The Dependence of Traditional House Heating Systems on Fossil Fuels
and the Evaluation of Alternative Solutions with Sustainable Energy
by
David Wang
A Project Submitted to the Graduate
Faculty of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF ENGINEERING
Approved:
_________________________________________
Sudhangshu Bose, Project Adviser
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Hartford, New York
April, 2012
i
© Copyright 2012
by
David Wang
All Rights Reserved
ii
CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ iv
LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... v
LIST OF CHARTS ........................................................................................................... vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENT ................................................................................................. vii
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... viii
1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1
2. THEORY AND METHODOLOGY ........................................................................... 3
2.1
ANALYSIS OF FOSSIL FUEL HEATING SYSTEM (NATURAL GAS) ..... 3
2.2
EVALUATION OF SUSTAINABLE ENRGY................................................. 7
2.2.1
APPLICATION OF WIND TURBINES ............................................... 8
2.2.2
APPLICATION OF SOLAR PANELS ............................................... 14
2.2.3
APPLICATION OF WINDOW INSULATION FILMS ..................... 22
3. RESULTS .................................................................................................................. 27
4. CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................... 30
5. REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 31
6. Appendix A – House Level Layouts ......................................................................... 32
iii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 -- Monthly Natural Gas Consumption in 2011 ..................................................... 4
Table 2 -- Monthly Reactant CH4 ..................................................................................... 6
Table 3 -- Monthly Product CO2 & Heat .......................................................................... 6
Table 4 -- Daily Wind Speed in 2011 .............................................................................. 10
Table 5 -- Energy-Produced Evaluation of Wind Turbine .............................................. 13
Table 6 -- Solar Insolation in New London, CT .............................................................. 19
Table 7 -- The Duration of Daylight for 2011 in New London, CT [13] ........................ 19
Table 8 -- Monthly Produced Solar Energy (First-Half of Year 2011) ........................... 20
Table 9 -- Monthly Produced Solar Energy (Second-Half of Year 2011) ....................... 21
Table 10 -- Monthly Average Temperatures in 2011 ...................................................... 25
Table 11 -- Evaluation of Energy Loss without Window Insulation Film ...................... 25
Table 12 -- Evaluation of Energy Loss with Window Insulation Film ........................... 26
Table 13 -- Comparison of Energy Production ................................................................ 27
Table 14 -- Prices Comparison ........................................................................................ 28
Table 15 -- Comparison of Impact to Environment......................................................... 29
iv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 -- Connecticut Wind Speed Map ......................................................................... 9
Figure 2 -- Honeywell WT6500 Wind Turbine [19] ....................................................... 12
Figure 3 -- Solar Panel Diagram [17] .............................................................................. 15
Figure 4 -- ORION Series Solar Panel by ecoSolargy Inc. ............................................. 17
Figure 5 -- Solar Panels’ Arrangement on House Roof ................................................... 17
Figure 6 -- Map of Photovoltaic Solar Radiation in United States [11] .......................... 18
Figure 7 -- Installation Diagram of Window Insulation Film [15] [16] .......................... 23
Figure 8 -- Diagram of Window Dimensions .................................................................. 24
v
LIST OF CHARTS
Chart 1 -- Monthly Natural Gas Usages & Charges vs. Months in 2011 .......................... 4
Chart 2 -- Monthly Average Wind Speed in 2011 ........................................................... 11
Chart 3 -- Energy Production of 3 Wind Turbines in 2011 ............................................. 13
Chart 4 -- Monthly Solar Energy Production in 2011 ..................................................... 22
vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
My greatest acknowledgement is to my parents, who sacrificed a lot of valuable
things in their lives to pave a smooth road for my life and to bring me a good future.
vii
ABSTRACT
The massive carbon dioxide emission is the main reason attributed to global
warming and climate change. The rise of fossil fuel prices increases the cost of living of
people in these years. House heating is one of the activities directly associated with the
two issues indicated above. In New London, CT, most of houses have been built for a
few decades and used fossil fuel heating systems, like heating oil or natural gas furnaces
and boilers. These heating systems are old and low-efficient on fuel burning.
Additionally, the structure of those houses is built without the consideration of heatinsulation efficiency. Over winters, those heating systems must burn more fuels to
maintain a warm temperature inside the house due to low efficiency of heating
equipment and heat loss from poor heat-insulation, which eventually leads to the higher
cost for fuel and more emission of carbon dioxide. The objective of this project is,
through using my house as a reference, to estimate the amount of carbon dioxide
produced from traditional house heating system (focused on natural gas), evaluate the
chosen alternative solutions of sustainable energy (solar panels and wind turbines) and
the heat-insulated supplement (window insulation film) to reduce the dependence of
house heating on fossil fuels. After evaluating fossil fuel and alternative solutions, we
will compare the results of energy production, efficiency, costs of running and impact to
the environment from fossil fuel heating system, alternative energy and heat-insulated
supplement. The conclusion of this project is to evaluate the feasibility of the chosen
alternative solutions to substitute fossil fuel and find out what the good strategy of house
heating is for now and the future.
viii
1. INTRODUCTION
Global warming becomes a more and more serious issue as the dependence of
human society’s progress on fossil fuels rapidly increases. The average temperature of
the planet is up more than 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius). The warming
condition is even more sensitive on the polar regions. Polar ices and mountain glaciers
are melting worldwide. Sea levels are rising faster than before and covering some offshore areas. Climate change becomes more common on different continents, which
brings floods and droughts more often to human habitat areas where used to rarely
happen. These unexpected natural disasters make huge loss of human lives and big
impact to economy for human society. The root cause of all these problems is the
excessive emission of carbon dioxide from human activities. One of the main sources of
carbon dioxide emission is house heating. In the past 20th century, after fossil fuel
heating systems were invented, heating oil and natural gas became two major fossil fuels.
However, in the last two decades, the fossil fuel prices continuously soared as the
international, political and economic factors directly took effect on the crude oil’s
supply. Over the past ten years, the crude oil’s price starts from $23.00 per barrel in
2001 and skyrockets up to $87.04 per barrel in 2011. The soar of oil price doesn’t tend to
be stabilized but keeps climbing up. We can see and hear that the recent political
situation in Middle East becomes unstable, the main crude oil supplier countries reduce
their daily oil production, which leads to the rapid soar of crude oil. By the middle of
March 2012, the WTI crude oil price reaches $107.42 per barrel. Heating oil, as one of
liquid petroleum products refined from crude oil, must become more and more
expensive when crude oil market price increases. Although natural gas market price is
not significantly affect by the international crude oil price, natural gas pipe network is
not available everywhere but limited to some population-concentrated areas.
Additionally, before the contemporary architectural science’s development,
building contractors or designers used to never or rarely consider the heat-insulation
efficiency for their construction. The old houses which have thirty-years history or more
usually were with poor heat-insulation capacity. The heating systems inside these houses
must work harder, burning more fuels to maintain a warm temperature. This will
1
eventually increase carbon dioxide’s production and financially lead to a bigger expense
of fuel purchasing for house residents.
