Cooling of commercial buildings contributes significantly to the peak demand placed on an electrical utility grid. Time-of-use electricity rates encourage shifting of electrical loads to off peak periods at night and on weekends. Buildings can respond to these pricing signals by shifting cooling-related thermal loads either by precooling the building’s massive structure or by using active thermal energy storage systems such as ice storage. While these two thermal batteries have been engaged separately in the past, this paper investigates the merits of harnessing both storage media concurrently in the context of optimal control for a range of selected parameters. A parametric analysis was conducted utilizing an EnergyPlus-based simulation environment to assess the effects of building mass, electrical utility rates, season and location, economizer operation, central plant size, and thermal comfort. The findings reveal that the cooling-related on-peak electrical demand and utility cost of commercial buildings can be substantially reduced by harnessing both thermal storage inventories using optimal control for a wide range of conditions.

Cooling of commercial buildings contributes significantly to the peak demand placed on an electrical utility grid. Time-of-use electricity rates encourage shifting of electrical loads to off-peak periods at night and on weekends. Buildings can respond to these pricing signals by shifting cooling-related thermal loads either by precooling the building’s massive structure or by using active thermal energy storage systems such as ice storage. While these two thermal batteries have been engaged separately in the past, this paper investigates the merits of harnessing both storage media concurrently in the context of optimal control for a range of selected parameters. A parametric analysis was conducted utilizing an EnergyPlus-based simulation environment to assess the effects of building mass, electrical utility rates, season and location, economizer operation, central plant size, and thermal comfort. The findings reveal that the cooling-related on-peak electrical demand and utility cost of commercial buildings can be substantially reduced by harnessing both thermal storage inventories using optimal control for a wide range of conditions.

The photoelectrtichdmical properties of the two p-type title semiconductors were examined in several redox solutions for the first time. For p-HgIn2Te4, the quantum efficiency for carrier collection (0C) is 94% at short circuit, and the monochromatic and polychromatic power efficiencies calculated from three electrode cell experiments are 9.5% and 3%, respectively, in iron(III) triethanolamine solution with comparably high values in [Cr(III)EDTA]'. The flat-band potential (Kft) is at -0.70 V (vs. SCE) in the former two couples, and indirect and direct gap transitions exist at 0.88 and 1.04 eV, respectively. Stability studies indicate essentially 100% stability to photocorrosion in Fe(III)TEA. For p-CdIn2Te4, 0C is also high at short circuit (91%) and the monochromatic power efficiency is even higher (11%) than for p-Hg!n2Te4 while the polychromatic value is somewhat lower (2%), both calculated from three electrode cell experiments. The Kn, is at approximately -0.5 V (vs. SCE), and both an indirect (1.16 eV) and a direct transition exist (1.24 eV). Data for both semiconductors in a polysulfide solution indicate considerably poorer PEC characteristics than for the other redox solutions.

As the electric vehicles (EVs) such as hybrid, battery, and fuel cell cars have become common in market, there is an opportunity to apply vehicle-to-grid (V2G) power. This article introduces the concept of V2G and uses equations to calculate the capacity for grid power from defined electric drive vehicles. Further this paper evaluates the revenue and costs for V2G mode from selling electricity into market. The results show that developing V2G mode provides electric vehicles owners and electric utilities additional revenue, stability and reliability of the electric grid, lower-cost storage for intermittent power resources.

The semiconducting behavior of passive film formed on 316L stainless steel in borate buffer solution containing sulfide was studied by capacitance measurements. The results indicate p-type semiconducting behavior related to chromium oxide of the passive film at -1.12 ~ -0.78V and n-type semiconducting behavior to iron oxide at -0.47 ~ +0.35V, with an acceptor density 11.21020 cm-3 and a donor density 7.501020 cm-3 respectively. The existence of sulfide in the solution obviously increases the acceptor densities which reaches to 215.61020 cm-3 with the sulfide concentration of 12 mgL1, and therefore have a more conductive behavior.