by Anna Karmazina  and Brent S. Steel

Received: 18 November 2019;  Published: 24 December 2019;  doi: 10.21926/jept.1904005

The 2013 Pacific Coast Action Plan on Climate and Energy signed by the Governors of Oregon, California, and Washington and the Premier of British Columbia, launched a broadly announced public commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through multiple strategies. Those strategies include the development and increased use of renewable energy sources. The initiative recognized that citizens are both a central component to abating greenhouse gas emissions with regard to their energy use behaviors, and are important [...]

by Deewakar Poudel  , Benjamin Belfore  , Shankar Karki  , Grace Rajan  , Sina Soltanmohammad  , Angus Rockett  and Sylvain Marsillac

Received: 28 October 2020;  Published: 06 January 2021;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2101001

The effect of water ingress on the surface of the buffer layer of a Cu(In, Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cell was studied. Such degradation can occur either during the fabrication process, if it involves a chemical bath as is often the case for CdS, or while the modules are in the field and encapsulants degrade. To simulate the impact of this moisture ingress, devices with a structure sodalime glass/Mo/CIGS/CdS were immersed in deionized water. The thin films were then analyzed both pre and post water soaking. Dynamic second [...]

by Shuvajit Ghosh  , Udita Bhattacharjee  , Subhajit Bhowmik  and Dr. Surendra K. Martha

Received: 30 June 2021;  Published: 10 January 2022;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2201002

lithium-ion battery (LIB) is at the forefront of energy research. Over four decades of research and development have led electric mobility to a reality. Numerous materials capable of storing lithium reversibly, either as an anode or as a cathode, are reported on a daily basis. But very few among them, such as LiCoO2, lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (Li-NMC) variants (LiNi0.33Mn0.33Co0.33O2, LiNi0.5Mn0.3Co0.2O2, LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2, and LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2), LiNi0.8Co0.15Al0.05O2, LiFePO4, graphite, and Li4Ti5 [...]

by Dimitrios N. Konispoliatis

Received: 09 December 2023;  Published: 07 February 2024;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2401005

The main challenge in designing offshore renewable energy structures is to ensure their structural integrity on a life cycle basis while operating in harsh environments and, in parallel, being financially competitive and environmentally friendly concerning other types of energy systems. The Oscillating Water Column (OWC) converters are among the first energy converters to be developed and deployed into the sea due to their relative simplicity of operation and relatively small number of moving parts. This review pro [...]

by Saikat Banerjee  , Naveen Prasad  and Sivamani Selvaraju

Received: 27 September 2021;  Published: 13 January 2022;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2201004

Biogas is an alternative to gaseous biofuels and is produced by the decomposition of biomass from substances such as animal waste, sewage sludge, and industrial effluents. Biogas is composed of methane, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and oxygen. The anaerobic production of biogas can be made cheaper by designing a high throughput reactor and operating procedures. The parameters such as substrate type, particle size, temperature, pH, carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio, and inoculum concentration play [...]

by Ann Lee  and Shaokoon Cheng

Received: 26 March 2023;  Published: 18 September 2023;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2303029

In the context of decarbonization efforts, heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) offer an attractive solution over conventional electric resistance type hot water systems due to their 2-3 times higher efficiency. However, the high manufacturing costs and taxes associated with using hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerant make HPWHs expensive. As a means to tackle this issue, this paper explores the use of propane (R290) as a refrigerant in HPWHs. The study involves an experimental comparison of R290 and R134a, with refrigera [...]

by Shaikha Al-Ballam  , Hamidreza Karami  and Deepak Devegowda

Received: 27 September 2022;  Published: 14 November 2022;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2204036

Electrical Submersible Pumps (ESPs) are one of the most widely used artificial lift methods in the petroleum industry. However, ESP failures are unanticipated and common occurrences with significant financial impacts for the operators. Analysis of the ESP performance and failures are essential in its design and optimization. This paper presents a statistical approach for diagnosing and evaluating the root causes of ESP failures. The analysis is based on the field data gathered from the surface and downhole ESP moni [...]

by Shih-Ang Hsu

Received: 21 December 2020;  Published: 24 March 2021;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2101014

In order to improve offshore wind power operation and maintenance (O&M), particularly during tropical and non-tropical cyclones, short-term forecasts or nowcasts up to 6 hours of meteorological and oceanographic (met-ocean) parameters including wind, waves, currents and turbulence intensity are needed. On the basis of numerous air-sea and wind-wave interaction experiments, datasets are analyzed including those from simultaneous measurements of wind and waves during Hurricane Wilma. Formulas are presented for nowcas [...]

by Argyrios V. Karatrantos  , Md Sharif Khan  , Chuanyu Yan  , Reiner Dieden  , Koki Urita  , Tomonori Ohba  and Qiong Cai

