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Solar energy is one of the most abundant and available forms of renewable energy. Reliance on the electricity network can be decreased and net-zero energy achieved by mounting photovoltaic power on the tops of houses. Photovoltaic arrays can also change how the roof’s surface reacts to its environment. The influence of the structural system of a roof and weather on the energy consumption of a building is important. This research is concerned with focusing on the indirect effect of solar photovoltaic rooftop panels (shading effect) on the roof surface to see whether this effect is worth studying and calculating the total electrical load in the residential sector. Photovoltaic panels were modeled as a shading device, and the Integrated Environmental Solution-Virtual Environment Software was used to anticipate the monthly decline and growth in heating and cooling loads associated with the roof level. The influence of a photovoltaic system on a building’s roof-related energy load was measured concerning low-rise residential buildings in Mafraq city, which belongs to a mild dry-warm temperature zone. The findings indicated that a solar roof structure decreased heat loss by 4.85% in the summer and boosted heat transfer by 5.54% in the winter. The results highlight that renewable energy is very important in our times due to climate change and the increased demand for electricity by the residential sector, which is stimulated to find multiple ways to decrease and adapt to this change, and the aim of this paper helps to encourage to use solar energy by identifying the indirect effect of solar panels on building’s rooftops. This investigation also focuses on the value of offering essential instructions to who is concerned to the utilization of alternative energy to heat and cool structures, also will educate the public on a building’s total energy requirements, which is critical for future green structure design., This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities under the program “Proyectos de I + D de Generacion de Conocimiento” of the national program for the generation of scientific and technological knowledge and strengthening of the R + D+I system with grant number PGC2018-098813-B-C33 and from UAL-FEDER 2020, Ref. UAL2020-TIC-A2080.

Additive manufacturing is a promising tool that has proved its value in various applications. Among its technologies, the fused filament fabrication 3D printing technique stands out with its potential to serve a wide variety of applications, ranging from simple educational purposes to industrial and medical applications. However, as many materials and composites can be utilized for this technique, the processability of these materials can be a limiting factor for producing products with the required quality and properties. Over the past few years, many researchers have attempted to better understand the melt extrusion process during 3D printing. Moreover, other research groups have focused on optimizing the process by adjusting the process parameters. These attempts were conducted using different methods, including proposing analytical models, establishing numerical models, or experimental techniques. This review highlights the most relevant work from recent years on fused filament fabrication 3D printing and discusses the future perspectives of this 3D printing technology.

The ability to accurately forecast the number of COVID-19 cases and future case trends would certainly assist governments and various organisations in strategising and preparing for the newly infected cases well in advance. Many predictions have failed to foresee future COVID-19 cases due to the lack of reliable data; however, such data are now widely available for predicting future trends in COVID-19 after more than one and a half years of the pandemic. Also, various countries are closely monitoring other countries that are experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases in the expectation of similar scenarios, but this does not always produce correct results, as no research has identified specific correlations between different countries in terms of COVID-19 cases. During the past 18 months, many nations have watched countries whose COVID-19 cases have risen sharply, in anticipation of handling the situation themselves. However, this did not provide accurate results, as no research was conducted that compared countries to determine if their COVID-19 case trends were correlated. As official data on COVID-19 cases has become increasingly available, using the Pearson correlation technique to pinpoint the countries that should be closely monitored will help governments plan and prepare for the number of infections that are expected in the future at an early stage. In this study, a simple and real-time prediction of COVID-19 cases incorporating existing variables of coronavirus variants was used to explore the correlation among different European countries in terms of the number of COVID-19 cases officially recorded on a daily basis. Data from selected countries over the past 76 weeks were analysed using a Pearson correlation technique to determine if there were correlations between case trends and geographical position. The correlation coefficient (

