The phrase ‘emergy baseline’ refers to the total yearly environmental support to the geobiosphere in terms of the emergy concept, and should include all three fundamental sources of exergy (i.e. sunlight, tidal exergy and deep earth heat). Ever since its introduction, the emergy baseline has undergone a continuous revision process, which, however, has so far focussed on the underlying equations...

The use of exergy to correlate energy-utilization efficiencies and energy research investments is described. Specifically, energy and exergy losses are compared with energy research and development expenditures, demonstrating that the latter correlates with energy losses, even though it would be more sensible to allocate energy research and development funding in line with exergy losses, as the...

In this study, an analysis of energy and exergy utilization in the utility sector of Jordan by considering the sectoral energy and exergy flows for the years 2007-2011 has been conducted based on real data obtained from main generators in Jordan. The overall energy and exergy efficiencies, for the entire utility sector, are found to be in the range of 35.1 to 38.1%. It is expected that the resu...

In this article, the first and second law analysis of diesel engine based cogeneration system was performed. Fuel utilization efficiency, rate of power, and rate of process heat of the plant were determined and various efficiencies based on both energy and exergy methods and the performance assessment parameters are defined for both the system components and the entire cogeneration plant. The o...

Given the likelihood that carbon-based fuels will continue to play a major role in electricity generation, carbon capture and storage systems will be a necessary part of future generating capacity. With this research project, we aim to develop a framework for quantitative evaluation of existing and proposed carbon-capture technologies. This framework is based on an exergy-based systems analysis...

All real processes generate entropy and the power/exergy loss is usually determined by means of the Gouy-Stodola law. If the system only exchanges heat at the environmental temperature, the Gouy-Stodola law gives the correct loss of power. However, most industrial processes exchange heat at higher or lower temperatures than the actual environmental temperature. When calculating the real loss of...

A solar-aided coal-fired power plant realizes the integration of a fossil fuel (coal or gas) and clean energy (solar). In this paper, a conventional 600 MW coal-fired power plant and a 600 MW solar-aided coal-fired power plant have been taken as the study case to understand the merits of solar-aided power generation (SAPG) technology. The plants in the case study have been analyzed by using the...

Intensified mineral consumption and reserve depletion means that it is becoming increasingly important for policymakers to account for and manage national mineral capital. Exergy replacement costs (ERC), an indicator based on the second law of thermodynamics, provides a physical value of mineral loss. When only a unit mass analysis is used, the role of scarcer minerals, such as gold, is obscure...

In this paper, a hybrid solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and micro gas turbine (MGT) power system is parametrically studied to evaluate the effect of different operating conditions. The SOFC/MGT power system includes SOFC reactor, combustion chamber, compressor and turbine units, and two heat exchangers. The effects of fuel utilization, temperature, and pressure are assessed on performance of t...