techno-economic analysis
smart and/or off-grid

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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Open AccessArticle

Experimental Investigation on the Performance of Compressors for Small-Scale Compressed Air Energy Storage in Parallel Mode

and

Sustainability 2023, 15(17), 13164; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151713164 (registering DOI) - 01 Sep 2023

Abstract

The Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) system is a promising energy storage technology that has the advantages of low investment cost, high safety, long life, and is clean and non-polluting. The compressor/expander is the core equipment of the CAES system, and its performance has a decisive impact on the overall system efficiency and economic performance. Based on the pneumatic motor, this study proposes and designs a test bench of the CAES system that integrates compression and expansion functions. The off-design operation condition represented by the pressure change in the air tank has an important influence on the efficiency and economy of the CAES system. The effect of key parameters such as air tank pressure, torque, and mass flow rate on the output and efficiency of the compressor is investigated. When the CAES system is operating in energy storage mode, the compressor must continuously deliver gas to the gas storage. The working pressure of the compressor increases with the pressure in the air tank, so the compressor used for energy storage must operate continuously over a wide range of working conditions. The parallel operation mode of the compressor is proposed to improve the working condition range of the compressor torque and current, and improve the isotropic efficiency. When the air receiver pressure is 2.6 bar and the rotational speed is 2850 r/min, the power consumption of the compressor reaches the maximum value of approximately 1233.1 W. This new parallel mode could provide a CAES unit a systematic solution. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy and Energy Systems: New Concept, Design, and Optimization)

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Open AccessArticle

Implementation of a Long Short-Term Memory Transfer Learning (LSTM-TL)-Based Data-Driven Model for Building Energy Demand Forecasting

and

Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 2340; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032340 - 27 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1136

Abstract

Building energy consumption accounts for about 40% of global primary energy use and 30% of worldwide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Among the energy-related factors present in buildings, heating, cooling, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are considered major contributors to whole-building energy use. To improve the energy efficiency of HVAC systems and mitigate whole-building energy consumption, accurately predicting the building energy consumption can play a significant role. Although many prediction approaches are available for building energy use, a machine learning-based modeling approach (i.e., black box models) has recently been considered to be one of the most promising building energy modeling techniques due to its simplicity and flexibility compared to physics-based modeling techniques (i.e., white box models). This study presents a building energy load forecasting method based on long-term short-term memory (LSTM) and transfer learning (TL) strategies. To implement this approach, this study first conducted raw data pre-processing analysis to generate input datasets. A hospital building type was considered for a case study in the first stage. The hospital prototype building model, developed by the U.S. department of energy (DOE), was used to generate an initial input training and testing dataset for source domain tasks before the transfer learning process. For the transfer learning process in a target domain, a simulation-based analysis was also conducted to obtain target datasets by assuming limited data lengths in different weather conditions. The training and testing procedures were performed using separate cooling and heating periods with and without the transfer learning process for source and target domain tasks, respectively. Lastly, a comparative analysis was carried out to investigate how the accuracy of LSTM prediction can be enhanced with the help of transfer learning strategies. The results from this study show that the developed LSTM-TL model can achieve better performance than the prediction model, which only uses LSTM under different weather conditions. In addition, accurate performance can vary according to different transfer learning methods with frozen and fine-tuning layers and locations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy and Energy Systems: New Concept, Design, and Optimization)

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Open AccessArticle

Heat Flux and Thermal Characteristics of Electrically Heated Windows: A Case Study

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Sustainability 2022, 14(1), 481; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010481 - 03 Jan 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1404

Abstract

Energy loss through windows can be high relatively compared to other opaque surfaces because insulation performance of fenestration parts is lower in the building envelope. Electrically heated window systems are used to improve the indoor environment, prevent condensation, and increase building energy efficiency. The purpose of this study is to analyze the thermal behaviors of a heated window under a field experiment condition. Experiments were conducted during the winter season (i.e., January and February) with the energy-efficient house that residents occupy. To collect measured data from the experimental house, temperature and heat flux meter sensors were used for the analysis of heat flow patterns. Such measured data were used to calculate heat gain ratios and compare temperature and dew point distribution profiles of heated windows with input power values under the changed condition in the operating temperature of the heated glazing. Results from this study indicated that the input average heat gain ratio was analyzed to be 75.2% in the south-facing and 83.8% in the north-facing at nighttime. Additionally, compared to January, reducing the operating temperature of the heated glazing by 3 °C decreased the input energy in February by 44% and 41% for the south-facing and north-facing windows, respectively. Through such field measurement study, various interesting results that could not be found in controlled laboratory chamber conditions were captured, indicating that the necessity of establishing various control strategies should be considered for the development and commercialization of heated windows. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy and Energy Systems: New Concept, Design, and Optimization)

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Review

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Open AccessReview

Blockchain in the Energy Sector—Systematic Review

Anna Borkovcová

Miloslava Černá

and

Marcela Sokolová

Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 14793; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142214793 - 09 Nov 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1273

Abstract

The article provides an overview of academic contributions to blockchain technology over the past three years. A large number of practical implementations are proving the versatility of blockchain across industries. Some of these areas are easy to deduce, but for some, the benefits of using blockchain technology may not be obvious. Real applications of blockchain can be found in sectors such as cyber security and the financial sector, but also in various categories of the public sector, healthcare, and industry. This paper focuses on the use of blockchain technology in the energy industry. The paper aims to present the current trends of blockchain in the energy sector and provide a summary of blockchain technology discussed in academia. The research questions are formulated to correspond to the basic goals of the energy sector today. The core of the paper forms a systematic review based on the PRISMA guidelines. The output of this systematic review brings an up-to-day insight into the issue and introduces potential areas for further research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy and Energy Systems: New Concept, Design, and Optimization)

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