PhD Thesis - Energy Systems Research Unit - University of Strathclyde

system in a residential building, it is of paramount importance that due considerationis given to the environment the system is working in.Similarly, other operating conditions such as building size and occupancy may alsoaffect the system’s performance. The system has also to contend with the possibilityof having different plant configurations, including the existence (and size) of storagetanks and additional renewable energy systems working in tandem with the CHP unit.A final complication in the implementation of trigeneration in future buildings is thatmeasures aimed at reducing residential energy demand by (for example) improvingthe building fabric to reduce the heating (or cooling) demand or increasing thehousehold appliances’ electrical efficiency to reduce the electrical demand, althoughbeneficial on their own merits, may result in a situation where the energy demandrequired to be satisfied by the micro-trigeneration decreases to such an extent that thesystem is no longer feasible.Before implementing any measures (including installing the micro-trigenerationitself) it is therefore of the utmost importance that a thorough understanding isobtained not only of the performance of the micro-trigeneration system itself but alsoof the system in combination with the surrounding environment including thebuilding within which it operates.Depending on the type of assessment required, micro-trigeneration systemperformance can be modelled and analysed either through the use of real-lifeexperimental models or dedicated modelling-simulation techniques. The latter ofcourse can take the shape and form of varying degrees of complexity, from simplemathematical equations to complex modelling tools [45]. In both cases the end resultwould be a series of performance metrics (e.g. fuel consumption, system efficiency,emission savings etc.) which describe the viability of the system. The following twosections, Section 1.3.1 and Section 1.3.2 respectively, describe the use of real-lifeexperimental models and the use of optimisation modelling (in literature this is themost common example of simulation technique used in cogeneration andtrigeneration modelling) as research methods used to assess residential micro-10