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Full-Text Articles in Materials Science and Engineering

Economics Of Grid-Tied Solar Photovoltaic Systems Coupled To Heat Pumps: The Case Of Northern Climates Of The U.S. And Canada, Joshua M. Pearce, Nelson Sommerfeldt Feb 2021

Economics Of Grid-Tied Solar Photovoltaic Systems Coupled To Heat Pumps: The Case Of Northern Climates Of The U.S. And Canada, Joshua M. Pearce, Nelson Sommerfeldt

Michigan Tech Publications

Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is now a profitable method to decarbonize the grid, but if catastrophic climate change is to be avoided, emissions from transportation and heating must also decarbonize. One approach to renewable heating is leveraging improvements in PV with heat pumps (HPs). To determine the potential for PV+HP systems in northern areas of North America, this study performs numerical simulations and economic analysis using the same loads and climate, but with local electricity and natural gas rates for Sault Ste. Marie, in both Canada and U.S. Ground-mounted, fixed-tilt, grid-tied PV systems are sized to match 100% of electric …


Decentralized Renewable Hybrid Mini-Grids For Rural Communities: Culmination Of The Irep Framework And Scale Up To Urban Communities, Blessing Ugwoke, Adedoyin Adeleke, Stefano P. Corgnati, Joshua M. Pearce, Pierluigi Leone Sep 2020

Decentralized Renewable Hybrid Mini-Grids For Rural Communities: Culmination Of The Irep Framework And Scale Up To Urban Communities, Blessing Ugwoke, Adedoyin Adeleke, Stefano P. Corgnati, Joshua M. Pearce, Pierluigi Leone

Michigan Tech Publications

The Integrated Rural Energy Planning (IREP) framework offers a unified road map for locating, planning and operating decentralized renewable hybrid off-grid energy systems for localized (rural) applications in low-income countries. This paper presents the culmination of the IREP framework and aims to illustrate the final step of the IREP framework for two communities in Nigeria. It is focused on two aspects. Firstly, the techno-economic modeling (investment and operation optimization) of a hybrid mini-grid system using HOMER Pro, a techno-economic evaluation tool; and evaluating the benefits of demand side management (DSM) based on energy efficiency on the overall system economics using …


Sorption-Based Energy Storage Systems: A Review, Kyaw Thu, Nasruddin Nasruddin, Sourav Mitra, Bidyut Baran Saha Apr 2019

Sorption-Based Energy Storage Systems: A Review, Kyaw Thu, Nasruddin Nasruddin, Sourav Mitra, Bidyut Baran Saha

Makara Journal of Technology

Mismatched timing between the supply and demand of energy calls for reliable storage systems. Energy storage systems have become further significant with the widespread implementation of renewable energy. These systems can mitigate problems that are often associated with renewable energy sources such as supply unreliability while meeting the de-mand during peak hours. Energy can be stored in various forms, yet storage systems can be generally grouped based on their output forms, namely (i) electricity and (ii) heat or thermal energy. Electrical energy is the most convenient and effective form since it can power almost all modern devices. However, the electricity …


Open Source Low-Cost Power Monitoring System, Shane W. Oberloier, Joshua M. Pearce Mar 2019

Open Source Low-Cost Power Monitoring System, Shane W. Oberloier, Joshua M. Pearce

Joshua M. Pearce

This study presents an entirely open-source, low-cost power monitoring system capable of many types of measurements including both loads and supplies such as solar photovoltaic systems. In addition, the system can be fabricated using only open source software and hardware. The design revolves around the Digital Universal Energy Logger (DUEL) Node, which is responsible for reading and properly scaling the voltage and current of a particular load, and then serializing it via an on-board ATTiny85 chip. The configuration of the DUEL node allows for custom sensitivity ranges, and can handle up to 50 A and 300 V. Up to 127 …


The New Application Of Battery-Electrode Reaction: Decoupled Hydrogen Production In Water Electrolysis, Yuan-Yuan Ma, Zhao-Wei Guo, Yong-Gang Wang, Yong-Yao Xia Oct 2018

The New Application Of Battery-Electrode Reaction: Decoupled Hydrogen Production In Water Electrolysis, Yuan-Yuan Ma, Zhao-Wei Guo, Yong-Gang Wang, Yong-Yao Xia

