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Bangladesh is blessed with abundant solar resources. Solar power is considered the most desirable energy source to mitigate the high energy demand of this densely populated country. Although various articles deal with solar energy applications in Bangladesh, no detailed review can be found in the literature. Therefore, in this study, we report on the current scenario of renewable energy in Bangladesh and the most significant potential of solar energy's contribution among multiple renewable energy resources in mitigating energy demand. One main objective of this analysis was to outline the overall view of solar energy applications in Bangladesh to date, as well as the ongoing development of such projects. The technical and theoretical solar energy potential and the technologies available to harvest solar energy were also investigated. A detailed techno-economic design of solar power applications for the garment industry was also simulated to determine the potential of solar energy for this specific scenario. Additionally, renewable energy policies applied in Bangladesh to date are discussed comprehensively, with an emphasis on various ongoing projects undertaken by the government. Moreover, we elaborate global insight into solar power applications and compare Bangladesh's current solar power scenario with that of other regions worldwide. Furthermore, the potential of artificial intelligence to accelerate solar energy enhancement is delineated comprehensively. Therefore, in this study, we determined the national scenarios of solar power implementation in Bangladesh and projected the most promising approaches for large-scale solar energy applications using artificial intelligence approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and the associated global warming raise the possibility of weather-related natural disasters. Power outages due to natural catastrophes cause substantial financial loss. Moreover, an uninterrupted power supply is essential in disaster-prone areas to continue rescue and other humanitarian activities. Therefore, energy systems must be resilient to withstand power outages due to natural events. Resilience and enhancement techniques, and schemes of integrated electricity and microgrids' heat demand during power outages, were mainly overlooked in the earlier analysis. Therefore, this analysis aims to analyze a grid-tied microgrid's survivability during a power outage due to a natural disaster in Texas, USA. Mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) is used to optimize various energy resources, such as PV, battery, grid, and combined heat and power (CHP) for Texas, USA. These technologies were run in an outage condition to observe their resiliency benefits. To determine the resilience performance of the CHP/PV/battery system for the hospital building, a new probabilistic approach was applied. A 24-h outage was simulated in REopt lite software, and this study found that the PV/battery/CHP system could easily withstand the outage. The optimum system consists of 3933 kW of PV, 4441 kWh of storage, and a CHP unit having a capacity of 208 kW. The proposed microgrid emits 79.81% less CO2 than the only grid system. The microgrid has a net benefit of $1,007,204 over the project duration. The introduction of the proposed microgrid will bring about life-cycle savings (LCS) of 37.02 million USD over the project's lifespan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy is an essential need of people; however, people living in displacement settings are often deprived of this basic need. Connecting refugee camps through the main grid is challenging due to their locations. Biogas is an energy source that can be implemented to address the energy need of refugee camps. Implementation of biogas technology can help to reach sustainable development goal-7 (SDG 7) and its synergies in refugee camps. Therefore, in this study, the contribution of biogas in achieving sustainable development goals is presented to address the current gap in the literature. For this, Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh were considered as a case study. The waste situation in Rohingya refugee camps is highlighted and considered. Generated biogas from the organic fraction municipal solid (OFMSW) was used to determine the LPG cylinder reduction potential in Rohingya refugee camps. Approximately 497,587 LPG cylinders can be replaced if biogas is used in cooking activities. Moreover, compared to wood fuel, biogas used in cookstoves emits 85% less greenhouse gas. This study underlines the importance of further research to determine the prospective use of biogas in clean cooking in refugee camps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the significance of environmental aspects, the modeling of hybrid systems should be performed with the lowest cost and environmental pollution. Therefore, an effective and optimum sizing method can ensure acceptable performance. This paper implements a "technique for order performance by similarity to the ideal solution" (TOPSIS) method combined with the "analytic hierarchy process (AHP)" method to size a standalone system based on techno-economic parameters. For this reason, a survey was conducted to collect local load data on Monpura Island, located in Bhola, Bangladesh. Visible and design faults of the existing PV/diesel mini-grid have also been identified. Five alternative hybrid configurations have been considered as to evaluate the best optimum system. Two economic and one environmental criterion was used to size the system. Two experts specialized in energy systems evaluated the criteria and proposed the suitable system. Battery, wind and PV capital cost multipliers have been considered as to perform sensitivity analysis. According to techno-economic analysis and expert opinion, PV/biogas/wind has been found to be the most appropriate system among these configurations. The system has a cost of electricity (COE) of 0.691 (USD/kWh) and emits only 4.43 kg of CO2 per year. The net present cost of the proposed system is 18% lower than the existing microgrid, and the model has lower emissions due to high renewable penetration. It was also found that integrating wind can significantly reduce battery capacity in the mini-grid. The proposed system consumes 34% less batteries than the existing system. Implementing this optimum system can result in greater benefit to the local people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current environmental catastrophes generating from fossil fuel power generation has attracted the attention of energy planners to look for sustainable energy sources. Hydropower is one of the oldest energy sources that have been utilized all over the world to generate electricity, especially in remote areas. Being one of the most densely populated countries, the majority of power demand is fulfilled from fossil fuel. Despite having lots of rivers, Bangladesh has not explored its true potential. So, this paper presents a comprehensive review of the current hydropower potential in Bangladesh. Locations having hydropower potential is evaluated. Different technologies used for hydropower generation have been reviewed. Moreover, global hydropower potential has also been discussed in this study. Based on the economic and environmental study, it is found that small scale hydropower is most feasible in Bangladesh to provide sustainable energy. With a reasonable flow rate, 232 rivers of Bangladesh can be utilized small scale hydropower generation as well as