Problems associated with energy distribution, consumption and management are undoubtedly some of the most significant problems that energy utilities face globally. For instance, when development takes place, the deman...Problems associated with energy distribution, consumption and management are undoubtedly some of the most significant problems that energy utilities face globally. For instance, when development takes place, the demand for electrical power and in particular domestic electrical energy also increases. Thus improvement of energy distribution policies becomes important for utilities and energy decision making agencies. The authors had earlier [1] [2] provided a mixed strategy 2-player game model for a residential energy consumption profile for winter and summer seasons of the year using a dual-occupancy high-rise (11-storey) building located within the Polytechnic of Namibia, Windhoek. The optimum energy values and the corresponding probabilities obtained from the model extend the usual simple statistical analyses of minimum and maximum energy values and their associated percentages. The time-block and the week-day strategies depict critical probabilistic values worth considering for decision purposes, especially, the necessity and justification for a dual tariff regime for the residential and workplace residents of the building as against the existing institutional uniform energy tariff policy. However, this paper presents extended results of post-optimality analyses for the winter and summer seasons, and thus provides the optimal range of energy values over which the energy consumption can change without changing the optimal tariff estimate parameters obtained from the mixed strategy of critical energy game values. The post-optimality analyses also provide extended information on the mixed strategy of non-optimal week-day solutions obtained from the game model, hence validating one of the essential roles of sensitivity analysis, namely, investigation of sub-optimal solutions. From application point of view, the post-optimality model provides a useful tool for Utilities, especially for identifying flexibility range of optimal break-even energy values for consumers, such as in the informal settlements where metering is rather a challenge to determine varied or non-uniform tariffs.展开更多
Architectural design is leading us in the direction of structures with free and irregular forms. As a consequence of this the connection between the design’s intent and its fabrication represents a challenge when cre...Architectural design is leading us in the direction of structures with free and irregular forms. As a consequence of this the connection between the design’s intent and its fabrication represents a challenge when creating a support structure that is geometrically viable and which needs to possess certain aesthetic, fabricational, thermal and strength requirements. To ensure the contacts of the edges of the neighboring insulation panels along their thicknesses, the edges must be cut at different angles, which causes differences in the vertex heights and, furthermore, differences in the positions of the inner metal sheets of the insulation panels. The main goal of the presented research is the development of a post-optimization procedure, by which the minimum joint-height differences will be achieved for all the joints, taking into account all the free-form surfaces of the individual architectural design. To compensate for the residual height differences the use of spacers of different thicknesses is proposed. The paper considers the global minimization of the joint-height differences for a sample free-form architectural design that is meshed with a quad-dominant mesh.展开更多
文摘Problems associated with energy distribution, consumption and management are undoubtedly some of the most significant problems that energy utilities face globally. For instance, when development takes place, the demand for electrical power and in particular domestic electrical energy also increases. Thus improvement of energy distribution policies becomes important for utilities and energy decision making agencies. The authors had earlier [1] [2] provided a mixed strategy 2-player game model for a residential energy consumption profile for winter and summer seasons of the year using a dual-occupancy high-rise (11-storey) building located within the Polytechnic of Namibia, Windhoek. The optimum energy values and the corresponding probabilities obtained from the model extend the usual simple statistical analyses of minimum and maximum energy values and their associated percentages. The time-block and the week-day strategies depict critical probabilistic values worth considering for decision purposes, especially, the necessity and justification for a dual tariff regime for the residential and workplace residents of the building as against the existing institutional uniform energy tariff policy. However, this paper presents extended results of post-optimality analyses for the winter and summer seasons, and thus provides the optimal range of energy values over which the energy consumption can change without changing the optimal tariff estimate parameters obtained from the mixed strategy of critical energy game values. The post-optimality analyses also provide extended information on the mixed strategy of non-optimal week-day solutions obtained from the game model, hence validating one of the essential roles of sensitivity analysis, namely, investigation of sub-optimal solutions. From application point of view, the post-optimality model provides a useful tool for Utilities, especially for identifying flexibility range of optimal break-even energy values for consumers, such as in the informal settlements where metering is rather a challenge to determine varied or non-uniform tariffs.
文摘Architectural design is leading us in the direction of structures with free and irregular forms. As a consequence of this the connection between the design’s intent and its fabrication represents a challenge when creating a support structure that is geometrically viable and which needs to possess certain aesthetic, fabricational, thermal and strength requirements. To ensure the contacts of the edges of the neighboring insulation panels along their thicknesses, the edges must be cut at different angles, which causes differences in the vertex heights and, furthermore, differences in the positions of the inner metal sheets of the insulation panels. The main goal of the presented research is the development of a post-optimization procedure, by which the minimum joint-height differences will be achieved for all the joints, taking into account all the free-form surfaces of the individual architectural design. To compensate for the residual height differences the use of spacers of different thicknesses is proposed. The paper considers the global minimization of the joint-height differences for a sample free-form architectural design that is meshed with a quad-dominant mesh.