The cost of burning fossil fuels becomes more and more unaffordable for human
society not only financially, but also environmentally. House heating is a commodity to
human modern life every day, directly affected with the soar of fuel prices and the
environmental pollution. Therefore, finding alternative solutions to reduce or replace the
consumption of fossil fuels (heating oil and natural gas) for building heating systems
becomes
necessary
for
human
sustainable
environmentally.
2
development
economically
and
2. THEORY AND METHODOLOGY
The approach is focused on the evaluations of the traditional house heating systems
and the alternative solutions like sustainable energy or heat-insulation supplements,
based on the financial costs of the respective systems’ investment and the production of
carbon dioxide (CO2). The project will also evaluate the impact of their respective
byproduct CO2 to the environment. This project will use my residential house as
reference, which is a typical colonial-style house built at New London, Connecticut in
1970s. The house was built with single-wooden-floor structure and single-glazed
windows. Natural gas is the major burning fuel for my house heating and hot-water
boiler. The energy consumption of heating is evaluated by analyzing my monthly bills of
natural gas in 2011, finding out the amount of heat and carbon dioxide produced every
month. To evaluate the feasibility of using different solutions to substitute or replace the
fossil fuel house heating, the project assumes that the equipment of alternative energy
and heat-insulation supplements are set up for the same house, and to estimate the
amount of energy these equipment can possibly produce or prevent losing from the
house. The environment-evaluating data is based on my house’s location – New London,
CT. After getting the evaluated results of all the options, the comparisons will be based
on the amount of produced energy, the cost of investment by choosing the options and
the impacts to environment, to analyze their respective features and conclude this project.
2.1 ANALYSIS OF FOSSIL FUEL HEATING SYSTEM (NATURAL
GAS)
The current heating system in my house is a natural gas furnace and a natural gas
boiler, which converts chemical energy to heat, heating up the air and water to run
around the house. The charges of monthly natural gas bills in 2011 are shown in Table 1
below, showing the monthly consumption of natural gas from my house heating
system’s running, which will be seen as the criteria of energy production for other
evaluated alternative solutions.
3
Table 1 -- Monthly Natural Gas Consumption in 2011
Months, 2011
Gas Usage (CCF)
Num. of Days
Usage per day
Charge
January
206
31
6.65
$307.92
February
130
27
4.81
$195.39
March
115
29
3.97
$164.04
April
66
33
2
$101.95
May
24
30
0.8
$50.18
June
19
29
0.66
$43.06
July
17
33
0.52
$40.93
August
14
29
0.48
$37.16
September
15
29
0.52
$38.25
October
43
31
1.39
$77.41
November
81
31
2.61
$124.60
December
122
33
3.7
$171.73
Total
852
-
-
$1,352.62
Chart 1 -- Monthly Natural Gas Usages & Charges vs. Months in 2011
Natural Gas Usage
Monthly Charge
250
$350.00
$250.00
150
$200.00
$150.00
100
$100.00
50
$50.00
0
$0.00
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Months, 2011
4
9
10
11
12
Monthly Charges ($)
Natural Gas Usage (CCF)
$300.00
200
Note: The unit “CCF” means 100 cubic feet.
In 2011, the total consumed natural gas volume of my house is 85,200 cubic feet, and the
total charge for natural gas is $1,352.62.
Raw natural gas exploited from underground is a naturally produced hydrocarbon
gas mixture consisting of primarily 70-90% Methane (CH4), 0-20% combination of
Ethane (C2H6), Propane (C3H8) & Butane (C4H10), 0-8% Carbon Dioxide (CO2), 0-0.2%
Oxygen (O2), 0-5% Nitrogen (N2), 0-5% Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S), and some rare gases
(A, He, Ne, Xe) [6]. The natural gas delivered to residential house has been filtered to
remove most of the impurity by refining. Commercial natural gas is almost pure methane
(CH4) by 95% or up. In this project, the 5% or less of impurity will be ignored in the
calculation. When natural gas is transported to furnace or boiler, it will be combusted to
convert its chemical energy to thermal energy. The chemical reaction can be indicated
by the equation (2-1) below:
CH 4 [ g ]  2O2 [ g ]  CO2 [ g ]  2H 2O[l ]  891kJ
(2-1)
Ratio: 1 mole of CH4 reactant → 1 mole of CO2 product + 891 kJ heat
The density of natural gas 0.8 kg/m3 [5] [9] is used to estimate the mass of natural gas
that my house heating system burned every month in 2011, and the mole numbers of
methane molecules (CH4) is calculated by its mass in kilogram divided by its molecular
weight 16. Then, by using the ratio indicated in the chemical reaction above, the
molecule numbers of carbon dioxide and heat can be determined for every month. The
molecule numbers of carbon dioxide multiplied by its molecular weight 44 equals the
mass of carbon dioxide in kilogram released to environment. The calculation results are
indicated in Table 2 for reactant and Table 3 for products below.
5
Table 2 -- Monthly Reactant CH4
1
Natural
Gas
Volume
(ft3)
20,600
2
13,000
368
294
18,406
3
11,500
326
261
16,282
4
6,600
187
150
9,345
5
2,400
68
54
3,398
6
1,900
54
43
2,690
7
1,700
48
39
2,407
8
1,400
40
32
1,982
9
1,500
42
34
2,124
10
4,300
122
97
6,088
11
8,100
229
183
11,468
12
12,200
345
276
17,273
Month,
2011
Natural Gas
Volume (m3)
CH4 Mass
(kg)
CH4 Mass
(moles)
583
467
29,167
Table 3 -- Monthly Product CO2 & Heat
Month,
2011
Produced Heat
(kJ)
CO2 Mass
(moles)
CO2 Mass
(kg)
1
25,987,360
29,167
1,283
2
16,399,791
18,406
810
3
14,507,507
16,282
716
4
8,326,048
9,345
411
5
3,027,654
3,398
150
6
2,396,892
2,690
118
7
2,144,588
2,407
106
8
1,766,131
1,982
87
9
1,892,284
2,124
93
10
5,424,546
6,088
268
11
10,218,331
11,468
505
12
15,390,573
17,273
760
The two columns of the monthly produced heat and carbon dioxide above will be used
for the evaluation of the chosen alternative solutions. The goal for the alternative
6
solutions is to produce the equal amount or a considerably decent percentage of total
heat production of natural gas and eventually to reduce the dependence of house heating
on natural gas and decrease the emission of carbon dioxide.
