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Name of Journal: Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

Published by Elsevier

Identification of Strategies And Challenges Of Adopting An Off-

Grid Renewable Energy Source For The Mercantile Sector

Vaibhav Malhotra a *, Jose Fernandez Solis a, Sarel Lavy a, Michael Neuman a,

a Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America

Abstract An increased CO2, a Greenhouse Gas (GhG) emission and its accumulation in the atmosphere is a major climatic concern, and creates an urgent need to control its rate of growth with the goal to reduce or reverse the growth. Reduction is being attempted at macro scales, large GhG producers but relatively small in numbers, at mezzo levels such as mercantile stores which are large in numbers and relatively large consumers in scale and at micro scales such as individual dwelling units which are very large in numbers but relatively small in a GhG producer scale. This research identifies the strategies and challenges of adopting an off-grid renewable energy source for the mercantile sector (retail) sector at the mezzo level. A theoretical model for off -grid

renewable energy source considering a parking lot of a retail outlet will be developed. A proposed physical model, future work, should be able to test the assumptions and hypothesis of the theoretical model presented. A multiplying effect of this reduction will be analyzed on a global scale, as part of future work. The proposed hybrid system uses two or more alternative renewable energy sources that are to each other. In the proposed system, solar energy is integrated with a local bio gas plant, which treats waste to produce electricity. The excess energy can be sold to grid using net metering or dual metering or sold to charge plug-in vehicles to earn revenue. The renewable energy produced reduces the grid load on public utilities, thereby reducing the amount of CO2 emission from the grid providers. In summary, this approach creates a hybrid system that bridges the current grid dependent system and a grid-independent (off grid, or net zero) goal. Keywords: CO2 emissions, Energy Consumption, Mercantile Sector, Net metering, Renewable energy, Sustainable Development

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .001 2. Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 002 3. Strategies for Emission Reduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 002

3.1. The Forces behind the problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 002 3.2. Energy Currency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .003 3.3. Grid Parity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 003

4. Renewable Energy Sources 4.1. Biogas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 004 4.2. Wind. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 005 4.3. Solar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 006 4.4. Geothermal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 007

5. Parking Lot Lighting 5.1. Lumainaire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .008

5.2. New Trends and Innovation in Parking Lot Lighting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .008

6. Smart Grid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 009

7. Rolling Energy Storage Units (RESU) . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .010 8. The Proposed System

8.1. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 010 8.2. Theoretical Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .012

9. Financial Support Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .018 10. Conclusion and Further Research. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .019

______

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 979 422 2507

E-mail address: [email protected] (Vaibhav Malhotra).

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1. Introduction

Governments and scientists have recently agreed that

there is an urgent need to control atmospheric CO2 emissions (Fernandez Solis, 2007a). The article by

Pacala & Socolow (2004) on “Stabilization Wedges:

Solving the Climate Problem for Next 50 years with

current technologies” (discussed later in this paper)

suggests some of the current options that can be

scaled up in the reduction for CO2 emissions. One of

the 15 such options is achieved through more energy

efficient buildings that can cut carbon by one fourth

of the current level by 2054 (Pacala & Socolow,

2004).

Projections of energy consumptions as per Annual

Energy Outlook, by Energy Information

Administration (EIA, 2009a), for the year 2009

suggests that energy consumption in commercial

sector in United States of America is growing at a

high rate and will surpass residential energy

consumption by 2030 (EIA, 2009a). Refer to Figure 1

& 2.

Figure 1: Energy Consumption Projections for

Residential, Commercial, Industrial and

Transportation Sectors from 2006 to 2030 (EIA,

2009a)

As has been projected in Figure 1, the rate of energy

consumption in commercial sector is increasing. On analyzing the percentage contribution of energy

consumption to the total energy consumption by all

sectors in 2006 and 2030 (Refer to Figure 2), it has

been observed that the energy consumption

contribution by Commercial sector will increase from

18% in 2006 to 21% in 2030, Residential and

Transportation will remain the same whereas

Industrial energy consumption contribution will drop

from 33% in 2006 to 30% in 2030. Therefore, more

focus needs to be given in controlling energy

consumption of Commercial, Residential and

Transportation.

Initiatives by various organizations in promoting sustainable construction in retail have started

growing. John Lewis partnership, one of the leading

retail giants in the United Kingdom has targeted to

reduce CO2 emissions as a percentage of the sales by

10% by 2010 (against 2001/02 baseline) and to

improve energy efficiency by 5% by 2008 and 10%

by 2013 (against a 2003/04 baseline) (Hamson,

2007). To reach such levels of sustainability (and

energy efficiency) we need to identify and analyze

various opportunities involved in delivering

sustainability in the mercantile sector. These opportunities are at different scales. Large power

plants are at macro scale but relatively few in

numbers; regional malls and retail centers are at the

meso scale and relatively large numbers; dwelling

units are at a relatively small scale and relatively

large numbers; dwelling units are at a relatively small

scale but very large numbers, Refer to Figure 3. We

argue that work to reduce energy consumption and

emissions generation needs to be done at all scales.

The atmosphere’s concentration of carbon dioxide

(CO2) has increased by more than 30% over last 250

years, largely due to human activity, whereas, two-thirds of that rise has occurred in the past 50 years

(Keeling & Whorf, 2000). An increased CO2, a

greenhouse gas (GhG), emission and accumulation in

the atmosphere is a major climatic concern, and

creates an urgent need to control its rate of growth

with the goal to reduce or reverse the growth.

Figure 3: Scales of Number in a Time Line

(Fernandez-Solis, 2007b)

This study proposes a hybrid system using alternative

renewable energy, integrated with a local bio gas

plant, which treats waste to produce electricity. The

proposed hybrid system uses alternative renewable

2006 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030

Residential 20.77 21.88 21.87 22.67 23.31 24.05

Commercial 17.79 19.01 20.10 21.46 22.49 23.59

Industrial 4/ 32.81 31.10 32.24 32.09 32.93 33.87

Transportation 28.65 27.86 28.66 29.22 30.32 32.05

0.00

5.00

10.00

15.00

20.00

25.00

30.00

35.00

40.00

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A new P aradigm: Numbers and T ime / un nuevo paradigma: números y tiempo

Very Large Numbers

Long Tern Horizon

Billions

Millions

Thousands

CenturiesDecadesYears

Fig. B Scales of number in a time line (Fernandez-Solis 2007)

Aggregation (+)

Multiplication (x)

Exponential

(log xn)

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energy source, integrated with a local bio gas plant,

which treats waste to produce electricity. The excess

energy can be sold to grid using net metering or dual

metering or sold to charge plug-in vehicles to earn revenue. The renewable energy produced reduces the

grid load on public utilities, thereby reducing the

amount of CO2 emission from the grid providers. The

aim is to produce at the meso scale, commercial

facilities that require on-site parking lot illumination,

a hybrid system that bridges the current grid

dependent design and the grid independent (off-grid

or net zero) sustainable design target.

2. Definition

Off-Grid: The traditional model of electric power

generation and delivery is based on the construction

of large, centrally located power plants. "Central," in

this case, ideally means that the power plants are

located on hubs surrounded by major electrical load

centers. Off-Grid in this paper refers to making

energy generation independent of traditional power

plants.

Commercial Buildings: EIA categorizes commercial

buildings into education, food sales, food service, health care, lodging, mercantile (retail other than mall

and enclosed and strip malls), office, public

assembly, public order and safety, religious worship,

service, warehouse and storage, other and vacant

(EIA, 2003a).

Retail and Service Buildings: Retail and service

buildings include all buildings including Service

buildings, Strip malls and Retail other than malls

such as department stores, automobile showrooms,

drugstores, building material supply stores, and wholesale shopping clubs.

