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For billing purposes, heavy-haul locomotives in Sweden are equipped with on-board energy meters, which can record several parameters, e.g., used energy, regenerated energy, speed and position. Since there is a strong demand for improving energy efficiency in Sweden, data from the energy meters can be used to obtain a better understanding of the detailed energy usage of heavy-haul trains and identify potential for future improvements.

To monitor energy efficiency, the present study, therefore, develops key performance indicators (KPIs), which can be calculated with energy meter data to reflect the energy efficiency of heavy-haul trains in operation. Energy meter data of IORE class locomotives, hauling highly uniform 30-tonne axle load trains with 68 wagons, together with additional data sources, are analysed to identify significant parameters for describing driver influence on energy usage.

Results show that driver behaviour varies significantly and has the single largest influence on energy usage. Furthermore, parametric studies are performed with help of simulation to identify the influence of different operational and rolling stock conditions, e.g., axle loads and number of wagons, on energy usage.

Based on the parametric studies, some operational parameters which have significant impact on energy efficiency are found and then the KPIs are derived. In the end, some possible measures for improving energy performance in heavy-haul operations are given.

There are 29 million homes in the UK, accounting for 14% of the UK's energy consumption. This is given that UK has one of the highest water and energy demands in Europe which needs to be addressed according to the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). Smart homes technology holds a current perception that it is principally used by “tech-savvy” users with larger budgets. However, smart home technology can be used to control water, heat and energy in the entire house. This paper investigates how smart home technology could be effectively utilised to aid the UK government in meeting climate change targets and to mitigate the environmental impact of a home in use towards reducing carbon emissions.

Both primary and secondary data were sought to gain insight into the research problem. An epistemological approach to this research is to use interpretivism to analyse data gathered via a semi-structured survey. Two groups of participants were approached: (1) professionals who are deemed knowledgeable about smart home development and implementation and (2) users of smart home technology. A variety of open-ended questions were formulated, allowing participants to elaborate by exploring issues and providing detailed qualitative responses based on their experience in this area which were interpreted quantitatively for clearer analysis.

With fossil fuel reserves depleting, there is an urgency for renewable, low carbon energy sources to reduce the 5 tonnes annual carbon emissions from a UK household. This requires a multi-faceted and a multimethod approach, relying on the involvement of both the general public and the government in order to be effective. By advancing energy grids to make them more efficient and reliable, concomitant necessitates a drastic change in the way of life and philosophy of homeowners when contemplating a reduction of carbon emissions. If both parties are able to do so, the UK is more likely to reach its 2050 net-zero carbon goal. The presence of a smart meter within the household is equally pivotal. It has a positive effect of reducing the amount of carbon emissions and hence more need to be installed.

Further research is needed using a larger study sample to achieve more accurate and acceptable generalisations about any future course of action. Further investigation on the specifics of smart technology within the UK household is also needed to reduce the energy consumption in order to meet net-zero carbon 2050 targets due to failures of legislation.

For smart homes manufacturers and suppliers, more emphasis should be placed to enhance compatibility and interoperability of appliances and devices using different platform and creating more user's friendly manuals supported by step-by-step visual to support homeowners in the light of the wealth of knowledge base generated over the past few years. For homeowners, more emphasis should be placed on creating online knowledge management platform easily accessible which provide virtual support and technical advice to home owners to deal with any operational and technical issues or IT glitches. Developing technical design online platform for built environment professionals on incorporating smart sensors and environmentally beneficial technology during early design and construction stages towards achieving low to zero carbon homes.

This paper bridges a significant gap in the body of knowledge in term of its scope, theoretical validity and practical applicability, highlighting the impact of using smart home technology on the environment. It provides an insight into how the UK government could utilise smart home technology in order to reduce its carbon emission by identifying the potential link between using smart home technology and environmental sustainability in tackling and mitigating climate change. The findings can be applied to other building types and has the potential to employ aspects of smart home technology in order to manage energy and water usage including but not limited to healthcare, commercial and industrial buildings.

WE have, of course, been fighting a losing battle. By now it appears that all of the three major political parties are in favour of worker participation at board level. Prettywell everybody is convinced that it is bound to come. So let us, too, assume that that is so and take a look at the implications.

This study aims to explore the concept of green building by determining a suitable system for categorising green building features (GBFs) that are considered significant in enhancing the value of a building in a developing economy with particular reference to South Africa. The motivation for categorising the features is based on the perception that the upsurge in adopting green building and sustainability has ushered in a new and formidable set of challenges to practising professionals in terms of recognising the most significant value-adding GBFs.

A quantitative approach was adopted, involving randomly selected construction professionals within the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical analysis tools.

Based on the mean ranking analysis, the top three most important features, amongst others, were kitchen and water-closet (WC) water efficient fittings, megawatt photovoltaic solar plant and water metering for monitoring and leak detection. Additionally, an exploratory factor analysis revealed that the underlying grouped features were “recycled materials and high-performance building energy design”, “water-saving and solar technologies”, “biometric system and acoustical feature”, “sensor control and natural daylight design”, “daylight harnessing feature”, “high-performance hydrologic strategy and noise control feature” and “special utility feature and water efficiency technologies”.

This study was conducted and limited only to the Western Cape Province of South Africa. However, the findings have practical significance to the generality of green building projects and may serve as a useful guide for other developing countries.

This study broadens the viewpoint of construction professionals to recognise and prioritise the most important GBFs in South Africa that increase the value of a building. To create a system for assessing the sustainability of a building, the seven components and the features associated with them may be useful.

Solar energy is on a rising trend internationally and in India. The government target of 100 GW solar capacity by 2022 from the present 12 GW is providing a major push for growth in India. However technological development and market competitiveness are pushing down the prices of solar power. The CEO of Amplus Solar has to deal with these challenges to ensure faster growth. He is analysing various options such as expanding the market to include customers who may not be as credit worthy, expanding to foreign geographies, diversification into providing energy efficiency and other services, and entering other markets such as Renewable Energy Certificates, carbon trading, etc.

The purpose of this paper is to provide high-efficiency and high-power hybrid energy source for an urban electric vehicle. A power management strategy based on fuzzy logic has been introduced for battery-ultracapacitor (UC) energy storage.

The paper describes the design and construction of on-board hybrid source. The proposed energy storage system consists of battery, UCs and two DC/DC interleaved converters interfacing both storages. A fuzzy-logic controller (FLC) for the hybrid energy source is developed and discussed. Control structure has been tested using a non-mobile experimental setup.

The hybrid energy storage ensures high-power ability. Flexibility and robustness offered by the FLC give an easy accessible method to provide a power management algorithm extended with additional input information from road infrastructure or other vehicles. In the presented research, it was examined that using information related to the topography of the road in the control structure helps to improve hybrid storage performance.

The proposed control algorithm is about to be validated also in an experimental car.

Exploratory studies have been provided to investigate the benefits of energy storage hybridization for electric vehicle. Simulation and experimental results confirm that the combination of lithium batteries and UCs improves performance and reliability of the energy source. To reduce power impulses drawn from the battery, power management algorithm takes into consideration information on slope of a terrain.

The time, and indirectly, the fuel required to fly from Turin to Rome “Leonardo da Vinci” International Airport is now about 40% greater flying a McDonnell Douglas DC9 under instrumental flight conditions (IFR) than it was in 1960 flying a DC3 under visual rules (VFR).