Pawinee Iamtrakul

Evaluation of Green Building Technology by Introducing Micro Co-Generation System in Convenience Stores

The number of small scale buildings such as minimarts and convenience stores in Thailand has increased rapidly in the past few years. The interest of effective energy utilization has not been focused on the implementation of the new technologies due to high investment and lack of skilled workers for the maintenance. Comparing to the energy improvement results from several techniques at the present, the implementation of micro co-generation systems driven by natural gas engines to meet the energy demand of Thailands convenience stores has been proposed in this study by using Primary Energy Saving Ratio (PES) as the assessment index to evaluate the energy performance. The results also showed that PES value can be increased up to 45% due to the utilization of higher efficiencies of micro co-generation system. However, the selection of the reasonable capacity of the system depends on the characteristic of the load profile and the objective of the utilization of micro co-generation system. Furthermore, the electrical and thermal efficiencies of the micro co-generation system are important factors that cannot be ignored in an effect to enhance the performance of micro co-generation systems.

Promoting Waste-to-Energy Program for BRT Project Based on Participatory Research Approach: A Case of Used Cooking Oil in Bogor City, Indonesia

The rapid increase in population has directly resulted into increased energy demand, especially in transportation sector. To survive with the growth of energy consumption, transit has become key alternative to alleviate mobility problem in the country. However, to cope with the increasing fuel price and limited resources in the coming near future, the important consideration for transit agencies is to guide on how to successfully implement BRT in the changing political, institutional, and operational setting. The alternative of energy sources from biomass production has received much attention, which could be obtained from the agriculture crop or from domestic waste material. To enhance fuel diversification, in the same time also to eliminate the environmental pollution through efficient Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), this paper discusses the possibilities of utilizing used-cooking oil for BRT in Bogor as a case study. With an objective of understanding the underlying factors governing the utilization of used-cooking oil as biodiesel, the policy interventions required for better dissemination of renewable energy are also discussed. Thus, to increase the availability, use of alternative energy and maintain the amount of raw material to produce sufficient fuel as an alternative energy, the incentive programs and campaigns are the must. Participatory Approach (PA) was adopted to encourage all stakeholders to participate in the process of bio-diesel material collection. Finally, the use of used-cooking oil for BRT could be a key solution for current problem faced by the study area i.e., traffic congestion that demands efficient BRT, and meeting demand for the waste used-cooking oil for its proper utilization in BRT as a biodiesel fuel. Thus, this proposed program will help to tackle these twin objectives of smoothing traffic in the city and reduce emission from the city transportation system.

Thermal Environment and Energy Use of Houses in Bangkok, Thailand

The Bangkok Metropolitan Region is the largest city of Thailand. The residential sector electricity consumption has risen steadily for the past year. This study has a questionnaire collected in Bangkok to investigate household electricity consumption behavior and field measurement on the residential indoor and outdoor thermal environment related to electricity consumption behavior.