Mercantile Buildings: Mercantile buildings are those

used for the sale and display of goods other than food

(buildings used for the sales of food are classified as

food sales). This category includes enclosed malls

and strip shopping centers (EIA, 2003b).

3. Strategies for Emission Reduction

The article by Pacala & Socolow (2004) on

“Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem

for Next 50 years with current technologies” suggests

stabilization and control of atmospheric CO2

emissions in the first half of this century by scaling

up current options available. The focus is on a goal of

achieving stabilization of 500 parts per million (ppm)

concentration of CO2 (current concentration is

~375ppm) which requires emissions be held at

present level of 7 billion tons of carbon per year (7GtC/year) for next 50 years (which is expected to

rise to 14 GtC/year in 2054 at the current rate).

Pacala and Socolow have suggested various options

that could be scaled up to produce at least one wedge

(i.e. 1 GtC/year). The options include Energy

Efficiency & Conservation, Decarburization of

Electricity & Fuels and Natural Sinks. Furthermore,

Pacala and Socolow (2004) assert that more energy

efficient buildings could reduce emissions from

buildings by one-fourth by 2054. About half of

potential savings are in the buildings in developing countries.

3.1 The Forces Behind the Problem

The projected growth in resource consumption and

emissions generation in response to global population

growth (on the short term horizon) and especially

improving standards of living (on the long term

horizon), point towards unsustainable future within

the next 75 years (Fernandez-Solis, 2007b). In 1992

the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal

Society of London issued a statement (Speth 2005).

“If population growth continues at currently predicted levels, much of the world will experience

irreversible environmental degradation and

continued poverty”. People overpopulation is defined

as environmental worsening as there are too many

people placing a demand on resources to meet basic

needs. Over consumption occurs when a population

consumes too large a share of resources. (Fernández-

Solís, 2008). The link between exploitation of

resources, wealth and population is the subject of

numerous studies. Ludwig et al (1993) observe that

the history of resource exploitation is remarkably consistent: ‘Resources are inevitably overexploited’,

often to the point of collapse or extinction

(Fernández-Solís, 2007a). Fernández-Solís (2008)

suggested a framework of assumptions and facts

shared between the artificial and natural worlds. The

framework suggests that we had been assuming an

unlimited supply of natural resources (for e.g. fossil

fuels), whereas limited flow of capital from artificial

world, Refer to Figure 4.

4



Figure 4: Need for a Common Currency

(Fernández-Solís , 2008b)

3.2 Energy Currency

Turnbull, (1983) argues that the energy currency is a concept used towards the creation of an energy

economy. Energy as a currency in an energy

economy works like local exchange trading systems

that are local, non-profit exchange networks in which

goods and services can be traded without the need for

printed currency. Renewable energy as a currency in

an economy that has both renewable and non

renewable energy achieves the goal of establishing an

accounting system where trade-offs can take place

(Appropedia, 2008) without the intermediary of

money. The production of electrical energy has now

become a basic activity for all modern communities. Modern technology, using renewable energy sources,

has made the financial cost of production relatively

constant throughout the world.

The technology of power production from renewable

energy sources has diseconomies of scale and so

favors small discrete autonomous communities. For

this reason, the unit of electrical power, the kilowatt-

hour (kWh) has much appeal as a universal unit of

value for an autonomous community banking and

monetary system. Turnbull (1983) argues that the owners of the power generator would create a

voucher or contract note to supply a specified number

of kWh at a specified time in the future. The notes

with a specified maturity date would represent the

"primary" currency. Such currency notes would

mainly be held by investors, investment banks, and

banks. According to Turnbull (1983) the renewable

energy currency would be far more democratic than

gold dollars, as sun, wind, and/or wave energy is

available to all communities in the world, whereas

gold is not. It is also very democratic within communities since each individual could own his

own renewable electrical energy source to supply his

own needs and/or to supply to others (Turnbull,

1983). The object of this energy currency approach is

to incentivize those at the meso and micro levels to

become producers of energy (hybrid or non-grid, self

sufficient, non-zero). In order to understand an

energy economy we first need to relate the cost of

producing the gadget that produces energy from

different sources.

3.3 Grid Parity

Grid parity means that the cost of producing solar

energy would be comparable to obtaining electricity

from fossil fuels (FT, 2008). It is being achieved first

in areas with abundant sun and high costs for

electricity such as in California. (BP Solar, 2008).

General Electric predicts grid parity without

subsidies in sunny parts of the United States by

around 2015. Other companies predict an earlier date. (Reuters, 2007). Tom Werner, chief executive of

SunPower Corp, the largest North American solar

company by sales, sees such "grid parity" for solar

power in the United States and elsewhere happening

in about five years, or possibly as soon as 2010.

(Reuters, 2008). Refer to Figure 5.

Figure 5: Path to Grid Parity (BP Solar, 2008)

4. Renewable Energy Sources

As per Energy Information administration, renewable

energy sources can be replenished in a short period of

time. The five renewable sources used most often are

(Refer to Figure 6) Biomass, Wind Energy, Solar

Energy, Geothermal Energy and Hydroelectric

Figure 6: The Role of Renewable Energy

Consumption in the Nation’s (United States of

America) Energy Supply, 2007 (Energy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California

http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/renewable/biomass.html

http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/renewable/wind.html

http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/renewable/solar.html

http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/renewable/geothermal.html

5



Information Administration, Office of Coal,

Nuclear, Electric and Alternate Fuels) (EIA,

2008a )

Figure 7: Renewable Energy Consumption by

Energy Use Sector, 2003-2007 (EIA, 2007)

Figure 7 suggests that the consumption of renewable

energy in commercial sector has been near to

constant, whereas there has been growth in the

consumption of renewable energy sources in

residential sector. This suggests a need for more

efficient systems for commercial sector and a need

for awareness of the benefits of renewable energy in

the commercial sector.

This study will analyze various alternative renewable energy sources (as identified by Energy Information

Administration) and will propose the best suited

renewable energy source for the mercantile sector.

The renewable energy sources identified and

analyzed in this study include:

Biomass

Wind Energy

Solar Energy

Geothermal Energy

Further details of each of the four energy sources discussed below.

4.1 Biomass

Biogas is a clean environment friendly fuel that

contains about 55–65% methane (CH4), 30–45%

carbon dioxide (CO2), traces of hydrogen sulfide

(H2S) and fractions of water vapors. Biogas is

produced by anaerobic digestion of biological wastes

such as cattle dung, vegetable wastes, sheep and

poultry droppings, municipal solid waste, industrial

waste water, land fill, etc. It is an environment friendly, clean, cheap and versatile fuel (Kapdi,

Vijay, Rajesh, & Prasad, 2005).

Type of Biogas Plants: Two types of biogas plants

are currently found, plants operated at mesophilic

conditions (35–37 °C) and thermophilic biogas

reactors run at more elevated temperatures (55–60 °C). Mesophilic biogas reactors are typically of

smaller scale and run on silage of so-called “energy-

crops”, while thermophilic biogas reactors tend to be

larger and are favored for the processing of municipal

waste, i.e. a complex mixture of liquid manure,

industrial food processing waste, waste from

slaughter houses, oil and grease from kitchens and

canteens, organic households waste, as well as

leftovers and food stuffs no longer suited for human

consumption. (Weiss, Jerome, Freitag, & Mayer,

2008).

