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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 May 2022) | Viewed by 12772

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Marc Alier

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Guest Editor

Institut de Ciències de l’Educació, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
Interests: sustainability; education; ethics; privacy; open-source; information systems; guitar building; podcasting
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Mohan Lal Kolhe

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Engineering and Science, University of Agder, P.O. Box 422, 4604 Kristiansand, Norway
Interests: clean energy technologies; renewable energy systems; electrical energy engineering; energy efficiency; energy economics; techno-economic operation of energy systems; renewable energy technologies integration; smart grids; micro grids; electric vehicles; energy storage
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Our society needs energy to function and progress properly. This energy needs to be clean and sustainable: clean because we are in the midst of a climatic emergency caused by emissions produced by human activity, and hence, it is imperative to transform the production, storage, and delivery of energy to clean technologies; and sustainable because any practice meant to run indefinitely has to be sustainable by its mere definition.

This Special Issue aims to gather contributions in the fields of advances in clean energy research, energy economics, and energy policy to share up-to-date research results.

Topics of interest for submission include but are not limited to:

Wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal energies;
Ocean energy harvesting;
Energy efficiency in buildings and appliances;
Smart grids and microgrids for green electricity;
CO2 capture and storage;
Fossil-fuel power stations with CO2 sequestration;
Underground and gas network storages;
Future high-capacity energy storages;
Future battery technologies;
Power-to-gas/gas-to-power solutions;
Green fuel/energy for mobility;
Efficient long-distance transmission in supergrids;
Efficient AC/DC/AC energy conversion;
Sector coupling for energy creation and storage;
Sector coupling at the consumer side;
Coupling conventional with green power stations;
Measuring and filtering harmonic oscillations in smart grids;
Network stability before/after energy transition;
Critical smart-grid states and counter measures.

Assoc. Pro Marc Alier
Prof. Mohan Lal Kolhe
Guest Editors

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. Sustainability 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

Renewable energy
Technoeconomics of a sustainable energy system
Renewable energy project management
Financial analysis of renewable energy projects
Microgrid
Sustainable transport including electric vehicles and fuel cell technologies
Technoeconomic energy management of clean energy systems

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 7485 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis and Sizing of Charging Stations in Kota City

by Rohan Verma, Santosh Kumar Sharma, Pushpendra Singh, Javed Khan Bhutto and Abdul Rahman Abdullah Alharbi

Sustainability 2022, 14(18), 11759; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su141811759 - 19 Sep 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1720

Abstract

This paper focuses on optimization of charging station capacities and locations. The proliferation of electric vehicles is inextricably linked to the deployment of charging infrastructure. Currently, there are issues with locating and sizing when it comes to the building of electric vehicle charging stations. In order to find out the capacity of charging stations, a mathematical model was developed, which includes a site survey, EV density, electricity demand analysis, load modeling, costing analysis, EV battery charging time and power quality. The proposed approach was tested in MATLAB/Simulink environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Clean and Sustainable Energy Research)

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19 pages, 16330 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A CFD Analysis for Novel Close-Ended Deflector for Vertical Water Turbines

by Mohammed Baqer Zaki Yahya Al-quraishi, Shamsul Sarip, Hazilah Mad Kaidi, Jorge Alfredo Ardila-Rey and Firdaus Muhammad-Sukki

Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 2790; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14052790 - 27 Feb 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2070

Abstract

The effects of climate change are growing more and more evident, and this is caused by the increase in CO₂ emissions. Fossil fuel exhaustion and the need for electricity in remote areas have encouraged researchers to advance and develop the renewable energy sector. One type of clean energy technology is vertical water turbines that have low efficiency. This paper aims to design and simulate a novel close-ended, guided deflector to improve the efficiency of vertical turbines. This research used the dynamic mesh technique to evaluate the concept after the deflector was designed, and a grid independence study, a boundary sensitivity study, and a timestep sensitivity study were implemented to ensure the accuracy of the results. Then, we used the sliding mesh model to determine the performance of four rotors. The results from the dynamic mesh model showed that the straight rotor with the proposed deflector was not suitable for operating in the deflector, and the concept is static and does not rotate. However, the others showed a valid concept in the proposed deflector. For the sliding mesh technique, the results indicated a common trend: all the rotors’ performances increased when tip speed ratio (TSR) increased, and the highest amount of the power coefficient (Cp) was found at higher TSRs, such as 1.3 and 1.4, with around 0.45 in the cross flow type. A three-dimensional simulation was conducted of the cross flow type with the proposed deflector, and a similar trend was found. Nevertheless, around a 5% difference was found between the 3D and 2D results for cross flow. The deflector can significantly improve the performance after 0.7 TSR to reach over 0.42 Cp at 1.3 TSR, whereas, without the deflector, the performance reduces to approximately 0.1 Cp at the same TSR. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Clean and Sustainable Energy Research)

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22 pages, 10577 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multi-Disciplinary Analysis of Light Shelves Application within a Student Dormitory Refurbishment

by Silvia Ruggiero, Margarita-Niki Assimakopoulos, Rosa Francesca De Masi, Filippo de Rossi, Anastasia Fotopoulou, Dimitra Papadaki, Giuseppe Peter Vanoli and Annarita Ferrante

Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8251; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13158251 - 23 Jul 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1793

