In recent years, thermoelectric (TE) devices have emerged as promising alternative environmental friendly applications for heat pumps and power generators since the environmental issues such as the ...global warming and the limitations of energy resources gradually drew worldwide attentions. Due to the green feature and distinct advantages, the thermoelectric technology have been applied to different areas in an effort of designing simple, compact and environmental friendly systems. The applied areas are extended from the earliest application on kerosene lamp to aerospace applications, transportation tools, industrial utilities, medical services, electronic devices and temperature detecting and measuring facilities. The application potentials of TE in directly conversing thermal energy into electrical power have been identified, especially for where the cost of thermal energy input need not to be considered, such as waste heat utilization, in the light of the present low efficiency of thermoelectric conversion. The capability of TE in producing thermal energy (in terms of cooling or heating) with the use of electrical power is also well identified. This paper reviews the status of the material development and thermoelectric applications in different areas and discusses the difficulties in terms of the commercialisations of advanced materials. Other than this, the main purpose of this paper is to present the great potential of achieving both environmental and economic benefits by exclusively utilizing thermoelectric applications in different areas. It also comes to the conclusion that the thermoelectric applications with the current conversion efficiency are economically and technically practical for micro/small applications. However, it would be transformed to a more significant green energy solution for improving the current environment and energy issues by using medium/large scale thermoelectric applications when the thermoelectric materials with a figure-of-merit over 2 come into commercial practice.
Rapid advancement of technology continues to leverage change and innovation in the construction industry. Continued digitization of the industry offers the opportunity to totally reinvent ...contemporary construction design and delivery practice for future development. Building Information Modelling (BIM) within the context of Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) has been developing since the early 2000s and is considered to be a key technology. Despite major technical advancements in BIM, it has not been fully adopted and its definitive benefits have not been fully capitalized upon by industry stakeholders. The lack of widespread uptake of BIM appears to be linked to the risks and challenges that are potentially impeding its effectiveness. This paper aims to discuss the reality of BIM, its widespread benefits and current level of uptake. The risks and challenges associated with the adoption of BIM, as well as recommendations regarding how future BIM adoption could be developed are also highlighted.
Chitosan is a natural biopolymer with a modifiable structure and abundant function groups, moreover, it can be processed into various shapes and sizes, making it suitable for various applications. ...This review analyzed and summarized the recent advances in chitosan-based materials, particularly focusing on the modification of chitosan by physical, chemical and biological methods, which provided plentiful information on the preparation, characterization and application of chitosan-based materials. In this review, various preparation and modification methods for improving chitosan performances, as well as the application of chitosan and its derivatives, were critically analyzed and summarized in detail. Chitosan-based materials can be fabricated into different shapes and sizes, such as nanofiber, nanoparticles, microspheres, membranes, and 3D printed scaffolds. In addition, chitosan can be modified through physical, chemical, and biological modifications, to obtain versatile chitosan-based materials. For physical modification, crosslinking and blending are commonly used., while chemical modification is based on chemical reactions (e.g. acylation, esterification, etherification, N-alkylation, graft copolymerization, and degradation), to prepare the corresponding derivatives (e.g. chemically cross-linked chitosan, grafted chitosan, low molecular weight chitosan, and oligo-chitosan) through crosslinking, grafting, and degradation. The biological modification is associated with various enzymes to realize the hydrolysis or grafting. With improved performances through modification, as well as various shapes and sizes, chitosan-based materials show promising applications in versatile fields, such as water treatment, food processing, pharmaceutical/biomedicine, textiles and agriculture. This review will deepen the understanding the state of the art of chitosan-based materials, including their preparation, characterization and application.
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•Various modification methods for improving chitosan performances were reviewed.•Physical, chemical and biological methods are applied for chitosan modification.•Chitosan-based materials have promising applications in versatile fields.•This review systematically summarized the advances in chitosan-based materials.
