In the thesis we have shown that it is possible with current technology, to buildneighborhoods that are largely self-sufficient. We have obtained some information aboutongoing work in the field of energy efficient buildings and active house which we have usedto develop a model. The feasibility study for Ranagård we have e.g been forced tofollow laws on groundwater covered, resulting in the construction of basements for singlefamilyhome is not possible. The model that we have built up overtime has been the central part of the work. The model illustrates very well what an activehouse neighborhood means and potential of such an area. Important to note here is the resultwe finally arrived at only can be applied for Ranagård in Halmstad municipality as theconditions vary so much at the local/municipal level.

In recent year, wireless sensor networks have gradually become an indispensable part of people's daily lives. Energy consumption and energy harvesting play an important role in these systems. In outdoor, there is no doubt that solar energy is more suitable to powering the wireless sensor nodes. Although the energy consumption of these systems has been greatly reduced and the lifetime of sensor nodes also be improved through the larger capacity of supercapacitor or larger size of solar panel. But it will generate another kind of squander, how to choose a suitable solar panel and supercapacitor is appearance in our view. In this paper, I optimized the solar energy harvesting system from two aspects of capacity of supercapacitor and size of solar panel. The objective of this thesis has shown that as small solar panel and supercapacitor as possible for a given load of these systems under low consumption condition. Here, I establish the simulation in Simulink of Matlab, and build a low-power consumption; high-security solar energy harvesting hardware system for monitoring environment in Sundsvall, Sweden. Through the comparison between the simulation and real monitor to verify the feasibility

Many Departments of Transportation (DOTs), including Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), have been challenged by inadequate funding from traditional federal and state fuel taxes, increasing construction cost, aging highway system, traffic congestions, and recent natural disasters, compromising their primary mission to provide safe vehicle transportation routes with adequate capacity. Furthermore, environmental awareness and sustainability concept have strengthened and sparked debates in Congress, culminating with several regulatory policies that affect, inclusively, transportation projects. This scenario has prompted DOTs to pursue innovative ways to reduce maintenance cost (at minimum) and generate revenue (at maximum) exploiting their assets, and to meet the new regulations. Likewise, the Center of Transportation Research at The University of Texas at Austin undertook a comprehensive research study to identify and determine when, where, and under what circumstances TxDOT should pursue the implementation of which Value Extraction Application (VEA), and how to effectively recognize and involve key stakeholders. As a result, 11 VEAs were identified. In addition, a methodological framework – embedding a multi-attribute criteria analysis matrix as the decision making method - was devised to guide TxDOT throughout the process of identifying, evaluating, comparing, and selecting the most appropriate VEA while a list of stakeholders associated with each VEA and a stakeholder analysis framework was provided to help TxDOT to identify and reach out key stakeholders. / text

Structural health monitoring systems provide a promising route to real-time data for analyzing the current state of large structures. In the wake of two high-profile bridge collapses due to an aging highway infrastructure, the interest in implementing such systems into fracture-critical and structurally deficient bridges is greater now than at any point in history. Traditionally, these technologies have not been cost-effective as bridges lack existing wiring architecture and the addition of this is cost prohibitive. Modern wireless sensor networks (WSN) now present a viable alternative to traditional networking; however, these systems must incorporate localized power sources capable of decade-long operation with minimal maintenance. To this end, this thesis explores the development of two energy harvesting systems capable of long-term bridge deployment with minimal maintenance. First, an electromagnetic, linear, vibrational energy harvester is explored that utilizes the excitations from passing traffic to induce motion in a translating permanent magnet mass. This motion is then converted to electrical energy using Faraday’s law of induction. This thesis presents a review of vibrational energy harvesting literature before detailing the process of designing, simulating, prototyping, and testing a selected design. Included is an analysis of the effects of frequency, excitation amplitude, load, and damping on the power production potential of the harvester. Second, a solar energy harvester using photovoltaic (PV) panels is explored for powering the critical gateway component of the WSN responsible for data aggregation. As solar energy harvesting is a more mature technology, this thesis focuses on the methodologies for properly sizing a solar harvesting system and experimentally validating the selected design. Fabrication of the prototype system was completed and field testing was performed in Austin, TX. The results validate the selected system’s ability to power the necessary 14 W DC load with a 0° panel azimuth angle (facing direct south) and 45° tilt. / text

