We present the process followed to create a decision-aid tool for use in renewable energy and energy efficiency investment decisions. Our tool is targeted at home and small business owners in the Pioneer Valley. We begin with the development of two prototype tools. The first was created for the Hitchcock Center for the Environment, and is an Excel-based tool that allows users to select various combinations of technologies and instantly see the financial, environmental, and educational impacts of their choice. The second examines only two technologies, solar photovoltaics and combined heat and power, and uses a cost minimization approach. These prototype tools inform the development of the Pioneer Valley Sustainability Network (PVSN) decision-aid tool. The PVSN tool allows users to compare a building’s current energy consumption with the expected performance given the implementation of one or several renewable energy or energy efficient technologies. The PVSN tool evaluates financial costs along with externalities like emissions damages and health impacts. It also provides modeling of decision making under uncertain costs of damages from carbon emissions.

This report studies a subarctic greenhouse located in Nikkala, Sweden called Nikkala handelsträdgård. Through a visit to the greenhouse coupled with the creation of two simulation models this study investigates the differences in energy demand with water-carried and air-carried heating systems, high pressure sodium lights and Light emitting diode lights and insulation in parts of the greenhouse without a active cultivation. With the purpose of comparing the alternatives to the existing system at Nikkala handelsträdgård. This, to evaluate if an investment in insulation for the non cultivating parts or changing to a water-carried heating system with Light emitting diode lights could be considered profitable. Operating a greenhouse in a subarctic climate is a hard task and especially if the operation is year round. Efficient heating systems, thermal screens, dehumidifying measures and Lighting systems are crucial to ensure a profitable business. At Nikkala handelsträdgård they are currently using a pellets burner in combination with a air-carried heating system and HPS lamps in the majority of the greenhouse.  The simulations of the main greenhouse were made in Ansys fluent where the crop section was simulated by implementing source terms to a macro porous medium. The parts of the greenhouse which did not host an active cultivation were simulated in IDA ICE.  It was found that saving of just under 14 800 SEK monthly or 18 % could be made by implementing a water-carried heating system in combination with state of the art lighting. Given this a payback-time of 3-9 years could be expected given different scenarios. An implementation of insulation in the non cultivation greenhouse parts would save up to 25 300 SEK annually or 46 % of the heat demand and the investment would give a payback-time of 1-2 years given different scenarios. Given this a reduction of CO2 equivalents of just under 1,9 tonnes could be achieved yearly. It was concluded that relatively inexpensive investments could have a great impact on the energy demand and thereby the economical performance of a subarctic greenhouse. New operations should be built with a LED light system and water-carried heating system and all parts of the greenhouse which is not housing an active cultivation needs to be insulated.

In Europe, the prices of natural gas and electricity reached an all-time high during 2022. An approach tomitigate these high prices is to expand the district heating systems in urban areas, this will reduceelectric load as well as to increase the power production in combined heat and power plants. Districtheating has been the dominant heat supply technology in urban areas in Sweden since the 1980s.However, as the number of low energy buildings are increasing, district heating distribution losses mustbe reduced to ensure cost-efficient consumer demand supply. This has led to the idea of the 4th-generation district heating which is characterized by low distribution temperatures.The aim of this study is to simulate low temperature distribution systems in a planned future city districtusing a Python based simulation tool and compare the results with a conventional system. Threedifferent types of low temperature distribution systems are investigated: 1) domestic hot water andspace heating separated, 2) apartment heat exchangers, 3) a cascading low temperature system.Focus is on simulating the distribution losses, distribution temperature and mass flow in the area, butthe scope of the analysis also includes an investigation of the effect of lower return temperatures to thecombine heat and power plant. The result indicate which type of system is most beneficial to implementin this specific area.With regards of distribution losses and temperature drop performs the low temperature distributionsystem with apartment heat exchangers better than the cascading system and the system withdomestic hot water and space heating separated. The mass flow is highly dependent of the temperaturedemand in the heating systems in the buildings and is higher for all low temperature distributionsystems compared to a conventional system.

No description available.