Sewage sludge, the inevitable by-product of municipal wastewater treatment plant operation, is a key issue in many countries due to its increasing volume and the impacts associated with its disposal. ...Thermochemical processing offers a new way of managing sewage sludge, not only by providing effective volume reduction, but also enabling transformation of carbon-rich organic fraction into valuable energy and fuel. Owing to some unique properties, sewage sludge differs from other solid fuels such as lignocellulosic biomass and coal, making its thermochemical conversion application somewhat complicated and challenging. This paper reviews the options of converting sewage sludge to energy and fuel via three main thermochemical conversion processes namely pyrolysis, gasification and combustion. The fundamental aspects of sewage sludge and its behaviour in each of thermochemical process are summarised. The challenges in adopting thermochemical conversion technology in sewage sludge management are addressed, and various alternative approaches deserving further consideration, such as the incorporation of pre-processing and co-utilisation, are discussed.
Over the past 15 years, the evaluation of energy demand and use in buildings has become increasingly acute due to growing scientific and political pressure around the world in response to climate ...change. The estimation of the use of energy in buildings is therefore a critical process during the design stage. This paper presents a review of the literature published in leading journals through Science Direct and Scopus databases within this research domain to establish research trends, and importantly, to identify research gaps for future investigation. It has been widely acknowledged in the literature that there is an alarming performance gap between the predicted and actual energy consumption of buildings (sometimes this has been up to 300% difference). Analysis of the impact of occupants’ behaviour has been largely overlooked in building energy performance analysis. In short, energy simulation tools utilise climatic data and physical/ thermal properties of building elements in their calculations, and the impact of occupants is only considered through means of fixed and scheduled patterns of behaviour. This research review identified a number of areas for future research including: larger scale analysis (e.g. urban analysis); interior design, in terms of space layout, and fixtures and fittings on occupants’ behaviour; psychological cognitive behavioural methods; and the integration of quantitative and qualitative research findings in energy simulation tools to name but a few.
The worldwide economic development, population expansion, and technological advancements contribute to a rise in global primary energy consumption. Since fossil fuels now provide around 85% of the ...energy requirement, a significant quantity of greenhouse gases is released, leading to climate change. To meet the pledges of the Paris agreement, a promising and potential alternative to fossil fuels needs to be commercialised. Therefore, numerous industries recognise hydrogen (H2) as a clean and stable energy source for decarbonisation or de-fossilisation. Around 90% of the world's H2 produced is grey in nature and produced from reforming fossil-based fuels. However, the future of H2 energy lies in its green, blue, and turquoise spectra due to the carbon capture scheme and corresponding clean and sustainable H2 production methodology. The fundamental goal of this research is to learn more about various low-carbon H2 generating systems. In comparison to fossil-based H2, green H2 is a costly option. Blue H2 offers several appealing characteristics; however, the carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology are expensive and blue H2 is not carbon-free. The current CCUS technology can only store and catch between 80 and 95% of CO2. Further, it examines worldwide actions related to the H2 development policy. In addition, a debate based on the colour spectrum of H2 was established to classify the purity of H2 generation. Further, the existing obstacles, advancements, and future directions of low-carbon H2 production technologies, including fossil fuel-based and renewable-based H2, are explored to foster the growth of the low-carbon H2 economy.
•H2 is a promising alternative to fossil fuels that can aid to achieve pledges of Paris agreement.•H2 production from steam reforming i.e., grey H2 is still the major production route.•Future of H2 lies in blue, green, and turquoise spectrum, others will fade with time.•Techno-economic feasibility needs further research for H2 production via electrolysis of H2O.
Amongst academics and practitioners working in the fields of urban planning and design, there has been an on-going discussion regarding the relationships between urban morphology and environmental ...sustainability. A main focus of analysis has been to investigate whether the form of cities and neighbourhoods can be related to their energy efficiency, especially regarding the energy intensity of buildings and transportation. However, to analyse the overall energy performance of urban systems, both the consumption and the generation of resources need to be assessed. In terms of urban environmental sustainability, the potential to generate renewable energy within the city boundaries is a research topic of growing interest, being solar energy one of the main resources available.
This study uses neighbourhood-scale statistical models to explore the relationships between aggregated urban form descriptors and the potential to harvest solar energy within the city. Different possible scenarios of urban morphology in Greater London are analysed and variables of urban form are tested with the aim of increasing the solar energy potential of neighbourhoods. Results show that by optimising combinations of up to eight variables of urban form the solar irradiation of roofs could be increased by ca. 9%, while that of façades could increase by up to 45%. Furthermore, based on these results, a series of trade-offs needed for the optimisation of conflicting variables is unveiled. Finally, some recommendations for design strategies are offered with the aim of helping urban planners and designers improve the solar energy potential of new or existing urban areas.