2.2 EVALUATION OF SUSTAINABLE ENRGY
Sustainable energy is usually affected by geographical factors. The location of the
evaluated house, New London, CT is a shoreline city at the exit of Thame River to the
ocean, facing the Block Island Sound. Based on this geographical location, tidal energy
and wind energy will first come to our mind as preferences. After considering that this
project is focusing on individual house, tidal energy has to be taken out of the
considerable options because its equipment must be installed next to waterfront limited
its application for the inland houses. Wind energy becomes the most considerable
preference due to its widely available range. Besides that, solar energy can be the
another considerable option, because the oceanic weather keeps the sun out of cloud for
a lot of days in a year in New London and solar energy’s application is not limited by
landform. Therefore, this project will evaluate the alternative solutions of wind energy
and solar energy and their possible substitution to fossil fuel energy for house heating.
Except the alternative solution of sustainable energy, this project will also analyze the
easiest and most affordable way to save energy during house heating. Window insulation
film is the most considerable preference as a heat-insulation supplement and becomes
our evaluated option. Under the assumption of installing 3 units of Honeywell WT6500
Wind Turbines and/or 22 units of ORION Series Solar Panels on the roof of my house
due to my house’s area and shape, this project will evaluate the total energy produced by
the burning natural gas estimated from my monthly bills, and the project is also
evaluated the two alternative energies with the environmental data in 2011. Window
insulation film will also be separately evaluated its efficiency of heat-insulation as an
improved supplement. The project will eventually estimate the possible percentage of
the natural gas-conversed energy being substituted by the two alternative energies and
the saving energy with the installation of window insulation films.
7
2.2.1
APPLICATION OF WIND TURBINES
Wind Energy is a form of kinetic energy transmitted through air in motion. The
original source of wind energy is the internal energy of sun radiated to earth, absorbed
differently by land and sea where temperature gradient arises and causes convection and
pressure change, which eventually results in wind. Wind turbine is a device to convert
kinetic energy in wind to mechanical energy in running machinery of a generator, and
eventually convert to electrical energy by a generator. Wind energy, as an alternative
energy to substitute for fossil fuels, has a lot of advantages, including large source,
renewable cycle, widely distributed regions, clean production without greenhouse gas
emission as byproduct.
Though the features of wind power are very advantageous, the technology
requires a high initial investment than the cost of running a fossil fuel equipment. The
major cost of wind generating technology is the machinery and its equipment
preparation and installation. On a comparative basis of the total cost for wind generating
systems versus fossil-fueled systems on a lifetime running including the fuel and
operating expenses, the cost of energy produced by wind generating systems are much
more competitive with fossil-fueled systems because there is no fuel to purchase and
minimal operating expenses. The major challenge to extensively using wind energy as a
source of power is the intermittent running of wind turbine due to the lack of wind and
the surrounding obstruction.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Program and the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory (NREL) published a wind resource map for the state of Connecticut,
Figure 1. The resource map estimated the wind speed at 50 meters above the ground by
using a wind turbine with 50-60 meters hub height. To evaluate the different level of
wind, wind is classified by the wind classes from Class 1 (Lowest) to Class 7 (Highest)
according to wind power classes, which are based on wind speed frequency distributions
and air density. Class 4 and above are considered good wind resources and useful for
generating wind power with giant wind turbines. Class 3 is suitable for small or midsize
wind turbines like the home-rooftop wind turbine.
8
Figure 1 -- Connecticut Wind Speed Map
According to the wind resource map above, the New London County is estimated as
Class 2 for land area and Class 3 for shoreline area. For evaluating the feasibility of
applying wind generating technology in my house, it must be assumed that there are no
obstructions around the location of my house and the average wind speeds above my
house roof are similar to the wind speed data from Maritime Meteorological
Assimilation Data Ingest System in New London, CT.
The daily wind speed data [7] is specialized for New London area in 2011, as
documented in Table 4 based on Unit: Miles/Hour. The monthly average wind speeds
can be calculated by summing up the daily data and dividing by the total days of every
month.
9
Table 4 -- Daily Wind Speed in 2011
Day
Jan
Feb
1
10.5 11.4
2
8.5 13.7
3
20.6 15.9
4
13.4 17.2
5
12.3
9
6
6 22.8
7
16.6
3.4
8
10.6 14.1
9
22.2 22.1
10
19.9 16.5
11
7.5
15
12
24 15.9
13
19.8 18.7
14
15.1 14.9
15
10.9 26.1
16
15.2
15
17
11.2
9.9
18
19.1 13.3
19
10 29.3
20
13 22.4
21
18 12.2
22
10.5
17
23
17.1 15.8
24
13.1
8.2
25
8.2 20.4
26
10.9 14.9
27
21.2
10
28
5.8 14.6
29
8.8
30
9.8
31
9.3
13.52
15.7
Avg
(Unit: miles/hour)
Mar
18.1
22.5
16.1
12
16.3
20.3
27.4
9.5
18.2
30.1
17
21.9
13
10.4
6.9
14.7
9.3
19.2
18.4
11.5
17.3
9
10.2
12.3
16.7
18.5
16.1
19.9
16.8
13.2
12
15.96
Apr
18.5
19.4
20.7
11.9
25.8
19.9
8.9
8.6
6.7
5.7
14.2
12.9
23
12.2
14.1
29.4
26.3
15.1
9.6
10
19.3
10.6
18.4
8.1
4.9
8.4
6.4
22.2
10.3
13.6
14.5
May
12.5
5.9
11.9
10.2
18.1
4.2
7.8
10.2
17.2
7.9
17
10.5
6
7.7
12.8
10.5
11.9
20
14.3
7.7
5.3
9.8
14.8
11.4
8.9
10.3
7.6
8.2
6.8
10.1
9.5
10.55
Jun
11.4
11.5
21.1
11.1
7.9
7.8
9.5
9.4
7
10.3
20.2
12.4
7.5
8.5
10.3
7.6
11.9
8.3
7.9
9.3
6.5
7.9
8.9
9
8.8
6.9
7.6
6.2
11
15.9
9.987
Row “Avg”: Monthly Average Wind Speed
10
Jul
8.4
7.6
5.6
9.6
10.3
5.4
5.6
10.6
11
8.5
5.9
14.8
10.2
17.3
9.8
9
15.7
17.1
6.3
6.8
11.7
11.5
7.8
6.6
10
7.8
12.8
6.9
8.9
13.6
8.7
9.735
Aug
5.6
10.5
9
7.2
7.4
10.6
13
4
8
3
7
12.6
5.1
10.7
13
11.9
5.8
9.7
8.3
7
8
17.3
11
12.9
18.8
7.4
9.5
38
14
11.4
7.1
10.48
Sep
6.7
7.1
14.4
9
13.6
13.4
13.8
13.2
14.6
9.9
10.7
7.5
10.5
10.3
11.6
12.7
9.2
13.4
10.6
16.7
6.7
7.5
9.2
10
6.5
4.4
5.7
20.7
13.6
13.7
10.9
Oct
12.5
9.3
7.4
11
17.3
11.3
10.3
12.1
9.9
9.4
9.5
11.4
12.8
13
32.2
29.6
22.8
11.5
15.1
25.2
24.8
10.2
9.5
9.9
15.4
7.3
13.5
15
17.6
22.4
8.4
14.44
Nov
12.1
10.9
13.5
15.6
14.4
13.8
16.1
6.2
6.1
7.5
20.7
22.1
18.7
16.9
14.2
6.2
17.6
14.6
25.5
19.5
11.2
10
22.8
12
15.3
11.2
7.8
12.3
15
24.9
14.49
Dec
14.4
7.1
10.1
6.6
6.3
10.9
8.8
19.2
10
13.8
9.3
6.2
9.3
7.5
22.8
21.1
14
18.6
20.1
14.2
13.7
15.7
13.3
11.7
13.2
18.8
16.8
28.1
17.5
6.2
5
13.24
Chart 2 -- Monthly Average Wind Speed in 2011
Wind Speed
8.00
7.02
7.13
6.45
Average Wind Speed (m/s)
7.00
6.48
6.48
5.92
6.04
6.00
5.00
4.72
4.46
5
6
4.35
4.68
4.87
4.00
3.00
2.00
1.00
0.00
1
2
3
4
7
8
9
10
11
12
Months, 2011
Next, the data values of daily wind speed are conversed to SI unit, meter/hour and
illustrated in Chart 2 to reflect the variation of wind speed over the entire year. Chart 2
shows that the monthly average wind speeds over summer time are relatively slower
than the other seasons’, generally below 5 meter per second for May, June, July, August
& September, and around or above 6 meter per second for January, February, March,
April, October, November & December. These data will be used for the evaluation of
wind energy conversion below.
