The semi-transparent photovoltaic (STPV) module is an emerging technology to harness the solar energy in the building. Nowadays, buildings are turning from energy consumers to energy producers due to ...the integration of the STPV module on the building envelopes and facades. In this research, the STPV module was integrated on the rooftop window of the experimental room at Kovilpatti (9°10′0″ N, 77°52′0″ E), Tamil Nadu, India. The performance of the STPV modules varies with respect to the geographical location, incident solar radiation, and surface temperature of the module. The surface temperature of the STPV module was regulated by the introduction of the mixture of graphene oxide and sodium sulphate decahydrate (Na2SO4·10H2O). The various concentration of the graphene oxide was mixed together with the Na2SO4·10H2O to enhance the thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity of the mixture 0.3 concentration was found to be optimum from the analysis. The instantaneous peak temperature of the semi-transparent photovoltaic phase change material (STPV-PCM) module was reduced to 9 °C during summer compared to the reference STPV. At the same time, the energy conversion efficiency was increased by up to 9.4% compared to the conventional STPV module. Due to the incorporation of the graphene oxide and Na2SO4·10H2O, the daily output power production of the STPV module was improved by 12.16%.
Energy, being a prime enabler in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs), should be affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern. One of the SDGs (i.e., SDG7) suggests that it is necessary to ...ensure energy access for all. In developing countries like India, the progress toward SDG7 has somewhat stagnated. The aging conventional electric power system has its dominant share of energy from fossil fuels, plagued with frequent power outages, and leaves many un-electrified areas. These are not characteristics of a sustainable and modern system in the context of the SDG7. Promoting renewable-based energy systems, especially in the context of microgrids (MGs), is one of the promising advances needed to rejuvenate the progress toward the SDG7. In this context, a hybrid renewable energy microgrid (HREM) is proposed that gives assurance for energy access to all in an affordable, reliable, and sustainable way through modern energy systems. In this paper, a techno-economic and environmental modeling of the grid-independent HREM and its optimization for a remote community in South India are presented. A case of HREM with a proposed configuration of photovoltaic/wind turbine/diesel generator/battery energy storage system (PV/WT/DG/BESS) was modeled to meet the community residential electric load requirements. This investigation dealt with the optimum sizes of the different components used in the HREM. The results of this model presented numerous feasible solutions. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify the best solution from the four optimized results. From the results, it was established that a PV + DG + BESS based HREM was the most cost-effective configuration for the specific location. In addition, the obtained optimum solutions were mapped with the key criteria of the SDG7. This mapping also suggested that the PV + DG + BESS configuration falls within the context of the SDG7. Overall, it is understood that the proposed HREM would provide energy access to households that is affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern.
Clean and environment-friendly energy harvesting are of prime interest today as it is one of the key enablers in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as accelerates social ...progress and enhances living standards. India, the second-most populous nation with a population of 1.353 billion, is one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels in the world which is responsible for global warming. An ever-increasing population is projected until 2050, and consequently, the energy demand in the upcoming decades will be co-accelerated by the rapid industrial growth. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) with the support of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog is working to achieve the Indian Government's target of attaining 175 GW through renewable energy resources. Many Indian states are currently increasing their renewable energy capacity in an objective to meet future energy demand. The review paper discusses in-depth about the three Indian states, namely Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, which pioneers the renewable energy production in India. The global energy scenario was discussed in detail with Indian contrast. Further, the barriers to the development of renewable energy generation and policies of the Indian government are discussed in detail to promote renewable energy generation throughout India as well as globally since the challenges are similar for other nations. This study analyzed various prospects of the country in renewable energy which has been done in a purpose to help the scholars, researchers, and policymakers of the nation, as it gives an insight into the present renewable energy scenario of the country.