Thermophilic Biogas Plant Developed by Bhabha

Atomic Research Center: Biogas Plant at Trombay

(Maharashtra, India) produces biogas from kitchen

waste by using thermophilic microorganisms that

flourish in extreme environment. The biogas plant

has following components, Please Refer to Figure 9

(Kale & Mehetre, 2002):

Figure 9: BARC Biogas Plant Model (Kale, 2002)

The waste generated in kitchen in the form of

vegetable refuge, stale cooked and uncooked food,

extracted tea powder, waste milk and milk products

can all be processed in this plant. Based on the

understanding of thermophilic microorganisms in

particular and microbial processes in general, there

are two important modifications made in the

conventional design of the biogas plant in BARC (Kale & Mehetre, 2002):

A Bio Gas Plant would serve many purposes such as

(BARC, 2002):-

Environment friendly disposal of waste

Generation of fairly good amount of fuel

gas, which will definitely support the energy

resources.

Residential, 0.556

Commercial, 0.119

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2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

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Generation of high quality manure, which

would be weed less and an excellent soil

conditioner. This is very important for

replenishing fast decreasing resources of productive soils.

Biogas is a colorless, odorless and

inflammable gas. The gas generated in this

plant can also be used as a source of natural

gas. The composition of biogas is Methane

(CH4): 70-75%, Carbon Dioxide (CO2): 10-

15% and Water vapors: 5-10%

Biogas Production Incentive Act of 2009: A

bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced

legislation on 22 January 2009, to promote the development of biogas. Under the Biogas Production

Incentive Act of 2009, producers would receive a tax

credit of $4.27 for every million British thermal units

of produced biogas. (Voegele, 2009).

The AgSTAR Program: The AgSTAR Program is a

voluntary that encourages the use of methane

recovery (biogas) technologies at the confined animal

feeding operations that manage manure as liquids or

slurries. (USEPA, 2009).

4.2 Wind Energy

Wind energy systems have been under development

since the early 1980’s and offer clean energy and

renewable energy, compared to fossil fuel fired

systems (Miles, 2006). There are two types of wind

machines (turbines) used today based on the direction

of the rotating shaft (axis): horizontal–axis wind

machines and vertical-axis wind machines. The size

of wind machines varies widely. Small turbines used

to power a single home or business may have a

capacity of less than 100 kilowatts (EIA:USDOE, 2008).

Recently, there have also been innovations in the

design of small turbines that can facilitate their

deployment in urban environments. The issues

involved with using these systems in urban

environments involve noise, aesthetics, integration

into architectural systems, and efficient use of the

available wind resource. Wind profiles in urban areas

tend to be more turbulent and not along a single axis.

There are several problems with conventional

systems including noise, danger to birds and they do not efficiently convert wind energy that is not parallel

to the axis or is turbulent. These systems are also not

good at catching the accelerated wind flowing over

the building. Below are some recent innovative Wind

turbines by various producers (Miles, 2006).

AeroVironment Wind Energy System:

Aerovironment, the California engineering firm

behind the deceased EV1 car, has integrated small

wind power into buildings. The forthcoming

AVX400 (by Aerovironment) is a small turbine that

capitalizes on an urban airflow advantage: the fast-moving current that comes over the parapet of most

city buildings. Engineers claim a 40% increase in

efficiency as a result. The optional canopy (pictured

above) serves as a visual accent and as a potential

protective guard for wildlife, although the company

does not see a risk for birds or bats. Environmental

Building News (EBN) calculates that the cost is a

modest $5-$7 per watt of installed capacity, which,

they point out, is roughly comparable to photovoltaic

systems, and cheaper than building-integrated PVs.

(Gordon, 2006).

Aerotechture Wind Energy System: These Wind turbines designed for urban settings were invented

by University of Illinois industrial design professor,

Bill Becker,. Aeroturbines are a new development in

Figure 10: Aerovironment Wind Turbines on

Roof Tops (RenewableEnergyAcess, 2007)

Figure 11: Aerotecture Wind Turbines on roof

tops and there integration with Solar Panels

(Aerotecture.com, 2008)

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wind turbine technology and can be installed on

existing rooftops or built into the architecture of new

buildings to provide clean renewable electricity at its

site of consumption. This wind turbine can be used in both horizontal and vertical orientations. Figure 11

shows the system mounted horizontally on a

building. (Aerotecture.com, 2008).

Wind Amplified Rotor Platforms (WARPTM): The

Wind Amplified Rotor Platform (WARPTM) system

configuration consists of stacked aerodynamic

modules about a core lattice tower that draws heavily

on the latest technology developments of today's

conventional large diameter, high-efficiency

horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT), but without their inherent risks and drawbacks. Multiple peer

reviews by numerous organizations including the

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics

Engineers) have corroborated the veracity of this

approach to wind power (WARP:ENECO, 2008).

4.3 Solar Energy

In the 1830s, the British astronomer John Herschel

used a solar thermal collector box (a device that

absorbs sunlight to collect heat) to cook food during

an expedition to Africa. Today, people use the sun's

energy for lots of things (EIA, 2007).

Photovoltaic cells convert sunlight directly into

electricity and are made of semiconductors such as

crystalline silicon or various thin-film materials

(USDOE, 2007).

PV modules generate direct current (DC), the kind of

electricity produced by batteries. A device known as

an inverter converts DC to AC current. Inverters (Refer to Figure 13) vary in size and in the quality of

electricity they supply (SESCI, 1997).

Sizing a PV system: To determine the amount of

energy to be consumed, the power consumption

(watt) of each device using electricity needs to be

multiplied by the number of hours a day the device

will be used. For example, a 17-watt fluorescent

light lit for 18 hours a day uses 306 watt-hours (or

0.306 kilowatt-hours) of electricity. The PV system

should supply at least as many kilowatt-hours (under

a variety of lighting conditions) as the total electric needs. (SESCI, 1997)

Third generation photovoltaic: solar cells for 2020

and beyond

Most solar cells presently in the market are based on

silicon wafers, the so-called ‘first generation’

technology. A 1997 study of costs of manufacturing

in greatly increased 500 MW/y production volumes

suggests material costs in such volumes would

account for over 70% of total manufacturing costs.

To progress further, conversion efficiency needs to be increased substantially. The Carnot limit on the

conversion of sunlight to electricity is 95% as

opposed to the theoretical upper limit of 33% for a

standard solar cell. Research is in progress on the

prospective third generation cells like, tandem cells,

multi electron hole pairs, hot carrier cells, multiband

cells and thermo photovoltaic and thermo photonic

devices (Green, 2002).

Energy Payback period for Photovoltaic

Technologies Energy Payback Time (EPBT) is the length of

deployment required for a photovoltaic system to

generate an amount of energy equal to the total

energy that went into its production. Roof-mounted

photovoltaic systems have impressively low energy

payback times, as documented by recent (year 2004)

engineering studies. The value of EPBT is dependent

on three factors (USDOE, 2006b):

Fig 12: WARP Tower & Module (WARP:ENECO, 2008)

Figure 13: A Solar Array (SESCI, 1997)

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(i) The conversion efficiency of the photovoltaic

system;

(ii) The amount of illumination (insulation) that the

system receives (iii) The manufacturing technology that was used to

make the photovoltaic (solar) cells.