Journal of Electrochemistry

Hydrogen has been considered as a promising alternative to unsustainable fossil fuels because of its high calorific value, clean and abundant resources. Water electrolysis combined with renewable energy is regarded as the best way for hydrogen production, which will become the foundation of future hydrogen economy. For the past few years, many efforts have been employed to develop the cheap and high-performance catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen evolution reaction. However,the coupled hydrogen and oxygen evolution and the use of the expensive membrane have greatly restricted the flexibility of the conventional water electrolysis, and hindered the utilization of renewable …


Open Source Low-Cost Power Monitoring System, Shane W. Oberloier, Joshua M. Pearce Oct 2018

Open Source Low-Cost Power Monitoring System, Shane W. Oberloier, Joshua M. Pearce

Department of Materials Science and Engineering Publications

This study presents an entirely open-source, low-cost power monitoring system capable of many types of measurements including both loads and supplies such as solar photovoltaic systems. In addition, the system can be fabricated using only open source software and hardware. The design revolves around the Digital Universal Energy Logger (DUEL) Node, which is responsible for reading and properly scaling the voltage and current of a particular load, and then serializing it via an on-board ATTiny85 chip. The configuration of the DUEL node allows for custom sensitivity ranges, and can handle up to 50 A and 300 V. Up to 127 …


Optimization Of Electricity Generation Schemes In The Java-Bali Grid System With Co2 Reduction Consideration, Farizal Farizal, Wenty Eka Septia, Amar Rachman, Nasruddin Nasruddin, Teuku Meurah Indra Mahlia Aug 2016

Optimization Of Electricity Generation Schemes In The Java-Bali Grid System With Co2 Reduction Consideration, Farizal Farizal, Wenty Eka Septia, Amar Rachman, Nasruddin Nasruddin, Teuku Meurah Indra Mahlia

Makara Journal of Technology

This research considers the problem of reducing CO2 emissions from the Java-Bali power grid system that consists of a variety of power-generating plants: coal-fired, natural gas, oil, and renewable energy (PV, geothermal, hydroelectric, wind, and landfill gas). The problem is formulated as linear programming and solved using LINGO 10. The model was developed for a nation to meet a specified CO2 emission target. Two carbon dioxide mitigation options are considered in this study, i.e. fuel balancing and fuel switching. In order to reduce the CO2 emissions by 26% in 2021, State Electric Supply Company (PLN) has to generate up to …


High-Efficiency Solar-Powered 3-D Printers For Sustainable Development, Jephias Gwamuri, Dhiogo Franco, Khalid Khan, Lucia Gauchia, Joshua M. Pearce Jan 2016

High-Efficiency Solar-Powered 3-D Printers For Sustainable Development, Jephias Gwamuri, Dhiogo Franco, Khalid Khan, Lucia Gauchia, Joshua M. Pearce

Michigan Tech Publications

The release of the open source 3-D printer known as the RepRap (a self-Replicating Rapid prototyper) resulted in the potential for distributed manufacturing of products for significantly lower costs than conventional manufacturing. This development, coupled with open source-appropriate technology (OSAT), has enabled the opportunity for 3-D printers to be used for sustainable development. In this context, OSAT provides the opportunity to modify and improve the physical designs of their printers and desired digitally-shared objects. However, these 3-D printers require electricity while more than a billion people still lack electricity. To enable the utilization of RepRaps in off-grid communities, solar photovoltaic …


Cdm Potential In Palm Solid Waste Cogeneration As An Alternative Energy In Aceh Province, Mahidin Mahidin, Izarul Machdar, Muhammad Faisal, Muhammad Nizar Nov 2012

Cdm Potential In Palm Solid Waste Cogeneration As An Alternative Energy In Aceh Province, Mahidin Mahidin, Izarul Machdar, Muhammad Faisal, Muhammad Nizar

Makara Journal of Technology

Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) as a solid waste in Crude Palm Oil (CPO) industry does not utilized yet as an alternative energy source to generate electricity. It is well known that use of solid wate (biomass) as an energy source is part of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) scheme due to direct reduction of Green House Gases (GHGs) emission and provide a direct contribution to sustainable development. Utilization of EFB as a source of energy is very potential to be implemented in Aceh since this province has 25 CPO Mills at the moment which actively produce about 870,000 ton EFB …