Even in today’s modern electric grid infrastructure, the uncertainty in the power supply is more often seen and is mainly due to power outages. The reasons for power outages might be any of the ...following: extreme weather events, asset failure, natural disasters, power surges, acute accidents, and even operational errors by the workforce. Such uncertain situations are permitting us to think of it as a resilience problem. In most cases, the power outages may last from a few minutes to a few weeks, depending on the nature of the resilience issue and the power supply system (PSS) configuration. Therefore, it is imperative to understand and improve the resilience of a PSS. In this paper, a four-component resilience framework is proposed to study and compare the resilience of three different PSS configurations of residential electricity users (REUs) considering the realistic power outage conditions in the humid subtropical ecosystem. The proposed PSS configurations contain electric grid (EG), natural gas power generator (NGPG), battery energy storage (BES), and photovoltaics (PV) as the assets. The three PSS configurations of a REUs are EG + BES, EG + NGPG + BES, and EG + PV + BES, respectively, and in these, one REU is only the consumer and the other two REUs are prosumers. By using the proposed framework, simulations are performed on the three PSS configuration to understand the increasing load resiliency in the event of a power outage. Also, a comparative techno-economic and life cycle based environmental assessment is performed to select the most resilient PSS configuration among the EG + BES, EG + NGPG + BES, and EG + PV + BES for an REU. From the results, it was established that EG + PV + BES configuration would enhance the power resilience of an REU better than the other two PSS configurations. Besides, it is also observed that the identified resilient PSS configuration is cost-effective and environmentally efficient. Overall, the proposed framework will enable the REUs to opt for the PSS configuration that is resilient and affordable.
The internet of things (IoT) enabled a common operating picture (COP) across the various applications of modern day living. The COP is achieved through the advancements seen in wireless sensor ...network devices that were able to communicate through the network thereby exchanging information and performing various analysis. In IoT, the exchange of information and data authentication is only done through the central server there by leading to the security and privacy concerns. Chances of device spoofing, false authentication, less reliability in data sharing could happen. To address such security and privacy concerns, a central server concept is eliminated and blockchain (BC) technology is introduced as a part of IoT. This paper elaborates the possible security and privacy issues considering the component interaction in IoT and studies how the distributed ledger based blockchain (DL-BC) technology contribute to it. Applications of BC with respect to focused sectors and category were clearly studied here. Various challenges specific to IoT and IoT with BC were also discussed to understand blockchain technology contribution.
Smart grid (SG), an evolving concept in the modern power infrastructure, enables the two-way flow of electricity and data between the peers within the electricity system networks (ESN) and its ...clusters. The self-healing capabilities of SG allow the peers to become active partakers in ESN. In general, the SG is intended to replace the fossil fuel-rich conventional grid with the distributed energy resources (DER) and pools numerous existing and emerging know-hows like information and digital communications technologies together to manage countless operations. With this, the SG will able to “detect, react, and pro-act” to changes in usage and address multiple issues, thereby ensuring timely grid operations. However, the “detect, react, and pro-act” features in DER-based SG can only be accomplished at the fullest level with the use of technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and the Blockchain (BC). The techniques associated with AI include fuzzy logic, knowledge-based systems, and neural networks. They have brought advances in controlling DER-based SG. The IoT and BC have also enabled various services like data sensing, data storage, secured, transparent, and traceable digital transactions among ESN peers and its clusters. These promising technologies have gone through fast technological evolution in the past decade, and their applications have increased rapidly in ESN. Hence, this study discusses the SG and applications of AI, IoT, and BC. First, a comprehensive survey of the DER, power electronics components and their control, electric vehicles (EVs) as load components, and communication and cybersecurity issues are carried out. Second, the role played by AI-based analytics, IoT components along with energy internet architecture, and the BC assistance in improving SG services are thoroughly discussed. This study revealed that AI, IoT, and BC provide automated services to peers by monitoring real-time information about the ESN, thereby enhancing reliability, availability, resilience, stability, security, and sustainability.
