Intelligent "brain" regulation of carbon emissions

Source: People's Daily

On the west side of the National Speed Skating Center, there is a "zero carbon cabin". The cabin covers an area of 36 square meters, with a roof equipped with wind turbines and solar photovoltaic panels that supply energy. Inside, there are air conditioning, lights, smart screens, and other equipment, as well as a zero carbon intelligent control platform. This platform displays information on energy consumption, energy supply, carbon reduction, indoor environment, and more. During the Beijing Winter Olympics, this small house was self-sufficient and operated continuously for 50 days without being connected to a kilowatt hour of electricity.

How to use the smallest wind and solar storage unit to ensure the long-term autonomous operation of small buildings? A team composed of doctoral and master's students has proposed a solution - the 'Zero Carbon Rubik's Cube'. In the recent national final of the 13th "Challenge Cup" Chinese College Student Entrepreneurship Plan Competition, the "Zero Carbon Rubik's Cube" won the gold medal in the ecological environmental protection and sustainable development track. The "Zero Carbon Cabin" is the implementation of the "Zero Carbon Rubik's Cube" solution.

Team member and doctoral student at the Energy and Environmental Policy Research Center of Beijing University of Technology, Xu Peiyun, told reporters that wind and solar power generation fluctuate greatly, and as an energy guarantee to maintain long-term operation of buildings, people can either allocate more wind, solar, and energy storage hardware to increase power generation and storage, or connect to external stable power systems to ensure energy demand. The former will increase hardware costs, leading to increased carbon emissions throughout the entire lifecycle, while the latter cannot operate autonomously, deviating from the original intention of zero carbon.

Xu Peiyun said that the "zero carbon magic cube" can ensure long-term zero carbon operation of buildings, originating from the team's self-developed control system, which is the "brain" of the entire plan. The system not only accurately predicts wind and solar power generation, but also calculates the energy consumption required for operation, thereby achieving the connection between supply and demand

The 'Zero Carbon Cabin' has two 500 watt wind turbines, as well as a 3.6 kilowatt photovoltaic module with an installed capacity, equipped with a battery that can store 28 kilowatt hours of electricity. Through experiments, long-term stable operation under the minimum wind and solar storage unit has been achieved. Team member and doctoral student Wang Chongzhou introduced that thanks to the intelligent adjustment of temperature, humidity, brightness and other information by the control system, the cabin is warm and bright, without reducing comfort in order to reduce carbon emissions. During the demonstration application period of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the daily reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of the "zero carbon cabin" was equivalent to planting 27 trees.

This young team proposed the "Zero Carbon Rubik's Cube" plan, which stems from the deep accumulation of energy monitoring and control in the Energy and Environmental Policy Research Center of Beijing University of Technology. In response to the demand for green hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the center, in collaboration with Tsinghua University, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and other units, and under the leadership of Professor Wei Yiming, the center's director, has developed a "measurement calculation control strategy" technology system for two years. Through intelligent monitoring equipment, real-time data on pedestrian flow, energy consumption, and venue environment are collected, and the carbon emissions and carbon reductions of each area and function of the venue are automatically calculated, Intelligently design carbon neutrality regulation scheme, so that the carbon neutrality effect of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games can be based, checked and evidenced.

Professor Tang Baojun, a mentor of the "Zero Carbon Rubik's Cube" and a professor at Beijing University of Technology, stated that China is currently promoting green buildings. The demonstration application of the "Zero Carbon Cabin" is not only an important step in the construction of green buildings during the Winter Olympics, but also provides a beneficial reference direction for the construction industry to reduce carbon emissions.