Title :
Harnessing off-grid renewable energy
Author :
Gadola, Guy ; Chrysanthis, Panos K.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Comput. Sci., Univ. of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Abstract :
This paper explores how to economically harness renewable energy resources that are off-grid or otherwise isolated from customers. Its hypothesis is that under certain conditions, isolated renewable energy resources can be economically harnessed by using unmanned hydrogen-filled airships. Because hydrogen is an energy carrier and a lifting gas, unmanned hydrogen-filled airships can be used to carry hydrogen and cargo simultaneously. Unmanned airships do not have air crews to be put at risk although hydrogen airship safety has been reportedly increased. Furthermore, unmanned airships reduce cost in personnel. Finally, this paper proposes an operational model of hydrogen airships for efficient delivery of hydrogen within a known multiplier of optimum.
Keywords :
air safety; autonomous aerial vehicles; freight handling; fuel storage; hydrogen economy; cargo delivery; energy carrier; hydrogen airship safety; hydrogen delivery; isolated renewable energy resources; lifting gas; off grid renewable energy; unmanned hydrogen filled airship; Atmospheric modeling; Carbon dioxide; Hydrogen; Natural gas; Propulsion; Renewable energy sources; Water; Air Transportation; Energy Harvesting; Energy Resources; Hydrogen Storage; Intelligent Vehicles; Optimal Scheduling;
Conference_Titel :
Renewable Energy Research and Applications (ICRERA), 2013 International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Madrid
DOI :
10.1109/ICRERA.2013.6749884