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A study was performed to gain an understanding of the feasibility of an Earth Coolant Tube for use in cooling and heating air for residences and industry. It was concluded that previous studies did not include the effect of coolant tube depth or coolant tube operation over long periods of time. A numerical methods approach using finite difference form of the general energy conduction equation was used to evaluate these effects. It was concluded that a coolant tube 1 foot in diameter and 100 feet long could provide as much as 1/6 ton of refrigeration for a 4 month time period. It was also concluded that for coolant tube performance. This study also presents estimates on expected rates of energy transfer for coolant tubes, and recommends a simplified approach for designing coolant tubes.

The purpose of this thesis is the development and analysis of applications for ionic polymers as energy harvesting devices. The specific need is a self-contained energy harvester to supply renewable power harvested from ambient vibrations to a wireless sensor. Ionic polymers were investigated as mechanical to electrical energy transducers. An ionic polymer device was designed to harvest energy from vibrations and supply power for a wireless structural health monitoring sensor.The ionic polymer energy harvester is tested to ascertain whether the idea is feasible. Transfer functions are constructed for both the open-circuit voltage and the closed-circuit current. The impedance of the device is also quantified. Using the voltage transfer function and the current transfer function it is possible to calculate the power being produced by the device.Power generation is not the only energy harvesting application of ionic polymers, energy storage is another possibility. The ionic polymer device is tested to characterize its charge and discharge capabilities. It is charged with both DC and AC currents. An energy storage comparison is performed between the ionic polymers and capacitors. While the polymers performed well, the electrolytic capacitors are able to store more energy. However, the ionic polymers show potential as capacitors and have the possibility of improved performance as energy storage devices. Current is measured across resistive loads and the supplied power is calculated. Although the power is small, the ionic polymers are able to discharge energy across a load proving that they are capable of supplying power. / Master of Science

The built environment puts the greatest pressure on the natural environment out of all human activities, so it has a fundamental obligation to be environmentally sustainable. Carbon dioxide (CO2) or carbon emissions is a significant greenhouse gas that is inevitably associated with energy use when energy is produced via the combustion of fuels. Total life cycle energy, embodied and operational energy over a building's lifetime, creates significant environmental impacts through the production of CO2. By keeping and reusing existing and historic buildings rather than discarding them and building new, the embodied energy, or the energy that is locked up, can help to mitigate future damage. These buildings already exist, which indicates that the energy consumed to build them has been applied and the carbon associated with their construction has been released. The greenest buildings are ones that are already built. They are inherently more sustainable than any new buildings even with green and zero net energy systems and can be retrofitted to become more energy efficient. To demonstrate this thesis specifically, a design project engages with an abandoned late nineteenth-century bank building in Philadelphia and transforms it into a high-performance building that is prepared for long-term use. For the immediate next use, the project creates a work environment and a new vertical expansion of residential units. The preservation field always confronts the challenge of bridging the gap between embodied energy and operational energy. In the abandoned bank, there are some aspects of this building that are near permanent and define its character, such as brick walls with masonry ornament, two bank vaults, Wissahickon Schist foundation wall, and ceiling trusses. This thesis explores new approaches to leverage the embodied energy of the permanent parts of the abandoned bank and transform it into a high-performance building. A lot of energy of the abandoned bank, the building's material, and thermal mass is still actively performing. The building's envelope, the thick masonry wall, provides a moderately good insulating effect that will temper the indoor air that also preserves its historical character both inside and outside. The embodied energy of the building's envelope is leveraged by pairing it with localized heating and cooling using a radiation and conduction system. Other approaches that increase energy performance in the existing building, include the use of phase-change material for cooling the process water, solar hot water, creating drinking water via a solar still in the skylight, and distilled water from radiant cooling surfaces. In the new construction, a thermal switch facade and double-skin facade for the residential units are proposed, along with providing flexible space with thick mobile interior wall units. / Master of Architecture / Global warming as a problem of the twenty-first-century increase concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to human actions like burning fossil fuels. The built environment puts the greatest pressure on the natural environment of all industrial parts, and it has a fundamental role to manage the environment sustainably. Total life cycle energy, embodied and operational energy over the lifetime of the buildings, creates significant environmental impacts through the production of CO2. Embodied energy is the whole amount of energy applied to extract the raw materials, manufacture, transport, install, and use the product across its life cycle. Assessments of the embodied energy of historic and existing buildings are helping to mitigate future damage to resources. These buildings already exist, which indicates that the energy consumed to build them has been applied and the carbon associated with their construction has been released. The greenest buildings are ones that are already built. They are inherently sustainable and can be retrofitted to become more energy efficient. Specifically, this design engages with an abandoned late nineteenth-century bank building in Philadelphia and transforms it into a high-performance building that is prepared for long-term use. For the immediate next use, the project creates a work environment and in a new vertical expansion, residential units. In the abandoned bank, there are some aspects of this building that are near-permanent and define its characters, such as brick walls with masonry ornament, two bank vaults, Wissahickon Schist wall, and ceiling trusses. This thesis explores the new approaches to leverage the embodied energy of the permanent parts of the abandoned bank and transform it into a high-performance building. This is achieved through various means such as providing localized heating and cooling by using a radiation and conduction system, the use of phase-change material for cooling the process water, solar hot water, creating drinking water via a solar still in the skylight and distilled water from radiant cooling surfaces. In the new construction, a thermal switch facade and double-skin facade for the residential units are proposed, along with providing flexible space with thick mobile interior wall units.

