Developing nations face insurmountable challenges to reliably and sustainably provide energy and water to the population. These resources are intricately entwined such that decisions on the use of one affects the other (energy-water nexus). Inadequate and ageing infrastructure, increased population and connectivity, urbanization, improved standards of living and spatially uneven rainfall are some of the reasons causing this insecurity. Expanding and developing new supply infrastructure is not sustainable due to sky high costs and negative environmental impact such as increased greenhouse gas emissions and over extraction of surface water. The exponentially increasing demand, way above the capacity of supply infrastructure in most developing countries, requires urgent mitigation strategies through demand side management (DSM). The DSM strategies seek to increase efficiency of use of available resources and reducing demand from utilities in the short, medium and long term. Renewable energy, rooftop rain water harvesting, pump-storage scheme and grey water recycling are some alternatives being used to curb the insecurity. However, renewable energy and rooftop water harvesting are spasmodic in nature hampering their adoption as the sole supply options for energy and water respectively. The built environment is one of the largest energy and water consuming sectors in the world presenting a huge potential towards conserving and increasing efficiency of these resources. For this reason, coupled with the 1970s energy challenges, the concept of green buildings seeking to, among other factors, reduce the consumption of energy and water sprung up. Conventionally, policy makers, industry players and researchers have made decisions on either resource independently, with little knowledge on the effect it would have on the other. It is therefore imperative that optimal integration of alternative sources and resource efficient technologies are implemented and analysed jointly in order to achieve maximum benefits. This is a step closer to achieving green buildings while also improving energy and water security. A multifaceted approach to save energy and water should integrate appropriate resource efficient technology, alternative source and an advanced and reliable control system to coordinate their operation. In a typical South African urban residential house, water heating is one of the most energy and water intensive end uses while lawn irrigation is the highest water intensive end use occasioned by low rainfall and high evaporation. Therefore, seamless integration of these alternative supply and most resource intensive end uses provides the highest potential towards resource conservation. This thesis introduces the first practical and economical attempt to integrate various alternative energy and water supply options with efficient devices. The multifaceted approach used in this research has proven that optimal control strategy can significantly reduce the cost of these resources, bring in revenue through renewable energy sales, reuse waste water and reduce the demand for grid energy, water and waste water services. This thesis is generally divided into cold and hot water categories; both of which energy-water nexus DSM is carried out. Open-loop optimal and closed-loop model predictive (MPC) control strategies that minimize the objective while meeting present technical and operational constraints are designed. In cold water systems, open-loop optimal and MPC strategies are designed to improve water reliability through a pump storage system. Energy efficiency (EE) of the pump is achieved through optimally shifting the load to off-peak period of the time-of-use (TOU) tariff in South Africa. Thereafter, an open-loop optimal control strategy is developed for rooftop rain water harvesting for lawn irrigation. The controller ensures water is conserved by using the stored rain water and ensuring only the required amount of water is used for irrigation. Further, EE is achieved through load shifting of the pump subject to the TOU tariff. The two control strategies are then developed to operate a grey water recycling system that is useful in meeting non-potable water demand such as toilet flushing and lawn irrigation and EE is achieved through shifting of pump's load. Finally, the two control strategies are designed for an integrated rain and grey water recycling for a residential house, whose life cycle cost (LCC) analysis is carried out. The hot water category is more energy intensive, and therefore, the open-loop optimal control strategy is developed to control a heat pump water heater (HPWH) and an instantaneous shower, both powered by grid-tied renewable energy systems. Solar and wind energy are used due to their abundance in South Africa. Thereafter, the MPC strategy is developed to power same devices with renewable energy systems. In both strategies, energy is saved through the use of renewable energy sources, that also bring in revenue through sale of excess power back to the grid. In addition, water is conserved through heating the cold water in the pipes using the instantaneous shower rather than running it down the drain while waiting for hot water to arrive. LCC analysis is also carried out for this strategy. Each of the two control strategies has its strengths. The open loop optimal control is easier and cheaper to implement but is only suitable in cases where uncertainties and disturbances affecting the system do not alter the demand pattern for water in a major way. Conversely, the closed-loop MPC strategy is more complicated and costly to implement due to additional components like sensors, but comes with great robustness against uncertainties and disturbances. Both strategies are beneficial in ensuring security and reliability of energy and water is achieved. Importantly, technology alone cannot have sustainable DSM impact. Public education and awareness on importance of energy and water savings, improved efficiency and effect on supply infrastructure and greenhouse gas emissions are essential. Awareness is also important in enabling the acceptance of these technological advancements by the society. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / National Hub for Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management (EEDSM) / University of Pretoria / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / PhD / Unrestricted

<p dir="ltr">Energy consciousness initiatives have seen a recent uptick to curb the ever growing concerns of global warming. Heat Pumps are a crucial piece of technology for these efforts, as they consume lower energy than the requirement they satisfy and are typically used for refrigeration and HVAC systems. Hybrid Heat Pump Water Heater (HPWH) technologies have seen increased adoption, and the improvement of these technologies could pay dividends in the long run. </p><p dir="ltr">This project explores the optimal design space of HPWHs within the context of the Department of Energy Guidelines for their performance rating and compares several up and coming refrigerants with lower GWP than the current market dominant refrigerant, R-134a, to provide consistent performance with improvements on the environmental front along with potential cost improvements on the manufacturing front. For this purpose, Dymola, a simulation software that employs the Modelica language for modeling complex dynamic systems, is employed to study the transient behavior of a market example Heat Pump Water Heater. </p><p dir="ltr">The results of these simulations were validated using experimental data gathered in the laboratory using relevant instrumentation on the physical device and manufacture specified performance ratings to compare the validity of the simulation results. The results of the study indicated the presence of a multi-dimensional design space with a defined set of possible combinations for device implementation. Within that feasible region, there exist multiple trajectories of iso-preference which alter the overall device performance, and the careful study of these parameters and their implications on the device performance can lead to a more robust design pathway for future improvements of the device. The work also contextualizes these improvements by quantifying the relative importance of different parameters upon the final performance of the device, showing how to identify which parameters to focus on when embarking upon an improvement journey. Additionally, preliminarily ideal specifications for the device operation under different refrigerants studied were also identified to provide similar or better performance to the current device. </p><p dir="ltr">The study showed that when matching mass flux rates, R-152a, R-290, and R-600a outperform R-134a in terms of expected COP. Of the 3, only R-290 uses a smaller compressor size than the baseline R-134a cycle