Jingchun Shen

Smart meter and in-home display for energy savings in residential buildings: a pilot investigation in Shanghai, China

ABSTRACT Smart meters and in-home displays (IHDs) have been recently adopted to help give residential users more control over energy consumption, and meet environmental and supply security objectives. The article aims to identify the effectiveness and potential of smart meters and real-time IHDs in reducing Shanghai household energy consumption by affecting occupants’ behaviour. A general landscape of the occupant behaviour in residential buildings was briefly painted. A pilot study in Shanghai with an effective sample of 131 respondents was arranged into two groups as IHD and non-IHD households. A dedicated statistical analysis model was developed based on the micro-level empirical data to investigate the characteristics and the regulations of electricity consumption in these two groups, such as check frequency, electricity consumption reduction and shifting, energy bill saving, and standby power. The research results demonstrate that IHDs could lead to around 9.1% reduction in monthly electricity consumption and about 11.0% cut off in monthly electricity bills. A general comparison of the electricity consumption reduction between this research and the average UK case was further made. Barriers at current stage and challenges for further work were finally discussed. The statistical model is expected to ‘future proof’ smart meter and real-time displays through macro-level designing in modularity and flexibility in China. The overall research initially proves the concept of the feasible impact of smart meter and display technologies in the Chinese context, which is further expected to contribute to the empirical evidence on how IHD feedback could influence household electricity consumption in the Chinese context.

Building integrated solar thermal (BIST) technologies and their applications : A review of structural design and architectural integration

Solar energy has enormous potential to meet the majority of present world energy demand by effective integration with local building components. One of the most promising technologies is building integrated solar thermal (BIST) technology. This paper presents a review of the available literature covering various types of BIST technologies and their applications in terms of structural design and architectural integration. The review covers detailed description of BIST systems using air, hydraulic (water/heat pipe/refrigerant) and phase changing materials (PCM) as the working medium. The fundamental structure of BIST and the various specific structures of available BIST in the literature are described. Design criteria and practical operation conditions of BIST systems are illustrated. The state of pilot projects is also fully depicted. Current barriers and future development opportunities are therefore concluded. Based on the thorough review, it is clear that BIST is very promising devices with considerable energy saving prospective and building integration feasibility. This review shall facilitate the development of solar driven service for buildings and help the corresponding saving in fossil fuel consumption and the reduction in carbon emission.

Comparative Investigation of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) and Photovoltaic/Thermal (PV/T) Systems by both Laboratory and Field Experiments

Photovoltaic (PV) semiconductor degrades in performance due to temperature rise. Therefore, a super thin-conductive thermal absorber was developed to retrofit the existing PV panel into a photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) panel with multiple benefits including dual outputs of increased electricity and additional hot water, and potential savings in installation cost and space. The thermal absorber regulates the PV temperature by creating trade-off between PV efficiency and thermal output. This chapter presents the parallel comparative investigation of the PV and the PV/T panels through laboratory and field experiments. The laboratory evaluation consisted of one PV and one PV/T panel, while the overall field system involved 15 stand-alone PV panels and 15 retrofitted PV/T panels. The total electric installation capacity of the field system was around 6 kWp, and all the PV or PV/T panels were connected to the national grid through an electric inverter. The laboratory testing results demonstrated that this PV/T panel could achieve an electrical efficiency of PV cells at about 16.8 % (about 5 % increase), and produce an extra amount of heat with thermal efficiency of nearly 65 % under standard testing conditions. The nominal mass flow rate of the working fluid is recommended at 50 Lh−1m−2. The thermal absorber was measured at an extremely low pressure drop of less than 20 Pa. The field-testing results indicated that the hybrid PV/T panel could essentially improve the electrical return of PV panels by nearly 3.5 % in practice, and meanwhile increase the overall energy output (both electricity and heat) by nearly 324.3 %. Such synergetic integration of PV and thermal absorber not only results in improved PV efficiency but also generates more energy per unit area when compared with stand-alone PV panel. To replace with conventional electric water heating system, the 15 PV/T panel’s payback periods were estimated at less than 5 years and the corresponding CO2 emission reduction was about 440 t throughout their life span of 25 years. Further opportunities and challenges in the built environment were discussed from aspects of different PV/T stakeholders to accelerate the development of such technology. It is expected that such a dedicated technology could become a significant solution to yield more electricity, offset heating load freely and reduce carbon footprint in contemporary energy environment.

An initial concept design of an innovative flat-plate Solar Thermal Facade for building integration

An initial concept design of an innovative flat-plate solar thermal facade for building integration

Investigation of a Pilot-scale Photovoltaic/Thermal System and its Opportunities for Future Development

Investigation of a Pilot-scale Photovoltaic/thermal System and its Opportunities for Future Development