Aldona Kuśmińska-Fijałkowska

This article presents a technical and economic analysis of a photovoltaic system operating in conjunction with a heat pump in a single-family home. The aim of this study was to compare the cost-effectiveness of two prosumer billing systems currently in use in Poland, net metering and net billing, implemented in accordance with the provisions of the Renewable Energy Sources (RES) Act and the Energy Law and to assess the effectiveness of a proprietary algorithm for managing surplus electricity produced by the photovoltaic system. The energy performance of the facility was determined using ArCADia Termo 11.1 software, while energy and economic calculations were performed using Microsoft Excel 365 and a developed heat pump control algorithm. The algorithm is based on an analysis of the building’s energy balance with a 15 min resolution and utilizes data on outdoor temperature, energy production from the PV system, building heat loss, heat pump operating parameters, and energy self-consumption. Its goal was to maximize the use of energy produced for the building’s own needs by appropriately controlling the heat pump and storing surplus energy as heat stored in domestic hot-water tanks. The annual electricity consumption of the analyzed building was 6902.18 kWh, of which 3724.13 kWh was for heating and domestic hot water provided by the heat pump. The algorithm reduced grid energy consumption by approximately 900 kWh per year and achieved a self-consumption level of 12.73 (%).

Competition in the integrated transport market in the European Union is extremely fierce. Therefore, it is important that transport processes are not viewed solely through the prism of service efficiency but also through the prism of efficiency of deliveries throughout the entire supply chain. The dynamic development of the economy has had a huge impact on transport, which has become an indispensable element of a company's functioning in the goods and services market. In view of the above, the aim of this article is to highlight the importance of road transport in the national and international economy. In addition, the authors analyzed freight transport routes in the context of the logistics transport network, which contributes not only to integrated enterprise management but also to the efficient functioning of the supply chain.

An approach is proposed for the synthesis of the control system for the electrode movement of an arc steelmaking furnace based on a combination of the feedback linearization method and a traditional PI controller. The application of fractional PI^μ controllers in such a control system using the Caputo–Fabrizio representation for their description is analyzed. The use of such controllers provides transient characteristics ranging from those of a modal control system to the characteristics of a system with a classical PI controller that was developed using feedback linearization. The comparison between proposed controllers is conducted by the ISE and ITAE indexes. The effectiveness of the synthesized control systems is demonstrated by research results using both single-phase and three-phase models of the electrode movement system in an arc steelmaking furnace.

Imposed standards and requirements are supposed to make road transport cleaner, to achieve, defined by the European Union (EU), target levels of reduction of emission of greenhouse gasses since 2030 and contribute to achievement of the goals of Paris Agreement. Adopted requirements refer also to CO2 emission for new passenger cars and new light commercial vehicles (vans). It was adopted that average annual level of CO2 emission of the EU vehicle fleet, in comparison with 2021, to be reduced both for new passenger cars and new light commercial vehicles by 15 % for the years 2025–2029; 55 % for new cars and 50 % for new light commercial vehicles for the years 2030–2034 and 100 % since January 1, 2035. In 2025, the Commission will present methodology of reporting and assessing data concerning CO2 emission in the whole life cycle of passenger cars and vans sold on the EU market. Since June 1, 2026, producers may commence data reporting based on this common EU method concerning CO2 emission in life cycle of a vehicle. The authors of this article presented new regulation specifying the requirements concerning CO2 emission for new passenger cars and new light commercial vehicles, which should contribute to achievement of EU target levels of reduction of emission of greenhouse gasses. Target individual levels of CO2 emission for passenger cars in the years 2024-2035 were analysed. For ten most popular passenger cars registered in Poland, an analysis of reduction of level of CO2 emission was conducted in order to determine whether limit of CO2 emission was increased to the level of 95g/km, 93,6g/km and 49,5 g/km.

The application of a fractional-order controller (FOC) using the Caputo–Fabrizio representation in the automatic voltage regulation (AVR) system of a synchronous generator is shown in this paper. The mathematical model of the system is created and the adequacy of the model is confirmed. The efficiency of the proposed regulator in different operating regimes is demonstrated. In particular, the proposed controller improves voltage regulation in a wide range of changes in the coordinates that characterize the power system operation mode, and it increases the system’s robustness to both uncertainties and nonlinearities that often occur in power systems. The synthesized fractional-order regulator provides higher response and control accuracy compared to traditional regulators used in automatic voltage regulation (AVR) systems.

The issue of conducting transport processes in the land terminal in the light of COVID-19 pandemic was raised by the authors of this article. The goal of the research was to receive an answer for the question of whether COVID-19 pandemic had real impact on flow of cargos by land handling terminal functioning in Poland. Interview questionnaire, which was distributed among 100 employees in the real object was used during the research. The conclusions from conducted research are surprising because COVID-19 pandemic has not caused more competition between branches and lowering prices of transport services, and lockdown did not cause suspending of activity of the enterprise. It results from the research conducted in the real object and its analysis. COVID-19 pandemic had positive impact on the enterprise, which shows a list of data about the flow of cargos, which has increased during pandemic years in comparison with previous years in the segment of transport of containers, pandemic definitely had impact on interest of the clients in railway transport in the New Silk Road. New Silk Road is an alternative to maritime and air transport from China. Silk Road has also contributed to the development of the terminal. COVID-19 pandemic had positive impact on interest in the services associated with railway transport, that is, customs clearance, cargo handling, storage, last mile transport services.

Poor quality of electric energy is a large problem for most of the enterprises and production plants taking actions aiming at increasing energy efficiency. Many of them have already implemented the simplest means ensuring proper quality of energy that do not require large investments. Interferences of qualitative parameters of energy will be more frequent, which is caused by ageing infrastructure and introduction of energy-efficient and power electronic devices supporting production processes. New solutions applied in the industry such as drives of variable speed and LED lighting, introduce harmonics, which results in excessive heat, reduction of capacitive reactance available in supply system and additional costs. The main goal of this publication was to present the problem of interferences caused by poor quality of electric energy in the supply systems of an industrial plant. Based on measuring data collected from an analyser mounted in a selected production plants, the causes of abnormal phenomena occurring in a supply network were determined. A solution to the problem was proposed and expected effects resulting from application of devices for compensation of generated distortions were presented.

Construction of new power lines is a complicated and long-term formal and legal process. The duration of the investments is extended by trade arrangements, public consultations in order to delimit line corridor, time required to obtain necessary decisions, permits, analyses and opinions necessary to implement an enterprise. The main goal of this article was to present analyses of variants of possibility of rebuilding of a power network in the aspect of increasing transmission potential of existing 110 kV lines, taking technical and financial aspects into account.

Cargo consolidation is an important step towards sustainable development of transport. It allows to reduce: emission of greenhouse gases, energy consumption, fuel consumption. Combining cargos in one vehicle allows to reduce the number of runs necessary to deliver goods to the clients. It allows to reduce the amount of pollution, fuel consumption and costs of transport. Cargo consolidation also reduces emission of harmful substances to natural environment and allows enterprises to save time and money. As a result of the data obtained and the analysis carried out, solutions were proposed to reduce transport costs for both customer A and customer B. It has been proven that cargo consolidation is now a very important element of the entire supply chain to the destination in terms of sustainable transport development.