Laser Wire-Feed Metal Additive Manufacturing (LWAM) is a process that utilizes a laser to heat and melt a metallic alloy wire, which is then precisely positioned on a substrate, or previous layer, to build a three-dimensional metal part. LWAM technology offers several advantages, such as high speed, cost effectiveness, precision control, and the ability to create complex geometries with near-net shape features and improved metallurgical properties. However, the technology is still in its early stages of development, and its integration into the industry is ongoing. To provide a comprehensive understanding of the LWAM technology, this review article emphasizes the importance of key aspects of LWAM, including parametric modeling, monitoring systems, control algorithms, and path-planning approaches. The study aims to identify potential gaps in the existing literature and highlight future research opportunities in the field of LWAM, with the goal of advancing its industrial application.

Terrorism is a crucial danger to the world, especially the Middle East. As Jordan is amidst countries with armed conflicts, its natural resources (in particularly, water resources) are vulnerable to terrorist attacks. In this paper, possible biological and chemical weapons that can be used as intimidation, along with their threats, vulnerabilities, and inactivation methods, concerning water treatment processes in the municipality of Irbid, are studied. Irbid is the second largest city in terms of population in Jordan, after the capital city of Amman, and it is the nearest governorate to Syria borders that is considered a war zone. After conducting risk assessment that takes into consideration criticality, threats, and vulnerability, it appears that only one of the eight units, which is the Makhraba pumping station, along with the Bushra water tank, were identified as medium risk. The other units have treatment processes and proper precautions that are able to inactivate or prevent any possible contamination. A response plan should be set by developing a telemetry system with specific sensors that can detect any sudden and unacceptable threats to the water quality and that has the ability to shut down the concerned units automatically.

Cities on the east Mediterranean coast, especially in Palestine, are struggling to move towards sustainability as they are vulnerable to climate change and lack natural resources, especially energy resources, and this situation is further aggravated by high energy prices. The problem is the building sector, which is the most challenging sector when it comes to cities’ sustainability and, specifically, energy sustainability. In Palestine, this sector is the main consumer of energy but it lacks energy efficiency measures, such as up-to-date building energy codes. This study analyzed building thermal performance under different scenarios with a focus on building envelopes. We aimed to evaluate the benefits of introducing an updated building energy code—mainly addressing U-values for building envelopes—on future reductions in energy demand. We used a simulation tool (DesignBuilder) to evaluate typical existing building-envelope thermal and energy performances. Then, we undertook a comparison between the existing conditions and the proposed application of different scenarios, including the existing Palestinian building energy code and green building guidelines, the ASHRAE code for building envelopes, and the Jordanian building energy code, in order to introduce an updated building envelope energy code. The results showed that the current situation—building without applying any energy code or applying the existing Palestinian building energy code—is far from the high-energy performance that could be achieved by applying international or local green building codes. The use of thermal insulation could reduce the energy demand for heating by 83 to 43%, depending on the building type, climatic zone, and U-value. We recommend utilizing different U-values for building envelopes in different climatic zones to achieve high thermal performance. The results from this study have implications for construction industry professionals, local governments, and researchers seeking to establish high-energy-performance building envelopes.

Due to its excessive energy consumption, the building sector contributes significantly to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The type of thermal comfort models used to maintain the comfort of occupants has a direct influence on forecasting heating and cooling demands and plays a critical role in reducing actual energy usage in the buildings. In this research, a typical residential building was simulated to compare the heating and cooling loads in four different Jordanian climates when using an adaptive thermal model versus the constant setting of temperature limits for air-conditioning systems (19–24 ◦C). The air-conditioning system with constant temperature settings worked to sustain thermal comfort inside the building, resulting in a significantly increased cooling and heating load. By contrast, significant energy savings were achieved using the temperature limits of an adaptive thermal model. These energy savings equated to 1533, 6276, 3951, and 3353 kWh, which represented 29.3%, 80.5%, 48.5%, and 67.5% of the total energy used for heating and cooling for zones one, two, three, and four, respectively, This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities under the program “Proyectos de I + D de Generacion de Conocimiento” of the national program for the generation of scientific and technological knowledge and strengthening of the R + D + I system with grant number PGC 2018-098813-B-C 33 and from UAL-FEDER 2020, Ref. UAL2020-TIC-A2080. The authors would like to acknowledge: German Jordanian University, AnNajah National University, University of Almeria and the Huelva University for facilitating this research