Received: 24 May 2021;  Published: 27 September 2021;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2103043

The performance of metal-ion batteries at low temperatures and their fast charge/discharge rates are determined mainly by the electrolyte (ion) transport. Accurate transport properties must be evaluated for designing and/or optimization of lithium-ion and other metal-ion batteries. In this review, we report and discuss experimental and atomistic computational studies on ion transport, in particular, ion diffusion/dynamics, transference number, and ionic conductivity. Although a large number of studies focusing on l [...]

by Nikolai A. Zarkevich

Received: 30 September 2019;  Published: 06 January 2020;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2001001

Most power plants produce electricity by converting a mechanical motion into alternating current (AC). Photovoltaic solar panels convert an electromagnetic flux of light into direct current (DC). In general, electric energy can be harvested from a flux in the environment or from a change of the environment itself. One can produce electricity from mechanical, chemical, thermal, electromagnetic (light), or another physical flux, or from a change of temperature, chemical composition, or a physical field: gravitationa [...]

by Wisut Chamsa-ard  , Derek Fawcett  , Chun Che Fung  and Gerrard Poinern

Received: 28 September 2020;  Published: 29 December 2020;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2004018

The demand for high-quality freshwater is increasing due to global population growth, intensifying agricultural practices and expanding industrial development. Additionally, many global regions have low levels of rainfall which makes them arid and incapable of supporting large human populations or agriculture. Currently, large quantities of fossil fuels are used to generate the power needed to drive energy intensive desalination processes that deliver high-quality freshwater to many of these regions. However, the u [...]

by Jeff Callaghan

Received: 19 October 2022;  Published: 07 April 2023;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2302014

During February 2022 major riverine flooding occurred in an area which has the fastest population growth in Australia. This extended from the Mary River in Southeast Queensland (SEQ) to the Clarence River in Northeast NSW (NENSW). Two centres within this area were devastated by floods unprecedented in living memory. One was the Brisbane Metropolitan area where all-time record daily rainfall in the suburbs flooded creeks. This creek flooding was much worse than that caused by the Brisbane River itself where Wivenhoe [...]

by Raisa Barbosa  , Mohamad Issa  , Sidelmo Silva  and Adrian Ilinca

Received: 30 July 2021;  Published: 13 January 2022;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2201003

A substantial share of the electric energy is generated with synchronous generators that provide sustained alternating current (AC) voltage and frequency energy to regional and national power systems, which subsequently transport and distribute it to diverse users. In an attempt to reduce environmental effects, electric energy markets have recently become more open, resulting in more flexible distributed electric power systems. In such distributed systems, stability, quick and efficient delivery, and control of ele [...]

by Floris Taminiau  and Bob van der Zwaan

Received: 04 August 2022;  Published: 10 October 2022;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2204032

In the Netherlands, an important way to contribute toward achieving climate goals is the large-scale deployment of wind turbines in the North Sea. The North Sea is a unique location for offshore wind power thanks to its strong winds, shallow waters, and proximity to large energy users. Wind turbines generate electricity by extracting kinetic energy from the atmosphere. This kinetic energy is replenished at a finite rate through the mixing of atmospheric layers. The replenishment rate sets a physical limit to the am [...]

by Ugo Chiocchini  and Giovanni Savarese

Received: 14 May 2019;  Published: 05 September 2019;  doi: 10.21926/jept.1903003

Background: The Regione Lazio-Direzione Regionale dello Sviluppo Economico e delle Attività Produttive (RL–DRSEAP), carrying out its public functions to govern the use of mineral resources (including thermal water), planned the exploitation of the Viterbo hydrothermal system on the basis of a conceptual hydrogeological model (CHM). The CHMs of the Viterbo area and that of the neighboring Tuscany region, characterized by the same geological and hydrogeological setting, are discussed, suggesting the unreliability of [...]

by Syed Ali Muslim

Received: 05 February 2021;  Published: 19 July 2021;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2103034

This article offers the summary of detailed literature review on the state of the art of simulation tools for building energy and power system research. The fundamental capabilities required for building energy and power system analysis tools are outlined. A comparative review of different energy simulation tools is presented, along with the summary of their strengths and weaknesses. A review of energy simulation tool rankings using evidence-based research is presented. A novel aspect of this article is the investi [...]

by Naireeta Deb  and Rajendra Singh

Received: 15 November 2022;  Published: 08 February 2023;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2301007

Widespread adoption of electric vehicles has presented the challenges of short range and prolonged charging time. Going forward, extremely fast charging is the only solution to these problems. However, the typical Silicon power electronics supported 400 V electric vehicle powertrain cannot live up to this challenge. Limitations include the huge cable size, heating of equipment due to high current and user safety, to name a few. In this paper, we have analyzed an 800 V EV powertrain using power electronics based on [...]