The environmental and economic consequences of climate change are severe and are being exacerbated by increased global carbon emissions. In the United States, buildings account for over 40% of all domestic and 7.4% of all global CO2 emissions and therefore represent an important target for energy conservation initiatives. Even marginal energy savings across all buildings could have a profound effect on carbon emission mitigation. In order to realize the full potential of energy savings in the building sector, it is essential to maximize the energy efficiency of both buildings and the behavior of occupants who occupy them. In this vein, systems that collect and communicate building energy-use information to occupants (i.e. eco-feedback systems) have been demonstrated to motivate building occupants to significantly reduce overall building energy consumption. Furthermore, advancements in building sensor technologies and data processing capabilities have enabled the development of advanced eco-feedback systems that also allow building occupants to share energy-use data with one another and to collectively act to reduce energy consumption. In addition to monitoring building occupant energy-use, these systems are capable of collecting data about specific conservation actions taken by occupants and their interactions with different features of the eco-feedback system. However, despite recent advancements in eco-feedback and building sensor technologies, very few systems have been specifically designed to enable research on the effectiveness of different behavior-based energy conservation strategies in commercial buildings. Consequently, very little research has been conducted on how access to such systems impacts the energy-use behavior of building occupants. In this dissertation, I describe how my research over the past three years has advanced an understanding of how eco-feedback systems can impact the energy-use behavior of commercial building occupants. First, I present a novel eco-feedback system that I developed to connect building occupants over energy-use data and empower them to conserve energy while also collecting data that enables controlled studies to quantify the impacts of a wide variety of energy conservation strategies. Next, I present a commercial building study in which this eco-feedback system was used to investigate the effects of organizational network dynamics on the energy-use of individuals. I then introduce a new set of metrics based on individual energy-use data that enables the classification of individuals and building occupant networks based on their energy-use efficiency and predictability. I describe the principles behind the construction of these metrics and demonstrate how these quantitative measures can be used to increase the efficacy of behavior-based conservation campaigns by enabling targeted interventions. I conclude the dissertation with a discussion about the limitations of my research and the new research avenues that it has enabled. / Ph. D.

abstract: The residential building sector accounts for more than 26% of the global energy consumption and 17% of global CO2 emissions. Due to the low cost of electricity in Kuwait and increase of population, Kuwaiti electricity consumption tripled during the past 30 years and is expected to increase by 20% by 2027. In this dissertation, a framework is developed to assess energy savings techniques to help policy-makers make educated decisions. The Kuwait residential energy outlook is studied by modeling the baseline energy consumption and the diffusion of energy conservation measures (ECMs) to identify the impacts on household energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The energy resources and power generation in Kuwait were studied. The characteristics of the residential buildings along with energy codes of practice were investigated and four building archetypes were developed. Moreover, a baseline of end-use electricity consumption and demand was developed. Furthermore, the baseline energy consumption and demand were projected till 2040. It was found that by 2040, energy consumption would double with most of the usage being from AC. While with lighting, there is a negligible increase in consumption due to a projected shift towards more efficient lighting. Peak demand loads are expected to increase by an average growth rate of 2.9% per year. Moreover, the diffusion of different ECMs in the residential sector was modeled through four diffusion scenarios to estimate ECM adoption rates. ECMs’ impact on CO2 emissions and energy consumption of residential buildings in Kuwait was evaluated and the cost of conserved energy (CCE) and annual energy savings for each measure was calculated. AC ECMs exhibited the highest cumulative savings, whereas lighting ECMs showed an immediate energy impact. None of the ECMs in the study were cost effective due to the high subsidy rate (95%), therefore, the impact of ECMs at different subsidy and rebate rates was studied. At 75% subsidized utility price and 40% rebate only on appliances, most of ECMs will be cost effective with high energy savings. Moreover, by imposing charges of $35/ton of CO2, most ECMs will be cost effective. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Mechanical Engineering 2019

Published Article / The paper presents a critique of passive and active thermal comfort strategies. Extensive review of literature on passive thermal comfort energy efficiency interventions and their benefits was under taken. The paper explains the correlation between climatic comfort and energy efficiency. The applicability of the energy management process in ensuring energy efficiency is presented. Passive thermal comfort energy efficiency interventions have been seen to provide thermal comfort as well as energy efficiency. Their major shortcoming is their disability to work in all kinds of weather, heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. There is need to optimize passive thermal comfort energy efficiency interventions so that they provide heating in the winter and cooling in the summer.

The GB electricity system is in a state of change, both physically and operationally. The future of the electricity system needs to be low carbon and secure. Current system structures revolve around large-scale centralised generation to deliver this security. This thesis argues that with a broad definition of energy security, which reflects the future needs of the electricity system, a decentralised approach would be more beneficial to deliver these needs. This thesis identifies the governance processes that make up current energy security and evaluates how these might change in a system of decentralised electricity. The research consists of 31 in-depth interviews with key stakeholders of the electricity system from the government, regulatory, market and civil society based actor groups. In addition to this, the research utilised a secondary analysis of consultation responses and Government publications. This thesis uses multi-layer perspective theory to interpret the transition from a centralised to decentralised electricity system. In addition to the multi-layer perspective, an advancement of the governance perspective was also required. This develops the understanding of the changes to the actor relationships rules and the incentives of a decentralised electricity system. This research developed for key findings. Firstly, a decentralised electricity future would introduce a larger number of small investors, who in a centralised system would not exist. The second key point is, the UK Government is responsible for security of supply and their actions are focused on centralised electricity technologies. The third point is that energy security (in its boarder definition) is the responsibility of a network of actors working together. The fourth point is that current energy security is incorrectly dominated by supply meeting demand. The outcome of the research is that a decentralised electricity system would be beneficial to the broader concept of energy security which is used in this thesis.

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