Solar cells is one of the cleanest and most environmentally friendly ways to produce electricity. Västerås city has invested in a number of solar systems in public buildings as a step to solve the energy issues of the future and contribute to a sustainable environment. The purpose of this project is to compare the real system yield from Västerås city´s solar plants with simulations. Produces the solar plants as expected or not, and if not, what might be the cause. Data were collected about the solar cell installations, by Mälarenergi Elnät and Västerås city. The real system yield was calculated and then the solar plants were simulated in PVGIS (Photovoltaic Geographical Information System) to obtain the theoretical yield. This project shows that most of Västerås city´s solar plants have a yield that is as expected according to the simulations or higher. However, there are some solar plants with a low or very low yield compared to the simulations. The yield varies considerably during the year. For those plants where the yield has been studied monthly, the real yield is higher in the second half of the year compared with the first half. The self-consumption varies greatly between the different solar plants, but generally it is high. Some solar plants have a very high self-consumption of 100 % and some have a very low of 30-40 %. Some solar plants have a higher yield than expected and it may depends to the fact that the installed power is a few percent higher than what the manufacturer states. The simulations might be unsure, because losses, solar radiation and weather may vary. The solar plants that have a low yield compared to the simulations may have a broken or disconnected component, shading and dirt may also affect. To have as high self-consumption as possible is an economically advantage, as long as the plant is not under-dimensioned because the goal is to produce electricity. There is no clear pattern showing which of the four PVGIS simulations is best matched to reality.

Purpose:The study’s aim is to shed light upon the reasons for implementation and factors that affect the implementation process of solar panels for companies. The purpose was to investigate what influences the implementation of new technology; what the reasons are and which factors influence the implementation. To be able to answer the purpose two research questions have been formulated:  What is the reason for companies to choose to implement solar panels? What factors influence the implementation process solar panels for companies? Method:The study was conducted by a literature study that laid the foundation for the theory and research questions. To be able to fulfil the aim of the research a case-study with a single-case-design has been carried out were three companies have been studied. The empirical data was collected through interviews and document studies. The research questions have been answered in the analysis in collaboration with the theory and the empirical findings which lead to the findings of the research.   Findings:The results of the study show that marketing is a significant reason to why companies choose to implement solar panels together with the reason to be more sustainable. The influences that navigate the implementation are the pilot study, the supplier, the technology fit and the company’s collaboration and communication with the supplier. These factors have influenced the result of the implementation and how successfulness of the outcome. The focus does not lay on the economic incentive for the companies in this type of implementation but one can discuss the value of marketing.    Implications: The study’s theoretical implication is described by why companies choose to implement solar panels. The practical implication that this study provides is the determination of what navigates the implementation of solar panels. This has been done by studying which factors that influenced the implementation of solar panels for companies and which then resulted in the important influencing factors.   Limitations: The reasons to why companies choose to implement sustainable new technology can be a sensitive subject due to the risk of being accused of “green washing”. This has made it important to emphasise anonymity of the companies to ensure that the answers from the interviews are as reliable as possible. It has been obvious during the interviews that some of the respondents have lacked the knowledge needed.