The ever-increasing demand for scalable database systems is limited by their energy consumption, which is one of the major challenges in research today. While existing approaches mainly focused on transaction-oriented disk-based database systems, we are investigating and optimizing the energy consumption and performance of data-oriented scale-up in-memory database systems that make heavy use of the main power consumers, which are processors and main memory. In this demo, we present energy-utility functions as an approach for enabling the operating system to improve the energy efficiency of scalable in-memory database systems. Our highly interactive demo setup mainly allows attendees to switch between multiple DBMS workloads and watch in detail how the system responds by adapting the hardware configuration appropriately.

The public sector owns and manages approximately 90 million square meters of premises. One of the toughest challenges today is managing both climate-friendly and energy efficient buildings. For the landlords who facilitate these properties to reach national targets by 2020, they will need well thought out strategies. New technology and installations are not enough. Tenants also have to change their behaviour. A relatively new way to influence behaviour without changing values of people is nudging. The term nudging was coined by researchers Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. Situations are designed to encourage individuals to choose an individual and society-beneficial alternative. Nudging can be used to help people make choices that are better for the environment and their overall health. To be considered as a nudge the action, per the definition, does not allow the forbidding of options or change of economic incentives. Hence, it respects people’s freedom of choice. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how nudging methods impact public tenants’ daily energy consumption. This is explored by looking into what work has been done based on the nudging toolbox; (1) simplification and framing of information, (2) changes to the physical environment, (3) changes to the default option, and (4) the use of social norms. Can nudging be a way to encourage public tenants to behave more sustainable? The thesis studies how three public landlords work with influencing behaviour to reduced energy consumption and as well as their view on nudging as a strategy. Six interviews were conducted, three with three different public landlords and three with one tenant representative from each landlord. To be able to introduce sufficient behavioural actions or nudges, consideration must be given to the organisational context. All landlords gave examples of the challenges facing their buildings such as staffed facilities and technical systems running around the clock, patient security, vandalism and historical heritage. All respondents had a positive attitude towards nudging but only one of the tenant representatives was familiar with the term since before. The possibilities for the landlords to work with nudging must be considered as favourable and that some of the already implemented measures could classify as nudging. Research shows that nudging works best as an enhancement of other measures, therefore, more research is still needed to investigate how effective nudging is to affect tenants’ energy consumption. / Den offentliga sektorn äger och förvaltar tillsammans cirka 90 miljoner kvadratmeter lokalyta. En av de tuffaste utmaningarna är att hantera både klimatsmarta och energieffektiva byggnader. För att de fastighetsorganisationer som hanterar förvaltningen av dessa byggnader ska kunna nå de nationella målen till 2020 krävs utstuderade strategier. Ny teknik och nya installationer räcker inte, även hyresgästerna behöver ändra sitt beteende. Ett relativt nytt sätt att påverka beteenden utan att förändra människors värderingar är nudging. Konceptet myntandes utav forskarna Richard Thaler och Cass Sunstein. Situationer är utformade för att uppmuntra enskilda personer att välja ett individuellt och samhällsfördelaktigt alternativ. Nudging kan användas för att hjälpa människor att göra val som är bättre för miljön och deras hälsa. För att betraktas som en nudge tillåter åtgärden enligt definitionen inte förbjudandet av andra alternativ eller en drastisk förändring av ekonomiska incitament. Den respekterar människans valfrihet. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur nudging påverkar de offentliga hyresgästernas dagliga energiförbrukning. Detta undersöks genom att studera följande nudgingverktyg; (1) förenkling och inramning av information, (2) förändringar i standardalternativ, (3) förändringar i den fysiska miljön och (4) bruk av sociala normer. Kan nudging vara ett sätt att uppmuntra offentliga hyresgäster till mer hållbart beteende? Uppsatsens studerar hur tre offentliga hyresvärdar arbetar med att påverka beteenden för att minska energiförbrukningen i deras fastigheter samt deras syn på nudging som strategi. Totalt genomfördes sex intervjuer, tre med tre olika offentliga hyresvärdar och tre med en hyresgästrepresetant från varje hyresvärd. För att kunna införa effektiva beteendemässiga handlingar eller nudges måste hänsyn tas till det organisatoriska sammanhanget. Alla hyresvärdar gav exempel på de utmaningar som deras byggnader ställer, så som dygnet runt bemanning och tekniska system, patientsäkerhet, vandalisering och historiskt arv. Samtliga som intervjuades hade en positiv inställning till nudging som verktyg men bara en av hyresgästföreträdarna var bekant med termen sedan tidigare. Möjligheterna för hyresvärdarna att arbeta med nudging måste betraktas som goda och att vissa av de redan genomförda åtgärderna kan klassificeras som nudging. Forskning visar att nudging fungerar bäst som ett komplement till andra åtgärder därför behövs mer forskning för att undersöka hur effektiv nudging faktiskt är för att påverka hyresgästens energiförbrukning.

