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Applied Sciences
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District Energy Network for Sustainable Urban Development
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District Energy Network for Sustainable Urban Development

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Science and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 February 2022) | Viewed by 12780

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Behzad Rismanchi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and IT Engineering Block C, Building 174, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
Interests: thermal energy storage; energy management; renewable energy; energy saving; complex system modelling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is very unlikely that yesterday’s technology could address future demand for energy. A smarter solution is required that can tackle the three top pillars of energy trilemma— security, affordability, and sustainability—all at the same time. If the solution focuses on just one dimension in isolation, it is unlikely to be able to address the sustainable urban development. The district energy network (DEN), which is capable of providing required energy either in the form of electricity, heating or cooling that utilizes available local energy/waste resources, might be one of the best solutions to this dilemma. The integrated thermal energy storage (TES) system would ensure secure and stable access to energy continuously. This Special Issue aims to provide an opportunity for researchers to publish their theoretical, analytical, and technological findings in the field of district energy networks with a holistic view over the lifecycle of the energy systems.

Dr. Behzad Rismanchi
Guest Editor

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. Applied Sciences 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

  • district energy network (DEN)
  • 5th-generation DHC
  • embodied energy of district energy systems
  • thermal energy storage
  • shallow geothermal energy
  • energy piles
  • precinct energy modeling

