Performance and environmental impact assessments of a newly developed multigeneration system for sustainable communities

Abstract

Substituting the use of fossil fuels with renewable energy is crucial for sustainable development, and developing these renewable energy-based solutions for multigenerational proposes to cover the communal needs is even more crucial. This particular article proposes a new renewable based multigeneration system that incorporates several subsystems, such as a solar system, a steam Rankine cycle, a Rankine cycle with reheat, a double effect absorption system, and an electrolyzer. The primary goal of this system is to efficiently and sustainably generate electricity, heating and cooling loads as well as hydrogen. This study further focuses on conducting an environmental impact assessment, although it also includes analyses of energy, exergy, and their effects on the system’s performance. The overall energy and exergy efficiencies of the system are determined to be 53.32 % and 48.28 %, respectively. In addition, the environmental assessment shows that the system can prevent the emission of 332.7 kg CO2/ MWh of electricity. These findings strongly indicate that the proposed multigeneration system is not only highly efficient but also environmentally friendly. Moreover, the results presented in this article emphasize on the importance of implementing a sustainable energy system in order to alleviate the impacts of climate change.