{"title":"Cost-benefit Analysis and Financial Viability of Household Biogas Plant Investment in South Ethiopia","authors":"Tale Geddafa, Yoseph Melka, Getachew Sime","doi":"10.1186/s40807-023-00089-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40807-023-00089-6","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the cost–benefit analysis and financial viability of biogas plant investment in South Ethiopia. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select sample households. A total of 105 adopter households were selected for household survey using a purposive sampling technique. All the households adopting biogas technology were considered. Besides, a biogas plant with 6 m3 and 8 m3 sizes were selected because they were the most commonly used size in the study area. Data were collected from the household survey, key informant interviews, focus group discussion and market price assessment. The installation cost took the largest share of the total cost of construction and was one of the main constraints that hindered adoption. The findings of the study indicate that the production of biogas increased household income by reducing the costs incurred for buying firewood, kerosene and chemical fertilizers. Relatively, lower plant size was more profitable than larger plant size. Installation under the subsidy scheme was more financially viable at 10% discount rate than its counterparts. Subsidy is important to enhance biogas plant investment, particularly for larger biogas plant sizes. Nevertheless, both plant sizes, installed without subsidy, had smaller NPV values and UDBP greater than 1 year, making this scenario financially less viable. Installation of low cost plants could more attract the engagement of a large number of rural households with low economic capacity. However, both plant sizes (6 m3 and 8 m3) are financially viable and profitable at 10% discount rate. Moreover, the profitability of biogas investment is highly sensitive to variation in discount rates, level of expenditure savings and input prices.","PeriodicalId":93049,"journal":{"name":"Renewables: wind, water, and solar","volume":"73 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138681048","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ahmad Hamdan, Ahmed Al-Salaymeh, Issah M. AlHamad, Samuel Ikemba, Daniel Raphael Ejike Ewim
{"title":"Predicting future global temperature and greenhouse gas emissions via LSTM model","authors":"Ahmad Hamdan, Ahmed Al-Salaymeh, Issah M. AlHamad, Samuel Ikemba, Daniel Raphael Ejike Ewim","doi":"10.1186/s40807-023-00092-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40807-023-00092-x","url":null,"abstract":"This work is executed to predict the variation in global temperature and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from climate change and global warming, taking into consideration the natural climate cycle. A mathematical model was developed using a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) with Long–Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model. Data sets of global temperature were collected from 800,000 BC to 1950 AD from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Furthermore, another data set was obtained from The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) climate website. This contained records from 1880 to 2019 of global temperature and carbon dioxide levels. Curve fitting techniques, employing Sin, Exponential, and Fourier Series functions, were utilized to reconstruct both NOAA and NASA data sets, unifying them on a consistent time scale and expanding data size by representing the same information over smaller periods. The fitting quality, assessed using the R-squared measure, ensured a thorough process enhancing the model's accuracy and providing a more precise representation of historical climate data. Subsequently, the time-series data were converted into a supervised format for effective use with the LSTM model for prediction purposes. Augmented by the Mean Squared Error (MSE) as the analyzed loss function, normalization techniques, and refined data representation from curve fitting the LSTM model revealed a sharp increase in global temperature, reaching a temperature rise of 4.8 °C by 2100. Moreover, carbon dioxide concentrations will continue to boom, attaining a value of 713 ppm in 2100. In addition, the findings indicated that the RNN algorithm (LSTM model) provided higher accuracy and reliable forecasting results as the prediction outputs were closer to the international climate models and were found to be in good agreement. This study contributes valuable insights into the trajectory of global temperature and GHG emissions, emphasizing the potential of LSTM models in climate prediction.","PeriodicalId":93049,"journal":{"name":"Renewables: wind, water, and solar","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138681378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Olubunmi O. Onatoyinbo, Alexander A. Willoughby, Ayodele O. Soge, Oluropo F. Dairo