The wind energy technology is becoming more and more popular. There are
many different home wind turbine kits in the market. These wind turbines are featured
on different sizes, styles, efficiency, etc. In this project, we will focus on the efficiency
of the wind turbine. After research on the reputation of the manufacturers of producing
individual house wind turbines, the Honeywell WT6500 Wind Turbine with Blade Tip
Power System is chosen because it has a great reputation from the users’ rating and its
dependent wind speed to run the built-in generator can be as low as 2 miles per hour.
11
Figure 2 -- Honeywell WT6500 Wind Turbine [19]
Details:
 Measures 6 ft. tall.
 Weights 180 lbs.
 Gearless system featuring the Blade Tip Power System.
 120 AC/60 Hz.
 Low resistance – starts producing energy at 2 mph wind speed.
 2 mph cut-in speed with auto shut-down over 40 mph.
 Auto directional rotation. Installs on pole or roof mount.
 Quiet operation.
 Fully assembled.
(Source: Honeywellstore.com)
First, based on the wind speed data and the turbine size, the kinetic energy of wind per
second flowing through the wind turbine can be calculated by the equation (2-2) below,
P  12 A    u 3
(2-2)
where A is the rotating area of turbine blades; ρ is the density of air; u is the wind speed.
However, not all of the wind power can be extracted by a wind turbine. A partial kinetic
energy is carried downstream of the turbine in order to maintain air flow. Theoretically,
only maximum efficiency 59% of wind energy can be extracted from wind, known as the
Lanchester-Betz limit. The limit can be depicted by the equation (2-3) below,
Pmax  12 A    u 3  (16 / 27)
(2-3)
Under the assumption that the installed Honeywell wind turbines continuously run with
the monthly average wind speed above, we can estimate the total energy that three of the
12
Honeywell wind turbines can produce every month in 2011, as depicted in Table 5
below,
Table 5 -- Energy-Produced Evaluation of Wind Turbine
Month
Average Wind
Speed (m/s)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
6.04
7.02
7.13
6.48
4.72
4.46
4.35
4.68
4.87
6.45
6.48
5.92
Max. Wind
Energy
(kJ)
17579.25
27550.38
28929.19
21703.80
8350.08
7085.88
6564.55
8182.68
9204.78
21414.97
21644.00
16494.98
Total Energy Produced
by 1 Wind Turbine per
Month
544,957
771,411
896,805
651,114
258,852
212,577
203,501
253,663
276,143
663,864
649,320
511,344
Days
31
28
31
30
31
30
31
31
30
31
30
31
Total Energy Produced
by 3 Wind Turbines per
Month
1,634,870
2,314,232
2,690,415
1,953,342
776,557
637,730
610,503
760,989
828,430
1,991,592
1,947,960
1,534,033
The extractable wind energy through the three wind turbines is illustrated in Chart 3. The
chart shows that the seasons Winter, Spring and Fall have considerably high wind
resource in New London.
Chart 3 -- Energy Production of 3 Wind Turbines in 2011
Produced Energy by Wind
3,000,000
2,690,415
2,314,232
Produced Energy (kJ)
2,500,000
1,991,592
2,000,000
1,947,960
1,953,342
1,634,870
1,500,000
1,534,033
1,000,000
776,557
760,989
828,430
500,000
637,730 610,503
0
0
2
4
6
8
Month 2011
13
10
12
14
2.2.2
APPLICATION OF SOLAR PANELS
Solar panels are a group of photovoltaic cells connected electrically and arranged
systematically in a frame, which can directly convert sunlight into electricity. The
common material of photovoltaic cells is silicon, a semiconductor. Basically, when
sunlight strikes the cell panel, a portion of the light energy is absorbed within the
semiconductor material and stimulates the section of electrons within its material
structure. However, the pure crystalline structure of silicon is not a good conductor of
electricity. Because each silicon atom has 14 electrons and the two most interior shells
within the silicon-atomic configuration achieves filled status with 2 and 8 electrons from
inside to outside, leaving the other 4 electrons in the third shell (or the most exterior
shell), which lacks another 4 electrons to achieve 8-electrons-saturated configuration. In
order to reach the stable configuration, silicon atom will share its outer 4 electrons with
its neighbors to form crystals.
To make the electrons become loose within silicon crystal, some impurities are
purposefully mixed in with the silicon atoms. Phosphorous, as one kind of the impurities
added to silicon material, has five electrons in the outer shell. Four of the five electrons
within Phosphorous atom still bond with its neighboring silicon atoms. The last electron
of the five doesn’t create a bond with its neighboring atom but is still held in place
because of the positive proton in the Phosphorous nucleus. When sunlight strikes the
impure silicon, the incident light energy stimulates the unstable electrons of phosphorous
and silicon to break free and flow randomly around the crystalline lattice looking for
other electron-lacking atom and carrying an electrical current. The doped silicon
material with phosphorous is called N-type silicon because of the creation of free
electrons. The other part of a typical solar cell is made of the silicon material with
impurity boron, which only has totally 5 electrons, 2 of the 5 staying in the completed
interior shell and the other 3 electrons (instead of 4) flowing in its outer shell. This
doped silicon mixed with boron is called P-type silicon. In contrast with the free
electrons, P-type silicon has free openings at the exterior shell to attract electrons and
carries positive charge itself.
14
The N-type and P-type silicon are electrically neutral. When these two separate
pieces come into contact, current will flow easily in one direction but not in the other.
