Software tools to assist sustainable energy - an overview
My area of research is to investigate energy models and software tools that might assist an airport metropolis to achieve more sustainable energy use. The research project I am part of aims to deliver a DSS, and ideally I can contribute to this system with a tool that I have developed.
I did some background investigation and found 3 existing tools of interest. The first is LEAP, which stands for Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning system. This tool is targeted at the Government level of policy and planning, and allows various policy scenarios to be played out - it is useful for countries and regions, but can also be applied to the city level, so may be of interest in the airport context.
Using its fictional country “Freedonia”, here is an example to describe its use is: Freedonia is expecting population growth of 1.2% per annum over the next 20 years. During this time energy demands will grow by 4% per annum. Freedonia would like to commit to reducing its GHG emissions by 40% over this time. How would a mandated 15% ethanol component of diesel (biofuel), and a 20% minimum of solar PV supply, to be implemented within 10 years, help to achieve this target? LEAP can be setup will the current parameters of Freedonia’s energy supply mix and demand characteristics and then project out based on the hypothetical scenario(s). In this way it can guide policies and target setting.
The second software tool of interest is HOMER. This is an optimisation tool used for designing power systems. An example of its use is say you are planning to build a monitoring station in a remote location where there is no grid connection available. For electricity supply you could install a diesel generator, or a wind turbine with battery storage and diesel generator backup. HOMER lets you optimise the configuration of the system in terms of total battery capacity required, backup generator capacity required, and so on, based on the goals you specify such as lowest cost and minimal wastage of energy. You could run it over various scenarios allowing you to compare them on a cost-benefit basis. You might discover that a pure diesel generator system is cheapest, but that an optimised turbine/battery system is not too much more expensive, but with the added environmental benefits.
The third software tool is RETScreen. This is pitched as a “pre-feasibility” planning tool. It comprises a collection of Excel spreadsheets covering most of the renewable supply scenarios (e.g., solar PV, wind, bio-mass heating, geothermal heating), and also some energy efficiency scenarios (e.g., micro combined heat and power) . Each spreadsheet follows a similar methodology where it allows you to tinker with some parameters and test what the end result would be for a potential project in terms of its effectiveness (e.g., kWh supplied), sustainability (e.g., GHG emissions), and cost (i.e., $$$ !!).
Looking specifically at the solar PV spreadsheet, it is actually very powerful as it contains a complete meteorological database with insolation levels for many locations world-wide. It also has a product database which allows you to select the type of PV system you want, the size of it, the location, and it will tell you how much electricity it will generate per year, and the cost.
The meteorological data comes from NASA. It is an amazing aggregation of data. I have started to consider the possibilities for integrating with this tool, and will post more on this soon.