Highlights

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 presents energetic, economic, and environmental (3E) analyses of four configurations of solar heating and cooling (SHC) systems based on coupling evacuated tube collectors with a single-effect LiBre-H2O absorption chiller.

Building energy performance simulations are limited to typical meteorological weather conditions available in simulation software. Such simulations are insufficient for analysing energy performance sensitivity to a range of probable weather conditions.

In this study, the outputs from a simple PV performance model were compared to measurements of AC power for three PV systems located across Sydney, Australia. The study aimed to investigate the level of uncertainty and bias of the model when onsite measurements of plane of array (POA) irradiance and module temperature were not available.

We report on the carbon footprint of 22 scenario pathways for the transition of the Australian electricity sector to predominantly renewable energy (RE). The analysis employs a dynamic and discrete numerical model that takes into account what we have termed renewable energy ‘breeding’, i.e. RE technologies are being made increasingly with renewable electricity as the transition progresses.