A 'two-cord house' in coid country

A 'two-cord house' in coid country

07 Alternative energy sources (solar energy) 95/02813 Dead elephanta in the living room. Why we needn’t build many more large power plante Rocky Mount...

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07 Alternative energy sources (solar energy) 95/02813 Dead elephanta in the living room. Why we needn’t build many more large power plante Rocky Mountain Institute Staff, Solar Today, Mar.-Apr. 1995, 9, (Z), p. 46. Electricity from photovoltaics (PVs) is about five times more expensive than electricity from a coal plant. So how did Pacific Gas & Electric, one of the US’s smartest utilities, justify its recent business decision to install a 500-kilowatt PV array at a substation? Discusses the tangible, measurable economic advantages of dispersed, renewable power production being explored by the Rocky Mountain Institute research.

95102814 Developlng countrlee’ energy requlrementa Arques, P. Revue de I’Energie, Mar. 1995, (466), 150-154. (In French) The amount of electric power and bacteriologically clean water produced in developing countries today is insufficient for the people’s needs. In order to develop successfully, these countries must necessarily achieve a threshold which, for the whole planet, will come to l,OOO,OOO MW of electricity. One way this can be done is by building several hundred power plants, with all the concomitant pollution problems. Another solution is Stirling motors, which use the power of sunlight to pump and pasteurize water and to generate electricity for one or more families, or for developmental home industries.

95102815 Envlronmental technologies

assessment

of

photovoltalc

Tillman, A. M. Energy & Environment, 1995, 6, (l), 43-61. Production of electricity in solar cells enables a flowing energy resource, sunlight, to be brought into the technological system. Although only small adverse environmental effects result from the operation of solar cells, duction and sometimes disposal have more environmental impact. K; impact is described for a number of types of solar cells., in various applications, and the technology is evaluated from an envuonmental pomt of view, as compared with power production from fossil fuels and nuclear power. A life-cycle perspective is adopted, although the study is not a quantitative life-cycle assessment.

Experlmental rural photovoltalc electrlflcatlon programs: ‘Technlcal speclflcatlons’ for overcoming the economic and space constraints characteristic of rural areas In developing countrlee 95102816

De Gouvello, C. Revue de I’Energie, Dec. 1994, (464), 679-689. (In French) Above and beyond the economic and financial constraints that are inhibiting the general spread of electrical service to rural populations in developing countries by means of interconnection to the network, it is shown here that this conventional approach is not only becoming less and less competitive in rural areas, but that its built-in spatial progression mechanism also lends structural support to the existing social and geographic disparities, rather than reducing them. Individual or community photovoltaic systems can avoid this bias, which is so hard to accept in a public service, and they are also becoming more and more competitive. However, wide-scale dissemination of these systems assumes that the same economic and social constraints must be overwme again, especially in the rural areas of these countries, that have until now bridled conventional rural electrification.

95lO2817

House deslgn for summer comfort

. Discusses the problem of conjugate heat transfer involving mixed wnvection laminar ascending flow of water in inclined circular tubes uniformly heated on their outer surface by numercially using a unified formulation for the solid and fluid domains.

95102821

Low-cost, hlgh-value passive solsr

Aitken, D. and Neuffer, P. Solar Today, Mar.-Apr. 1995, 9, (2), 30-32. Describes how passive solar production homes offer benefits to the builder, the utility and the home buyer.

95102022

The mlnl house: A mall order house for one or two

Maloney, T. Solar Today, Mar.-Apr. 1995, 9, (2), 18-U). Describes a small, affordable,, luxury home kit which combines su rior energy efficiency and innovative design to meet the needs of one- an 8”hvoperson households.

95102823 systems

Optimlzatlon of naturaltonvectlon,

solar drylng

Bala, B. K. and Woods, J. L. Energy, Apr. 1995, 20, (4), 285-294. The authors resent a technique for optimization of natural-convection, solar driers. +h e physical simulation is combined with a cost rediction and a search technique, which finds the constrained minimum o P total cost per unit moisture removal. The optimum design for typical Bangladesh conditions is a relatively long collector, a thin grain bed and negligible chimney height. Sensitivity analyses have shown that the design eometry is not very sensitive to material or fixed costs but grain capacity g as some effect. Turning the grain has almost no effect on drying but greatly reduces over-drying at the bottom of the bed.

