EFFICIENCY OF ANTHROPOGENIC ENERGY COSTS IN THE CREATION AND LONG-TERM USE OF DIFFERENT-RIPENING CEREAL HAYFIELDS

The results of the agro-energy assessment of the creation and long-term haymaking use (for 27 years) of different-ripening cereal grasses are presented. The total costs of anthropogenic energy were recouped by the collection of metabolic energy by 2,8–3,3 times. In the structure of metabolic energy production, renewable natural factors accounted for 64–70%.

AGRO-ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF CREATION AND LONG-TERM INTENSIVE USE OF EARLY- AND MEDIUM-RIPENING CEREALS GRASS STANDS

The agro-energy assessment showed the high efficiency of the creation and long-term three-mowing use of cereal grass stands. The collection of metabolizable energy on agrocenoses of different ripening was 58–69 GJ/ha on average over 27 years. In the structure of its production, the main part (60–66%) is provided by natural factors.

GIS and Remote Sensing for Renewable Energy Assessment and Maps

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) techniques are of great interest for the renewable energy field [...]

Review of the Building Information Modelling (BIM) Implementation in the Context of Building Energy Assessment

In recent years, many researchers across the world have addressed the implementation of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the energy assessment of the built environment. However, several potential issues still need to be resolved in order to utilise the benefits provided by BIM to a maximum degree. To fill this gap, a systematic literature review is conducted in this study to critically investigate the utilisation of BIM tools in energy assessment. To achieve the above-mentioned objective, after shortlisting the relevant papers published hitherto, using keyword searching, a systematic review was undertaken, including the application of BIM in the contexts of different countries, types of BIM tools, BIM and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) integration, energy affiliations, stakeholders’ involvement and their roles, uncertainty, and sensitivity analysis. The outcomes show the most widely used and effective BIM tools in different types of construction projects in various countries. The review of the literature clearly shows that BIM tools can effectively be used in the assessment of energy performance of buildings. The article gives insight to engineers, architecture, and decision makers to carefully select appropriate BIM tools in terms of energy assessment.

Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Food Waste and Thermal Pretreated Waste Activated Sludge: Synergetic Effect and Energy Assessment

Thermal pretreatment was an effective method to improve the anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge. However its application in China was still hindered by the high energy demand. In order to balance the energy consumption of sludge thermal pretreatment integrated with anaerobic digestion, food waste was introduced as co-substrate to achieve an energy self-sustainable sludge treatment system. Anaerobic biodegradability test was performed using thermal pretreated sludge and food waste in order to clarify the kinetics and mechanism of co-digestion, especially the synergetic effect on specific methane yield. The prominent synergetic effect was an initial acceleration of cumulative methane production by 20.7- 23.8% observed during the first 15 days, and the cumulative methane production of feedstock can be calculated proportionately from its composition. Between the evaluated models, modified Gompertz model presented a better agreement of the experimental results and it was able to describe the synergetic effect, assessed by the relative deviation between theoretical estimation and the experimental results of co-digestion tests. This feature made modified Gompertz model a suitable tool for methane production prediction of mono- and co-digestion. Energy assessment shown that co-digestion with food waste was a sustainable solution to maintain the integration of thermal pretreatment and anaerobic digestion energy neutral or even positive. Besides, the performance of sludge dewatering was a crucial factor for the energy balance.

Application of Artificial Neural Networks for Virtual Energy Assessment

A Virtual energy assessment (VEA) refers to the assessment of the energy flow in a building without physical data collection. It has been occasionally conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic to residential and commercial buildings. However, there is no established framework method for conducting this type of energy assessment. The COVID-19 pandemic has catalysed the implementation of remote energy assessments and remote facility management. In this paper, a novel framework for VEA is developed and tested on case study buildings at the University of Melbourne. The proposed method is a hybrid of top-down and bottom-up approaches: gathering the general information of the building and the historical data, in addition to investigating and modelling the electrical consumption with artificial neural network (ANN) with a projection of the future consumption. Through sensitivity analysis, the outdoor temperature was found to be the most sensitive (influential) parameter to electrical consumption. The lockdown of the buildings provided invaluable opportunities to assess electrical baseload with zero occupancies and usage of the building. Furthermore, comparison of the baseload with the consumption projection through ANN modelling accurately quantifies the energy consumption attributed to occupation and operational use, referred to as ‘operational energy’ in this paper. Differentiation and quantification of the baseload and operational energy may aid in energy conservation measures that specifically target to minimise these two distinct energy consumptions.

Vibration parameters and indicators of a dynamic tillage tool

According to domestic and foreign research on the efficiency of active and passive vibrating tillage tools, the created vibration allows reducing the traction resistance of tillage implements compared to conventional tools, while improving the tillage quality. The study aimed to determine several vibration parameters and indicators of a dynamic tillage tool supplied with an energy storing and transmitting device: frequency and amplitude of oscillations, absolute velocity, vibration velocity, acceleration of vibration, a force of inertia, and oscillation energy. The study applied the energy assessment methods of tillage tools with the measuring and information system designed at IEEP – branch of FSAC VIM; analysis and generalisation of experimental data. Vibration variables were determined by the strain-gauge method. The study revealed a significant effect of oscillation frequency and amplitude of the tillage tool, depending on the machine travel speed and characteristics of elastic elements, on its vibration velocity and acceleration, the force of inertia and the energy of oscillations.The total increase in these forces owing to a high-frequency dynamic impact may affect the soil layer considerably as an additional loosening. The accumulated impact energy can provide a decrease in the traction resistance of the tillage tool.