PhD Thesis - Energy Systems Research Unit - University of Strathclyde

Table 1.1 also includes additional aspects (e.g. building size and occupancy,sensitivity to fuel prices and electricity tariffs) which, although are not directlyrelated to energy-efficiency improvements, play an important part in assessingmicro-trigeneration system performance in residential buildings.Table 1.1 - Operating conditions investigatedOperating conditionImprovement in buildingfabricBuilding size and number ofoccupantsAddition of a chilled waterstorage tankImprovement in householdappliances’ electricalefficiencyAddition of a solar waterheating system in tandemwith micro-trigenerationsystemSensitivity to grid networkimprovementsSensitivity to fuel pricesSensitivity to electricitytariffsDirect /Indirect effectDirectPossible effect on microtrigenerationsystemChanges the thermal demandDriverRegulation/CostbenefitopportunityDirect Changes the thermal demand -Direct Changes operating mode System additionDirectDirectIndirectDirectIndirectChanges the electricaldemandChanges the thermal demandChanges the comparisonwith separate generationChanges the system’srunning costsChanges the comparisonwith separate generationRegulation/CostbenefitopportunityRegulation/CostbenefitopportunityRegulation/Costbenefitopportunity--Finally, although a certain degree of interaction exits between the different operatingconditions (e.g. increased occupancy leads to an increase in the electrical demand –the two are therefore dependent), the study’s primary focus was to analyse the impacteach individual operating condition had on micro-trigeneration system performance.A detailed analysis of the interaction between the aggregated effect of differentoperating conditions and the impact on micro-trigeneration system performance wastherefore outside the scope of this research although, again, such an analysis wouldprovide interesting research material for future work.1.5 Summary of Chapter 1This chapter has introduced the concept of micro-trigeneration as a means to increase18