The region in the solar cell where the n-type and p-type silicon layers touch each other is
called the p-n junction. Extra valence electrons in the n-type layer move into the p-type
layer neutralizing the charge and forming a depletion zone, which does not contain any
flowing positive or negative charges but keeps other charges in the p- and n-type layers
from moving across, acting as a diode. When photons strike the solar cell, free electrons
in the n-type layer attempt to move to the p-type layer. An external conductive path can
be set up to allow electrons to flow through to reach their original side in the p-type layer.
The electron flow creates the current (I), and the p-n layers create an electric field
causing a voltage (V). As a product of current and voltage, power (P) is generated.
P V  I
(2-4)
.
Figure 3 -- Solar Panel Diagram [17]
Solar panels have been commercialized as a common product for more than
thirty years. We can easily find out its different applications around us, such as solar
calculators, traffic signs, building electric/heating source. Now, solar cells are primarily
being manufactured in Japan, Germany, mainland China, Taiwan and the United States.
Solar energy, like wind energy, becomes more and more popular as people start caring
for the green house effect and climate change due to the excessive emission of carbon
15
dioxide. However, the efficiency of solar cell is still a challenge to being popular for
general application. So far, the solar cell’s technological development can only create
the highest efficiency of a solar panel developed in the lab up to 40%. This experimental
solar panel is very expensive, not affordable for most of general population. Most of the
commercial solar panels being available in the market have the efficiency around 1218%. The most cost-effective choice of solar panels-purchasing is based on the balance
between the production cost of solar panels and the efficiency of solar panels high
enough for our targeted electrical consumption. According to the solar panels’ efficiency
research [20], the lowest-cost solar panels with the relatively highest efficiency are those
15-16% efficient solar panels for $120 and up depending on the peak-Watts, which is a
measurement of nominal power to compare one module with another and track industry
capacities.
The targeted solar panel shall be focused on its cost-efficiency in this project
because the project is to evaluate the feasibility of solar energy for general families.
After the research of the efficiencies and prices’ comparison from the different solar
panels in the market, the commercial solar panel ORION Series [18] with 15%
efficiency, which are manufactured by ecoSolargy Inc., are chosen as the reference
material of the solar energy equipment installed on the roof of my house. There is total
area 94.86 square meters, estimated with the 12:12 Roof Pitch Angle 45º [8], the 11.58meter (38-feet) length and the 5.79-meter (19-feet) width of the house. The chosen solar
panel’s dimensions are 1.636-meter Length x 0.994-meter Width x 0.040-meter
Thickness. Each of them requires 1.626-square-meters area from the roof, and by the
arrangement the roof area can be installed with 44 units of the chosen solar panel.
16
Figure 4 -- ORION Series Solar Panel by ecoSolargy Inc.
Solar Panels’ Array
Figure 5 -- Solar Panels’ Arrangement on House Roof
Next, the available amount of solar energy must be evaluated for the New London area.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory provides a Photovoltaic Solar Resource
Map (Figure 6), which represents the solar resource available to a flat plate collector
oriented due south at angle from horizontal to equal the latitude of the collector location.
17
Figure 6 -- Map of Photovoltaic Solar Radiation in United States [11]
From the solar distribution map above, we can basically know where the solar resource
is concentrated in the United States. When you look into Connecticut’s area, the color
code representing the solar insolation scale is around 4.0 – 4.5 kWh/m2/day. This value
is relatively low when compared to the other location in United States. To evaluate what
percentages of natural gas energy can be substituted by the solar energy in New
London’s area, the monthly solar insolation data in Connecticut is necessary for our
calculation. The solarpanelsplus.com [12] documents the Solar Insolation Levels in
North America sourced from NASA, which includes the monthly solar insolation data
for Hartford, CT. Since Hartford is very close to New London and their latitudes are not
much different, the solar insolation values of Hartford can be assumed to be the same for
New London and input to the evaluating calculation.
18
Table 6 -- Solar Insolation in New London, CT
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Yr Avg.
1.7
2.43 3.48
4.07
5.14
5.58
5.38
5.04
4.13
2.91
1.81
1.42
3.59
Unit: kWh/m2/day
The duration of daylight for 2011 in New London is provided in the table below.
Table 7 -- The Duration of Daylight for 2011 in New London, CT [13]
Day
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Jan
9.25
9.27
9.28
9.30
9.32
9.33
9.35
9.37
9.38
9.40
9.43
9.45
9.47
9.50
9.53
9.55
9.58
9.60
9.63
9.67
9.70
9.73
9.77
9.78
9.82
9.85
9.90
9.93
9.97
10.00
10.03
Feb
10.07
10.12
10.15
10.18
10.23
10.27
10.30
10.35
10.38
10.43
10.47
10.52
10.55
10.60
10.63
10.68
10.72
10.77
10.82
10.85
10.90
10.95
10.98
11.03
11.08
11.12
11.17
11.22
Mar
11.25
11.30
11.35
11.40
11.43
11.48
11.53
11.58
11.62
11.67
11.72
11.77
11.82
11.85
11.90
11.95
12.00
12.03
12.08
12.13
12.18
12.23
12.27
12.32
12.37
12.42
12.45
12.50
12.55
12.60
12.63
Apr
12.68
12.73
12.78
12.82
12.87
12.92
12.97
13.00
13.05
13.10
13.13
13.18
13.23
13.27
13.32
13.37
13.40
13.45
13.48
13.53
13.58
13.62
13.67
13.70
13.75
13.78
13.83
13.87
13.92
13.95
May
13.98
14.03
14.07
14.10
14.15
14.18
14.22
14.25
14.30
14.33
14.37
14.40
14.43
14.47
14.50
14.53
14.57
14.60
14.63
14.65
14.68
14.72
14.75
14.77
14.80
14.82
14.85
14.87
14.90
14.92
14.93
Jun
14.97
14.98
15.00
15.02
15.03
15.05
15.07
15.08
15.08
15.10
15.12
15.12
15.13
15.13
15.15
15.15
15.15
15.17
15.17
15.17
15.17
15.17
15.17
15.17
15.15
15.15
15.15
15.13
15.13
15.12
Jul
15.12
15.10
15.08
15.08
15.07
15.05
15.03
15.02