The rising usage of carbon and glass fibers has raised awareness of scrap management options. Every year, tons of composite scrap containing precious carbon and glass fibers accumulate from numerous sectors. It is necessary to recycle them efficiently, without harming the environment. Pyrolysis seems to be a realistic and promising approach, not only for efficient recovery, but also for high-quality fiber production. In this paper, the essential characteristics of the pyrolysis process, their influence on fiber characteristics, and the use of recovered fibers in the creation of a new composite are highlighted. Pyrolysis, like any other recycling process, has several drawbacks, the most problematic of which is the probability of char development on the resultant fiber surface. Due to the char, the mechanical characteristics of the recovered fibers may decrease substantially. Chemically treating and post-heating the fibers both help to reduce char formation, but only to a limited degree. Thus, it was important to identify the material cost reductions that may be achieved using recovered carbon fibers as structural reinforcement, as well as the manufacture of high-value products using recycled carbon fibers on a large scale. Recycled fibers are cheaper than virgin fibers, but they inherently vary from them as well. This has hampered the entry of recycled fiber into the virgin fiber industry. Based on cost and performance, the task of the current study was to modify the material in such a way that virgin fiber was replaced with recycled fiber. In order to successfully modify the recycling process, a regulated optimum temperature and residence duration in post-pyrolysis were advantageous.

This work suggests a solution for preventing/eliminating the predicted Sea Level Rise (SLR) by seawater desalination and storage through a large number of desalination plants distributed worldwide, it also comprises that the desalinated seawater can resolve the global water scarcity by complete coverage for global water demand. Sea level rise can be prevented by desalinating the additional water accumulated into oceans annually for human consumption, while the excess amount of water can be stored in dams and lakes. It is predicted that SLR can be prevented by desalination plants. The chosen desalination plants for the study were Multi-Effect Desalination (MED) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants that are powered by renewable energy using wind and solar technologies. It is observed that the two main goals of the study are fulfilled when preventing an SLR between 1.0 m and 1.3 m by 2100 through seawater desalination, as the amount of desalinated water within that range can cover the global water demand while being economically viable.

Global endeavors to respond to the problems caused by climate change and are leading to higher temperatures inside homes, which can cause skin conditions (such as eczema), lethargy, and poor concentration, disturbed sleep and fatigue are also rising. The energy performance of buildings is influenced by interactions and associations of numerous different variables, such as the envelope specifications as well as the design, technologies, apparatuses, and occupant behaviours. This paper introduces simple and sustainable strategies that are not dependent on expensive or sophisticated technologies, as they rely only on the actions practiced by the building’s occupants (movable window shading, and nighttime natural ventilation) instead of completely relying on high-cost mechanical cooling systems in buildings located in the main Eastern Mediterranean climates represented in the country of Jordan. These low-energy solutions could be applied to low-income houses in hot areas to avoid health problems, such as dermatological diseases, and save a significant amount of energy. The final results indicate that window shading has significant potential in reducing the cooling load in different climate zones. Natural ventilation exhibits high energy-saving abilities in climates that have cool nights, whereas its abilities in hot climates where nights are moderate is limited.

