Highlights

• Validated swimming pool and collector model, good agreement with experimental data.
• Solar pool heating system performance optimized based on COP (energy ratio).
• Optimized system achieves pump energy savings of approximately 60%.
• System produces enough pressure to keep the vacuum relief valve closed.
• Potential for 180 GWh of electricity & 150 kt of CO2 savings per year in Australia.

Abstract

Photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) air collector design requires an accurate determination of key parameters such as the channel depth and the air mass flow rate. This paper focuses on PV/T air collectors linked to an air distribution system with the aim of optimizing the channel depth, the air mass flow rate per unit collector area and the air distribution duct diameter considering the whole system performance. A weighted effective thermal energy output which includes electrical and thermal energy generated and fan power usage was utilized to examine the energy performance of the whole system.

The uptake of smart grid technologies and increasing deployment of smart meters have brought greater attention on the analysis of individual household electricity consumption. Within the smart grid framework, home and battery energy management systems are becoming important demand side management tools with various benefits to households, utilities and networks. Load forecasting is a vital component of these tools, as it can be used in optimizing the schedule of household appliances and energy operations.

Electricity load forecasting is an important tool which can be utilized to enable effective control of commercial building electricity loads. Accurate forecasts of commercial building electricity loads can bring significant environmental and economic benefits by reducing electricity use and peak demand and the corresponding GHG emissions.

One of the major obstacles to improving solar thermal cooling technologies is the high operating temperature requirements of most solar thermal cooling systems. This paper reviews recent advances that could reduce the required heat source temperatures for solar desiccant cooling to the range of 50°C–60°C. These approaches include (i) isothermal dehumidification (e.g. two-stage dehumidification or internal cooled dehumidification) and (ii) pre-cooling of the entry air with ambient heat sinks (e.g. indirect evaporative cooling or geothermal exchange).

This report presents a summary of all the findings and activities performed in the LCL-CRC research project RP1011 “Sustainable and affordable living through modular homes and communities” and represents the culmination of the project.