Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering / Charles L. Burton / An energy analysis was performed on a Midwestern residence to evaluate its performance based on energy use. A model of the actual house was replicated using eQuest and adjusted until its projected utility bills matched the actual yearly bills. This model was used to gauge how potential improvements made to the envelope and HVAC systems lowered the energy use. The results were documented after each improvement the feasible options were considered. The top alternatives were then combined to see how much money could be saved through renovating an existing home or through constructing a new residence. The overall goal of this report was to use the resulting improvement data as a reference for homeowners or home builders who are interested in conserving energy and money through residential improvements.

Solar heat pump systems (SHPs) are systems that combine solar energy and heat pumps. SHPs have been investigated for several decades and have been proven to increase the share of renewable energy and reduce electric energy demand in residential heating applications. Many solar thermal heat pump systems have become market-available in recent years; however these systems are still not widely employed in the residential sector. This is due mainly to the high initial costs (investment and installation costs) of solar thermal heat pump systems, which limits their cost-effectiveness. Enhancing cost-effectiveness of solar thermal heat pump systems is necessary for a more effective and broader market penetration. In this thesis, solar thermal and photovoltaic systems combined with heat pumps for heating applications are treated. The overall aims of the thesis are to: 1) investigate techno-economics of SHPs and 2) investigate possible solutions for improving system performance of a reference solar thermal and heat pump system for residential heating applications. In the first part of the thesis, the influence of climatic boundary conditions on economic performance of SHPs has been investigated by means of: a) an economic comparison of SHPs found in the relevant literature and b) system simulations of the reference solar thermal heat pump system. In the second part of the thesis, potential solutions for improving system performance of the reference solar thermal heat pump system with limited change in system’ costs are investigated. A systematic approach was used for investigating cost-effectiveness of the system improvements in the reference system. Based on results of the cost-effectiveness analysis, some of the investigated system improvements were chosen for being included in the design of a novel solar thermal and air source heat pump system concept. The novel system was designed for a house standard with relatively high operating temperatures (55°C/45°C) in the space heating distribution system and for high space heating demand (123 kWh/m2·year). Finally, the thesis ends with a cost-effectiveness analysis of the novel system. / <p>QC 20170918</p> / MacSheep / iNSPiRe

Submitted by Nara Lays Domingues Viana Oliveira (naradv) on 2015-06-12T22:36:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 000006AB.pdf: 9859828 bytes, checksum: 7298da927fa0f798beed1d1cb69fcb2a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-12T22:36:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 000006AB.pdf: 9859828 bytes, checksum: 7298da927fa0f798beed1d1cb69fcb2a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / CNPQ – Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Neste trabalho, foi realizada a simulação do ciclo térmico da Usina Termoelétrica São Jerônimo – UTSJ. A Usina, muito antiga, possui caldeira do tipo grelha. Na mesma Usina foi instalada uma caldeira experimental de leito fluidizado, para funcionar em paralelo com a existente. O trabalho é iniciado com a modelagem de um ciclo de Rankine simples e segue evoluindo até se estabelecer a configuração mais adequada e representativa na tarefa de simular o modo de trabalho da Usina Termelétrica São Jerônimo – UTSJ. Desta forma, foram adotadas as considerações mais convencionais na prática de projeto de centrais termelétricas cujos sistemas térmicos baseiam-se no ciclo de Rankine. As simulações, que se caracterizam pela resolução simultânea das equações que modelam o ciclo e seus componentes, foram efetuadas através de programa IPSE-pro®. As simulações foram aplicadas para a obtenção dos resultados mais importantes na análise de sistemas térmicos, tais como rendimento térmico do ciclo, potência, vazões mássicas do sistema, calor trocado no gerador de vapor e no condensador, entre outros. Por fim, com objetivo de melhorar o rendimento térmico da planta, são apresentadas algumas alternativas ao sistema atual, tais como o aumento de eficiência da caldeira mediante substituição ou a adição de uma caldeira em paralelo à original. / In this work was made the simulation of the thermal cycle of São Jerônimo - UTSJ thermal power plant. The power plant, very old, has a grate boiler. In the same power plant was installed an experimental fluidized bed boiler, workingin parallel with the existing one. The work starts with the modeling of a simple Rankine cycle and evolves up to establish the most suitable and representative configuration to simulate the mode the work of São Jerônimo –UTSJ thermal power plant. Therefore, in this work it was adopted the more conventional considerations in the design practice for thermal power plants whose systems are based on the Rankine cycle. The simulations, which are characterized by the simultaneous solving of equations that model the cycle and its components, were made through the IPSE-pro® software. The simulations were applied to obtain the main results on the analysis of thermal systems such as, thermal efficiency of the cycle, power, system mass flow, heat exchanged in the steam generator and condenser, among others. Finally, in order to improve the thermal efficiency of the plant, some alternatives to the actual system were presented.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) which focuses on the relationship with customers has become more and more important in business management. CRM is a managerial system based on technological applications which can help companies to get competitive advantages. In our paper, we focus on the CRM in the Chinese context and our purpose is to identify important factors during the management of customer relationship in China. We have studied one of the largest Chinese Telecom companies.