15.00
14.98
14.97
14.93
14.92
14.90
14.87
14.85
14.83
14.80
14.77
14.75
14.72
14.68
14.67
14.63
14.60
14.57
14.53
14.50
14.47
14.43
14.40
Aug
14.37
14.33
14.30
14.27
14.23
14.20
14.15
14.12
14.08
14.05
14.00
13.97
13.92
13.88
13.85
13.80
13.77
13.72
13.68
13.63
13.60
13.55
13.52
13.47
13.43
13.38
13.33
13.30
13.25
13.22
13.17
Sep
13.12
13.08
13.03
12.98
12.95
12.90
12.85
12.82
12.77
12.72
12.68
12.63
12.58
12.53
12.50
12.45
12.40
12.35
12.32
12.27
12.22
12.18
12.13
12.08
12.03
12.00
11.95
11.90
11.85
11.82
Oct
11.77
11.72
11.67
11.63
11.58
11.53
11.50
11.45
11.40
11.35
11.32
11.27
11.22
11.18
11.13
11.08
11.05
11.00
10.95
10.92
10.87
10.83
10.78
10.73
10.70
10.65
10.62
10.57
10.53
10.48
10.45
Nov
10.40
10.37
10.33
10.28
10.25
10.22
10.17
10.13
10.10
10.05
10.02
9.98
9.95
9.92
9.88
9.85
9.82
9.78
9.75
9.72
9.68
9.65
9.63
9.60
9.57
9.55
9.52
9.50
9.47
9.45
Unit: Hours
The daily solar energy (Esolar/day) produced by the solar panels can be calculated and
equal the product of the solar insolation (Sinsolation), the daily duration of daylight
19
Dec
9.42
9.40
9.38
9.37
9.33
9.32
9.30
9.28
9.28
9.27
9.25
9.23
9.23
9.22
9.22
9.20
9.20
9.20
9.18
9.18
9.18
9.18
9.18
9.18
9.20
9.20
9.20
9.22
9.22
9.23
9.23
(Tdaylight), the total area of the solar panels (Asolarpanels) and the working efficiency of the
solar panels (EF%), as depicted below,
E solar / day  S insolation  Tdaylight  Asolarpanels  EF %
(2-4)
After using the equation (2-4) above, the total daily and monthly solar energy are
calculated and indicated in Table 8 and 9 below
Table 8 -- Monthly Produced Solar Energy (First-Half of Year 2011)
Day
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Total
Jan
607
608
609
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
619
620
621
624
626
627
629
630
632
635
637
639
641
642
644
647
650
652
654
656
659
19,507
Feb
945
949
952
956
960
963
967
971
974
979
982
987
990
995
998
1,003
1,006
1,010
1,015
1,018
1,023
1,028
1,031
1,035
1,040
1,043
1,048
1,053
27,920
Mar
1,512
1,519
1,525
1,532
1,536
1,543
1,550
1,557
1,561
1,568
1,575
1,581
1,588
1,592
1,599
1,606
1,613
1,617
1,624
1,631
1,637
1,644
1,648
1,655
1,662
1,669
1,673
1,680
1,687
1,693
1,698
49,774
20
Apr
1,993
2,001
2,009
2,014
2,022
2,030
2,038
2,043
2,051
2,059
2,064
2,072
2,080
2,085
2,093
2,101
2,106
2,114
2,119
2,127
2,135
2,140
2,148
2,153
2,161
2,166
2,174
2,179
2,187
2,193
62,860
May
2,776
2,785
2,792
2,799
2,809
2,815
2,822
2,828
2,838
2,845
2,852
2,858
2,865
2,871
2,878
2,885
2,891
2,898
2,905
2,908
2,914
2,921
2,928
2,931
2,938
2,941
2,948
2,951
2,957
2,961
2,964
89,274
Jun
3,225
3,229
3,232
3,236
3,239
3,243
3,247
3,250
3,250
3,254
3,257
3,257
3,261
3,261
3,265
3,265
3,265
3,268
3,268
3,268
3,268
3,268
3,268
3,268
3,265
3,265
3,265
3,261
3,261
3,257
97,684
Table 9 -- Monthly Produced Solar Energy (Second-Half of Year 2011)
Day
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Total
Jul
3,141
3,137
3,134
3,134
3,130
3,127
3,123
3,120
3,116
3,113
3,109
3,102
3,099
3,096
3,089
3,085
3,082
3,075
3,068
3,064
3,057
3,051
3,047
3,040
3,033
3,026
3,019
3,012
3,006
2,999
2,992
95,426
Aug
2,796
2,790
2,783
2,777
2,770
2,764
2,754
2,747
2,741
2,735
2,725
2,718
2,709
2,702
2,696
2,686
2,679
2,670
2,663
2,653
2,647
2,637
2,631
2,621
2,614
2,605
2,595
2,589
2,579
2,572
2,563
83,210
Sep
2,092
2,087
2,079
2,071
2,065
2,057
2,049
2,044
2,036
2,028
2,023
2,015
2,007
1,999
1,994
1,986
1,978
1,970
1,964
1,956
1,948
1,943
1,935
1,927
1,919
1,914
1,906
1,898
1,890
1,885
59,664
Oct
1,322
1,317
1,311
1,307
1,302
1,296
1,292
1,287
1,281
1,275
1,272
1,266
1,260
1,257
1,251
1,245
1,242
1,236
1,230
1,227
1,221
1,217
1,212
1,206
1,202
1,197
1,193
1,187
1,184
1,178
1,174
38,649
Nov
727
725
722
719
716
714
711
708
706
702
700
698
695
693
691
688
686
684
681
679
677
674
673
671
669
668
665
664
662
661
20,730
Dec
516
515
515
514
512
511
510
509
509
508
507
506
506
505
505
504
504
504
504
504
504
504
504
504
504
504
504
505
505
506
506
15,721
Based on the monthly solar energy production data above, Chart 4 is drawn to show the
amount of the solar energy produced by using the 44 units of ORION Series solar panel
over months in 2011, and then to compare with the monthly energy production by
natural gas for the percentage of natural gas substituted with solar energy.
21
Chart 4 -- Monthly Solar Energy Production in 2011
Solar Energy
Produced Solar Energy (kJ)
120,000
97,684
100,000
95,426
83,210
89,274
80,000
59,664
62,860
60,000
49,774
38,649
40,000
20,730
27,920
20,000
19,507
15,721
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Month 2011
Chart 4 illustratively demonstrates that solar resource is rich over late Spring and
Summer seasons, which is reasonable according to our intuitional judgment.
2.2.3
APPLICATION OF WINDOW INSULATION FILMS
Window insulation film is an alternative solution to improve the heat-insulation
capacity of my evaluated house, meaning that it can reduce the heat loss/gain when a
differential temperature exists and directly decrease the workload of our house heating
systems to maintain a comfortable temperature inside the houses. Window insulation
film is simply a plastic transparent/tinted film that can be attached parallel to a window
glazing with sealing spacer between them, creating an air dam between the glazing and
the film, generally about 0.013 meter (0.5 inch) thick, in order to prevent from the
convective heat transfer and reduce heat flow through the window. This concept is
simply based on the large difference between the thermal conductivity of glass 0.96
W/(m.K) [3] and the thermal conductivity of air 0.024 W/(m.K) [3]. When there is a
differential temperature between inside and outside of a house and the windows are the
thinnest boundary of a house between indoor and outdoor separated with only single22
glazing, the side with lower temperature will extract heat from the other side with higher
temperature, meaning the energy loss from the inside of the house. Since the thermal
conductivity of glass is relatively higher, the heat-extracting process will be faster. If
there is a media with lower thermal conductivity added into the process, it can slow
down the heat transferring process. Air is the ideal media to achieve this result because
its thermal conductivity is only 0.024 W/(m.K).
