This leading-edge volume on advances in photovoltaic technology features diverse contributions from experts in every major geographic PV market. It examines emerging applications such as electricity grid load-balancing and demand- response, PV storage systems, photovoltaic/thermal solar collectors and carbon-offset in buildings. Engineers, researchers, developers and students alike will find new avenues for exploration and fresh insights into this continually evolving field. Highlights the most recent advances in Photovoltaics, from Next-Gen Storage Systems to Bifacial PV/T Solar Collectors; Provides expert insights on the recent evolution and near future of PV markets around the globe; Covers applications from grid-tied storage and power generation to green buildings.

This book presents novel design principles and technologies for dynamic isolation based on experimental studies. These approaches have now become the local standard in Beijing and are currently being promoted for use nationwide. Further, the book provides details of measures and guidelines for the design process. Departing from the traditional understanding that isolation wards should be designed with high negative pressure, airtight doors and fresh air, it establishes the basis for designing biological clean rooms, including isolation wards, using a simple and convenient scientific approach. This book is intended for designers, engineers, researchers, hospital management staff and graduate students in heating ventilation air conditioning (HVAC), air cleaning technologies and related areas.

In the climate-controlled buildings of today, moisture problems affect not only the useable life expectancy of the structure, but the comfort and health of the occupants. This reference is the first to apply up-to-date moisture control and treatment techniques in a problem/solution format. Opening with an introductory explanation of the nature and causes of mold, mildew, and condensation, the book gives specific advice on heated, cooled, and combination environments, plus a short course in the dynamics of moisture movement within buildings. Other invaluable coverage includes:

• clear, detailed recommended practices for all United States climates
• practices for cooling as well as heating climates (often, heating climate solutions are applied in cooling climates, where problems and solutions are completely different)
• an overall, systematic view of moisture problems—including how mechanical systems and occupant lifestyles can create and also resolve moisture problems
• actual case studies of buildings with moisture problems that illustrate the principles and practices presented in the book

This detailed, no-nonsense exploration of moisture cause and effect—as well as its protection and remediation—will expand readers’ knowledge on this crucial subject. Moisture Control Handbook will be welcomed by building contractors, architects, mechanical engineers, building science researchers, building product manufacturers, homeowners, and small commercial building owners.

Contemporary cities face phenomenal risks, and they face particularly high levels of mounting social and environmental risks, including social polarization, urban conflicts, riots, terror, and climate change threats. This book suggests that climate change and its resulting uncertainties challenge the concepts, procedures, and scope of conventional approaches to planning, creating a need to rethink and revise current planning methods. Therefore, this book suggests a paradigm shift in our thinking, interrogation, and planning of our cities. Based on the contemporary conditions of risk at cities, this book conceptualizes the risk city as a construct of three interlinked concepts of risk, trust, and practice. It is a construct of risk and its new evolving conditions and knowledge of uncertainties stem from climate change and other risks and uncertainties. As a construct of practices, the risk city produces social and political institutional framework and promotes practices accordingly in order to reduce risk and risk possibilities and to increase trust. In light of the complex challenges and risks to the human habitat that have emerged in recent years, many cities have prepared various types of plans aimed at addressing the challenges posed by climate change. Nonetheless, despite the importance of these plans and the major public resources invested in their formulation, we still know little about them and have yet to begin studying them and assessing their contributions . From the innovative perspective of the risk city, this book asks critical questions about the nature, vision, practices, and potential impact of the recent climate change-oriented plans. What kinds of risks do they attempt to address, what types of practices do they institute, and what types of approaches do they apply? Do they adequately address the risks and uncertainties posed? How do they contribute to the worldwide effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? This book uses the methodologically innovative Risk City framework to examine the nature, vision, outcomes, practices, and impact of these crucial plans, as well as their contribution to the resilience of our cities and to global efforts toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

This book investigates the latest modeling and control technologies in the context of air-conditioning systems. Firstly, it introduces the state-space method for developing dynamic models of all components in a central air-conditioning system. The models are primarily nonlinear and based on the fundamental principle of energy and mass conservation, and are transformed into state-space form through linearization. The book goes on to describe and discuss the state-space models with the help of graph theory and the structure-matrix theory. Subsequently, virtual sensor calibration and virtual sensing methods (which are very useful for real system control) are illustrated together with a case study. Model-based predictive control and state-space feedback control are applied to air-conditioning systems to yield better local control, while the air-side synergic control scheme and a global optimization strategy based on the decomposition-coordination method are developed so as to achieve energy conservation in the central air-conditioning system. Lastly, control strategies for VAV systems including total air volume control and trim & response static pressure control are investigated in practice.

Proceedings of the 8th International Symposium on Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning is based on the 8th International Symposium of the same name (ISHVAC2013), which took place in Xi’an on October 19-21, 2013. The conference series was initiated at Tsinghua University in 1991 and has since become the premier international HVAC conference initiated in China, playing a significant part in the development of HVAC and indoor environmental research and industry around the world. This international conference provided an exclusive opportunity for policy-makers, designers, researchers, engineers and managers to share their experience. Considering the recent attention on building energy consumption and indoor environments, ISHVAC2013 provided a global platform for discussing recent research on and developments in different aspects of HVAC systems and components, with a focus on building energy consumption, energy efficiency and indoor environments. These categories span a broad range of topics, and the proceedings provide readers with a good general overview of recent advances in different aspects of HVAC systems and related research. As such, they offer a unique resource for further research and a valuable source of information for those interested in the subject. The proceedings are intended for researchers, engineers and graduate students in the fields of Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC), indoor environments, energy systems, and building information and management. Angui Li works at Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Yingxin Zhu works at Tsinghua University and Yuguo Li works at The University of Hong Kong.

This book focuses on some of the most energy-consuming HVAC systems; illuminating huge opportunities for energy savings in buildings that operate with these systems. The main discussion is on, cutting-edge decision making approaches, and algorithms in: decision making under uncertainty, genetic algorithms, fuzzy logic, artificial neural networks, agent based modeling, and game theory. These methods are applied to HVAC systems, in order to help designers select the best options among the many available pathways for designing and the building of HVAC systems and applications. The discussion further evolves to depict how the buildings of the future can incorporate these advanced decision-making algorithms to become autonomous and truly 'smart'.

This book presents a systematic study on the air balancing technologies in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Several modern air balancing methods, including advanced control-based air balancing, data-driven-based air balancing, and energy-saving-oriented air balancing, are introduced in this book to balance the air duct system. Furthermore, this book provides clear instructions for both HVAC designers and engineers, as well as researchers, on how to design and balance duct systems for improved performance and energy efficiency.