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Feasibility Study of Renewable Energy Sources for Energy Efficiency

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Conference

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Seattle, Washington

Publication Date

June 14, 2015

Start Date

June 14, 2015

End Date

June 17, 2015

ISBN

978-0-692-50180-1

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

ECCD Applications in Energy and Thermodynamics

Tagged Division

Energy Conversion and Conservation

Page Count

11

Page Numbers

26.770.1 - 26.770.11

DOI

10.18260/p.24107

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/24107

Download Count

722

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Paper Authors

biography

Ahmed Cherif Megri North Carolina A&T State University

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Dr. Ahmed Cherif Megri, Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering (AE). He teaches capstone, lighting, electrical, HVAC and energy design courses. He is the ABET Coordinator for the AE Program. His research areas include airflow modeling, zonal modeling, energy modeling, and artificial intelligence modeling using the support vector machine learning approach. Dr. Megri holds a PhD degree from INSA at Lyon (France) in the area of Thermal Engineering and a ”Habilitation” (HDR) degree from Pierre and Marie Curie University - Paris VI, Sorbonne Universities (2011) in the area of Engineering Sciences. Prior to his actual position, he was an Associate Professor at University of Wyoming (UW) and prior to that he was an Assistant Professor and the Director of the AE Program at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). He participated significantly to the development of the current architectural engineering undergraduate and master’s programs at IIT. During his stay at IIT, he taught thermal and fluids engineering (thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid mechanics), building sciences, physical performance of buildings, building enclosure, as well as design courses, such as HVAC, energy, plumbing, fire protection and lighting. Also, he supervises many courses in the frame of interprofessional projects (IPRO) program. Dr. Megri wrote over 100 journal and conference papers. Overall, Dr. Megri taught more than 30 different courses at University level in the AE area.

Areas of Interests:
- Zonal modeling approach,
- Integration zonal models/building energy simulation models,
- Zero Net Energy (ZNE) building,
- Airflow in Multizone Buildings & Smoke Control,
- Thermal Comfort & Indoor Air Quality,
- Predictive modeling and forecasting: Support Vector Machine (SVM) tools,
- Energy, HVAC, Plumbing & Fire Protection Systems Design,
- Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) Application in Building,
- BIM & REVIT: application to HVAC and Electrical/Lighting Design systems.

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Abstract

Feasibility Study of Renewable Energy Sources for Energy EfficiencyThe purpose of this study is to assess the roof of an industrial building and its adjacent land for possiblesolar PV, thermal solar or geothermal installations and to estimate the cost, performance and site impactsof these three systems. The economics of the potential systems were analyzed using an electric ratesuggested by the utility company, as well as incentives that are offered by the federal, State, and by theserving utility.The electrical rate increases over the next three years need to be anticipated. A rate increase of thismagnitude would greatly improve the economics of a renewable system, such as solar PV generationplant. The system economics with the anticipated rate increase information and job creation estimates ifthe building roof and its adjacent land were used for one of the three systems.As well, the purpose of the work is to provide students with the opportunity to apply the design theoriesand techniques they have learned in earlier classes to the full design of a building including its structural,HVAC and electrical systems. Students also review and deepen their understanding of architecturallyrelated topics including special layout and building codes requirements.The project includes a design analysis of the installation of the three systems for the facility. This will beincorporated into an integrated design assignment for the students. The proposed steps are as follows:  Students review of the existing building as a case study. This includes review of the structural, HVAC and electrical systems including loads, system type and overall layout of each system. This information is intended to be general in nature and can be scrubbed of any proprietary information prior to its delivery.  Students divided into small groups to investigate various alternatives to the existing design that incorporate a variety and mix of options including various scales and locations of PV panels, geothermal energy, alternative heating and cooling systems, daylighting and other technologies that may be of interest to the building. The students prepare a description of their design including plans, specifications, a BIM model and costs and an analysis of the feasibility of their design including technical, economic and operational factors.  Students will present the results of their work to the company staff and instructors at the end of the Semester.Most importantly, project methodology will be discussed. We discuss the capstone design program fromstudents’ point of view, and the experience earned in design, integration, and also in written and oralcommunication skills. Methodology used to evaluate the effectiveness of the capstone design program interm of learning outcomes is also described.

Megri, A. C. (2015, June), Feasibility Study of Renewable Energy Sources for Energy Efficiency Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.24107

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