ensuring energy security for remote people. The current study is believed to provide useful information in advancing the generation of hydropower based electricity in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transportation sector is one of the core parts of modern civilization. Proper utilization of energy and exergy in this sector is necessary to ensure energy loss and environmental sustainability. Increasing exergy efficiency will reduce carbon emissions from this sector. Since 1970, Reistad estimates have been widely used to determine the energy and exergy efficiencies of this sector. However, the modern transport sector has undergone significant changes in recent decades. Hence, it is necessary to apply new Reistad estimates in determining the energy and exergy efficiencies. This is the first study to apply updated Reistad estimates to explore the energy and exergy efficiencies in the transportation sector of Bangladesh based on the data from 2000 to 2017. The overall exergy efficiency is significantly lower than the energy efficiencies as it ranges from 27.7% to 30.0%. Efficiencies are lower as the maximum portion of input exergy is lost to the environment. The road subsector needs major improvements as it is responsible for major amount of exergy loss. A comparison is made between conventional and updated estimates which highlights that the updated estimates provide more accurate results. Thus, it is recommended to apply updated Reistad estimates in determining the energy and exergy efficiencies of the transport sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reviewed the aspects of the production of bioethanol from the agricultural residues available in Bangladesh. The crop residues such as rice, wheat, sugarcane, corn, cotton, jute, and sugarcane have great potential for energy generation in a sustainable and eco-friendly way in Bangladesh, as these residues are available in large quantities. Bioethanol is an alternative fuel to gasoline that provides comparable performance results. Bioethanol from these residues can be used for transportation purposes, as it does not require any major modifications to the spark-ignition engine configuration when using E5 blend (5% Ethanol mixed with 95% of the gasoline). In Bangladesh, approximately 65.36 Mt of agricultural residues are available from the major crops, from which 32 Mt bioethanol can be generated. This study is expected to provide useful concise data with regards to the beneficial utilization of agricultural residues for bioethanol production in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, the agriculture sector consumes a considerable portion of energy. Optimizing energy consumption and energy loss from different fuel-based types of machinery will increase the energy sustainability of this sector. Exergy analysis is a useful optimizing method that applies the thermodynamic approach to minimize energy loss. The main goal of this study is to highlight the impact of exergy loss on the energy sustainability of the agriculture sector. Hence, this study focuses on the implementation of exergy-based sustainability parameters to determine the sustainability of the agricultural sector in Bangladesh. A comprehensive analysis combining energy, exergy, and sustainability indicators was conducted based on the data obtained from 1990 to 2017. Overall energy and exergy efficiencies varied between 29.86% and 36.68% and 28.2% and 35.4%, respectively, whereas the sustainability index varied between 1.39 and 1.54. The values of relative irreversibility and lack of productivity indices from diesel fuel are higher than that of other fuel types. Maximum relative irreversibility is 0.95, whereas maximum lack of productivity is 2.50. The environmental effect factor of diesel fuel is the highest (2.47) among all the analyzed fuel types. Replacing old farming devices and selecting appropriate farming methods, appliances, and control systems will reduce exergy loss in this sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• First exergy analysis applied on rural residential sector of Bangladesh. • Exergetic sustainability indicators are applied to address sustainability. • About 95% of the fuel is depleted from this sector and SI is lower as 1.05. • Environmental destruction index of 39.10 and lowest environmental benign index of 0.03. • Biomass based cookstoves should be replaced for ensuring sustainability. To achieve sustainable development in all stages of society the participation of rural communities is essential. Rural communities are known to employ energy inefficient devices which lead to major energy depletion and this has a negative impact on sustainability. Exergy and sustainability analyses can be applied to highlight the relation between energy utilization and sustainability. Keeping this in mind, the current study focuses on the integration of conventional sectoral exergy analysis and sustainability analysis. Based on forecasted data between 2010 and 2050, a case study of Bangladesh's rural residential sector is investigated in terms of energy, exergy, and sustainability analyses. The energy efficiencies of this sector are found to vary between 18.96% and 31.53% while exergy efficiencies vary between 4.86% and 8.42%. Several exergetic sustainability indicators such as depletion number, sustainability index, environmental effect factor, waste exergy ratio, environmental destruction coefficient, environmental destruction index, and environmental benign index are used to highlight the sustainability of this sector. From the sustainability analysis, it is found that 95% of the fuel is depleted from this sector and it contributes to lower sustainability index of 1.05. Waste exergy ratio from biomass varies between 0.75 and 0.93. This sector has the highest environmental destruction index of 39.10 and lowest environmental benign index of 0.03. Efficient use of biomass resources, replacing old biomass stoves and developing energy policies using exergy can improve the sustainability of this sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Banana stem is being considered as the second largest waste biomass in Malaysia. Therefore, the environmental challenge of managing this huge amount of biomass as well as converting the feedstock into value-added products has spurred the demand for diversified applications to be implemented as a realistic approach. In this study, banana stem waste was experimented for bioethanol generation via hydrolysis and fermentation methods with the presence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast) subsequently. Along with the experimental analysis, a realistic pilot scale application of electricity generation from the bioethanol has been designed by HOMER software to demonstrate techno-economic and environmental impact. During sulfuric acid and enzymatic hydrolysis, the highest glucose yield was 5.614 and 40.61 g/L, respectively. During fermentation, the maximum and minimum glucose yield was 62.23 g/L at 12 h and 0.69 g/L at 72 h, respectively. Subsequently, 99.8% pure bioethanol was recovered by a distillation process. Plant modeling simulated operating costs 65,980 US$/y, net production cost 869347 US$ and electricity cost 0.392 US$/kWh. The CO2 emission from bioethanol was 97,161 kg/y and SO2 emission was 513 kg/y which is much lower than diesel emission. The overall bioethanol production from banana stem and application of electricity generation presented the approach economically favorable and environmentally benign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]