The UK has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels. With the residential sector accounting for roughly a quarter of the UK's total carbon emissions, and with space heating accounting for roughly two thirds of residential energy consumption, addressing heating demand will prove instrumental for the UK to reach its targets. The large-scale deployment of low-carbon heating technologies, combined with signicant improvements in energy efficiency, is seen as the primary way of reducing both energy demandand carbon emissions. In this thesis, the technical potential for energy efficiency improvements in the UK's residential space heating sector is explored. Three areas of improvement are identied: the thermal performance of the building envelope, the efficiency of heating equipment, and the use of smartheating devices. In all three areas, signicant potential exists to further reduce energy demand for space heating, and the associated carbon emissions. To understand the effects of different technology adoption patterns on energy demand for spaceheating by 2050, a selectively disaggregated bottom-up model of the UK's building stock is developed. The model projects energy demand for space heating for four different technologyadoption scenarios, based on projections of future total heated oor area. In the `Minimal effort' scenario, which assumes that the least possible amount of effort is made to improve the effciency of the space heating sector, energy demand by 2050 increases slightly, by 4.3 %. In this scenario, the achieved minor effciency improvements are not able to offset the increase in the total heated oor area, leading to this small increase in space heating energydemand. In the `Efficiency focus' scenario, which assumes that signicant effort is made to improve the efficiency of the space heating sector, energy demand by 2050 decreases by 34.5 %. Despite these signicant efficiency improvements, fossil fuels still make up roughly three quarters of the fuel mix, as no major shift to cleaner energy sources has been achieved. In contrast, in the `Renewables focus' scenario, which focuses on shifting towards renewable heating options, energy demand decreases slightly less, by only 32 %, but fossil fuels make up only around 46% of the fuel mix, due to the uptake of low-carbon options such as heat pumps, district heat, and biomass. The analysis carried out in this thesis shows that the UK's residential sector consists of manyold and inefficient buildings, still heavily relies on fossil fuel-fired heating equipment, and makes nearly no use of smart heating devices to further reduce energy demand for space heating. Clearly, the technical potential for achieving energy eficiency improvements is signicant, in all three of the identified improvement areas. However, achieving the targets set forth by policymakers will require strong efforts, given the relatively bad current condition of the residential space heating sector. Existing barriers to achieving these improvements should be identifiedand addressed immediately, to ensure timely efforts are possible.

The master's thesis contains 97 pages, 29 tables, 33 figures and 43 sources of literature. The paper presents a study on increasing the efficiency of the power supply of remote offshore oil and gas facilities through the use of horizontal-axial tidal stream turbines. A general theoretical description of floating semi-submersible drilling rigs and a more detailed description of semi-submersible drilling unit 6000/200 type "Shelf" are presented. A theoretical description of various devices that transform the kinetic energy of water into electric power is also presented, and horizontal-axial tidal stream turbines are considered in more detail. The technical calculation for determining the parameters of turbines is carried out. The calculation was used for the case where one or several turbines are used. Economic analysis was carried out with different indicators, namely: the price of diesel fuel, the price of equipment, the load factor of hydro generators, the discount rate and the productivity of the drilling unit. An analysis of the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions was also carried out. Conclusions were presented on the effectiveness of the introduction of this method of energy supply. / Magisteruppsatsen innehåller 97 sidor, 29 tabeller, 33 figurer och 43 litteraturkällor. I papperet presenteras en studie om att effektiviteten i kraftförsörjningen av avlägsna offshore olje- och gasanläggningar ökar genom användning av horisontella axiella tidvattenströmsturbiner. En generell teoretisk beskrivning av flytande halvdämpbara borriggar och en mer detaljerad beskrivning av semi-submersible borrningsenhet 6000/200 typ "Hylla" presenteras. En teoretisk beskrivning av olika anordningar som omvandlar den kinetiska energin hos vatten till elkraft presenteras också, och horisontella axiella tidvattenströmsturbiner behandlas mer detaljerat. Den tekniska beräkningen för att bestämma parametrarna för turbiner utförs. Beräkningen användes för det fall där en eller flera turbiner används. Ekonomisk analys utfördes med olika indikatorer, nämligen: priset på dieselbränsle, priset på utrustning, belastningsfaktorn för hydrageneratorer, diskonteringsräntan och borrningens produktivitet. En analys av minskningen av koldioxidutsläpp gjordes också. Slutsatser presenterades om effektiviteten av införandet av denna metod för energiförsörjning.