Recent research has established battery-free, grid-tied

EPBT system values for several (year 2004-early

2005) photovoltaic module technologies (refer Table

1). It is seen that, even for the most energy intensive

of these four common photovoltaic technologies, the

energy required for producing the system does not

exceed 10% of the total energy generated by the

system during its anticipated operational lifetime. (USDOE, 2006b)

Table 1. System Energy Payback Times for

Several Different Photovoltaic Module

Technologies (USDOE, 2006b)

Cell Technology

Energy

Payback

Time

(EPBT)

(years)

Energy Used to

Produce System

Compared to

Total Generated

Energy (%)

Single-crystal silicon

2.7 10.0

Non-ribbon

multicrystalline

silicon

2.2 8.1

Ribbon

multicrystalline

silicon

1.7 6.3

Cadmium telluride 1.0 3.7

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. purchased solar power from

three solar power providers, BP Solar, SunEdison

LLC, and PowerLight, a subsidiary of SunPower

Corporation, for 22 Wal-Mart stores. The total solar

power production from the stores is estimated at 20

million kWh (kilowatt-hours) per year, possibly becoming one of the top-10 solar power initiatives in

the U.S. when fully implemented. Wal-Mart will use

the power generated by the solar panels onsite at each

store and will also keep the Renewable Energy

Credits (RECs) (Broehl, 2005).

4.4 Geothermal Power

Geothermal energy is heat from within the earth, that

uses the steam and hot water produced inside the

earth to heat buildings or generate electricity.

Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source because the water is replenished by rainfall and the

heat is continuously produced inside the earth.

Geothermal energy is generated in the earth's core,

about 4,000 miles below the surface. Temperatures

hotter than the sun's surface are continuously

produced inside the earth by the slow decay of radioactive particles, a process that happens in all

rocks (USDOE:EIA, 2008).

Converting the Earth’s Heat to Electricity

Most power plants - whether fueled by coal, gas,

nuclear power, or geothermal energy - have one

feature in common: they convert heat to electricity.

Geothermal power plants use many of the same

components used in traditional power-generating

stations, including turbines, generators, heat

exchangers, and other standard power generating equipment. (USDOE, 1998). Mile-or-more-deep

wells can be drilled into underground reservoirs to

tap steam and very hot water that drive turbines that

drive electricity generators. (USDOE, 2008d):

The cost of time delays is significant, sometimes

adding $10 to $20 or more per MWh or more to the

cost of power. The time delays typically occur in the

first two stages of development where the risks are

higher and the cost of capital is greater than the last

two stages

Geothermal electricity production is capital intensive; over 75 percent of the generation costs are fixed costs

related to capital investment. Technological advances

Development Cost: To get the plant sited, constructed, and put online—are significantly higher

than those of fossil-fueled power plants. Development

costs of a geothermal facility, in contrast, represent

two thirds or more of total costs. The development

costs for a typical 20 MW power plant are shown in

Table 2. These costs are rules of thumb. Actual costs

can vary based on factors such as time delays,

geology, environmental restrictions, project size, and

transmission access.

Table 2. Typical Geothermal Power Plant

Development Costs (USDOE, 2008c)

Development Stage Cost

($/kW)

Exploration and resource assessment $ 400

Well field drilling and development $ 1,000

Power plant, surface facilities, and

transmission $ 2,000

Other development costs (fees, working

capital, and contingency) $ 600

Total development cost $ 4,000

9



are needed to reduce costs from marginal geothermal

resources and thus to stimulate geothermal energy

development. Significant reduction in power costs

would be achieved by reducing well drilling costs, stimulating well flow rates, reducing power plant

capital costs, increasing power plant efficiency and

utilization, and developing more effective exploration

techniques for locating and assessing high-quality

resources (Bloomster & Knutsen, 2005). The

following are the benefits and limitations of

geothermal generation (IPTV, 2001):

Benefits: However geothermal is used, there are

many benefits. Geothermal produces no emissions.

The resource is naturally renewable. Using this resource can help reduce the demand for fossil fuels –

the only outside energy source you would need for

heating/cooling air is for energy to run the heat

pumps

Limitations: The biggest limitations of using

geothermal to generate electricity is related to

geography and geology – there are relatively few

places on earth that have magma close enough to the

earth’s crust to create the conditions necessary for

generating electricity in an economical way. These

locations are in regions where there are young volcanoes, crustal shifts, and recent mountain

building

5. Parking Lot Lighting

The primary purpose of adequate lighting in parking

structures and parking lots is to permit the safe

movement of vehicles and pedestrians. The lighting

design must consider the illumination necessary to

achieve these objectives balanced against the need to control costs (capital, operational and maintenance

costs (ULI, 2000). The Illuminating Engineering

Society of North America (IESNA or IES) publishes

luminance guidelines for a variety of building types

and activities. The guidelines are generally

considered the industry standard. IES document RP-

20-98 Lighting for Parking Facilities, specifies the

design guidelines for lighting surface parking lots and

parking structures. The lighting system design should

also consider luminaire design, glare, color rendition

of light source, maintenance and economics.

5.1 Luminaire

Luminaries are generally classified as cutoff or non-

cutoff fixture types. A cutoff luminary is defined by

the IES as a fixture that controls emitted light to less

than 2 percent above horizontal and less than 10

percent above an 80-degree angle from a vertical line

through the light source. On the roof level of the

parking structures and in surface parking lots, cutoff

luminaries are recommended to minimize light trespass and to hide the light source from the view of

adjacent properties (ULI, 2000).

5.2 New trends and innovation in Parking lot

lighting

Ami Argand, a Swiss chemist is credited with first

developing the principal of using an oil lamp with a

hollow circular wick surrounded by a glass chimney

in 1783 (Refer to Figure 13). In 1879 Thomas

Edison and Joseph Wilson Swan patented the carbon-

thread incandescent lamp (Bellis, 2009)

Figure 15: Ami Argand Lamp (Left) and Edison’s

Incandascent Lamp (Right) (MatthewBoulton,

2008) (SmithsonianInstitution, 2008)

European leaders, green pundits and the widely

reported light bulb provisions of the U.S. Energy

Independence and Security Act of 2007 all urgently push the abandonment of incandescent bulbs. The

plan appears to be to convince everyone to switch to

compact fluorescent lights (CFL), a technology that

was introduced in the 1930s and perfected when rock

was young and computers used vacuum tubes (Bellis,

2009).

The Semiconductor light emitting diodes (LEDs) are

finally on the verge of having the capability to

radically alter the entire lighting landscape with

staggering improvements in both lighting efficiency and efficacy (Mill, 2008). LEDs are small light

Figure 14: Cut-off Luminaire (Left), Non

Cutoff Luminaire (Right)

10



sources that become illuminated by the movement of

electrons through a semiconductor material.

(EnergyStar, 2008)

About 12 billion electric lights on the planet use

Edison bulbs; a third are in the U.S. So, lighting up

the world consumes about 2 trillion kilowatt-hours

annually, or one-eighth of all electric power. This

takes a lot of fuel: the equivalent of nearly a billion

tons of coal annually. In the U.S., half of that is in

fact coal. Or, in oil-equivalent terms, U.S. lighting

uses the equivalent of 50% of the energy used by all

cars on American roads (Mill, 2008).

The U.S. Department of Energy and its partners are working to expand market introduction of LED (light

emitting diode) parking lot lighting. Under the

Commercial Building Energy Alliances (CBEAs), a

new working group is focused on making reliable,

energy efficient, and competitively priced outdoor

LED luminaries more widely available in the

marketplace. In April 2008, a working group formed

to accelerate the market availability of parking lot

lighting using LED luminaries. Initiated by the

Retailer Energy Alliance, this working group has

begun a collaborative project to (USDOE, 2008e):

The following table compares LED parking lot

lighting technology to metal halide (standard parking

lot lighting) (USDOE, 2008e):

Table 3: Comparison of Metal Halide and LED

Lights (USDOE, 2008e)

Product

Feature Metal Halide LED

Color

Quality

and

Stability

Good white initial

color but with

unpredictable

color shift over

time

Good white initial

color and modest

color shift over

time

Life

Limited life

(approx 12,000

hours)

Expected long life

(50,000+ hours)

but actual end of

life performance

not completely

understood

Mainten

ance

Potentially high maintenance cost

due to short life

and labor needs

for lamp

replacement

Very low maintenance

expected due to

long life and

durability

Environ

mental

(Mercur

y)

Contains mercury,

creating disposal

issues

Contains NO

mercury

Light

Pollutio

n

Can be shaded for

improved light

pollution

capability

Easy to reduce light pollution

effects due to

inherent

directionality of

source

Cost/Pa

yback Stable

Potentially long

payback due to

high initial cost,

but maintenance

savings are

substantial; costs

are rapidly decreasing

Energy Star has qualified that LED lighting uses at

least 75 percent less energy than incandescent

lighting, is at least as efficient as fluorescent lighting

and provides a clear and consistent shade of white

light throughout the lifetime of the fixture.

