Energy-Efficient Residential Building Envelopes

Goal: Design and analysis of energy-efficient building envelopes for Indian residences.

Duration: 2017 to 2022

Funding amount: Rs. 11,40,000

Funding body: BITS Pilani

Publication(s):

1.      Rai AC, 2021. Energy performance of phase change materials integrated into brick masonry walls for cooling load management in residential buildings. Building and Environment, 199, 107930. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.107930

2.      Sharma V and Rai AC, 2020. Performance assessment of residential building envelopes enhanced with phase change materials, Energy and Buildings, 208, 109664. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.109664

 

Assessment of Indoor Plants for Improving Air Quality in Buildings

Goal: Improving the public health condition in India by reducing people’s exposure to airborne PM₂.₅ by means of using indoor plants as natural PM₂.₅ filters inside buildings.

Duration: 2019 to 2021

Funding amount: Rs. 39,71,340

Funding body: Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB)

Publication(s):

1.      Budaniya M and Rai AC, 2021. Phytoremediation of airborne particulate matter in indoor environments. Accepted in Healthy Buildings Europe.

 

Assessment and Mitigation of Impact of Climate Change on Heating and Cooling Energy Consumption in Buildings

Goal: To assess the impact of climate change on future energy use for heating and cooling of buildings in different Indian cities, and devise mitigation strategies.

Duration: 2018 to 2023

Funding body: BITS Pilani

Publication(s):

1.      Ukey R and Rai AC, 2021. Impact of global warming on heating and cooling degree days in major Indian cities. Energy and Buildings, 244, 111050. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.111050

 

Design and Development of High Temperature Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage for Power Generation

Goal: Design of a high temperature latent heat thermal energy storage system for concentrated solar power plants.

Duration: 2018 to 2021

Funding body: BITS Pilani

Publication(s):

1.      Tiwari V, Rai AC, and Srinivasan P, 2021. Parametric analysis of a high-temperature latent heat thermal energy storage system for concentrated solar power plants under realistic operating conditions using computational fluid dynamics. Renewable Energy, 174, 305–319. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2021.04.073

 

Development of a Reliable, Low-cost, Portable, IOT-enabled, Optical Device for Measuring PM_2.5 Concentration in Air

Duration: 2020 to 2022

Funding amount: Rs. 35,00,000

Funding body: Department of Science and Technology (DST)

Publication(s):

Coming soon.