The reality of living in passive solar homes: A user-experience study

This paper presents a study of a user-experience survey about living in passive solar homes. It was carried out at the Energy Park located in the western part of Milton Keynes. The survey focuses on the reality of living in passive solar homes as perceived or experienced by the occupant. It is hoped that the findings would come to bear on strategic passive solar design decisions that would address the improvement of the well-being of the occupant.. The survey is aimed at assessing user satisfaction with the overall performance of their homes as well as a study of some of the problems that are believed to be common in passive solar housing.Results from the survey seem to indicate that the majority of those who buy passive solar homes are motivated to do so by a desire for thermal comfort at low cost. The building aesthetics is the second most important factor, showing that passive solar home lovers are also conscious of the quality of the architectural design. The overall performance of passive solar homes in this study, with regard to thermal and visual comfort, seems to be generally satisfactory. Statistical analysis showed some significant association between some important environmental design parameters.     

苏州现代物流园综合办公大楼解读

文章通过对澳大利亚的JPW建筑设计公司在苏州工业园区设计并建成的物流园综合办公大楼进行介绍和解读，试图让更多的人了解该建筑，并发现其设计中的趣味。     

Climate-related electricity demand-side management in oil-exporting countries—the case of the United Arab Emirates

The oil crisis of the 1970s has increased the concern about the continuity of oil imports flow to major oil-importing developed countries. Numerous policy measures including electricity demand-side management (DSM) programs have been adopted in such countries. These measures aim at reducing the growing need for electricity power that increases the dependency on imported foreign oil and damages the environment. On the other hand, the perception that energy can be obtained at very low cost in oil-rich countries led to less attention being paid to the potential of DSM policies in these countries. This paper discusses such potential using the case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Since air conditioning is a major source of electric energy consumption, the relationship between climate conditions and electric energy consumption is considered. An electricity demand model is constructed using time series techniques. The fitted model seems to represent these relationships rather well. Forecasts for electricity consumption using the estimated model indicate that a small reduction in cooling degrees requirement might induce a significant reduction in electric energy demand. Hence, a DSM program is proposed with policy actions to include, among others, measures to reduce cooling degrees requirement.     

Energy storage devices for future hybrid electric vehicles

Powertrain hybridization as well as electrical energy management are imposing new requirements on electrical storage systems in vehicles. This paper characterizes the associated vehicle attributes and, in particular, the various levels of hybrids. New requirements for the electrical storage system are derived, including: shallow-cycle life, high dynamic charge acceptance particularly for regenerative braking and robust service life in sustained partial-state-of-charge usage. Lead/acid, either with liquid or absorptive glass-fibre mat electrolyte, is expected to remain the predominant battery technology for 14 V systems, including micro-hybrids, and with a cost-effective battery monitoring system for demanding applications. Advanced AGM batteries may be considered for mild or even medium hybrids once they have proven robustness under real-world conditions, particularly with respect to cycle life at partial-states-of-charge and dynamic charge acceptance. For the foreseeable future, NiMH and Li-ion are the dominating current and potential battery technologies for higher-functionality HEVs. Li-ion, currently at development and demonstration stages, offers attractive opportunities for improvements in performance and cost. Supercapacitors may be considered for pulse power applications. Aside from cell technologies, attention to the issue of system integration of the battery into the powertrain and vehicle is growing. Opportunities and challenges for potential “battery pack” system suppliers are discussed.     

Distributed architecture for energy management D-structure

Electric power systems are expanding in size and complexity, and the requirement for the energy management system (EMS) is becoming more important. In this computer control system, a single control computer is used mainly as the primary computer and its software is very complicated because of its hugh number of small, quick tasks to obtain high response speed. Therefore, much effort is needed to develop and modify the programs, and the responsiveness of this centralized architecture varies greatly when many faults occur in the power system. This paper describes a new distributed architecture for the EMS. Distributed processors execute the functions cooperatively with periodic access to the common bulletin board database in which information about the power system exist. This architecture facilitates the software development and maintenance, and it also enhances the performance by the parallel processing of the distributed functions.     

电双稳薄膜阻抗转变机理研究

采用真空蒸发的方法交替沉积Ag和TCNQ分子制备了Ag TCNQ金属 有机络合物薄膜 ,并研究了多种外加电压激发下膜的电阻转变特性。发现在转变过程中存在着一种能量效应 ,即当外电压超过某一阈值后 ,完成转变的能量不变。对此现象的可能解释是薄膜内分子在一定的外部电场能量诱导下发生重排 ,致使电导率发生跃变     

Non-participants in utility energy conservation programmes

Utility conservation programmes are designed to benefit both participants and non-participants. This article outlines the issues involved in designing conservation programmes for utilities and determining the appropriate amount of incentives that can be provided to participants without harming non-participants. More importantly, the article discusses the issue of access to the programmes by utility customers. It concludes that it is the existing restrictions to participation, and not the level of compensation, that are of greatest concern to non-participants. A number of utility programmes designed to eliminate the problem of non-participation are reviewed.     

Energy and resources as production factors in process industries

It is shown that, when the mean productivity of some factors, such as energy or materials, is upperly bounded (a condition usually arising in energy production or in the process industries where energy takes part in physico-chemical processes), the production function may not be convex and, under some further conditions, is concave. Consequences of this model on the economics of energy savings are examined, and it is shown that energy savings may be considered at three levels: in the short run, by action on labour factors: in the medium run, by investment and action on labour factors; in the long run, by technological innovation, investment in new technologies and action on labour factors. Empirical findings along these lines are thus confirmed.     

Oracle 9i Data Guard技术在水调自动化系统中的应用与实施

水调自动化系统是电网运行的重要生产系统,该系统对数据库备份、数据完整性、实时性和并发访问能力等都提出了较高的要求,如何科学地应用商用数据库提供的高级功能构建稳定、可靠、高效的水调自动化系统,成为一个新课题.文中针对该问题,分析比较了多种常见的高可用数据库方案,最终选择应用Oracle Data Guard技术,构建高性能、高可用、低成本、易维护的水调自动化系统.     

Transport and energy in developing countries

The author examines the transport energy consumption of developing countries and compares it with that of developed countries. These figures are found to suggest considerable scope for transport energy savings. Given the need for improved energy efficiency, the author moves on to consider transport in the context of the wider economy. Four broad policy approaches which can affect transport energy consumption are identified — information and training programmes, subsidies; pricing and tax policies; and administrative regulations. The author's primary conclusion is that the energy price changes of the last decade do not hold revolutionary implications for the transport sector. There remains, however, a need to improve efficiency in this sector.