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

28 pages, 2016 KiB  
Article
A Technology Assessment Approach for Achieving Sustainable Communities: An Energy Master Plan for a New Urban Development
by Mary Rose Santillan, Jung Whan Syn, Saeid Charani Shandiz, Yubin Huang, Marina Pires de Lacerda and Behzad Rismanchi
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(8), 3860; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12083860 - 11 Apr 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2084
Abstract
In the era of climate change and rapid urbanisation, communities and infrastructures need to be planned and designed in a way that promotes sustainable living. The provision of clean and affordable energy is a key to this aim. This paper proposes a technology [...] Read more.
In the era of climate change and rapid urbanisation, communities and infrastructures need to be planned and designed in a way that promotes sustainable living. The provision of clean and affordable energy is a key to this aim. This paper proposes a technology assessment approach that is based on the triple bottom line (environmental, social and economic) sustainability framework. This approach can be employed in the technology screening that is involved in the early stages of the energy master planning process and can be applied to different community typologies in various locations and climates. The developed approach is demonstrated through a new urban renewal project case study in Fishermans Bend, Melbourne, in which a set of technological options were screened according to the project’s goals. The connection between the energy master plan and local and global sustainable development goals is discussed and policy interventions are proposed. The results show that the proposed approach could effectively enable the evaluation of the technological sustainability performance of the community by demonstrating the design trade-offs and the implementation of the sustainability objectives during the energy master planning process. Moreover, the proposed approach could provide guidance for effective policy making. It was found that government energy policies, regulations and incentives play a vital role in the feasibility of an energy master plan. Lastly, the proposed approach could facilitate the achievement of local and international targets, such as the UN SDGs, by 2050. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue District Energy Network for Sustainable Urban Development)
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31 pages, 1287 KiB  
Article
Enhancing Building Monitoring and Control for District Energy Systems: Technology Selection and Installation within the Living Lab Energy Campus
by Philipp Althaus, Florian Redder, Eziama Ubachukwu, Maximilian Mork, André Xhonneux and Dirk Müller
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(7), 3305; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12073305 - 24 Mar 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2962
Abstract
With regard to climate change, it is imperative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One solution approach is to increase energy efficiency in buildings. Buildings contribute a high share of the total global energy usage. As the rate of new building constructions is low, [...] Read more.
With regard to climate change, it is imperative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One solution approach is to increase energy efficiency in buildings. Buildings contribute a high share of the total global energy usage. As the rate of new building constructions is low, measures applicable to existing buildings become paramount. Before applying new approaches on a large scale, it is necessary to evaluate them in a representative, realistic environment. Living labs such as the Living Lab Energy Campus (LLEC) at Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) facilitate innovative monitoring and control approaches in a real-world setting. In this work, we investigate the required steps for bringing sensor and control networks, comprising more than 1800 devices, into 18 existing and new buildings. This enables both room-level monitoring and control, as well as the integration of building-wide automation. By introducing an ICT infrastructure, we pave the way towards holistic approaches on a district level. We describe the workflows used for selected instrumentation variants and show first insights from the operation of the resulting infrastructure. We show that the investigated instrumentation variants exhibit similar characteristics; however, they affect control behavior differently. We emphasize that instrumentation should be planned in the context of existing infrastructure. Moreover, we present and evaluate sample measurements obtained from different buildings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue District Energy Network for Sustainable Urban Development)
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24 pages, 5270 KiB  
Article
Heat Transfer Performance in Energy Piles in Urban Areas: Case Studies for Lambeth College and Shell Centre UK
by He Qi, Yu Zhou, Zhonghua Zhang, Bo Wang, Yi Zhang, Hongzhi Cui and Xi Wang
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(17), 5974; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app10175974 - 28 Aug 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2151
Abstract
A ground source heat pump system is a highly efficient renewable heating, cooling, and ventilation system that utilizes the ground as a heat source or sink via ground heat exchangers. Energy pile is an energy geotechnical structure that couples a ground heat exchanger [...] Read more.
A ground source heat pump system is a highly efficient renewable heating, cooling, and ventilation system that utilizes the ground as a heat source or sink via ground heat exchangers. Energy pile is an energy geotechnical structure that couples a ground heat exchanger with a geotechnical structure, leading to low capital cost. The design of energy piles can be challengeable due to their complicated geometries and the requirement of mechanical load. This study focuses on the heat transfer across the concrete–soil interface of energy piles in urban areas. Case studies from two projects, the Lambeth College and Shell Centre projects, are presented and discussed. The back analysis of two energy pile cases illustrated that the heat transfer coefficient at the pile–soil interface can differ between the cooling mode and the heating mode. It can be concluded that the difference in the heat transfer coefficient is influenced by a number of factors such as soil properties, concrete (grout) properties, and the installation method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue District Energy Network for Sustainable Urban Development)
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16 pages, 3157 KiB  
Article
Exploring the Impact of a District Sharing Strategy on Application Capacity and Carbon Emissions for Heating and Cooling with GSHP Systems
by Yi Zhang, He Qi, Yu Zhou, Zhonghua Zhang and Xi Wang
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(16), 5543; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app10165543 - 11 Aug 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2056
Abstract
To meet long-term climate change targets, the way that heating and cooling are generated and distributed has to be changed to achieve a supply of affordable, secure and low-carbon energy for all buildings and infrastructures. Among the possible renewable sources of energy, ground [...] Read more.
To meet long-term climate change targets, the way that heating and cooling are generated and distributed has to be changed to achieve a supply of affordable, secure and low-carbon energy for all buildings and infrastructures. Among the possible renewable sources of energy, ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems can be an effective low-carbon solution that is compatible with district heating and cooling in urban areas. There are no location restrictions for this technology, and underground energy sources are stable for long-term use. According to a previous study, buildings in urban areas have demonstrated significant spatial heterogeneity in terms of their capacity to demand (C/D) ratio under the application of GSHP due to variations in heating demand and available space. If a spatial sharing strategy can be developed to allow the surplus geothermal capacity to be shared with neighbors, the heating and cooling demands of a greater number of buildings in an area can be satisfied, thus achieving a city with lower carbon emissions. In this study, a GSHP district system model was developed with a specific embedding sharing strategy for the application of GSHP. Two sharing strategies were proposed in this study: (i) Strategy 1 involved individual systems with borehole sharing, and (ii) Strategy 2 was a central district system. Three districts in London were selected to compare the performance of the developed models on the C/D ratio, required borehole number and carbon emissions. According to the comparison analysis, both strategies were able to enhance the GSHP application capacity and increase the savings of carbon emissions. However, the improvement levels were shown to be different. A greater number of building types and a higher variety in building types with larger differentiation in heating and cooling demands can contribute to a better district sharing performance. In addition, it was found that these two sharing strategies were applicable to different kinds of districts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue District Energy Network for Sustainable Urban Development)
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19 pages, 2385 KiB  
Article
Renewable Energy Sources in a Post-Socialist Transitional Environment: The Influence of Social Geographic Factors on Potential Utilization of Very Shallow Geothermal Energy within Heating Systems in Small Serbian Town of Ub
by Nikola Jocić, Johannes Müller, Tea Požar and David Bertermann
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(8), 2739; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app10082739 - 15 Apr 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2589
Abstract
Energetic stability is a precondition for a regular functioning of society and economy. Actual climate change raised the awareness of population and policy makers about the importance of exploited energy sources. Renewable energy sources are revealed as the solution which should satisfy both [...] Read more.
Energetic stability is a precondition for a regular functioning of society and economy. Actual climate change raised the awareness of population and policy makers about the importance of exploited energy sources. Renewable energy sources are revealed as the solution which should satisfy both needs—a need for energetic stability, as well as a need for producing ‘clean’ and ‘sustainable’ energy, and therefore reduce humans’ influence on the climate change. Very shallow geothermal energy offers wide range for utilization, among others for heating and cooling living spaces. This article shows potentials of low temperature heating system networks in a small Serbian town of Ub. In addition to technical possibilities, this article combines geographical and social, as well as political and economic circumstances in the town of Ub, which emerge as a result of a complex (post-socialist) transitional vortex. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue District Energy Network for Sustainable Urban Development)
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