In recent years, most cities have faced great demand for electricity supply due to rapid population growth and industrialization. Supplying sufficient electrical energy, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, is one of the major concerns of policymakers and scientists all over the world. In Saudi Arabia, local authorities are increasingly aware of the necessity of reducing the environmental impact of nonrenewable energy by exploring alternative sustainable energy sources and improving buildings’ energy efficiency. Recently, building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) technology has been regarded as a promising technology for generating instantaneous sustainable energy for buildings. To achieve a substantial contribution regarding zero energy buildings, solar energy should be widely used in residential buildings within the urban context. This paper examines how to achieve an appropriate model for integrating photovoltaics on the rooftop of residential buildings in Hail city to provide alternative energy sources. The estimated rooftop areas in Hail city, utilizable for PV application were calculated. Using PV*SOL simulation software, the performance ratio and the system efficiency, as well as the annual energy output in several tilt angles, were determined and presented. The amount of energy expected when using all effective roof area in the city was also calculated. The amount of CO2 emissions that could be reduced as a result of using a PV system was estimated. The results show a significant area of rooftop suitable for PV system in residential buildings in Hail city, which exceeds 9 million square meters. On the other hand, the performance ratio and the system efficiency are affected by the tilt angle of the PV module, where the efficiency increases with higher tilt angle, this is due to the PV module temperature, where, with the decrease in the PV module temperature its efficiency increases. The results indicate that the 30° tilt PV produced the highest amount of energy, whereas the 75° tilt PV records the smallest one although it achieves the best possible efficiency. There is a significant amount of energy produced from the use of all residential rooftops in Hail, and there is also a significant reduction in the amount of CO2 emissions. It is expected that this research would develop innovative building design strategies and specifications allowing for better climate and energy efficiency as well.
Over 50% of the total energy consumed by buildings in a hot and dry climate goes toward the cooling regime during the harsh months. Non-residential buildings, especially houses of worship, need a tremendous amount of energy to create a comfortable environment for worshipers. Today, mosques are regarded as energy-hungry buildings, whereas in the past, they were designed according to sustainable vernacular architecture. This study was aimed at improving the energy performance of mosques in a hot and dry climate using bioclimatic principles and architectural elements. To achieve this aim, a process-based simulation approach was applied together with a generate and test technique on 86 scenarios based on 10 architectural elements, with various arithmetic transition rates organized in 9 successive steps. Starting from a simplified hypothetical model, the final model of the mosque design was arrived at based on a holistic bioclimatic vision using 10 architectural elements. The findings of this research were limited to a specific mosque size in a hot and dry climate, but the proposed holistic bioclimatic concept can be developed to take into account all mosque models in several harsh environments.
The computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) models based on the steady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations (RANSs) using the k−ω two-equation turbulence model are considered in order to estimate the wind flow distribution around buildings. The present investigation developed a micro-scale city model with building details for the Hail area (Saudi Arabia) using ANSYS FLUENT software. Based on data from the region’s meteorological stations, the effect of wind speed (from 2 to 8 m/s) and wind direction (north, east, west, and south) was simulated. This study allows us to identify areas without wind comfort such as the corner of the building and the zones between adjacent buildings, which make this zone not recommended for placement of restaurants, pedestrian passages, or gardens. Particular attention was also paid to the highest building (Hail Tower, 67 m) in order to estimate, along the tower height, the wind speed effect on the turbulence intensity, the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), the friction coefficient, and the dynamic pressure.
Over the past few years, electricity demand has been on the rise. This has resulted in renewable energy resources being used rapidly, considering the shortage as well as the environmental impacts of fossil fuel. A renewable energy source that has become increasingly popular is photovoltaic (PV) energy as it is environmentally friendly. Installing PV modules, however, has to ensure harsh environments including temperature, dust, birds drop, hotspot, and storm. Thus, the phenomena of the non-uniform aging of PV modules has become unavoidable, negatively affecting the performance of PV plants, particularly during the middle and latter duration of their service life. The idea here is to decrease the capital of maintenance and operation costs involved in medium- and large-scale PV power plants and improving the power efficiency. Hence, the present paper generated an offline PV module reconfiguration strategy considering the non-uniform aging PV array to ensure that this effect is mitigated and does not need extra sensors. To enhance the economic benefit, the offline reconfiguration takes into account labor cost and electricity price. This paper proposes a gene evolution algorithm (GEA) for determining the highest economic benefit. The proposed algorithm was verified using MATLAB software-based modeling and simulations to investigate fourteen countries to maximize the economic benefit that employed a representative 18-kW and 43-kW output and the power of 10 × 10 PV arrays in connection as a testing benchmark and considered the electricity price and workforce cost. According to the results, enhanced power output can be generated from a non-uniformly aged PV array of any size, and offers the minimum swapping/replacing times to maximize the output power and improve the electric revenue by reducing the maintenance costs.
Due to urbanization, population growth, and the consequences of climate change, the usage of energy for cooling has increased considerably in recent years. Passive climate measures, on the other hand, could alleviate the situation by reducing energy use in buildings. This study examined the environmental and financial benefits of utilizing glass fiber-reinforced cement in the external walls of a communal social hub building in New Aswan city, taken an example of the hot desert region. Utilizing Design Builder software, the effect of various outside wall alternatives on cooling energy consumption was explored and analyzed. In addition, a cost–benefit analysis utilizing the simple payback period was conducted to aid decision-makers in selecting the most suitable exterior wall materials for public buildings in hot desert regions. Using cement plaster, cement brick, glass wool, and glass fiber-reinforced cement as an outside wall resulted in a significant improvement rate, according to the data. Compared to a typical wall (cement plaster, cement brick, and cement plaster), it can save up to 41% of energy. In addition, it has the lowest simple payback period value when compared to other examined solutions (10.86 years). In general, the results indicate that glass fiber-reinforced cement walls embedded in thermal insulation materials and incorporated into cement brick walls are more energy-efficient in terms of necessary cooling energy and economic viability.
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