نشریه سیستم های انرژی پایدار
سال یکم شماره 2 (بهار 1401)

The increasing emission of greenhouse gases as the most crucial factor in global warming has made this a global concern in recent years. One concept proposed to better understand the amount of greenhouse gas emissions is the carbon footprint. Carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases produced by a particular product or activity in its simplest definition. Since the power generation industry is one of the most highly emitting sectors, the study of carbon footprint has also become significant. This is primarily because fossil fuels are still the number one energy source for electricity generation, and even coal-fired power plants, which have the highest greenhouse gas emissions, will be the number one source in the coming years. They will still have a high share. Therefore, in the present study, while examining the concept of carbon footprint and its calculation method in the electricity industry, in a case study of South Khorasan province, the carbon footprint from steam and combined cycle gas and diesel power plants has been compared with Tabas coal-fired power plant. The obtained results show that the site's elevation according to the air density can have up to 10% impact the carbon footprint of the combined cycle power plant, and sites with low height should be chosen as much as possible. Also, the carbon footprint of the coal-burning power plant with a value of 968 grams per kilowatt hour is far higher than other fossil power plants with a value of 579 grams per kilowatt hour.

Since significant energy consumption worldwide is related to building energy, building energy optimization is currently very important despite the limitations and due to the preservation of the earth's environment. This paper addresses the important limitations for optimizing building energy performance using single and multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) and genetics (NSGA-II) algorithms with EnergyPlus and MATLAB building energy simulation software to examine different weather data of several cities in Iran with considering the one-room model offers with the effect of building architectural parameters. Also in the optimization section, the annual electricity consumption of cooling, heating, and lighting to understand the interactions between the target functions and minimize the total annual energy demand of the building is examined, and the results obtained, the annual cooling electricity consumption is reduced by 19.8-33.3% and the annual heating and lighting Respectively increased by 1.7-4.8% and 0.5-2.6% compared to other models, which leads to an optimal reduction of 1.6-11.3% of the total annual electricity demand of the building.

With the warming of the weather conditions and significant load growth in the distribution sector, peak management in power systems has become an essential issue in hot seasons, and demand response programs are one of the most suitable common methods for managing peak. In this article, the authors propose a new approach to network peak management in critical conditions by the distribution company. This approach is the optimal scheduling of distributed energy sources and various demand response resources to reduce the network's peak consumption during critical peak hours and with the lowest cost. Demand response resources in this article include the three critical peak pricing, incentive-based load curtailment, and emergency load response, which the distribution company implements. The problem is optimized using a robust complex number linear programming and considering the power uncertainty of renewable resources. Providing a peak price 14% larger than the peak price of the normal tariff can bring a suitable load impact from the critical peak program customers in the network. The participation of customers in the load curtailment program in the beginning and end hours of peak management is equal to 30% and 20% of the customer's baseline. Considering the risk related to solar production, power contribution in this program increases by 117 and 74 kilowatts for the same hours. Adopting a risk-averse strategy increases the cost by 745 $ for the distribution company and the reason is the increase in curtailment of 120 kW through the emergency demand response program.

The spiral type one is more prominent, of which the vertical type ground heat exchange (GHE) is the most common in ground source heat pumps (GSHP) and on the purpose of this study as well. The present paper provides numerical simulation for 1D-3D model of the ground source heat pumps in cooling mode by using COMSOL environment. In contrary to popular spiral models, this model is designed with a low depth and high diameter with special metal rods (Fins). The simulated spiral pipe has 10 m in depth and 1 m in diameter. In order to compensate for the reduction in heat transfer due to the lower depth, the effect of different parameters such as velocity, pitch, thermal conductivity, and specific heat capacity in backfill material and ground on the heat performance is investigated. Furthermore, different velocity range is recommended for several pitches. In addition, as a novelty, an innovative design is modeled consisting of diverse type of horizontal aluminum rods (Fins) in the soil connected to the pipe completely (Finned pipe). The fins not only hold the pipe inside the ground firmly but also improve the heat transfer rate due to the area increase and the high thermal conductivity system up to 31%.

Iran is located in the desert region of the world and, in terms of solar radiation, has a very high potential to receive solar energy in different ways. However, solar energy technology development is not satisfactory compared to other countries. Iran's desert areas have been the subject of this research to analyze solar energy development. By interviewing experts and looking at library data, a list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats was prepared to identify internal and external factors affecting this research. The aggressive SO strategy was deemed a suitable option for the development of solar energy in desert areas of Iran based on a SWOT matrix formed by experts by completing a designed questionnaire. The total score of internal factors is 2.87, which is considered a strength, and the score obtained from external factors is 2.79, which has more development opportunities. In the framework of this strategy, it is possible to take maximum advantage of external opportunities by using internal strengths. In the end, some suggestions and techniques are presented according to the aggressive strategy of this research.

Blockchain technology has been introduced in recent years and its applications have been widely investigated. This technology is mostly known with digital currencies (removing intermediaries and reducing financial transaction fees), but it has other applications. The new technology can be used in various fields, including energy engineering. This is due to the fact that in many countries, the electricity supply system is transitioning from a centralized non-renewable state to a distributed renewable market one. Therefore, there is a need to use a settlement system that can make transactions in a short time, with low fees and without volume restrictions. This article is an overview of the activities that have been carried out using blockchain technology in the field of energy exchanges. The purpose of the study is to obtain business models of businesses active in this field and to consider their goals and prospects in using this technology in energy markets. The result of this study shows that the development of decentralized markets can lead to the support of renewable energy producers and reduce the barriers to participation in the energy market by making small exchanges easier.