{"title":"Comparison of the sensitivities and accuracies of optoelectronic transducers for solar irradiance measurement","authors":"Olubunmi O. Onatoyinbo, Alexander A. Willoughby, Ayodele O. Soge, Oluropo F. Dairo","doi":"10.1186/s40807-023-00091-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40807-023-00091-y","url":null,"abstract":"This paper compares the sensitivities and accuracies of four different optoelectronic transducers in measuring solar irradiance for the fabrication of portable and low-cost pyranometers. Trans-impedance conditioning circuits were designed for two phototransistors (BP103 and SFH3310) and two photodiodes (BPW21 and BPW34). The Arduino Mega 2560 was used as an interface between the analogue signal produced by the conditioning circuits and the digital output ports. The transducers with a standard pyranometer RSRA_05V were arranged on a vero board and exposed to the sun. Statistical analysis of the experimental results produced the least root mean square error value of 6.58794 Wm−2 for phototransistor BP103 during the dry season followed by 13.35216 Wm−2 for phototransistor SFH3310 during the dry season. The correlation coefficients of BPW21, BPW34, BP103, and SFH3310 with the standard pyranometer are 0.9489, 0.9916, 0.9976, and 0.9905, respectively. The experimental results obtained from the phototransistors BP103 and SFH3310 strongly correlated with those of the standard pyranometer coupled with lower root mean square error and mean bias error values than those of the photodiodes. Thus, the phototransistors BP103 and SFH3310 are more accurate and effective for measuring solar irradiance. This study contributes to the development of low-cost and accurate solar radiation meters.","PeriodicalId":93049,"journal":{"name":"Renewables: wind, water, and solar","volume":"152 9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138515662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The effects of saline water preheating and heat recovery in a vapour-based multistage solar still","authors":"Mfanafuthi Mthandeni Mkhize, Velaphi Msomi","doi":"10.1186/s40807-023-00086-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40807-023-00086-9","url":null,"abstract":"The current study complements a broader body of research on solar distillation, including research on heat recycling capabilities and other related factors in multistage solar distillation systems. Solar stills can be used in various applications to provide safe and clean water from natural sources. This study is based on field data collected, analysed, and interpreted over ten (10) months. The solar still operated at atmospheric pressure and produced a distillate by evaporating saline water (SW) at ~ 100 °C. The maximum SW preheating was 75.5 °C with 30,821.04 kJ/m2 day collected by the solar collectors. The corresponding overall thermal efficiency of the test rig was 33.83%. The overall thermal efficiency decreased with increasing wind speed, averaging at 3.12 m/s to 28.31% due to increased heat loss to the environment when 30,780 kJ/m2day was collected. It further declined to 5.89% with low meteorological conditions of 209.81 W/m2, 15.66 °C and 2.66 m/s, respectively, on average. However, the benefits of increased wind speed were enhanced condensation and productivity. The study also found that the ideal thermal energy delivery rate was $$sim$$ 600 W/m2 or an impulsive mode at higher solar insolation. A balanced condensation rate, SW preheating, heat recovery and overall thermal efficiency can be achieved at this delivery rate. A significant correlation was observed, indicating that the simultaneous increase in the average heat input rate and wind velocities positively impacted distillate output. Conversely, low average wind velocity improved overall thermal efficiency, resulting in a distillate output of 6730 ml for the five stacked stages, despite a slight discrepancy of 3.2 W/m2 in the heat input rate.","PeriodicalId":93049,"journal":{"name":"Renewables: wind, water, and solar","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138515674","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The asymmetric effect of oil price on ecological footprint: evidence from oil-producing African countries","authors":"Adewale Samuel Hassan, David Mhlanga","doi":"10.1186/s40807-023-00087-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40807-023-00087-8","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the asymmetric impact of oil price (OP) on the ecological footprint (EF) in the major oil-producing African countries over the period 1988–2018. Results from the dynamic seemingly unrelated regression (DSUR) and the countrywise FMOLS regressions establish the asymmetric impact of OP on EF in the countries. Both GDP per capita and non-renewable energy (NRE) consumption are also affirmed as drivers of environmental degradation, while renewable energy consumption is found to be a promoter of environmental sustainability. Furthermore, a unidirectional causal relationship is found from OP to EF, GDP and NRE, while feedback is reported between EF and GDP. Therefore, the study proposes the need for diversification of the energy mix in these countries through the formulation of policies that would drive renewable energy usage without slowing down growth.","PeriodicalId":93049,"journal":{"name":"Renewables: wind, water, and solar","volume":"48 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138515657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review and Perspectives on Anodes in Rechargeable Aqueous Zinc-Based Batteries","authors":"Yanbin Yin, Xianfeng Li","doi":"10.31635/rnwb.023.202300036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31635/rnwb.023.202300036","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":93049,"journal":{"name":"Renewables: wind, water, and solar","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136294741","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Revealing the Catalytic Conversion via in Situ Characterization for Lithium–Sulfur Batteries","authors":"Qinhua Gu, Ming Lu, Yiqi Cao, Bingsen Zhang","doi":"10.31635/rnwb.023.202300033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31635/rnwb.023.202300033","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":93049,"journal":{"name":"Renewables: wind, water, and solar","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135395312","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}