95102824 Production of solar hydrogen by a novel, 2-step, water-spllttlng thermochemlcsl cycle Tamaura,Y. et al., Energy, Apr. 1995, 20, (4), 325-330. A novel, two-step, water-splitting cycle is presented which, in contrast to previously proposed cycles that require upper operating temperatures above 2300 K, can be conducted at a moderate temperature. In the first endothermic step, N$,:Mn, Fe?O, is thermally activated above 1073 K to I ernte. In the second step, activated ferrite is form an oxygen-deficient reacted with water below 1073 K to form hydrogen; the ferrite product is recycled to the first step H, and 0, are derived in different steps, eliminating the need for high-temperature gas separation. Both reactions have been demonstrated experimentally using concentrated solar radiation as energy source for the activation. 95102025 Solar dlstlllatlon: Practice and promise McCracken, H. Solar Today, Mar.-Apr. 1995, 9, (2), 28-29. Discusses solar stills which are a mature technology? with proven markets and long history of cost-effectiveness. The simple dnect solar still is basically a pan with a glass cover, although the design and construction of the pan is 90% of the secret of successful operation. The still must be capable of containing hot, concentrated saline or alkaline water, and must be able to tolerate exposure to air, sunlight and high temperatures. It must also sell at an economically rational price, and deliver premium quality drinking water over long periods of time.

Solar ener y In houslng design. Volume 1. Prlnclples, objectives and gu9dellnes. Volume 2. Examplee

95102026

Gellender, M. Queensland Power, Queensland Government Mining J., Feb. 1995, 96, 11-14. Discusses the designing of houses to be. cool in summer and warm in winter which is a key area where the Department of Minerals and Energy is providing advice through the Queensland Energy Information Centre.

95/02818 The Influence of electrlcal backu element size on the performance of a solar thermosyphon DJ W system Tully, N. Energy, Mar. 1995, 20, (3), 209-217. Describes a computer simulation program which is used to predict performance of a solar thermosyphon domestic water heating system.

95/02820 Lamlnar fully developed mixed convectlon In Inclined tubes unlformly heated on thelr outer surface $$j A. el al., Numerical Hear Transfer, Part A, Dec. 1994, 26, (6),

the

95102819 Knowledge-based versus classlcal control for solar-bulldlng deslgne Dounis, A. I. el al., Applied Energy, 1995, 50, (4), 281-292. The paper compares classical control systems with knowledge-.based systems in the control of building designs to achieved comfort conditions. Initially the goal has been the minimization of energy usage. For this target, thermostats and PID controllers have been employed. Adaptive and ad hoc first-generation controller implemented for the improvement of specific problems are described next. The achievement of thermal and visual comfort conditions within living and working space fits the application of fuzzy logic expert systems. The structure of a fuzzy control system is described. The paper also discusses the capabilities of the fuzzy logic expert system in the achievement of optimal resource management in passive-building designs.

Yannis, S.

95102827

Architectural

Association

Publications,

London, 1994.

Solar street lights lead alternatlve energy

Queensland Power, Queensland Government Mining J., Feb. 1995,96, p. 10. Reports that the largest set of solar-powered street lights in Australia has been installed at Bar&dine in central Queensland in the first of a series of alternative energy programs being established throughout the State.

95/02828

A ‘two-cord house’ In cold country

Miller Thayer, B. Solar Today, Mar.-Apr. 1995, 9, (2), 24-27. Describes the comfort and affordability of self-sufficient house and energyefficient living in the harsh Wisconsin climate. 95102829 A water-trickle solar collector Tasdemiroglu, E. and Gursoy, A. Applied Energy, 1995,50, (2), 163-183. A trapezoidally corrugated aluminium water-trickle solar collector was constructed and tested under the climatic conditions of Ankara, Turkey (39” 57’N, 32” 53’E). Experimental thermal efficiency curves were wnstrutted for both closed- and open-hole cases. For the open-hole case, a theoretical performance model was developed, which calculates iteratively the energy flows and temperature distributions. Effects of mass flow rate, ambient tern erature, solar radiation intensity, and wind velocity on the calculated e l$.lciency of the collector were studied. The major findings were discussed and the problems associated with the design and operation of the system were pointed out.

Fuel and Energy Abstracts May 1995 203