Search for: All records

Buildings use a large amount of energy in the United States. It is important to optimally manage and coordinate the resources across building and power distribution networks to improve overall efficiency. Optimizing the power grid with discrete variables was very challenging for traditional computers and algorithms, as it is an NP-hard problem. In this study, we developed a new optimization solution based on quantum computing for BTG integration. We first used MPC for building loads connected with a commercial distribution grid for cost reduction. Then we used discretization and Benders Decomposition methods to reformulate the problem and decompose the continuous and discrete variables, respectively. We used D-Wave quantum computer to solve dual problems and used conventional algorithm for primal problems. We applied the proposed method to an IEEE 9-bus network with 3 commercial buildings and over 300 residential buildings to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness. Compared with traditional optimization methods, we obtained similar solutions with some fluctuations and improved computational speed from hours to seconds. The time of quantum computing was greatly reduced to less than 1% of traditional optimization algorithm and software such as MATLAB. Quantum computing has proved the potential to solve large-scale discrete optimization problems for urban energy systems.

 

Mycelium-based materials have seen a surge in popularity in the manufacturing industry in recent years. This study aims to build a lab-scale experimental facility to investigate mycelium growth under a well-controlled temperature and humidity environment and explore how substrates of very different chemical and mechanical properties can affect the microscopic morphology of the mycelium fibers during growth. Here, we design and build a customized green tent with good thermal and humidity insulation for controlling the temperature and humidity and monitor the environmental data with an Arduino chip. We develop our procedure to grow mycelium from spores to fibrous networks. It is shown that a hydrogel substrate with soluble nutrition is more favorite for mycelium growth than a hardwood board and leads to higher growing speed. We take many microscopic images of the mycelium fibers on the hardwood board and the hydrogel substrate and found no significant difference in diameter (∼3 μm). This research provides a foundation to explore the mechanism of mycelium growth and explore the environmentally friendly and time-efficient method of its growth.