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greener, The energy independent house

Abstract

The world primary energy consumption is about 400 EJ/year (WEA, 2004). It is

mostly provided by fossil fuels (79%). The renewables provide 14% of the primary

energy, mostly in the form of traditional biomass (9%) and much less by largehydropower stations (2%) and the new renewables only (2%). By 2040, the primary

energy consumption is expected to increase nearly with 50%. The high growth rate

scenario is expected to lead to a doubling of the carbon emissions (ExxonMobile, 2012).Two billion people, a third of the worlds population, have no access to modern

energy services. A key issue to improve the standard of living of the poor is to makeclean energy available to them at prices they can cope with. World population is expected

to rise to 9 billion people to the end of 2040. Global energy demand will be about 30percent higher in 2040 compared to 2010 (Countryman, 2012). To provide sufficient

commercial energy to the people of all continents is an enormous task.

As concerns about rising fossil fuel prices, energy security, and climate changeincrease, renewable energy can play an important role in producing local, clean, and

unlimited energy to supply the nations increasing demand for electricity and heat.

Our main purpose was the recycling of municipal solid waste to obtain pure, cleanand low-cost energy. In this respect, an energy independent home prototype was built,

that is using a hybrid solar system. In this system, the heat is obtained by solar

conversion, and the electricity is produced by the photovoltaic effect.In our work have been constructed, installed and used two parallel green energy

sources. A photovoltaic panel for energy production for the operation of all electrical

items and appliances in a house, respectively, a solar converter for heating and domestic

hot water production were constructed.Both technologies are viable and highly efficient and represent the ideal solution

for locations that do not have connections to the national gas and electricity. Also, such

systems can help consumers by reducing bills for different utilities, respectively, shortdamping time in the case of domestic water systems heating.

The advantages of these systems are numerous: independence from the national

electricity and gas suppliers; immunity against the increasing price of these utilities; the

installation of such systems do not require any authorization; long-term operation at lowmaintenance costs; protect the natural resources; reducing the CO2 emissions; recycling

in exchange of their storage and reduce the energy costs used for recycling.

The prototype of the photovoltaic panel made by us contains 28 solar cellsconnected in series. The panel is connected to a battery and an inverter. The inverter was

used to convert the 12 volt generated by the battery to a voltage of 230V useful to power

any electrical devices or appliances in a home.

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To achieve the solar heater (RADEF) 42 recycled aluminum pop cans were used.

The cans were painted in matte black to absorb the solar radiation. To the converter it is

attached and adjustable thermostat (to set the desired temperature that to operate thepanel), a heat exchanger and water pump for the production of hot water. To determine

the effectiveness of this system the input and the output temperatures were measured of 2

in 2 hours, for 24 hours.The results obtained showed significant increases of the temperature in the case of

each measurement made. The largest temperature increases were registered especially in

the afternoon when the air temperatures reached the maximum rates. The biggestdifference of the registered temperatures was 60 C around of 16:00 a clock (when the

registered input temperature was 22 C, and the output 82 C). The measured water

temperature reached up to 50-60 C, recording an increase of 40 C.

The energy independent home prototype realized in this project want to promotethe idea of approaching similar systems but at a larger scale that can serve for larger areas

(e.g. private enterprises, institutions, holiday homes and surrounding rural areas where

are no access of connection to national networks of electrification and natural gases, etc).

The hybrid solar system proposed by us, satisfy consumer needs through: internalspace heating at the desired temperatures, space lightning and household powering, so

that processes that use various forms of energy to run properly.

Reference

ExxonMobile (2012): The Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040. Annual Report p.1-51

Countryman, K. (2012): The Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040. EHSJournal.

Analysis, News and Notes, No.7.