Energy savings gained through natural lighting could be offset by the loss of energy through windows, therefore, the target of this study is to examine the effects of enhancing the efficiency of lighting systems on the optimum window-to-wall ratio (WWR) of Jordanian residential structures. This research proposes the hypothesis that the WWR of residential structures that contain artificial lighting systems with increased efficiency will be lower than buildings in which solar lighting is provided. The energy simulation tool, DesignBuilder (DesignBuilder Software Ltd, Stroud, UK) was used to simulate an intricate model showing a standard Jordanian residential building with a size of 130 m2. The study offers useful guidance regarding the optimum WWR for key decisionmakers when designing energy-efficient residential structures in the context of Jordan. By considering the balance between gains and losses in solar heat and light gain to exploit energy from solar sources with no reverse effects, while making comparisons between different WWR situations, the findings indicate that the typical WWR for residential structures in Jordan that have efficient Light Emitting Diode (LED) systems of lighting installed could be between 25% and 30%, which is lower than the highest WWR stipulated by the ASHRAE standards.

Since buildings are one of the major contributors to global warming, efforts should be intensified to make them more energy-efficient, particularly existing buildings. This research intends to analyze the energy savings from a suggested retrofitting program using energy simulation for typical existing residential buildings. For the assessment of the energy retrofitting program using computer simulation, the most commonly utilized residential building types were selected. The energy consumption of those selected residential buildings was assessed, and a baseline for evaluating energy retrofitting was established. Three levels of retrofitting programs were implemented. These levels were ordered by cost, with the first level being the least costly and the third level is the most expensive. The simulation models were created for two different types of buildings in three different climatic zones in Palestine. The findings suggest that water heating, space heating, space cooling, and electric lighting are the highest energy consumers in ordinary houses. Level one measures resulted in a 19–24 percent decrease in energy consumption due to reduced heating and cooling loads. The use of a combination of levels one and two resulted in a decrease of energy consumption for heating, cooling, and lighting by 50–57%. The use of the three levels resulted in a decrease of 71–80% in total energy usage for heating, cooling, lighting, water heating, and air conditioning.

Any building’s design should sustain thermal comfort for occupants and promote less energy usage during its lifetime using accurate building retrofits to convert existing buildings into low-energy buildings so that the heating and cooling loads can be minimized. Regarding the methodology adopted in this research, an energy model of an educational building located at the German Jordanian University in Jordan was constructed utilizing DesignBuilder computer software. In addition, it was calibrated utilizing real energy consumption data for a 12-month simulation of energy performance. Subsequently, a computerized evaluation of the roles of building envelope retrofits or the adaptive thermal comfort limits in the reduction of the overall building energy consumption was analyzed. The results of the study show that the current building’s external wall insulation, roof insulation, glazing, windows, and external shading devices are relatively energy-efficient but with high cost, resulting in significant financial losses, even though they achieved noticeable energy savings. For instance, equipping the building’s ventilation system with an economizer culminated in the highest financial profit, contributing to an annual energy savings of 155 MWh. On the other hand, in an occupant-centered approach, applying the adaptive thermal comfort model in wider ranges by adding 1 °C, 2 °C, and 3 °C to the existing operating temperatures would save a significant amount of energy with the least cost (while maintaining indoor thermal comfort), taking over any retrofit option. Using different adaptive thermal comfort scenarios (1 °C, 2 °C, and 3 °C) led to significant savings of around 5%, 12%, and 21%, respectively. However, using different retrofits techniques proved to be costly, with minimum energy savings compared to the adaptive approach.

To tackle the massive drivers of global warming, which are our buildings, especially existing buildings, we need to work on making these buildings more energy efficient. Building retrofitting in Palestine can tackle the issue of energy poverty resulting from a shortage of natural resources and the dependence on imported energy. This paper aims to use energy simulation for typical existing residential buildings to assess the energy saving from a proposed retrofitting program. The most frequently used residential building types were selected for the computer simulation assessment of the energy retrofitting program. The energy use of those selected residential buildings has been identified and a base case has been established as a baseline for the energy retrofitting evaluation. Three levels of retrofitting programs were applied for the selected buildings. A Simulation model was created for the current residential building type using the DesignBuilder tool to evaluate the savings from applying the retrofit program. The simulation has been done for one climate zone in Palestine. The results show that the main energy consumption in the typical households are water heating, room heating, cooling and electric lighting. The results show that level one measures results in a 16.7% reduction in energy consumption due to reducing the heating and cooling. Level two results in a 13.3% reduction in energy consumption for heating, cooling and lighting. At level three further 28.9% reduction in the total energy consumption can be achieved for heating, cooling and water heating. The total saving from energy consumption can reach up to 58.9% of the total energy consumed in existing residential buildings by applying the three levels of the energy retrofitting plan.