Figure 7 -- Installation Diagram of Window Insulation Film [15] [16]
To evaluate the heat transfer or the energy loss (q) through windows in my house,
q  q" Atotal _ wg
(2-5)
the heat flux (q”) and the total area of all the windows in my house are necessary. The
total area of windows is 18.78 square meters, which includes 21 units of the floor
windows (0.86 m2 each) and 7 units of the basement windows (0.12 m2 each). Please see
Appendix A – House Level Layouts.
23
Figure 8 -- Diagram of Window Dimensions
The heat flux can be calculated by the equation (2-6) below,
q"  k
T1  T2
T
k
L
L
(2-6)
where k is the thermal conductivity, T1 is the high temperature, T2 is the low temperature
and L is the thickness of material.
First, the energy loss through the single-glazing windows in my house can be
calculated with all the known factors within the equations (2-5) and (2-6) above. The
thermal conductivity of glass is 0.96 W/(m.K), the thickness of the window glass is
around 0.004763 meter (3/16 inch) [4]. In this project, I assume the interior temperature
of the house to be maintained at 294.3K (70°F or 21.1°C) for 14 hours (between 6PM –
8AM), when is usually the time for residents staying in house and the heat is turned on.
Note: the negative values in the “Differential Temp” column mean the outdoor
temperatures are higher than the indoor temperature. In that case, there is not heat loss
but heat gain to the house.
24
Table 10 -- Monthly Average Temperatures in 2011
Month 2011
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Avg Temp (°F)
21.8
29.7
38.7
51
62
67.8
76.3
71.3
67.2
53.2
46.4
37.6
Avg Temp (°C)
-5.7
-1.3
3.7
10.6
16.7
19.9
24.6
21.8
19.6
11.8
8.0
3.1
Avg Temp (K)
267.5
271.9
276.9
283.7
289.8
293.0
297.8
295.0
292.7
284.9
281.2
276.3
Differential Temp, ΔT (K)
26.8
22.4
17.4
10.6
4.4
1.2
-3.5
-0.7
1.6
9.3
13.1
18.0
After we get the differential temperatures for every month, we can input the data to the
equation (2-6) to evaluate how much energy is loss every month through the singleglazing windows, as depicted in Table 11.
Table 11 -- Evaluation of Energy Loss without Window Insulation Film
Month
2011
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
q_wg", Heat
Flux (W/m^2)
5397.7
4513.0
3505.2
2127.7
895.9
246.4
-705.5
-145.6
313.6
1881.4
2642.9
3628.3
q_wg, Heat
Flow (W)
101358.6
84745.9
65820.0
39954.6
16823.0
4626.3
-13248.1
-2733.7
5888.1
35328.3
49627.9
68133.2
Energy Loss in
14 hrs per day
(6PM - 8 PM) (kJ)
5,108,475
4,271,194
3,317,329
2,013,714
847,880
233,167
-667,705
-137,780
296,758
1,780,547
2,501,245
3,433,913
Total Energy
Loss per Month
(kJ)
158,362,725
119,593,427
102,837,205
60,411,426
26,284,270
6,995,007
-20,698,862
-4,271,194
8,902,737
55,196,966
75,037,351
106,451,292
Using the same method but replacing the different thermal conductivity 0.024 W/(m.K)
for air and the thickness of air gap 0.013 meter (0.5 inch), the energy loss after installing
the window insulation films can be calculated in Table 12 below. The energy-saving
amount after installing the window insulation films can be calculated by subtracting the
energy loss without the insulation films from the energy loss with the insulation films.
25
Table 12 -- Evaluation of Energy Loss with Window Insulation Film
Month
2011
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
q_air", Heat
Flux (W/m^2)
50.60
42.31
32.86
19.95
8.40
2.31
-6.61
-1.36
2.94
17.64
24.78
34.02
q_air, Heat
Flow (W)
950.2
794.5
617.1
374.6
157.7
43.4
-124.2
-25.6
55.2
331.2
465.3
638.7
Energy Loss in 14
hrs per day (6PM 8 PM) (kJ)
47,892
40,042
31,100
18,879
7,949
2,186
-6,260
-1,292
2,782
16,693
23,449
32,193
Total Energy
Loss per Month
(kJ)
1,484,651
1,121,188
964,099
566,357
246,415
65,578
-194,052
-40,042
83,463
517,472
703,475
997,981
Saving Energy
per Month (kJ)
156,878,074
118,472,239
101,873,106
59,845,069
26,037,855
6,929,429
-20,504,811
-4,231,151
8,819,273
54,679,495
74,333,875
105,453,311
The “Total Energy Loss per Month” column after installing window insulation film
means that the amount of heat is transferred from the film boundary to the window
glazing boundary and then pass through the glazing to outdoor, or reverse the process as
gaining heat. The heat loss per month is efficiently reduced by the film’s insulation when
comparing to the condition without the film. The last column “Saving Energy per
Month” indicates that the significant amount of energy can be saved over the cold/cool
seasons and the tremendous amount of heat can be blocked outside the house over the
hot season with the usage of window insulation film. The trapped air room created by
window insulation film can decrease the heat flow rate theoretically by 99%.
26
3. RESULTS
The results in this project are primarily focused on three topics, respectively the
energy efficiencies, costs and impacts on the environment, as the analytical factors of
comparisons. To evaluate the energy efficiencies, the monthly energy production data
from natural gas and wind energy and solar energy is listed in Table 13 below for
comparison. The 2nd column “Natural Gas Energy” is the heat produced by natural gas
every month and calculated from Section 2.1 of this report. These values are the monthly
energy demands of my house for heating system, and they are the criteria for the other
alternative energy to be evaluated. The 3rd column “Wind Energy” and 4th column “Solar
Energy” are respectively produced by using the chosen wind turbine and solar panels,
respectively calculated from Section 2.2.1 and 2.2.2.
