Innovative Energy & Research
Open Access

In order to ensure living in harmony with nature and to sustain the earth’s existence, we do not have an option than to conserve Energy (in terms of using more and more renewable energy sources, increasing the efficiency of existing energy systems and reducing its over usage than required). Energy conservation results in better living conditions for human beings and all other living beings in a quality environment.

The conservation of Energy can also be made possible by reducing wastage and losses in the existing energy systems through adaptation of green engineering practices, by improving efficiency of energy systems through technological advancements, by improving the operation and maintenance aspects associated with energy systems and by controlling and stabilising the exponential population growth. The designs associated with buildings, transportation vehicles and consumer products need to be modified using energy conservation principles, viz., adapting to passive solar building design, usage of solar heating systems, using geothermal or water sinks for air-conditioning systems, shifting to usage of battery operated vehicles, usage of LED bulbs, utilisation of Natural-gas condensing boilers and hot-air furnaces that increase efficiency, etc.

Innovative research in the above areas is essential for applying to conserve energy in systems, products and services. Of late, there has been a tremendous interest in finding innovative solutions for problems associated with energy conservation through research. The establishment of ‘Innovative Energy & Research’ Journal is a pointer in this direction. The main objective of our Journal ‘Innovative Energy & Research’ is to encourage research in these areas by publishing quality research articles from across the globe.

The relevant topics that are covered in this journal include but not limited to Advanced Photovoltaic Cells, Advanced Photovoltaic Panels, Advanced Photovoltaic Systems, Advanced Photovoltaic Technologies, Alternate Energy Systems, Biomass Energy, Coal Energy, Energy Management, Environmental Policy, Green Energy, Hydro Electric Energy, Hydrogen Energy, Hydropower Energy, Photovoltaics, Renewable Energy and Research, Renewable Geothermal Energy, etc.

The articles that are included in this issue (Vol. 8, No. 1) highlight the aspects associated with ‘Determination of the Optimum Tilt of Solar Installations’, ‘Design and Analysis of Innovative Solar Deployment Techniques on Rotating and Non-Rotating Buildings’ and ‘Assessing Factors that Challenges the Dissemination of Improved Cook Stove in Selected Rural Kebeles of Adiyo Woreda, Kaffa Zone, SNNPRS’.

In determining the optimum tilt of Solar Installations (SI), It is shown that when the angle of inclination of the SI changes by ± 10 degrees from the optimum position, its day insulation changes no more than 3%. A comparative analysis of the effectiveness of SI with a tracking system and without it showed that the effectiveness increase of SI is 15%-35% (winter-summer).

In the work of design and analysis of innovative solar deployment techniques on rotating and non-rotating buildings, different innovative solar tracking techniques are deployed on different structures (nonrotating and rotating). By means of simulation (LabVIEW) and by comparing results, the authors found the most suitable framework of solar deployment and explained whether a dynamic building is more worthy than a stationary one in terms of cost and conservation of energy.

The research article on assessing factors that challenges the dissemination of Improved Cook Stove (ICS) in selected rural areas of Kaffa zone concludes that ICS use has a statistically significant and negative relationship with gender, family size and the price of the stove while, positive relationship with educational status, annual income, distance to forest, availability of promotion, availability of credit service, awareness on government policy through their logistic regression results.

Our journal on ‘Innovative Energy & Research’ continues to strive in producing quality research articles on energy conservation through innovative design methodologies for energy systems, products and services.