The remote areas in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) doesn’t have access to the electricity grid, therefore the standalone hybrid power system uses to provide the electrical power required to meet the demand in these areas. The components of the hybrid system were selected and optimized for this area instead of bringing the gird to this area based on the load profile for the appliance household in the area. Thousands of simulation trials were performed using HOMER Pro to achieve the best renewable fraction and Levelized cost of energy (LCOE). The LCOE was found 0.34 $/kWh after including the capital, recourses, operation and maintenance, and replacement cost for the lifetime of the project which is 25 years. The unmet electrical load and shortage capacity were 0.0102 % and 0.0912 %, respectively. Furthermore, the environmental impact of the system was compared with the diesel energy system based on the carbon footprint and emission as in carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, unburn hydrocarbon, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide. The carbon footprint was 90.1 which equivalent to 1000 saving diesel gallons.

Tire waste is one of the most important problems of environmental solid waste in the world. Since, the waste tire cannot be treated in a landfill nor burned, because it releases serious toxic gases. So, several methods have been proposed for waste tire treatment. Among these methods waste, tire pyrolysis is considered the most favorable. Pyrolysis is a process of converting waste tires into gases, fuel oil, steel, and a byproduct, which is pyrolyzed carbon black (PCB). However, gas and oil can be sold out in the local market as well as steel, while PCB that contains 30-35 wt% of the waste tire product becomes another solid waste problem. In this experimental investigation, an attempt was made to employing PCB in concrete that is used in building. Accordingly, a PCB sample will obtain from a local pyrolyzed waste tire plant; this will use as received without any chemical purification. The compression strength will be tested to find the effect of adding PCB to concrete.

The determination of the optimum wall insulation thickness (OWIT) of the building’s external wall has major drawbacks on building wall thickness, insulation material type, insulation cost, and energy consumption by air conditioning system. Therefore, this study focused on a systematic approach for optimization of insulation thickness for building’s external wall in Palestine. Hence, the environmental conditions such as temperature and solar radiation fluctuations were collected for the cities covered in this study over one year while preparing this study. The Palestinian energy-efficient building code divided Palestine into seven climate zones. These zones are studied and investigated in this study. The OWIT in these zones has been calculated and compared based on the life cycle cost analysis and for two different types of insulation which are Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) and Polyurethane (PUR). Consequently, life cycle savings of the insulated buildings, simple payback periods, and optimum insulation thickness as a function of degree days and wall thermal resistance have been addressed. These types of comparisons and findings could promote the futuristic use of optimum insulation thickness in Palestinian buildings towards establishing a Palestinian standard code.

The issue of increasing energy consumed in buildings and the need for thermal insulation regulations has become a major concern in Palestine with increasingly alarming warnings of climate change and the depletion of fossil fuels. In this study, the overall heat transfer coefficient U-value in the Palestinian energy-efficient building code was reviewed for walls, floors, roofs, doors, and windows. U-value expresses the amount of heat transfer from the building to the external outside air. U-value was investigated concerning the average value for the U-value (Average U-value), heating degree days, and energy consumption due to the heating load. The investigation in this study suggested a new average U-value of 0.85 W/m2.K was suggested which can result in approximately 44% energy saving and make the energy consumption in the Palestinian residential buildings comparable to the values of the International Energy Consumption Codes.

