The Feasibility of Using Zero-Emission Electric Boats to Enhance the Techno-Economic Performance of an Ocean-Energy-Supported Coastal Hotel Building

Xinman Guo, Sunliang Cao, Yang Xu and Xiaolin Zhu
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Xinman Guo: Renewable Energy Research Group (RERG), Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Construction and Environment, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
Sunliang Cao: Renewable Energy Research Group (RERG), Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Construction and Environment, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
Yang Xu: Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
Xiaolin Zhu: Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-42

Abstract: The topics of zero-emission/energy buildings and electric mobility are increasingly being discussed as solutions to alleviate the environmental burden caused by energy consumption and CO 2 emissions in both sectors. This study investigates a zero-energy hotel building supported by a hybrid ocean renewable energy system, which interacts with several zero-emission electric boats. Nine different combinations of floating photovoltaics (FPV) and wave energy converters (WEC) are investigated to compensate for their different fluctuations and the stochasticity of energy generation. Using TRNSYS 18 to perform modeling and simulation, a comprehensive techno-economic-environmental analysis of the hybrid system was conducted. The results indicate that when the total annual generation ratios of WEC and FPV are 76% and 24%, respectively, this combination can achieve the best energy weighted matching index (WMI). The WMI reached its maximum (0.703) when 16 boats were sailing at 15 km/h for a distance of 7.5 km. However, increasing the number of boats to 16 does not help improve economic returns or reduce the annual operational equivalent CO 2 emission factor of the hybrid system. Depending on the maximum number of electric boats designed for this study, the non-dominated WMI would be limited to 0.654.

Keywords: ocean renewable energy; coastal hotel building; zero-emission boat; nearly zero-energy hotel; electric boat-to-building; energy matching (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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