Thermoeconomic analysis of energy utilization in the residential–commercial sector: An application

Thermoeconomic analysis is a very useful tool for investigators in engineering and other disciplines since its methodology includes the quantities such as mass, energy, exergy and cost. This study deals with this analysis of energy utilization in the residential–commercial sector (RCS). In this regard, the relations between capital costs and thermodynamic losses for subsectors in the RCS are investigated. In the analysis, Turkey is taken as an application country based on its actual and projected values for the years 1991, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2000 and 2001, and for the year 2020, respectively. It is observed from the results obtained that the maximum exergy destructions in the system particularly occur due to the utilization of the large-cost and high-quality energy sources like petroleum, natural gas carriers in the low-energy needs. In conjunction with this, the values for the total exergy losses are found to vary from 486.43 to 2797.28 PJ, while those for the improvement potential are obtained to range from 58.80 to 1870 PJ in the Turkish RCS for the analyzed years. The ratio of thermodynamic loss rate-to-capital cost values is also calculated to be in the range of 0.76–1.01. It is expected that the results presented here would be beneficial to the researchers, government administration and engineers working in the area of modeling the subsectors of countries using thermoeconomic analysis method.