This chapter reviews the latest research and advancements in solar cooling technologies. In addition, it includes a discussion of the energetic, economic, and environmental indicators used to evaluate and compare different cooling options. Conventional vapor compression refrigeration systems driven by photovoltaic solar systems are gaining increased attention due to their maturity, modularity, and ease of installation. Solar thermal absorption and adsorption systems are slowly moving from demonstration to the market as well. Using solar desiccant cooling systems to dehumidify the air and improve its thermal comfort is economical, environmentally friendly, and easily achieved. Several combined ejector cooling systems can be utilized to improve their performance or create new functions. Hybrid solar cooling systems with various configurations are advancing and improving system efficiency and performance. Reviewed literature has revealed the great potential of solar energy to provide cooling with low energy consumption and reduced environmental impacts.

Recent achievement and progress in solar PV play a significant role in controlling climate change. This study reviewed comprehensively electrical characteristics, life cycle of dust, optical characteristics, and different cleaning techniques related to the effect of dust on the performance of PV modules throughout different climate regions of the world. The power maximum power point (MPP) and curve of PV module under the effect of irradiance and temperature were presented. The effect of dust (shading) on the electrical efficiency of PV module was discussed based on soft, partial, and complete (soiling) shading. The physical properties of dust around the globe such as PM

This paper targets the future energy sustainability and aims to estimate the potential energy production from installing photovoltaic (PV) systems on the rooftop of apartment&rsquo, s residential buildings, which represent the largest building sector. Analysis of the residential building typologies was carried out to select the most used residential building types in terms of building roof area, number of floors, and the number of apartments on each floor. A computer simulation tool has been used to calculate the electricity production for each building type, for three different tilt angles to estimate the electricity production. Tilt angle, spacing between the arrays, the building shape, shading from PV arrays, and other roof elements were analyzed for optimum and maximum electricity production. The electricity production for each household has been compared to typical household electricity consumption and its future consumption in 2030. The results show that installing PV systems on residential buildings can speed the transition to renewable energy and energy sustainability. The electricity production for building types with 2&ndash, 4 residential units can surplus their estimated future consumption. Building types with 4&ndash, 8 residential units can produce their electricity consumption in 2030. Building types of 12&ndash, 24 residential units can produce more than half of their 2030 future consumption.

With the growing demand for clean and economically feasible renewable energy, solar photovoltaic (PV) system usage has increased. Among many factors, the tilt and azimuth angles are of great importance and influence in determining the photovoltaic panel’s efficiency to generate electricity. Although much research was conducted related to solar PV panels’ performance, this work critically determined the tilt and azimuth angles for PV panels in all countries worldwide. The optimum tilt and azimuth angles are estimated worldwide by the photovoltaic geographic information system (PVGIS). Also, annual and average daily solar irradiation incident on the tilted and oriented plate optimally (AR1 and DR1) are calculated. Besides, annual and average daily solar irradiation incident on plate tilt optimally and oriented because of the south in the northern hemisphere and because of the north in the southern hemisphere (AR2 and DR2) are estimated. PVGIS is also used to calculate the annual and average daily solar irradiation incident on the horizontal plate (AR3 and DR3). The data collected from PVGIS are used to develop an efficient and accurate artificial neural network model based on feed-forward neural network approach. This model is an essential subpart that can be used in an embedded system or an online system for further PV system analysis and optimization. The developed neural model reflected very high accuracy in predicting the PV panels’ optimal tilt and azimuth angles worldwide. The benefit of tilting is generally increased by increasing the latitude. As the latitude increases, the tilt factor (F) increases because of the increase in the optimum tilt angle by increasing the latitude. The optimal orientation is due to the north in the southern hemisphere and due to the south in the northern hemisphere for most cities worldwide. In sum, it can be concluded that the optimum tilt angle is equal to or greater than the latitude until the latitude 30°. The optimum tilt angle becomes less than the latitude, and the difference is increased until it reaches more than 20°. Hence in this study the aim is to develop a simple neural network model which can accurately predict the annual radiation and optimum tilt and azimuth angle in any region of the world and can be easily implemented in a low-cost microcontroller.