Table 4: Annual Operating Cost Comparison for

Recessed Down Lighting (Energy Star, 2008)

Light Source Lifetime

(hours)

Annual

Operating

cost

Incandescent bulb 1000 $8.87

Compact fluorescent

light bulb (CFL) 10,000 $2.37

Energy Star qualified

LED lighting

25,000 or

35,000 $1.95

6. Smart Grid

United States of America is increasingly held back by

an outdated power delivery infrastructure. Designed

in the 1960s or earlier, much of this critical national

asset is well beyond its design life. The financial

consequences of interruptions are growing into an

enormous threat. Consider some of the economic consequences of power losses (USDOE, 2008a):

• Power interruptions and disturbances cost the U.S.

electricity consumer at least $79 billion per year

• When the Chicago Board of Trade lost power for

an hour during the summer of 2000, trades worth

$20 trillion could not be executed

11



One of the concept that has been getting a lot of

attention lately – and one intricately entwined with

the renewable market – is that of the Smart Grid. The

electrical grid today is largely dumb. To ‘educate’ the grid requires an intelligent networking infrastructure

– perhaps the most sophisticated and intricate

network of our time. The US energy grid is the

source of one-third of America’s atmospheric CO2.

The economic stimulus package President Obama

signed into law in 2009 includes $11 billion to build

a bigger and more efficient electricity grid, with

"smart" meters that help consumers track and manage

their energy use (Burnham, 2009). The following are

some components of the smart grid (Miller, 2009):

Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI): AMI

systems capture data, typically at the meter, to

provide information to utilities and

transparency to consumers.

Demand response (DR): To date, consumers

have used energy whenever they want to, and

utilities have built the power plants and delivery

infrastructure to support it, no matter what the

cost or environmental impacts. If some

electricity-consuming devices can be deferred

to nonpeak time, everyone wins.

Critical peak pricing (CPP): It allows

customers to decide whether to pay more or not

on the specific critical days, rather than paying

an average cost. It helps balance cost and risk

between the consumer and the utility, as well as

providing a further incentive for consumers to

reduce energy consumption

Time-of-Use Pricing (TOU): TOU is similar to

CPP, except extrapolated across every hour for

every day.

7. Rolling Energy Storage Units (RESU)

Rolling energy storage Units as has been described

by Thomas Friedman in his book ‘Hot, Flat, and

Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and

How It Can Renew America are plug-in hybrid cars

that could store and sell energy back to the grid when

necessary. He goes on to say that cars will not be

called ‘cars’ in future, they would be called “Rolling

Energy Storage Units”.

The recent stimulus bill passed by President Barack

Obama is a major boost to plug-in vehicles. The

$787-billion stimulus bill (HR 1, the American

Recovery and Reinvestment Act) provides funds for a

large range of transportation-related projects. It also

made significant changes in the current plug-in

vehicle tax credit program, including increasing the

limit from a program total of 250,000 vehicles to a

maximum of 200,000 plug-ins per manufacturer. The

legislation that President Obama signed on February 17th invests more than $5 billion in plug-in vehicles

and will increase the numbers and kinds of plug-in

electric vehicles on the road. Eight major auto

companies have announced (with delivery dates) the

manufacture of highway-capable all-electric or plug-

in hybrid vehicles. Therefore, the historic bill, which

has a tax credit of up to $7,500 per vehicle, has the

potential to stimulate the sale of more than one-and-

a-half million plug-in vehicles. The President has

called for one million plug-ins by 2015 (Friedman,

2008).

8. The Proposed System

8.1 Introduction

Resource consumption and the delivery of energy

have come a long way through various developments.

Before the Industrial revolution, resources were

assumed to be unlimited and were directly used to

convert them to energy for household usage. Post-

industrial revolution saw the increase in the

consumption of natural resources and changed the

pattern of human development. More centralized options were created for the delivery of the energy to

the industries and human habitat. The system of

energy delivery moved from an independent system

to the grid system. The consumption of natural

resources increased as the industries increased and so

the living standards improved which created a

multiplying effect on the consumption of natural

resources. And it was not until 1970s that the affects

of this development on environment were realized by

many.

In the minds of many, 1970 marked the birth of the

modern environmental movement, symbolized by the

first observance of "Earth Day" in April of that year.

As the second green generation begins, it seems wise

to measure the environmental changes since 1970

(Jesse, Victor & Vernick., 1995). As explained

above, the growth of energy consumption and

delivery has seen three kinds of patterns, Refer to

Figure 18:

Yesteryears: Independent

Today: Grid

Tomorrow: Hybrid

Near Future: Net Zero (off the grid,

independent again)

Now, as we realize that natural resources are not

unlimited and if compared to the present rate of

consumption, there is a need for a system to be

12



developed which supports this fact and also supports

a more sustainable environment and produces least

hazards to the environment. There is a need to

develop a hybrid system, which supports the benefits of both independent and grid. Independent, at a small

scale but with larger numbers makes the system more

sustainable and localized, whereas, Grid at large scale

and small numbers creates economies of scale, Refer

to Figure 20.

Figure 20: From Independent to Grid to Hybrid

During peak seasons of energy requirement, this

stored hydrogen was converted into energy using

Fuel cells. In this system hydrogen was used as a

storage of energy. But, the problem faced by this system was that the amount of energy consumed by

Fuel cell and electrolyzer was more than that

produced by this system. The storage of energy was

required for seasons when solar energy is less (for

example, during winter season), Refer to Figure 21 &

22. Therefore this system was discarded, but this

system has been included as an analysis.

Figure 21: Comparison of AC Energy

Requirement and Production for a 6 kW solar

module in Houston (NREL, 2008)

Figure 22: Off Grid Renewable Energy

Production System using Hydrogen Storage

The next system that was studied integrated solar energy and biogas energy. The Biogas plant used

organic waste coming out of retail center to produce

energy. This has been integrated with solar energy to

reduce the overall cost of solar energy and bring

down the payback period of the system. Also, a new

dimension has been added to this system and that is

transportation. The excess energy produced by this

system could be sold to plug-in electrical vehicles.

The electric vehicles will act as Rolling Energy

Storage Unit and the owners of these units will be

able to buy and sell energy to & from the retail center. As we know, the goal of present

administration of president Obama is to bring in 1

million plug-in vehicles on road by 2015 (CNN,

2009), which is a step forward to make all vehicles

fossil fuel free. Therefore this system uses two

energy storage systems, grid and plug-in vehicles. As

has been used in our earlier system, energy will be

sold to grid during Day time and will be bought back

from Grid during night time, which makes grid as a

Storage of Energy produced by this system

Figure 23: Proposed Off-Grid Renewable Energy

Production System

Energy Produce

d

Energy Consume

d

0

200

400

600

800

1000

Jan

Feb

Mar

Ap

r

May

Jun

Jul

Au

g

Sep

Oct

No

v

Dec

AC

En

ergy

(kW

h)

13



As has been realized earlier in this study, the rate of

increase in energy consumption has been highest in

the commercial sector. Realizing the impacts by

mercantile sector on energy consumption, it is proposed to develop a prototype hybrid model

(explained above) for a retail parking lot to observe

the affects and identify strategies and challenges of

adopting an off-grid renewable energy source for the

mercantile sector, refer to Figure 23.