•Possible links between urban morphology and solar renewable energy potential of neighbourhoods in London were explored.•The morphology of 4718 neighbourhoods was characterised using 18 descriptors of urban form aggregated to the LSOA level.•GIS and Python scripting were used to simulate the solar irradiation of each neighbourhoods' roofs and façades.•Two SolREP models were created to predict the solar irradiation of roofs and façades using spatial regression analysis.•Scenarios were tested to explore how the solar potential of neighbourhoods can be increased using the research findings.
Successful building design is becoming an increasingly complex task, due to a growing demand to satisfy more ambitious environmental, societal and economical performance requirements. The application ...of climate adaptive building shells (CABS) has recently been put forward as a promising alternative within this strive for higher levels of sustainability in the built environment. Compared to conventional façades, CABS offer potential opportunities for energy savings as well improvement of indoor environmental quality. By combining the complementary beneficial aspects of both active and passive building technologies into the building envelope, CABS can draw upon the concepts of adaptability, multi-ability and evolvability. The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive review of research, design and development efforts in the field of CABS. Based on a structured literature review, a classification of 44 CABS is made to place the variety of concepts in context with each other, and concurrent developments. In doing so, the overall motivations, enabling technologies, and characteristic features that have contributed to the development of CABS are highlighted. Despite the positive perspectives, it was found that the concept of CABS cannot yet be considered mature. Future research needs and further challenges to be resolved are therefore identified as well.
The new European Directive RED-II on the promotion of the use of renewable energy sources has introduced the concept of the Renewable Energy Community. This new entity has the potential to change the ...relations among end-users and the latter and the other actors of the energy sector. In particular, the electrical sector appears the most influenced by the implementation of this paradigm. Indeed, the need for self-consumption and for exploiting the full potential of renewable energy in a Renewable Energy Community influences how the end-users exchange energy with the power grid, the rules for their connection to the grid, the implementation of Demand Response and other energy management programs. For this reason, after a review of the existing legal framework, this paper investigates various aspects concerning the interaction of Renewable Energy Communities with the power system, highlighting what issues must still be addressed for a complete implementation of Renewable Energy Communities and their integration in the power system, with a focus on the Italian context.
•Renewable Energy Communities and jointly acting renewables self-consumers appear as new actors in the electricity sector.•Regulation on self-consumption is presented and the international implementation experience are discussed.•Self-consumption schemes have the potential to impact in a significant way on the electric power system.•The evaluation of the shared electricity in various scenarios is discussed.•The application of the Blockchain technology to the REC model is debated.
Thailand's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) intends to minimize CO2 emissions by 20–25%. Similarly, to focus on achieving the Paris Agreement's long-term target of remaining well below 2 °C, ...aggressive mitigation steps are necessary beyond 2030. Given the importance, the study examines the impact of energy depletion rate, renewable energy consumption, depletion rate of non-renewable energy, and GDP on CO2 emissions in Thailand from 1980 to 2018. The research using a novel dynamic ARDL simulations model 1 and frequency domain causality (FDC) test. The empirical outcomes indicate that the pace of depletion has a significant adverse impact on CO2 emissions both in the long run and short run. Additionally, we found that renewable energy has a negative and statistically significant impact on CO2 emissions in the short run. However, the depletion rate of non-renewable energy and GDP revealed a positive and statistically substantial effects on CO2 emissions in the short and long run. Also, the FDC test confirmed the short, medium, and long-run causality among DR, RE, DRNRE, and CO2 emission. The findings show that without a radical shift in Thailand's economic environment and energy infrastructure, the nation will have to face high costs in decreasing its CO2 emission.
•Examines relationship between DR, RE, DRNRE, and GDP with CO2 emission.•The time series data collected from 1980 to 2018 in Thailand.•The study employed novel dynamic Autoregressive Distributed lag (ARDL) model.•We found depletion rate (DR) significant impact on CO2 emissions in long and short run.•Also, DRNRE and GDP revealed significant effect on CO2 emissions in long and short run.
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