Table 13 -- Comparison of Energy Production
Wind
Energy
(kJ)
Solar
Energy
(kJ)
1
Natural
Gas
Energy
(kJ)
25,987,360
19,507
Substituted
% of Wind
Energy to
Fossil Fuel
6.3%
Substituted
% of Solar
Energy to
Fossil Fuel
0.1%
Total
Substuted
% to
Natural Gas
6.4%
1,634,870
2
16,399,791
2,314,232
27,920
14.1%
0.2%
14.3%
3
14,507,507
2,690,415
49,774
18.5%
0.3%
18.9%
4
8,326,048
1,953,342
62,860
23.5%
0.8%
24.2%
5
3,027,654
776,557
89,274
25.6%
2.9%
28.6%
6
2,396,892
637,730
97,684
26.6%
4.1%
30.7%
7
2,144,588
610,503
95,426
28.5%
4.4%
32.9%
8
1,766,131
760,989
83,210
43.1%
4.7%
47.8%
9
1,892,284
828,430
59,664
43.8%
3.2%
46.9%
10
5,424,546
1,991,592
38,649
36.7%
0.7%
37.4%
11
10,218,331
1,947,960
20,730
19.1%
0.2%
19.3%
12
15,390,573
1,534,033
15,721
10.0%
0.1%
10.1%
Month
2011
From the 5th and 6th columns, we can see the percentage of the substituted natural gas
with alternative energy over the evaluated year 2011. The wind-generated energy values
at May, June, July, August & September are relatively low compared to the other months,
but the wind speed is relatively stable at New London’s area and the energy demand of
my house over these months is not high due to the warm temperature. So the attainable
27
wind energy can substitute a decent percentage of natural gas energy (with maximum up
to 43.8%). In contrast, the attainable available solar energy can only substitute a small
percentage of natural gas energy (with maximum up to 4.7%).
The cost of the alternative energy is the critical issue for general application.
Though the technologies of wind turbine and solar panel have developed for many
decades, their energy-converting equipment are still relatively expensive to general
families, and the popularization of their application is relatively slow. This is because the
current fossil fuel energy is relatively cheap compared to the initial investment of
alternative energy, the energy-converting equipment and resource exploitation of fossil
fuel require low cost due to their mature technology. Their cost-features can be reflected
in Table 14.
Table 14 -- Prices Comparison
Natural
Gas Cost
$1,352.62
per year
Wind Energy Cost
Wind Turbine
(per unit)
3 Units
Inverter
System Meter
Charge Controller
Battery Bank [14]
Total
Solar Energy Cost
$5,495.00
$16,485.00
$1,995.00
$35.00
$64.00
$8,455.00
$27,034.00
Solar Panel
(per unit)
44 Units
Inverter
System Meter
Charge Controller
Battery Bank [14]
Total
$232.97
$10,250.68
$1,995.00
$35.00
$64.00
$8,455.00
$20,799.68
Window
Insulation Film
Film
(per
Unit)
$14.95
8 Units
$119.60
Total
$119.60
Window insulation film is not an alternative energy, but it is an affordable and effective
alternative solution to reduce the cost of house heating and decrease the dependence of
house heating on fossil fuels. Its affordable price and easy technology make it as a good
option for all the house owners.
The impact of over-utilizing fossil fuels becomes a serious issue to our
environment, and it has raised the alarm to people’s awareness. Climate change, green
house effect and environmental degradation have directly affected our daily life due to
the excessive emission of carbon dioxide. Seeking an alternative solution to substitute
fossil fuels partially/completely has becomes an urgent subject for human’s sustainable
development. The impact resulting from a new energy technology to environment is an
important factor of popularization for general public. Thus, all the different alternative
28
energies must have a common feature – no pollution. Then, we can look at the
comparison between natural gas, wind energy, solar energy and window insulation film
on their impact to environment, as depicted in Table 15.
Table 15 -- Comparison of Impact to Environment
Technology for
House Heating
Impact to
Environment
Natural Gas
Wind Energy
Solar Energy
Window
Insulation Film
3,881.28 kg of
CO2 per year
No Pollution
No Pollution
No Pollution
The emission of carbon dioxide 3,881.28 kg from my house heating system per year is
equal the amount of carbon dioxide produced by a car per year. Wind energy and solar
energy can create no pollution when their running. Window insulation film is an
effective alternative solution to save fossil fuels and reduce the cost of house heating.
29
4. CONCLUSION
According to the analysis of natural gas and the alternative solutions in this
project, we can realize that the alternative energy is still not mature to totally replace the
fossil fuel energy for house heating purpose due to expensive investment of equipment,
topographical or geographical or timing limitation, difficulty of energy-conversing
technology, etc. Fossil fuel energy still has the advantage of being mature technology
and the easy conversion of its energy form, which make it relatively cheaper than other
alternative energy by now and in a coming long time. Moreover, wind energy and solar
energy have relatively low-efficient for house heating purpose in Connecticut’s inland
area because wind and solar sources are not plentiful in Connecticut and house heating
requires massive amount of energy. Though wind energy is not ideal for house heating,
it is a feasible option to supply electricity for other low-loading appliances in a house.
Besides the alternative energy, as an alternative solution, the application of window
insulation film is an affordable and efficient way to reduce the cost of annual house
heating by decreasing the heat loss through windows. Additionally, window insulation
film does not cause any pollution itself and not require high technique or cost for its
installation or maintenance.
Conclusively, although the burning process of fossil fuels brings a massive
byproduct to affect our life and environment, people still have to rely on fossil fuel for in
the coming decades. However, we do not have to totally rely on fossil fuel or completely
replace it by alternative energy. The combined utilization of both fossil fuel energy and
alternative energy is a significant solution for now. As technology of alternative energy
gets developed further, we can gradually reduce the dependence of human activities on
fossil fuel step by step, and eventually go to green energy. Because of the high-cost issue,
unstable reliability, difficulty of technological development, the general application of
alternative energy is a big challenge for general families. Governments and other relative
agencies and media shall take the role of director or leader to promote the development
and utilization of green energy technology, create more beneficial policies to motivate
people’s awareness on caring for our environment through using green energy, green
energy is only choice for our sustainable development in the future.
30
5. REFERENCES
[1] John Andrews & Nick Jelley, Energy Science – principles, technologies, and
impacts, Oxford University Press Inc. 2007.
[2] Incropera / DeWitt / Bergman / Lavine, Fundamental of Mass and Heat Transfer,
6th Edition, John Wiley and sons, Inc. 2007
[3] http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html
[4] http://www.buzzle.com/articles/window-glass-thickness.html
[5] http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/gas-density-d_158.html
[6] http://www.naturalgas.org/overview/background.asp
[7] http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=MLDLC
3&day=9&year=2012&month=3&graphspan=month
[8] http://www.pole-barn.info/roof-pitch.html
[9] http://www.wolframalpha.com/entities/common_materials/natural_gas/ue/ey/zm/
[10] http://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_pri_sum_dcu_nus_m.htm
[11] http://www.nrel.gov/gis/images/map_pv_us_annual_may2004.jpg
[12] http://www.solarpanelsplus.com/solar-insolation-levels/
[13] http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/Dur_OneYear.php
[14] http://www.wholesalesolar.com/battery-banks.html
[15] http://www.windotherm.com/Replacement-windows-howitworks.htm
[16] http://www.spacewindowinsulation.com/
[17] http://www.greenenergygreenhome.com/solar-photovoltaic-system
[18] http://www.ecosolargy.com/products/orion-series
[19] http://www.honeywellstore.com/store/products/honeywell-wt6500-wind-turbinewith-blade-tip-power-system.htm
[20] http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/solar_panels.htm
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6. Appendix A – House Level Layouts
32
33
34