Figure 24: Proposed System Integration with the

Grid

This study proposes a system which produces a part

of its energy demand out of its own resources, refer

to Figure 24. The renewable energy produced will

reduce the load on public utilities, thereby reducing

the amount of carbon emissions too. The proposed

hybrid system that produces renewable energy treats

the waste, additionally earning revenue by net

metering or selling the excess energy to plug-in

vehicles. This system when combined with bio gas plant, where the waste produced in the retail outlet

could be processed to generate electricity. The

system will absorb alternative renewable energy

during the day and sell the excess energy to grid,

whereas, during night, the retail center will buy back

the energy from the grid. The excess energy can be

sold to grid using net metering or dual metering or

sold to charge plug-in vehicles to earn revenue

8.2 The Theoretical Model

The theoretical model has been developed, with

references from various sources. Assuming a retail

shopping center of 50,000 sq ft, a virtual model has been developed. The number of cars in the parking

lot have been considered as per Texas Accessibility

Standards (TAS, 1999) & Code of Ordinances, City

of Houston (CityofHouston, 2009) and the Lighting

has been considered as per Illuminating engineering

society of North Americas guidelines, Lighting for

parking Facilities (IESNA, 1998). The following are

the assumptions for the parking lot:

Location of Shopping Center: Houston

Store Size: 50,000 sq ft

Parking Requirements: 4 parking spaces per 1000 sq ft of Gross Floor Area (GFA) of

Commercial space

Total Parking Requirement: 200 Cars

Texas Accessibility Standards

A model was developed for 200 Cars and the total

area of parking lot calculated. The following were the

dimensions that were referred from Texas

Accessibility Standards (TAS, 1999)

Code of Ordinances, City of Houston For the purpose of Parking lot dimensions, Chapter

26 (Section VIII, Division 2) has been referred for

requirements of parking lot spaces.

Figure 27: Typical Parking Lot design used for

calculations for 200 cars (Area of Parking Lot for 200 cars as per above model

(Refer to Figure 19) = 91,945 sq ft)

Illuminating engineering society of North Americas

guidelines, Lighting for parking Facilities (IESNA, 1998). The dimensions in Figure 27 have been

considered as per Texas Accessibility Standards.

For minimum maintained foot candles (fc) at the

parking lot from curb line to curb line IESNA RP-20-

Table 5 : Recommendations are for minimum

maintained foot candle levels from curbline to

curbline (IESNA, 1998)

Minimum

Horizontal

Illuminance

(foot

candles (fc))

Maximum to

Minimum

(Uniformity ratio)

Basic 0.2 20:1

Enhanced

Security

0.5 15:1

14



98 (Refer Table 5) have been considered. However,

as per IESNA, if personal security or vandalism is

likely and/or severe problem, a significant increase of

the basic level may be appropriate.

Required Lighting

With a specification of 1 foot candles (fc) as the

minimum value as per IESNA RP-20-98, many

retailers prefer higher levels of illumination.

Therefore, for the calculations of the system design

we consider 1 fc as the minimum value of luminance

or light intensity. As per uniformity standard of 15:1

for enhanced security, the minimum to maximum

range of lighting intensity will be in the range of 1 to

15 fc as required by IESNA. Considering an average 7.5 fc for calculations the following calculations have

been arrived for the lighting requirements of parking

lot:

Area of Parking Lot for 200 cars as per above model (Refer to Figure 19) = 91,945

sq ft

1 Foot Candle = 1 Lumen per sq. feet (sq ft)

Power of light required (Lumens) = 91,945 sq ft X 7.5 fc = 689,588 Lumens

Refer the following table for calculations:

Table 6: Lighting Calculations for the Proposed

System

Lamps Metal

Halide LED

Lamp Make GE IQLED

Model MH250W/H

75/PS

IQLED

01455

Lighting power per

Lamp (Watt) 250 168.00

Lumens per Watt 60 75

Number of Lamps that

will be required 46.00 55.00

Total Power Required

(Kilo-Watt) 11.50 9.24

Energy Consumption

(kWh/day) 138.00 110.88

Add 2.5% for other

amenities (kWh)) 3.450 2.772

Energy Consumption

(kWh/day) 141.450 113.652

Energy Consumption

(kWh/year) 51629.250 41482.980

Sources of Energy

There are four sources of energy being used by the

system: Biomass, Solar Energy,Wind Energy and

Geothermal Energy

Biogas Plant

Bio gas plant is considered for production of energy,

using organic waste produced from the respective retail store. The data for the solid wastes coming out

of retail centers have been taken from the survey

commissioned by California Integrated Waste

Management Board (CIWMB). This was study of

waste disposal and diversion practices by key types

of commercial establishment. A total of 371

commercial sites belonging to 14 industry groups

participated from heavily urbanized areas of Los

Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Francisco.

Diversion was documented through interviews with

employees at the businesses and inspection of recycling and diversion systems during on-site visits.

Disposal was quantified through measurement of

waste accumulation in dumpsters or through

interviews and examination of waste disposal

records. Both disposal and diversion rates were

determined, either on a per-employee basis (pounds

per employee per year), or per room, per thousand

square feet, or per visitor, as appropriate to the nature

of the business.

Table 7: Number of business sites included in the

study (CIWMB, 2006)

Industry Group

Number of

Participati

ng Sites

Fast-Food Restaurants 24

Full-Service Restaurants 27

Food Stores 34

Durable Goods (Wholesale) 33

Non-Durable Goods (Wholesale) 30

Large Hotels 35

Building Material & Garden 49

Retail, Big Box Stores 27

Retail, Other Stores 25

Anchor Stores at Shopping Malls 8

Other Parts of Shopping Malls 25

Public Venues & Events 32

Large Office Buildings 29

Totals 378





15



Over-current

Protection/ System

Disconnect

Solar Panels on Light

Poles

Wind Turbines on

Parapet walls on

Shopping Center

DC Loads

DC-AC Inverter

PV Charge Controller

Biogas Plant

Biogas Generator

Utility Meter

Figure 28: The

Proposed

Theoretical Model

and its Integration

16



Disposed waste was characterized by obtaining into

74 material categories, broadly divided into lumber,

food, leaves and grass, pruning and trimmings,

concrete, carpet, recyclable papers, gypsum board, flat glass, cardboard, ferrous metal and plastic bottles

and containers, tin/steel cans, aluminum cans. Out of

the 14 industry (Refer table 7) types surveyed by

CIWMB, two relevant industry types, i.e. Anchor

stores at shopping malls and other parts of shopping

malls (Refer table 8) were selected for calculations.

Also, as the data of waste was available in weight, it

was easy for calculations and analysis of the data,

because the energy conversions use weight of the

waste material for energy production calculations.

As per the above data, 44 tons of paper and organic

waste is generated by anchor stores at shopping

malls, 83% of which consist of paper waste (Refer

table 8). Whereas 42 tons of paper and organic waste

is generated in other parts of shopping malls (not

including anchor stores), which has an approximate

ratio of 60:40 for paper and organic waste. This

means that per day waste generated by these two

50,000 sq ft stores will be in the range of 0.11 to 0.12

tons/day.