for achieving the required heating capacity. The other refrigerants studied do not improve upon the COP of the cycle, but do have benefits over R-134a in terms of their respective GWPs. </p><p dir="ltr">The results suggest that with the considered alterations, R-290 systems within the current charge restrictions (<150g) can be developed and achieve the same heating performance with slight improvements on COP and therefore potentially UEF values. </p><p dir="ltr">The study also shows that all refrigerants considered could achieve the required heating capacity with a considerably downsized condenser and appropriately reduced subcooling. It highlighted the trends being consistent across refrigerants and implemented a final alternative refrigerant through the identified optimization steps to arrive at a new configuration without revalidating the trends, showing that newer optimal configurations could be identified with minimal time spent in the simulation environment. </p><p dir="ltr">Finally, the study explored alternative control possibilities by way of overheating the water beyond its required setpoint and enabling a control based mixing at the outlet to reduce the energized time of the device and leveraging the exceptional insulation capabilities for thermal storage.</p>

根據歐盟2009 年發布之再生能源指令，定義熱泵系統所擷取之大氣熱能、水熱能以及地熱能為再生能源之選項，熱泵技術不受日夜與天候影響，且具安全、有低耗能、低排碳的優點，可應用在空調、暖氣、熱水等設備，備受歐美日本等先進國家重視，也是歐美各國政府極力推廣的項目之一。本研究針對台灣地區家戶住宅所使用小型空氣源熱泵熱水機組，透過環境資源及能源效率的角度，來探討熱泵熱水系統對於台灣住宅部門的適用性。 在研究方法上，針對國內熱泵個案廠商進行系統盤查分析，並且估算使用運轉過程中所需之能源投入，以計算熱水系統在製造過程與運轉使用過程中之環境影響。選擇生命週期評估軟體SimaPro 7.3做為評估工具，使用Eco-Indicator 95、EPS 2000兩種衝擊評估模式，來以生命週期評估探討熱泵熱水系統對環境之影響。並輔以淨能源分析法中能源投資報酬率與能源回收期，以及估算熱泵熱水系統生命週期CO2排放量，來衡量熱泵熱水系統之能源效率是否具有其效益。並進一步針對不同的再生能源發電比例與提升熱泵能源效率比例，探討不同方案的敏感度分析。 根據本研究分析結果顯示，熱泵熱水系統不管從Eco-indicator 95或EPS 2000衝擊評估模式下，運轉使用階段對環境衝擊較大，主要的衝擊項目為重金屬汙染，是因為熱泵熱水系統運轉所使用的電力消耗所致。使用熱泵熱水系統對環境衝擊程度遠較電熱水系統來得小，雖在Eco-indicator 95之衝擊評估模式下，瓦斯熱水系統較熱泵熱水系統環境衝擊程度較小，但以EPS 2000衝擊評估模式下，熱泵熱水系統對環境是最為友善的熱水系統。以淨效益估算熱泵熱水系統源投資報酬（EROI）值為1.45～5.55，能源回收期約為0.22年至2.16年，表示熱泵熱水系統從生命週期的角度來檢視能源效率是具有效益的。由於目前熱泵熱水系統對環境最大的負擔來源是電力的使用，若未來能提高再生能源發電比例、降低臺灣電能含碳濃度，或者提高熱泵能源生產效率，均能降低熱泵熱水系統對環境的負面影響。 / The purpose of this study is to apply life cycle assessment (LCA) and net energy analysis to explore the environmental impacts of the heat pump water heater in Taiwan. In order to achieve this objective, domestic data inventory was gathered from local heat pump industry in Taiwan through questionnaires including input of energy, product output and waste, etc. The SimaPro7.3 program and two impact assessment methods including Eco-Indicator 95, EPS 2000 were utilized to evaluate the environmental impact of the heat pump water heater. Also, we used net energy analysis such as energy return on investment and energy payback time, and estimated the life-cycle CO2 emissions to see whether if the heat pump water heater has its energy efficiency. In addition, the sensitivity analysis was performed by varying renewable energy generation portfolio and the heat pump energy efficiency ratio. Emprical results of two impact assessment methods (Eco-indicator 95 and EPS 2000) show that the main impact on environment of heat pump water heater is from operation phase. When operating the heat pump water heater, it needs to consume electricity which is generated from fossil fuel and caused the environmental impact. Compared with the electric water heater, the environmental impact degree of heat pump water heater is much smaller. In Eco-indicator 95 method, gas water heater has less influence on the environment than heat pump water heater; however, heat pump water heater is the most environment-friendly system in EPS 2000 method. That is because gas is a kind of nonrenewable resource. From the viewpoint of resource stock, gas indeed influence “Depletion of reserves” of environmental impact. By utilizing net energy analysis, the estimated energy return on investment (EROI) of heat pump water heater is 1.45～5.55, and energy payback time is 0.22~2.16 years. It indicates that heat pump water heater has significant benefit from life-cycle perspective. The main impact to environment by heat pump water heater is essentially derived from electricity input. To mitigation this environmental issue, one can reduce environmental impact by increase the proportion of renewable energy generation, and reducing the electricity CO2 emission. Furthermore, improving the energy efficiency of the heat pump would also helpful.