Energy Analysis of Using Solar Thermal Systems for Power Generation in Residential Buildings in Shiraz

Increasing concern exists over the use of conventional sources of energy and fuels and their environmental impacts on living organisms including human health. The use of renewable energy has grown at a rate faster than any other time in human life. The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of using solar thermal power systems as a replacement of conventional fuels in a residential building in the Middle East in 2016. Energy demand and consumption of the buildings were determined based on the calculations obtained from Carrier software. Following the selection of appropriate equipment, the solar thermal power system was designed and subsequently required data for analysis and simulation were collected. RETScreen software was applied to simulated results (based on the solar radiation on tilted surfaces) in order to obtain solar fraction, and energy saving. This data was later used for performance analysis of the Solar Water Heater (SWH) systems. Shiraz is one of the largest city located in south of Iran. Shiraz has four distinct climate and is mainly known as a hot semi-arid climate. Its weather is only a little short of a hot-summer Mediterranean climate. Summers are hot, with a July average high of 38.8 °C (101.8 °F). Winters are cool, with average low temperatures below freezing in December and January, with mostly sunny weather, so there is a lot of place with these similar conditions which we can use the results for them. The results also showed that there is a possible solar thermal power systems can save 48% of energy in Shiraz. This findings indicate that it is technically feasible to produce cost-effective energy from solar thermal panels in the city of Shiraz.

Keywords:

Energy , Renewable Energy , Solar Thermal Power , Residential building , GHG , Green House Gases , Iran