Each ton of dry material produces 465 m3 of bio gas. Some digesters even produce up to 20-800 m3 of bio

gas per ton waste. (Zhang, El-Mashad et al., 2007).

Therefore, considering 0.12 and 0.11 tons/day of

waste for Anchor Malls and Other Mall areas, the bio

gas produced per day would be 56 m3 and 52m3

approximately. 0.6 m3 of biogas produces 1.0 kWh

of electricity (GEDA, 2008). Therefore, 93.42 and 87

kWh of energy per day will be generated at anchor

malls and other malls areas respectively.

For the case model, the following are the energy consumption calculated for LED (Light Emitting

Diode) and Metal halide lamps:

• LED Lights: 113 kWh/day

• Metal Halide: 141.45kWh/day

Energy production by Biogas will not be sufficient in

both the cases, therefore we need integrate an

alternate renewable energy source to the system. It

could be Solar, Wind or Geothermal energy, that will

need to produce the following amounts of energy per year:

Table 9: Energy to be produced by Solar, Wind or

Geothermal sources of energy

Lamp

Anchor

Store

Malls

Other Parts

of Shopping

Mall

LED 7385

kWh/year

9710

kWh/year

Metal Halide 17531

kWh/year 19856

kWh/year

Solar Energy System

The total production requirement as per the above

calculation for the solar energy system is as per table

9. The solar calculations have been done with the

help of PV Watts (version 1), a performance

calculator for grid connected PV Systems (a

calculator has been developed by National

Renewable Energy Laboratory, United States of America). As per PV Watts (version 1) the following

is the sizing of solar panels:

Table 10: Solar Panel Sizing (DC Rating)

Stores Metal Halide LED

Anchor Store

Malls 14.5 kW 6 kW

Other parts of

Mall 16.5 kW 8 kW

Assuming the following, monthly performance of

each panel has been calculated:

Station Identification: Houston, Texas

PV System Specifications DC to AC factor: 0.77

Array Type: Fixed Tilt

The monthly generation as per the PV watts

calculator follow the same profile (Refer to

the Monthly performance of 6kW Solar

panel in Figure 30)

Figure 30: Monthly performance of 6 kW Solar

panel (DC Rating) calculated as per PV Watts

(NREL, 2008)

As per figure 30, there will be deficiency during the

months of January, February, November and

December, but the system will produce excess energy

Energy Produce

d

Energy Consume

d

0

200

400

600

800

1000

Jan

Feb

Mar

Ap

r

May

Jun

Jul

Au

g

Sep

Oct

No

v

Dec

AC

En

ergy

(k

Wh

)

17



during other months. The excess energy could be sold

to grid, which will earn extra revenue for the store.

Considering REC SCM 215 module produced by REC, that has a minimum output of 212 kW per

panel and the area per panel is 17.77 sqft. As per this

we will require following number of panels of

212kW each:

Table 11: Number of Solar Panels required

Stores Metal

Halide LED

Anchor Store

Malls 67 28

Other parts of Mall

76 37

The weight of each panel is 44 pounds. Lamp posts

which can take this weight plus the weight of the

lamps need to be used. Available number of lamp

posts are (assuming 2 light fixture per lamp post,

Refer Table 6 for lamp fixture calculation) 23 and 28

for Metal Halide and LED Lamps.

Each of the above panel costs approx $1000 after

discount and the approx total cost of the above

system (including the module, inverter, installation and battery cost) is as follows:

Table 12: System Cost of Solar Energy required


Anchor Store

Malls $102,127 $43,020

Other parts of Mall $115,672 $56,564

Assuming grid electricity rate in 2008 were 10.65

cents/kWh for commercial (EIA, 2009). The annual total energy requirement for metal halide and LED

lamps is 51,629 kWh and 41,483 kWh. If costed as

per present rate, the electricity consumption cost/year

will be $5498/year for Metal Halide and $4418/year

for LED Lights. As per this the payback period for

commercial will be as per Table 13,

Table 13: Payback Period for various Lamps


Anchor Store Malls 22 years 14 years

Other parts of Mall 24 years 17 years

Whereas, Tables 12 & 13 do not consider:

Subsidies and Rebates available for

renewable energy sources

Financial support systems such as carbon trading and net metering

Revenue from excess energy sold to Rolling

Energy Storage Units

Price escalation of electricity per year.

If the above is further considered, the payback period

could be reduced significantly. As of today the

payback period of Solar Energy may extend to up to

30 years (Fu & Ding, 2009). Considering this, the

proposed system will considerably help in reaching

Grid parity at a very earlier stage and will be a profitable for end users.

Wind Energy

The calculations in this section have been done based

on the assumption that the above solar panels are

replaced with wind turbines.

The three wind turbine models from Aerovironment,

Aerotecture and WARP were compared to shoose the

wind turbine to be used for the model. On

preliminary comparison based on the specifications sheets of the above turbines, it was found that AVX

1000 was a better choice for the proposed theoretical

model (Refer to Table 14). However, further

investigation is required in indentifying the best

turbine out of these three.

Table 14: Comparison of the three turbine models

discussed in the literature review section

Aerovir

onment

(AVX

1000)

Aerotect

ure

(610V

Aeroturbine)

WARP

Rated Power 1kW 1kW upto 4000

kW

Horizontal

Axis Yes Yes Yes

Vertical Axis No Yes No

Width 6 feet 6 feet 3 feet to

10 feet

Height 8.5 feet 10 feet varies

Start up speed 5 mph 6.3 mph Not

Available

Survival

Wind Speed

120

mph 90+ mph

Not

Available

18



Figure 31: Power Curve of Aerovironment,

AVX1000 (AVINC, 2009).

Table 15: Average Wind Speed Data for Houston

in miles/hour (NCDC, 2008)

Location Yrs

Annual

Average

Houston, Tx 33 7.6

Considering the lowest annual average wind speeds,

the total wind energy production can be calculated.

The power curve of a wind turbine (Refer to Figure

31) is a graph that indicates how large the electrical power output will be for the turbine at different wind

speeds. If we consider Houston which has an average

wind speed of 7.6 miles per hour, the power out of

this wind turbine would be less than or around 50

watts, which seems to be quiet less. Wind energy

calculations have been done using windcad

performance models developed by Bergey wind

power (Bergey, 2008). As per above, the number of

wind turbines that will be required are as follows:

Table 16: Number of AVX1000 rooftop wind

turbines required


Anchor Store Malls 41 17

Other parts of Mall 46 22

Aerovironment has installed 20 units of its AVX

1000 rooftop turbines on a building at Boston's

Logan International Airport (Boston has an average

wind speed of 12.4 mph (NCDC, 2008). 20 units

costed $140,000 (Refer to Figure 32), therefore the

approximate cost of one wind turbine is 7000$.

Assuming this rate, the cost of total wind turbine system (including, turbines, inverter, charger and

installation) will be:

Table 17: Approximate total system cost of wind

turbines


Anchor Store Malls $ 326,363 $135,321

Other parts of Mall $366,163 $175,122

Figure 32: Scanned Picture of Aerovironment

Turbine data. Turbine installed at Logan Airport,

Boston (Wind-works, 2008).

Figure 33: Texas Wind Power Map (SECO, 2008)

As per Figure 33, Houston comes under class 1

which is the lowest. Class 4 and above are considered

good resources. In general, at 50 meters, wind power

class 4 or higher can be useful for generating wind

power with large turbines. Sites in class 3 are

candidates for wind farm development, although,

given the advances in technology, a number of

locations in the class 3 areas may become suitable for

utility-scale wind development. (SECO, 2008)

Therefore, it would be advisable to opt for

combination of Solar-Wind or Biogas-Wind systems

in these areas if wind energy has to be taken up for

the projects here. Since this area gets the lowest wind

speeds, it would be advisable to evaluate this option

in detail and if required wind energy can be opted out

and a Solar-Biogas option could also be worked out if

found feasible.

