Grid electricity demand reduction through applying passive and active strategies for a house in Baghdad, Iraq
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Date
2013-07
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The British University in Dubai (BUiD)
Abstract
Over the last decade, electricity conservation has been at the core of global attention as every aspect of modern life depends on electrical energy. More so, all new and improved technologies are accompanied by the rapid growth in the economy and population which has led to an increase in the demand for electricity. Consequently, these factors could influence humanity, the environment and cause energy resource depletion. Therefore, the principles of sustainability have been required to reduce this negative impact on our natural environment and on mankind.
This research aims at exploring the impact of incorporating passive and active strategies on electricity demand reduction in a typical household in Baghdad. According to the Ministry of Electricity, Iraq generates only 8,000 megawatts, while currently, the required power consumption is rising to between 13-15,000 megawatts. For more than 20 years, the Iraqi people have suffered due to the lack of electrical supply.
The motive was to reduce the dependency of the national electricity grid that is not reliable and suffers frequent daily interruptions. Simulation methodology was used to carry out this study in accordance with the flexibility to achieve energy usage, calculate, and evaluate the power consumption and energy saving. The study covered the following strategies: shading devices, insulation materials, and glazing as passive strategies while the coefficient performance of air-conditioning systems, solar domestic hot water, and photovoltaic panels were examined as active strategies.
IES-VE software was used to analyze the performance of each passive and active strategy and their impression on energy consumption. The study covered different scenarios to estimate the optimal case for each parameter to highlight their effects on preserving energy. The results collected from all the running simulations were categorized according to each parameter. The outcome of using passive strategies shows that the most affected parameter is the roof insulation (1 Pearl and 2 Pearls) which achieved the maximum reduction among other passive scenarios. By adopting 1Pearl, it provided 4.33% energy reduction while 2 Pearls can achieve about 4.37% decrease in energy. This means that roof insulation should take priority when considering the passive solutions for conserving energy. The second effect factor is wall insulation which can achieve a 3.75 - 3.82% savings for 1 Pearl and 2 Pearls.
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Meanwhile, the glazing system has a much lower reduction of about 1.2-1.4% energy saving for 1 Pearl and 2 Pearls. The results of adopting a glazing system could vary from one project to another in relation to the ratio of openings to walls. However, it was found that by using a shading device scenario, the minimum impact on energy consumption through saving is about 0.29-0.11% depending on location, and the size of the shading elements. Overall, the passive strategies combined using 1 Pearl representing the economic case can achieve 8.3% energy demand reduction while the efficient cause which adopts two Pearls has little improvement in achieving an 8.6% energy reduction. There is little benefit when moving from a 1 Pearl to a 2 Pearl refurbishment level. Thus by using 1 Pearl it was evaluated to be a more practical and economical option.
While increasing the coefficient performance of an air-conditioning system, energy consumption can be reduced by 8.5%. The research found that the use of Solar DHW is not worth comparing with the lack of PV energy production that is caused especially in hot climates. The little improvement of the boiler load reduction will not compensate the shortage of PV output power which leads to an increase in the total electricity demand. The simulations approved that Monocrystalline is the most efficient type of PV cells which generate approximately 52.64 MWh. While the use of Polycrystalline Silicon produce 44.54 MWh, Thin Film production is 29.65 MWh and Amorphous Silicon produces only 21.91 MWh. In other words, the use of Polycrystalline compared to Monocrystalline Silicon output power considering that all the types of cells have the same dimensions, tilted and azimuth angles.
The integration of passive and active strategies can achieve a decrease of 50.6% in the need of electricity consumption. The production time of the PV should be observed to find out if it corresponds with the demand time or needs to be stored either in a battery or connected to the main grid. Ultimately, whatever the impact of each strategy, these could contribute to enhanced energy performance. The study concluded that the integration of passive and active strategies can reduce the demand for electricity in an average home in Baghdad.
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Keywords
grid electricity, electricity conservation, Baghdad, Iraq, energy consumption, energy performance