An Incentive-Based Implementation of Demand Side Management in Power Systems

The growing demand for electricity runs counter to European-level goals, which include activities aimed at sustainable development and environmental protection. In this context, efficient consumption of electricity attracts much research interest nowadays. One environment friendly solution to meet increased demand lies in the deployment of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in the network and in mobilizing the active participation of consumers in reducing the peak of demand, thus smoothing the overall load curve. This paper addresses the issue of efficient and economical use of electricity from the Demand Side Management (DSM) perspective and presents an implementation of a fully-parameterized and explicitly constrained incentive-based demand response program The program uses the Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm and demonstrates the potential advantages of integrating RES while supporting two-way communication between energy production and consumption and two-way power exchange between the main grid and the RES.

Penilaian Dampak Lingkungan Industri Tahu Menggunakan Life Cycle Assessment (Studi Kasus: Pabrik Tahu Sari Murni Kampung Krajan, Surakarta)

The problem faced by the tofu industry is waste management. So, it is necessary to do so that tofu waste does not pollute the environment by managing waste and emissions, efficient consumption of energy, materials, andwater. One way to identify environmental pollution is by Life Cycle Assessment. This study uses the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. The LCA flow in this study is to determine goals and scopes, create inventory data, make grouping impacts and how much impact they generate, as well as interpreting to provide improvements. The functional unit in this study is 1 kg of tofu which is produced in 1 day. The results of this study were divided into five impact categories, namely, climate change, the most important being 2195 kg CO2, human toxicity potential at 2187 kg 1,4-Dikchloro benzene, eutrophication at 0.935 kg PO4, photo oxidant at 0.797 kg C2H4, and acidification at 15,915 kg. SO2. The recommended improvement alternative is to make efforts to use water efficiently during the tofu production process, including the need to clean the scale in the steam boiler to increase the volume of steam produced, so that the use of water and energy is more efficient.

Optimization of Central Air Conditioning Plant by Scheduling the Chiller Ignition for Chiller Electrical Energy Management

Currently, the demand for electrical energy in homes, buildings, and industry is increasing, in line with population and economic growth. Of course, because of the massive use of electrical energy, it is necessary to increase efficiency. Large shopping malls in some countries are the biggest consume electricity, especially when it comes to cooling systems. Therefore, it is necessary to save energy in shopping centers. Because there are still few tenants and shopping centers that are relatively quiet, the mall's energy consumption is low, so it requires increasing energy-efficient consumption efficiency by optimizing power management and calculating the chiller performance coefficient (COP). This research aims to increase the chiller performance coefficient (COP) to save energy in shopping centers. The optimization method used is to make changes to the chiller ignition schedule when it's used in malls. Through the analysis from this research, it was found that the COP increased to 0.584, and the value before optimization was 6.181. With increasing COP, the chiller performance will increase. The effect of increasing the chiller's performance could optimize the electrical energy efficiency of the chiller in 138.82 kWh/day

The Determination of Plastic Material and the Optimal Irrigation Characteristics for an Agricultural Surface - Model Description

Water management and soil pollution are hot issues in modern agriculture. While more production of food is required, this quantity has to be obtained using the minimum level of resources and the maximum amortization of assets. Moreover, studies show that in Europe, 30% of water consumption is for agriculture, which has a strong influence not only on the amount of water consumed, but also on its quality due to pollution caused by chemical fertilizers, pesticides and other pollutants used in this sector. Therefore, a major concern is related to the use of water, its efficient consumption, which requires optimal irrigation systems both in terms of water transport and distribution. In this context, but also in the context of a turbid environmental debate, the most important facts in agriculture are the protection of the environment on a long range of time. In order to obtain good results for an irrigation system, in this paper we will present a model for calculating the best suited material for a given geographical area and the optimal water content for irrigation

Telemedicine in Times of the Pandemic Produced by COVID-19: Implementation of a Teleconsultation Protocol in a Hospital Emergency Department