The growing popularity of electric vehicles (EV) is creating an increasing burden on the power grid in Bangladesh due to massive energy consumption. Due to this uptake of variable energy consumption, ...environmental concerns, and scarcity of energy lead to investigate alternative energy resources that are readily available and environment friendly. Bangladesh has enormous potential in the field of renewable resources, such as biogas and biomass. Therefore, this paper proposes a design of a 20 kW electric vehicle charging station (EVCS) using biogas resources. A comprehensive viability analysis is also presented for the proposed EVCS from technological, economic, and environmental viewpoints using the HOMER (Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources) model. The viability result shows that with the capacity of 15–20 EVs per day, the proposed EVCS will save monthly $16.31 and $29.46, respectively, for easy bike and auto-rickshaw type electric vehicles in Bangladesh compare to grid electricity charging. Furthermore, the proposed charging station can reduce 65.61% of CO2 emissions than a grid-based charging station.
Given the recent increasing public focus on climate change issues, the share of electricity generation by renewable energy resources is increasing day by day. Increased renewables share will give us ...robust, sustainable, and climate-friendly energy systems for the future. Renewable energy penetration with the current power systems needs substantial research, planning and development which are now the primary focus throughout the world. In this study, a global renewable energy scenario is explained in detail in contrast with India, considering a case study elucidating the comprehensive review of the Gujarat state in India. The primary focus is on Gujarat state’s actions plans to pertain to harvest renewable energy and maximizing its share in the energy mix. This study examines the actions and the policies adopted by the Gujarat government to overcome the potential barriers in order to support non-conventional as well as renewable energy development. It also investigates the numerous techno-economic and social constraints with possible solutions in promoting the deployment of upcoming renewable energy resources across Gujarat. This study can be used as a guideline for the government, policymakers, utilities, stakeholders and researchers to promote an increased renewable energy share in Gujarat as well as at other places around the globe.
Adopting a circular economy (CE) has rapidly emerged among policymakers and business community stakeholders to promote material circularization and ensure sustainable development. While the ...inclination for a paradigm shift away from the linear economy is evident, many challenges have been quoted in the literature regarding its implementation. Lately, it has become common to propose Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)-based approaches to address these challenges. However, they do not question the practicality of the solutions in the context of CE. This paper aims to find an appropriate digital solution for CE implementation, which is not possible without a complete understanding of the existing challenges. A thorough literature review broadly classified the challenges under five barrier categories: Technological, Financial, Infrastructural, Institutional, and Societal, which was followed up with an investigation into the failure of ICT solutions to address CE challenges. Among the various technologies, blockchain and smart contract technologies show some promise as data-driven decision-making tools; however, they are not without their limitations when applied in the context of CE. This perspective explores the role of blockchain smart contract technology-scape in overcoming CE challenges and presents a circular economy blockchain (CEB) architecture development. The findings suggest that CEB may enable CE business models that improve trust and transparency in supply-chain networks, shared and performance economy platforms, stakeholder participation, and governance and management of organizations. Ultimately, this study highlights critical areas for research and development for the blockchainification of CE.
Achieving environmental sustainability has become a global initiative whilst addressing climate change and its effects. Thus, this research re-assessed the EKC hypothesis in China and considered the ...effect of hydroelectricity use and urbanization, utilizing data from 1985 to 2019. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing method was utilized to assess long-run cointegration, which is reinforced by a structural break. The outcome of the ARDL bounds test confirmed cointegration among the series. Furthermore, the ARDL revealed that both economic growth and urbanization trigger environmental degradation while hydroelectricity improves the quality of the environment. The outcome of the ARDL also validated the EKC hypothesis for China. In addition, the study employed the novel gradual shift causality test to capture causal linkage among the series. The advantage of the gradual shift causality test is that it can capture gradual or smooth shifts and does not necessitate previous information of the number, form of structural break(s), or dates. The outcomes of the causality test revealed causal connections among the series of interest.
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