Geothermal Energy

Geothermal Power plant cost has been calculated as per the literature review. Assuming we replace solar

and wind energy systems with geothermal energy

systems, the power production requirement would be

as per table 9 above.

19



Figure 34: Geothermal Resource Map (SECO,

2008)

As per the geothermal resource map (Refer to Figure

34) we require a depth of geothermal resource is

13,000 feet @ 300-450 degree Fahrenheit. We will

require three wells, each for (Refer to Figure 35):

Exploratory Well

Injection Well

Production Well

Figure 35: Development Sequence of Geothermal

Plant (USDOE, 2008c)

Figure 34 summarizes depth and cost data

representative of geothermal wells completed

between 1997 and 2000 in Central America and the

Azores (Lovekin et al. 2004). To escalate these prices

to account for inflation, the costs of all wells have

been escalated to equivalent U.S. dollars as of 1 July

2003, using the Producer Price Index. Figure 36 is a

curve fit to the data in Figure 35 (Bloomfield &

Laney, 2005)

Figure 36: Geothermal Drilling Costs from 1997

to 2000 for Central America and the Azores

(Bloomfield & Laney, 2005)

Drilling costs (Bloomfield & Laney, 2005) in Texas

can be calculated from the graph below:

Figure 37: Geothermal Drilling costs in Texas

(Bloomfield & Laney, 2005)

As per the above graph, the drilling cost would be

around $3,000,000-4,000,000 per well (Refer to

Figure 35). And three wells will cost in a range of

9,000,000 to 12,000,000 dollars which is

approximately 25 to 200 times the cost of the total

wind turbine and solar energy systems. It could be

inferred that Geothermal is not feasible for small

scale plants.

9. Financial Support Systems

The financial support systems is a term which has

been used in various journal papers and Books in

different contexts, but, here the term means a set of

financial programs that are intended to raise funds for

or financially support the proposed system. This can

include the following:

Emissions Trading

Net Metering

Renewable Energy Incentives

The above financial support systems have been

explained below for details.

20



Emissions Trading

As discussed, there is an urgent need to control

atmospheric CO2 emissions, primarily resulting from

the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon Trading is a market based mechanism for helping mitigate the

increase of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere.

Carbon trading markets are developed that bring

buyers and sellers of carbon credits together with

standardized rules of trade (Carbon Trading, 2008).

A challenge faced by Carbon Trading is the fall in

CO2 price which is a risk to ‘green’ investment.

Recently, the price of carbon dioxide in the European

union fell down so low that it no longer provides an incentive to low carbon development. As has the

price of oil fallen drastically so has the carbon price,

which has again compounded by recession as

companies produce less, they need fewer permits

(FT, 2009). Such challenges needs to be tackled and a

framework needs to be developed so that such

instances do not challenge the low carbon

development in future.

Net Metering

As per the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE), net metering is a policy that allows homeowners to

receive the full value of the electricity that their solar

energy system produces. Under federal law, utilities

must allow independent power producers to be

interconnected with the utility grid, and utilities must

purchase any excess electricity they generate.

The excess electricity is then fed into the utility grid

and sold to the utility at the retail rate (US DOE

2006). At the end of the month, if the customer uses

more electricity than the PV system generates, the

customer pays the difference. The billing period for net metering may be either monthly or annually

(USDOE, 2006). Some utilities are opposed to net

metering because they believe it may have a negative

financial impact on them. However, a number of

studies have shown that net metering can benefit

utilities. These benefits include reductions in meter

hardware and interconnection costs, as well as in

meter reading and billing costs. Grid-connected PV

systems can also help utilities avoid the cost of

additional power generation, increase the reliability

and quality of electricity in the grid, and produce power at times of peak usage, when utility generation

costs are higher and they often need the extra power

(USDOE, 2006).

Renewable Energy Incentives and Grants by Federal

and State Governments

As per the Database of State Incentives for

Renewable Energy (DSIRE), presently there are

various rebate and grant programs being provided in

various states of the United States. There are

financial incentives available in various states of the

United States including tax credits like personal tax, corporate tax, sales tax, property tax, rebates, grants,

loans, industry support programs, bonds and

production incentives available from both federal and

state governments (DSIRE, 2008 and Golove, 2004).

10. Conclusion and Further Research

This paper develops a theoretical model and

identifies strategies and challenges of adopting an

off-grid renewable energy source for the mercantile sector at the defined meso level. Various strategies in

the developed theoretical model have been analyzed

for off-grid renewable energy source, however there

are various challenges involved in implementing this

model. The challenges have been summarized as

follows:

Grid Parity: Although this system will help in reaching grid parity at an earlier stage, still, the

cost of alternative renewable energy sources

need to further reduced to bring it to Grid

Parity.

System Efficiency: System efficiencies need to be increased, like solar cells, biogas plant,

batteries used in vehicles need to be increased.

Hybrid Systems: Systems need to be made hybrid that bridges the current grid dependent

system and a grid-independent (off grid, or net zero) goal. This will further help in energy

storage and bring down the cost of renewable

energy storage

Integrated Systems: More Integrated systems using two or more renewable energy sources,

that can work together depending on the

available resources bring down the cost of

renewable energy. The proposed system uses

Biogas and Solar Energy sources. The Biogas

energy will vary in a particular region

depending on the organic waste produced by

different retail centers in that region, but the

use of biogas plant has further brought down the cost of Solar energy.

Available Technologies: There are renewable technologies available and the use of these

technologies needs to be enhanced

Awareness: Awareness of benefits for the acceptance of alternative renewable energy

sources need to increased. Individual system

size limit need to be increased in various states

http://www.carbon.sref.info/

21



to make the systems more beneficial to the

consumers and utilities. Although, 10 states

(including Connecticut, Delaware, Maine,

Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and

Vermont) in United States have begun Carbon

trading since September 2008 in the power

sector, it needs to be implemented on a large

scale in other sectors too (WRI, 2008). There

are number of challenges to the personal carbon

trading in cost effective and desirable policy

option (Defra, 2008). Although, under federal

law, utilities must purchase any excess

electricity they generate, some utilities are

opposed to net metering because they believe it may have benefit utilities. There is an

awareness required to be generated among

utilities of the benefits of net metering

(USDOE, 2006)

There have been various support systems that have

already been developed or are in a developing stage

in the United States for the use of alternative

renewable energy sources. However, there are still

significant challenges involved in implementing off-

grid renewable energy sources at a large scale in

United States. Although, there are technologies available, further research is also required to increase

the efficiency of the available technologies to make

them more cost efficient to reach the Grid Parity. The

study gives an in depth analysis of the strategies and

challenges of adopting an off-grid renewable energy

source. A multiplying effect of CO2 emissions

reduction will be analyzed on a global scale and the

challenges involved will create further studies to be

taken up.

22



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23



VITAE

Name : Vaibhav Malhotra

Address: 416 Stasney Street, Apt 5

College Station, TX 77840

Email Address: [email protected]

Education: Bachelors of Architecture (2001), School of Architecture, IPS Academy,

Indore, Madhya Pradesh

India

M.S., Construction Management (2009),

Texas A&M University,

College Station, Texas

United States of America,

Documents

Identification of Strategies And Challenges Of Adopting An Off- …faculty.arch.tamu.edu/media/cms_page_media/3141/Malhotra... · 2013-09-26 · Identification of Strategies And Challenges