La demande d'énergie consommée par les habitants a connu une croissance significative au cours des 30 dernières années. Par conséquent, des actions sont menées en vue de développement des énergies renouvelables et en particulier de l'énergie solaire. De nombreuses solutions technologiques ont ensuite été proposées, telles que les capteurs solaires PV/T dont l'objectif est d'améliorer la performance des panneaux PV en récupérant l’énergie thermique qu’ils dissipent à l’aide d’un fluide caloporteur. Les recherches en vue de l'amélioration des productivités thermiques et électriques de ces composants ont conduit à l'intégration progressive à l’enveloppe des bâtiments afin d'améliorer leur surface de captation d’énergie solaire. Face à la problématique énergétique, les solutions envisagées dans le domaine du bâtiment s’orientent sur un mix énergétique favorisant la production locale ainsi que l’autoconsommation. Concernant l’électricité, les systèmes photovoltaïques intégrés au bâtiment (BIPV) représentent l’une des rares technologies capables de produire de l’électricité localement et sans émettre de gaz à effet de serre. Cependant, le niveau de température auquel fonctionnent ces composants et en particulier les composants cristallins, influence sensiblement leur efficacité ainsi que leur durée de vie. Ceci est donc d’autant plus vrai en configuration d’intégration. Ces deux constats mettent en lumière l’importance du refroidissement passif par convection naturelle de ces modules. Ce travail porte sur la simulation numérique d'une façade PV partiellement transparente et ventilée, conçu pour le rafraichissement en été (par convection naturelle) et pour la récupération de chaleur en hiver (par ventilation mécanique). Pour les deux configurations, l'air dans la cavité est chauffé par la transmission du rayonnement solaire à travers des surfaces vitrées, et par les échanges convectif et radiatif. Le système est simulé à l'aide d'un modèle multi-physique réduit adapté à une grande échelle dans des conditions réelles d'exploitation et développé pour l'environnement logiciel TRNSYS. La validation du modèle est ensuite présentée en utilisant des données expérimentales du projet RESSOURCES (ANR-PREBAT 2007). Cette étape a conduit, dans le troisième chapitre du calcul des besoins de chauffage et de refroidissement d'un bâtiment et l'évaluation de l'impact des variations climatiques sur les performances du système. Les résultats ont permis enfin d'effectuer une analyse énergétique et exergo-économique. / The demand of energy consumed by human kind has been growing significantly over the past 30 years. Therefore, various actions are taken for the development of renewable energy and in particular solar energy. Many technological solutions have then been proposed, such as solar PV/T collectors whose objective is to improve the PV panels performance by recovering the heat lost with a heat removal fluid. The research for the improvement of the thermal and electrical productivities of these components has led to the gradual integration of the solar components into building in order to improve their absorbing area. Among technologies capable to produce electricity locally without con-tributing to greenhouse gas (GHG) releases is building integrated PV systems (BIPV). However, when exposed to intense solar radiation, the temperature of PV modules increases significantly, leading to a reduction in efficiency so that only about 14% of the incident radiation is converted into electrical energy. The high temperature also decreases the life of the modules, thereby making passive cooling of the PV components through natural convection a desirable and cost-effective means of overcoming both difficulties. A numerical model of heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of natural convection of air is therefore undertaken so as to provide reliable information for the design of BIPV. A simplified numerical model is used to model the PVT collector so as to gain an understanding of the complex processes involved in cooling of integrated photovoltaic arrays in double-skin building surfaces. This work addresses the numerical simulation of a semi-transparent, ventilated PV façade designed for cooling in summer (by natural convection) and for heat recovery in winter (by mechanical ventilation). For both configurations, air in the cavity between the two building skins (photovoltaic façade and the primary building wall) is heated by transmission through transparent glazed sections, and by convective and radiative exchange. The system is simulated with the aid of a reduced-order multi-physics model adapted to a full scale arrangement operating under real conditions and developed for the TRNSYS software environment. Validation of the model and the subsequent simulation of a building-coupled system are then presented, which were undertaken using experimental data from the RESSOURCES project (ANR-PREBAT 2007). This step led, in the third chapter to the calculation of the heating and cooling needs of a simulated building and the investigation of impact of climatic variations on the system performance. The results have permitted finally to perform the exergy and exergoeconomic analysis.

This thesis deals with the influence of degradation mechanisms to change the parameters of photovoltaic panels. The aim of the study was the long-term monitoring of selected solar modules, comparing their parameters with measurements from previous years and the evaluation of degradation mechanisms on their properties. The theoretical part is focused on the description of the monitored parameters and defects Panel, are discussed measuring methods by which the modules were monitored. Experimental part then consists of measuring modules individual test methods. The measured values were subsequently constructed graphical dependence, and the results were compared with measurements from previous years. The last part of the thesis is devoted to evaluation of the degradation of PV modules.

This thesis is aimed to enable energy optimization of combined water heating system. The first part deals with the assessment of the general view of thermal solar systems with autonomic power from photovoltaics and description of a particular solar system for energy optimization. Then there is chosen the control system conception based on single-board computer Raspberry Pi, which is complemented by auxiliary measuring and controlling circuit. In the following chapters is described design and implementation of software for control system including web interface. The remote monitoring and controlling of solar heating system is the main purpose of web interface.

Because of climate change renewable energy field is becoming more and more relevant. Renewable energy can be gained from the sun, from wind but also from ocean waves. To support the research and development in this field reliably measured wave data is collected through a measurement system that shows the exact position of a buoy. The project consists of the design, development and implementation of such a measurement system. It is divided into three subtasks: The power supply based on a solar panel and a battery The measurement part including a sensor and its implementation to the circuit The deployment of a module for data transmission and communication between the measurement system and the on-shore computer The power supply is capable to power the system and to maintain the battery voltage. A suggested stronger power supply will be used in a later state of the project to increase the reliability. The results of the charging test are good. The power supply system is connected to the circuit and the battery charges. For the measurement system the altitude and heading reference system (AHRS) “Ellipse2-D” from SBG Systems has been selected and connected to an Arduino Mega 2560. The AHRS provides raw data and values processed by a Kalman filter. Both data sets are picked up by the microcontroller. The raw data is backed up on a secure digital memory card (SD-card). For the evaluation of the sensor unit, static and dynamic tests are applied to the sensor. In the end it can be seen that the measurement series are aligned with each other. The information from the Kalman model of the AHRS is transmitted with the Adeunis ARF868 ultra-long range (ULR) modem. The transmitter is linked to the Arduino Mega 2560 and the sensor data is transmitted to the receiver. The first field test already shows the reliability of the system for a range of about 3 km. The results of the tests are as expected and in the future this system will be implemented on a buoy.