by Hong Yong Sohn  , Mohamed Elzohiery  and De-Qiu Fan

Received: 28 June 2021;  Published: 23 September 2021;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2103042

This article describes the development of a novel ironmaking technology based on flash reduction. The development started with the proof of the kinetic feasibility, considering that a typical flash reactor provides only a few seconds of residence time. This was followed by tests in a laboratory flash reactor and finally a pilot plant operation. The rate equations formulated in this work were developed considering the optimum combination of temperature, residence time, and reducing gas partial pressure to achieve &# [...]

by Camille Jubert Tomasso  , Anne L. Pham  , Tracy M. Mattox  and Jeffrey J. Urban

Received: 20 April 2020;  Published: 19 May 2020;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2002009

Hydrogen (H2) shows great promise as zero-carbon emission fuel, but there are several challenges to overcome in regards to storage and transportation to make it a more universal energy solution. Gaseous hydrogen requires high pressures and large volume tanks while storage of liquid hydrogen requires cryogenic temperatures; neither option is ideal due to cost and the hazards involved. Storage in the solid state presents an attractive alternative, and can meet the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) constraints to find m [...]

by Elissavet Feloni  and Evgenia Karandinaki

Received: 08 May 2021;  Published: 17 August 2021;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2103039

The objective of this study is the development and implementation of a geographic information system (GIS)-based methodology to determine suitable sites for wind farms by using multicriteria decision making (MCDM) techniques. Many eligibility criteria are considered in this approach, such as GIS analysis is performed in combination with MCDM techniques, both for the criteria weighting process (using the analytical hierarchical process) and for the standardization/classification of the criteria values into a common [...]

by Cherechi Ndukwe  , M. Tariq Iqbal  and Jahangir Khan

Received: 16 November 2021;  Published: 17 February 2022;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2201007

SCADA provides real-time system monitoring by constant communication and data exchange between various system devices to achieve data visualization and logging. Presently, in industrial systems, commercial SCADA systems are being used for data monitoring and control. These systems can be expensive, and as such can only be afforded by select industries. Even at these costs, the commercial SCADA systems face some challenges, which include interoperability and scalability issues. Research has shown that these problems [...]

by Kamal A.R. Ismail  , Fatima A.M Lino  , Jorge R. Henriquez  , Mohamed Teggar  , Abdelghani Laouer  , Muslum Arici  , Amani Benhorma  and Daniel Rodríguez

Received: 12 June 2023;  Published: 19 October 2023;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2304031

The building sector is rated as a big consumer of electric energy and emissions, responsible for about 40% of final electric energy consumption. As a result, the Paris Agreement 2015 set a goal for buildings and the construction sector to reach a nearly zero-carbon stage by 2050. This urged most countries to create regulations for the construction sector and invest in energy efficiency programs. The present paper aims to present an updated review of building energy-saving solutions and techniques to contribute to c [...]

by Wilson C. Chin  , Xiaoying Zhuang  and Jamie A. Chin

Received: 07 September 2024;  Published: 06 December 2024;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2404023

Our new approach to MWD mud pulse telemetry offers significant increases over conventional data rates. Using waveguide acoustics, we show that common drilling communications channels support carrier frequencies exceeding several hundred Hertz. Such signals are prone to attenuation over large drill pipe distances. Low power, self-spinning “turbosirens” are designed, providing high torque and rotation rate performance at all flow rates without electric or hydraulic motor drives. The sirens rotate, drawing only on the [...]

by Pluvinage Guy  and Capelle Julien

Received: 03 March 2022;  Published: 01 September 2022;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2203029

Hydrogen is a dangerous gas due to its low ignition energy, wide flammability range, promotion of the embrittlement of steel, and its high coefficient of permeation for polymers. The fracture toughness and failure elongation of pipe steels are strongly impacted by hydrogen embrittlement, whereas yield stress and ultimate strength are moderately impacted. Specific tools are required for the pipe defect assessment used for the transport of hydrogen, which is pure or blended with natural gas. The safety factors associ [...]

by Ernest Ilisca

Received: 18 June 2021;  Published: 29 October 2021;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2104045

Most of the hydrogen storage vessels meant for vehicles to run the electric motor via a fuel cell during transport are designed for drives of only a few tenths of kilometers per day. The present report, however, describes a vessel model that is conceived to hold the hydrogen energy only for short periods during transport, such as a few hours. This would include transport via a light-duty vehicle, a taxi, or a bus, which would load liquid hydrogen at a station every morning for the day. This is a simple model based [...]