Global warming imposes great challenges, and anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have to be reduced by active measures. The transportation sector is one of the key sectors where significant reductions are desired. Within a vehicle, the cooling/thermal management system is a subsystem intended for temperature control of automotive components. Reducing the power consumption for thermal management is one of several possible ways to reduce the environmental impact of the vehicle. This report considers an existing reference cooling system, with three separate circuits at different temperature levels. The purpose is to suggest improvements to the reference system with respect to increasing energy efficiency as well as reducing the number of components. Potential improvements are identified during a literature study, and then evaluated one by one. After the first evaluation, four improvements are selected: Firstly, a liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger in high temperature circuit, with connections to both the medium and low temperature circuits. Secondly, common medium/low temperature radiators, which can be allocated according to cooling demand. Thirdly, pipe connections for coolant transfer between the low and medium temperature circuits. Finally, a liquid-cooled condenser in the active cooling system, cooled by the medium temperature circuit. The result is a system with flexible radiator allocation, more even load distribution, ability to heat components using heat losses from other components, and one radiator less than the reference system. A complete system evaluation is performed in order to find the most beneficial arrangement of the components. Steady state calculations are performed in MATLAB, using five different operational cases as input data. Out of six different alternatives, one is recommended for high load operation and another for low load operation. The difference between the two is the position of the condenser, since a low condensation temperature should be prioritized at part load but not at high load. The main uncertainties of this report are steady state calculations, which are not fully reflecting real driving situations, and approximations due to lack of input data. For further work, verification of these results by transient simulations and practical testing is recommended. Removing one of the high temperature radiators could be investigated, as well as downsizing the medium temperature radiator. Integration with the cabin thermal management system, which is beyond the scope of this report, is also a relevant area for future investigation. By suggesting improvements to an automotive subsystem, this report strives to make a difference on a small-scale level, but also to contribute to an ongoing transition process on the global level. / Den globala uppvärmningen medför stora utmaningar, och de antropogena växthusgasutsläppen måste minskas genom aktiva åtgärder. Transportsektorn är en av de viktigaste sektorerna där avsevärda utsläppsminskningar eftersträvas. I ett fordon är kylsystemet ett delsystem avsett att kontrollera temperaturen på komponenter som är viktiga för fordonets funktion. Att sänka kylsystemets effektförbrukning är ett av flera möjliga sätt att minska fordonets miljöpåverkan. Den här rapporten utgår från ett befintligt referenskylsystem, med tre separata kretsar som arbetar vid olika temperaturnivåer. Syftet är att föreslå förbättringar för att öka energieffektiviteten, samt minska antalet komponenter i systemet. Potentiella förbättringar identifieras genom en litteraturstudie, och utvärderas därefter en efter en. Efter denna utvärdering väljs fyra förbättringar ut: För det första, en vätskevärmeväxlare i högtemperaturkretsen, med anslutningar till både mellan- och lågtemperaturkretsen. För det andra, gemensamma mellan- och lågtemperaturkylare, som kan fördelas mellan kretsarna efter behov. För det tredje, röranslutningar för överföring av kylvätska mellan låg- och mellantemperaturkretsen. Slutligen, en vätskekyld kondensor i det aktiva kylsystemet, vilken kyls av mellantemperaturkretsen. Resultatet är ett kylsystem med flexibel tilldelning av kylare, jämnare fördelning av värmeförluster, möjlighet att värma komponenter med förlustvärme från andra komponenter, samt en kylare mindre än referenssystemet. Som sista steg genomförs en helsystemsutvärdering, för att hitta det mest fördelaktiga sättet att placera komponenterna i förhållande till varandra. Stationära beräkningar utförs i MATLAB, med fem olika driftfall som indata. Av sex olika utformningar rekommenderas en för drift med hög belastning, och en annan för drift med lägre belastning. Skillnaden mellan dem är kondensorns placering, på grund av att en låg kondensationstemperatur bör prioriteras vid låg belastning men inte vid hög belastning. Den största osäkerheten i tillvägagångssättet är de stationära beräkningarna, som inte helt motsvarar verkliga körfall, samt approximationer som gjorts vid brist på indata. För framtida arbete rekommenderas verifiering av dessa resultat genom transienta simuleringar och praktiska tester. Att ta bort en av högtemperaturkylarna och/eller minska storleken på mellantemperaturkylaren kan också undersökas. Även integration med kupéns värme- och kylsystem, vilket ligger utanför ramen för denna rapport, är ett relevant område för fortsatta undersökningar. Genom att föreslå förbättringar av ett delsystem i ett fordon strävar denna rapport efter att åstadkomma förbättringar på liten skala, men också att bidra till en pågående omvandling på den globala skalan.

