Solar Heating, Cooling, and Power Generation Projects—Case Studies

Abstract

Building energy use currently accounts for over 40% of total primary energy consumption in the USA (Cao et al. in Energy Build 128:198–213, 2016 [1]) and EU and accounts for over 33% of total energy consumption in China. When it comes to the energy consumption of the thermal process in building, i.e., space heating, hot-water supply, and cooling, these three kinds of energy consumption account for 34, 24, and 2%, respectively, in residential buildings and account for 33, 12, and 7%, respectively, in commercial buildings (Ürge-Vorsatz et al. in Renew Sustain Energy Rev 41:85–98, 2015 [2]). Large energy consumptions like these can consume vast amounts of fossil fuels and release large masses of carbon emissions and pollution into the environment. As a kind of sustainable and clean energy, solar energy can act as an alternative in the building thermal process, thus reducing fossil fuel consumption globally. In this chapter, five sets of solar systems including space heating, hot-water generation and cooling have been presented as case studies. Among them, four sets of solar thermal space heating systems have been established and equipped with novel PV/T mini-channel solar thermal panels. By applying different auxiliary heating devices, different systems have been designed and connected with different pipelines. The solar-absorption cooling system was designed and installed in Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The system used an absorption chiller with the rated cooling capacity of 8 kW, and a 3 m³ heat storage water storage tank. The chilled water can be delivered either into fan coils or into radiant cooling panels which were installed to satisfy the indoor thermal environment of the test room. All the systems have presented a practical application of solar energy and have provided some cutting-edge design ideas about solar heating and cooling systems, which can lead the design by related practitioners in order to further improve the solar system. The aim of all the solar energy applied systems presented is to contribute toward significant fossil fuel saving and carbon reduction on a global extent.