Since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Spain, almost 22% of healthcare professionals have been infected. Among the main causes are exposure during the care of suspected patients and asymptomatic patients, which caused a greater lack of protection in some cases, and to the global shortage of personal protective equipment due to the strong demand for it. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a teleconsultation protocol with patients who had respiratory symptoms in the reduction of the consumption of personal protective equipment (PPE) in a hospital emergency service (HES) during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a descriptive and retrospective study that analyzes the implementation of a teleconsultation protocol with patients with respiratory problems treated in the HES at the Hospital de Poniente (Almeria), between 18 March and 30 April 2020. In the selected study period, 5353 patients were treated in the HES of the Hospital de Poniente; of these, 15.43% showed respiratory symptoms and were referred to the Respiratory Circuit, of which 42.2% did so via teleconsultation. Sixty-six cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed, 57.6% were male, and the median age was 71 years old. The main disease related was pneumonia (89.4%), symptoms more frequent were cough (77.3%), fever (77.3%), and dyspnea (60.6%). Lastly, 56.1% of the patients that attended had one or more comorbidities, high blood pressure (53%), and diabetes (36.4%), which became the main risk factors. The results showed that the implementation of teleconsultation in the HES reduced the possibility of infection and allowed for a more efficient consumption of personal protective equipment.

Dining on DOM: Stimulus for the Origin of Metazoan Life?

The most widely accepted scientific theory for the origin of life on Earth is that prokaryotic microbes evolved from simple organic compounds in seawater under anoxic conditions. For about 1 billion years thereafter, these microbes consumed the same dissolved organic matter (DOM) from which they had evolved before scarcity of DOM forced the evolution of cyanobacterial photosynthesis followed by eukaryosis. Could the more efficient consumption of DOM have also stimulated the subsequent origin of multicellular animal life? In this report, we synthesize past and recent evidence to propose the “DOM uptake hypothesis” for the origin of metazoans. A choanoflagellate-like protozoan was the likely ancestor of the first sponge-like metazoan to evolve on Earth. Choanoflagellates have outwardly facing flagellae that are subject to viscous water movement, while sponges have choanocytes in chambers with flagellae directed to pump water with greater fluidity across an aquiferous system with a huge cellular surface area. While generally considered particle feeders, both choanoflagellates and sponges absorb DOM, with some sponges relying on DOM for as much as 90% of their diet. We propose that the earliest metazoans may have evolved to survive the dire nutritional conditions of the Cryogenian “snow-ball Earth” period (~700 million years ago) by developing a body plan with the enhanced ability to absorb low concentrations of DOM in seawater from sources such as the viral lysis of microbes, exudates of benthic stromatolites, or refractory DOM compounds. Additionally, species of extant sponges that have a high abundance of microbes living in their bodies consume the greatest amounts of DOM, suggesting that the DOM uptake hypothesis may also be dependent on microbial symbiosis.

Autonomous Sensor Network for Rural Agriculture Environments, Low Cost, and Energy Self-Charge

Over the last years, existing technologies have been applied to agricultural environments, resulting in new precision agriculture systems. Some of the multiple profits of developing new agricultural technologies and applications include the cost reduction around the building and deployment of them, together with more energy-efficient consumption. Therefore, agricultural precision systems focus on developing better, easier, cheaper, and overall more efficient ways of handling agricultural monitoring and actuation. To achieve this vision, we use a set of technologies such as Wireless Sensor Networks, Sensors devices, Internet of Things, or data analysis. More specifically, in this study, we proposed a combination of all these technologies to design and develop a prototype of a precision agriculture system for medium and small agriculture plantations that highlights two major advantages: efficient energy management with self-charging capabilities and a low-cost policy. For the development of the project, several prototype nodes were built and deployed within a sensor network connected to the cloud as a self-powered system. The final target of this system is, therefore, to gather environment data, analyze it, and actuate by activating the watering installation. An analysis of the exposed agriculture monitoring system, in addition to results, is exposed in the paper.