Abstract

The achievement of sustainable cities and communities is closely linked to an accurate design of the buildings. In this context, the transparent elements of the building envelope have a crucial role since, on one hand, they are a bottleneck in regards to heat and mass transfers and sound propagation, while, on the other hand, they must allow daylight penetration. Thus, they are responsible for occupants’ thermal and visual comfort and their health. Considering passive solutions for windows, the light shelves can improve natural light penetration, reducing the lights’ electricity demand and controlling windows’ related thermal aspects. The scientific literature is characterized by several studies that analyze this topic, which, however, focus only on the daylight field and sometimes the energy saving for lights. Moreover, they often refer to fixed sky type for the simulations. The aim of the present study is to analyze the application of the light shelves with a multi-disciplinary approach, by means of dynamic simulations, in the EnergyPlus engine, for a whole year. A new methodological approach is presented in order to investigate the technology under different fields of interest: daylight, lighting energy, cooling and heating needs, and thermo-hygrometric comfort. The case study chosen is an existing building, a student dormitory belonging to the University of Athens. It is subject to a deep energy renovation to conform to the “nearly Zero Energy Building” target, in the frame of a European research project called Pro-GET-onE (G.A No. 723747). By means of the calibrated numerical model of this HVAC–building system, ten different configurations of light shelves have been investigated. The best solution is given by the application of an internal horizontal light shelf placed at 50 cm from the top of the window with a depth of 90 or 60 cm. It has been found that despite the reduction in electricity demand for lighting, the variation in heating and cooling needs does not always lead to a benefit. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Clean and Sustainable Energy Research)

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17 pages, 8302 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Parametric Study on a Diesel Engine Fuelled Using Waste Cooking Oil Blended with Al₂O₃ Nanoparticle—Performance, Emission, and Combustion Characteristics

by Muruganantham Ponnusamy, Bharathwaaj Ramani and Ravishankar Sathyamruthy

Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7195; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13137195 - 26 Jun 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1480

Abstract

As the environment is humiliated at a disturbing rate, most governments have persistent calls following global energy policies for the utilization of biofuels. This paper essentially examines the portrayal investigations of fatty acid methyl esters and fatty acid pentyl esters obtained from palm oil. The characterization studies such as gas chromatogram, mass spectrometry, and Fourier transformed infrared spectrometry have been performed to study biodiesel’s chemical composition. This article likewise shows biodiesel’s physiochemical properties and concentrates on biodiesel blends’ hypothetical combustion properties with Al₂O₃ nanoparticles. The spectroscopic investigations demonstrate the contiguity of eight methyl esters and five pentyl esters prevalently of palmitic acid, oleic acid, octanoic acid, and stearic acid. The esters’ nearness was additionally affirmed by the FTIR range, where the peaks in the scope of 1700 cm⁻¹ to 1600 cm⁻¹ can be observed. Looking at the thermophysical properties of the mixes with that of the base diesel fuel yielded the compromising results by giving the comparative density to that of the diesel fuel. The palm oil biodiesel’s calorific value is, by all accounts, diminished by 10% when contrasted with diesel fuel. The addition of the nanoparticles up to 1 g has raised the calorific value most closely to the diesel’s value. Correspondingly, the theoretical burning examinations have demonstrated the limit of biodiesel to go about as an option compared to consistent diesel in the conventional DI–CI engine. This article talks about the combustion attributes of the blend containing 60% diesel, 20% fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), and 20% fatty acid pentyl ester (FAPE) with aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃) nanoparticles at two distinctive concentrations. This article primarily concerns the inquiry of combustion criterion, such as in-chamber pressure variation, rate of heat release, start of combustion, end of combustion, and ignition delay for considered fuel blends when contrasted with neat diesel fuel in a four-stroke, direct-injection, single-cylinder diesel engine. The results showed a decrease in in-cylinder pressure at all loads of engine operation for biodiesel blends when compared with neat diesel, irrespective of the nanoparticle concentration. Biodiesel blends at all nanoparticle concentrations showed an increase in ignition delay compared with diesel fuels at all engine operation loads. The performance results show a slight deterioration in the engine’s thermal efficiency using biodiesel blends, irrespective of the nanoparticle concentration. Additionally, the emissions show a considerable fall in trends for all loads in contrast with diesel fuel. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Clean and Sustainable Energy Research)

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Other

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18 pages, 2157 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceSystematic Review

The Urban Rooftop Photovoltaic Potential Determination

by Elham Fakhraian, Marc Alier, Francesc Valls Dalmau, Alireza Nameni and Maria José Casañ Guerrero

Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7447; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13137447 - 02 Jul 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4143

Abstract

Urban areas can be considered high-potential energy producers alongside their notable portion of energy consumption. Solar energy is the most promising sustainable energy in which urban environments can produce electricity by using rooftop-mounted photovoltaic systems. While the precise knowledge of electricity production from solar energy resources as well as the needed parameters to define the optimal locations require an adequate study, effective guidelines for optimal installation of solar photovoltaics remain a challenge. This paper aims to make a complete systematic review and states the vital steps with their data resources to find the urban rooftop PV potential. Organizing the methodologies is another novelty of this paper to create a complete global basis for future studies and improve a more detailed degree in this particular field. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Clean and Sustainable Energy Research)

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