Res-IRF is an energy-economy model of heating consumption in French dwellings developed at CIRED and calibrated against 2012. It is meant to project the evolution of the building stock and the heating demand by 2050 in response to socio-economic parameters, such as energy price and population, and public policies, such as thermal regulations or incentives for renovation. Res-IRF captures the relevant determinants of household decisions related to energy efficiency improvements and energy demand (sufficiency). The aim of the work presented in this report is to calibrate the model against a past year, to run it from this start date to 2012, and to compare the simulation results with observed data on this period. After an overview of the French residential sector in the last 40 years, this report aims at presenting the model and how it was calibrated against year 1984 and adjusted to the past situation of the building stock. Then, the results of a sensitivity analysis on key parameters of the model are compared to reality and it is discussed how the model can be improved to fit the data better. The main results show that the model accurately replicates the evolution of the building stock until 2012. However, the results do not fit well the data of repartition of heating fuels, especially for fuel oil and natural gas. This may be due to the structure of the model which allows fuel switch only for renovating dwellings; then it could miss possible fuel switches from fuel oil to natural gas without renovation due to the expansion of the natural gas network in France between 1980 and 2000. Furthermore, the actual unit consumption, which is a key output of the model, is well replicated by the model, with an error of 5 to 10%. / Res-IRF är en energi-ekonomi modell av värmebehovet i franska byggnader utvecklad av CIRED och kalibrerad mot data för 2012. Det är avsett att förutsäga utvecklingen för byggnadsbeståndet och värmebehovet fram till 2050 med utgångspunkt från socio-ekonomiska parametrar såsom energipriser och befolkningsmängd, politiska beslut som regleringar rörande uppvärmningssektorn och incitament för renoveringar. Res-IRF fångar upp de relevanta faktorer som påverkar hushållens beslut relaterade till förbättringar av energieffektiviteten och energibehoven. Målet med arbetet som presenteras i denna rapport är att kalibrera modellen mot ett redan passerat år, att köra modellen från startåret till 2012, och att jämföra simuleringsresultaten med verkliga observationer för denna period. Efter en översikt över den franska bostadssektorn de senaste 40 åren, följer i rapporten en presentation av modellen och hur den kalibrerades mot året 1984 och sedan anpassats till det dåvarande läget i byggnadsbeståndet. Därefter jämförs resultaten av en känslighetsanalys av nyckelparametrar i modellen med verkligt utfall och en diskussion följer om hur modellen kan förbättras för att bättre passa verkliga data. Huvudresultaten visar att modellen på ett korrekt sätt avbildar utvecklingen av byggnadsbeståndet fram till 2012. Däremot ger resultaten inte god överensstämmelse vad gäller fördelning av bränslen, speciellt inte fördelningen mellan olja och naturgas. Detta kan bero på modellens struktur, som tillåter bränslebyte bara vid renovering; därmed missar den bränslebyten som görs utan samtidig renovering, som tillkommit på grund av utbyggnaden av naturgasnäten i Frankrike mellan 1980 och 2000. Vidare visar modellen god överensstämmelse vad gäller energitillförsel per enhet, vilket är en nyckelparameter bland resultaten från modellen. Denna parameter predikteras med ett fel av 5 till 10%.