Cost-Benefit Analysis of Residential Energy-Efficiency Upgrades in Phoenix, Arizona

With worldwide energy consumption rising, there is a need to reduce energy use of the housing stock. While this general idea is well-known, there is an overwhelming amount of product data and manufacturers claims through which the homebuilder or designer must sort to make informed selections of energy-efficient upgrades. The main objective of this research was to identify cost effective–energy efficient upgrades from a group of 16 commonly available choices, and rank them according to the most beneficial for the least cost. This study was conducted in Phoenix, Arizona, and included a sample of 30 production-style homes typical of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Energy-simulation software was used to perform energy evaluations and derive the benefits of each upgrade. The cost of each upgrade was obtained from a database of national average costs and from a local context. Differences in the selection of beneficial upgrades vary dramatically with the source of the cost information. This research provides a generic methodology that can be used by builders and designers to select appropriate energy-efficient upgrades for a given geographic area that will provide high operating benefits relative to the amount of capital investment.     

Integration of a Malt Drying Model into a Malt Plant Scheduling Software

Malting is a very intensive, energy-consuming process and, from the point of view of energy, green malt drying is one of the most important operations. Double-deck kiln drying, a variant of single-deck kiln drying, is the most commonly used process, but it is usually manually controlled under empirical control actions. These are the reasons why a research project was carried out based on the computer modeling of these process operations including a software tool named CIMFOOD. A knowledge-based system (KBS) allowing the entire processing-plant dynamic behavior simulation and scheduling concerning thermal energy requirements was developed.     

Demand elasticities in OECD: Dynamical aspects

Four models with different lag structures are used to express final energy demand in OECD from 1960–1982 as a function of real GDP and average energy price. The income and long-run price elasticities are not significantly dependent on the model specification, but the Koyck lag scheme, estimated in its distributed lag form, is found to give the most satisfactory results. The statistical properties of the data together with evidence of trends in the elasticities both suggest that the period of falling real prices prior to 1971 is not comparable to the present period. For the period after 1971, an income elsticity of 1.02 and a long-run price elasticity of -0.37 are obtained.     

Decentralized energy supply: Suitability for the UK's industrial sectors

From the results reported here it is suggested that policy decisions about the potential contribution of decentralized energy supply systems to UK industrial energy requirements should be based on the suitability of individual sectors rather than averaged over all sectors. The suitability of decentralized energy sources is evaluated, based on a themodynamic match between source and demand. This suitability criterion is used to identify the most appropriate sector in manufacturing industries for the adoption of decentralized energy supply, leaving aside economic cost considerations and individual site requirements.     

石家庄市室内氡及其子体浓度

本文报道了用双滤膜法对石家庄市室内空气中氡及其子体浓度的调查结果。47个房间室内氡年平均浓度为17.0Bq·m~(-3),氡子体平均浓度是7.14Bq·m~(-3)。氡及其子体浓度的日变化是清晨4—8时出现峰值。季节变化是夏秋季低,冬季高,全年的最低值出现在8月,最高值出现在11月。     

Performance of compression/absorption hybrid refrigeration cycle with propane/mineral oil combination

This paper discusses the feasibility of a vapor compression/absorption hybrid refrigeration cycle for energy saving and utilization of waste heat. The cycle employs propane as a natural refrigerant and a refrigeration oil as an absorbent. A prototype of the cycle is constructed, in which a compressor and an absorption unit are combined in series. The performance of the cycle is examined both theoretically and experimentally. Although the solubility of the propane with the oil is not enough as a working pair in the absorption unit, the theoretical calculation shows that the hybrid cycle has a potential to achieve a higher performance in comparison with a simple vapor compression cycle by using the waste heat. In the experiment, the prototype cycle is operated successfully and it is found that an improvement of an absorber is necessary to achieve the good performance close to the theoretical one. The application of an AHE (absorber heat exchanger) can reduce the heat input to a generator. Further examinations on some other combinations of refrigerant/refrigeration oil and additives are desirable.     

标准椅全身计数器对不同年龄组均匀体模源全能峰效率的刻度

本文介绍了用标准液体源均匀充入聚氯乙烯制的体模,刻度标准椅全身计数器〔φ8″×4″(NaI)〕的方法和结果。分别就代表6个年龄组的体模,测定了标准椅全身计数器对5种能量(364,637,898,1460和1836keV)γ射线的全能峰效率;给出了全能峰效率与γ射线能量和被测对象体重的关系曲线。     

积极开展泵站技术改造

为探索山丘地区中小型泵站技术改造的经验，选定南康县四个小型泵站作为泵站改造的试点站，进行现场测试，根据测试成果，分析各站存在的问题及效率偏低的原因，并拟定各站技术改造的措施，经实施后取得了较好的效果，本文就南康县泵站改造的实际效果阐明泵站改造的必要性及其改造过程中值得注意的问题。     

Energy pricing policies in developing countries

Government energy pricing policies have multiple and often conflicting objectives: economic efficiency, government revenues (for both parastatal supply companies and the treasury), maintenance or improvement of income distribution, promotion of particular sectors (such as industrial exporters and local resource development) demand management and security of supply. It is important to examine the impacts on and the trade-offs between these objectives resulting from alternative policies in order to assist in policy selection. This article discusses the more important objectives and their conflicts and outlines an approach for the quantitative examination of alternative policies.