Investigation of Performance Enhancements for a Liquid-Desiccant Solar Air-Conditioner

Thermally driven liquid-desiccant air-conditioners (LDAC) are a proven but still developing technology. LDACs can use a solar thermal system to reduce the operational cost and environmental impact of the system by reducing the amount of fuel (e.g. natural gas, propane, etc.) used to drive the system. LDACs also have a key benefit of being able to store energy in the form of concentrated desiccant storage. TRNSYS simulations were used to evaluate several different methods of improving the thermal and electrical coefficients of performance (COPt and COPe) and the solar fraction (SF) of a LDAC. The study analyzed a typical June to August cooling season in Toronto, Ontario. Utilizing properly sized, high-efficiency pumps increased the COPe to 3.67, an improvement of 55%. A new design, featuring a heat recovery ventilator on the scavenging-airstream and an energy recovery ventilator on the process-airstream, increased the COPt to 0.58, an improvement of 32%. This also improved the SF slightly to 54%, an increase of 8%. A new TRNSYS TYPE was created to model a stratified desiccant storage tank. Different volumes of desiccant were tested with a range of solar array system sizes. The largest storage tank coupled with the largest solar thermal array showed improvements of 64% in SF, increasing the value to 82%. The COPe was also improved by 17% and the COPt by 9%. When combining the heat recovery systems and the desiccant storage systems, the simulation results showed a 78% increase in COPe and 30% increase in COPt. A 77% improvement in SF and a 17% increase in total cooling rate were also predicted by the simulation. The total thermal energy consumed was 10% lower and the electrical consumption was 34% lower. The amount of non-renewable energy needed from the natural gas boiler was 77% lower. Comparisons were also made between LDACs and vapour-compression (VC) systems. Dependent on set-up, LDACs provided higher latent cooling rates and reduced electrical power consumption. Negatively, a thermal input was required for the LDAC systems but not for the VC systems.

The Dynamic Process of Development through Sport

This article presents a global vision for sport through a new framework that incorporates the elements necessary for a developmentally sound approach to youth sport involvement. This framework proposes that youth sport involvement includes three basic elements: (1) taking part in activities (what), while creating relationships with others (who), in a specific setting (where). When these three elements positively interact, it creates a context that, when repeated on a regular basis, leads to changes in the personal assets of the participants. Changes in individuals’ personal assets, such as Competence, Confidence, Connection, and Character (4 C’s), have long been associated with positive sport experiences, which in turn lead to long-term outcomes, including continued sport Participation, higher levels of Performance in sport, and Personal development through sport (3 P’s). Research linking the three basic elements of youth sport (activities, relationships, and settings) to positive changes in personal assets (4 C’s) and long-term outcomes (3 P’s) are discussed and the Personal Assets Framework is presented

Performance Information and Innovation in the Canadian Government (Working Paper 43)

The presentation made at the conference addressed the issue of linkages between performance information and innovation within the Canadian federal government1. This is a three‐part paper prepared as background to that presentation. • Part I provides an overview of three main sources of performance information - results-based systems, program evaluation, and centrally driven review exercises – and reviews the Canadian experience with them. • Part II identifies and discusses a number of innovation issues that are common to the literature reviewed for this paper. • Part III examines actual and potential linkages between innovation and performance information. This section suggests that innovation in the Canadian federal government tends to cluster into two groups: smaller initiatives driven by staff or middle management; and much larger projects involving major programs, whole departments or whole-of-government. Readily available data on smaller innovation projects is skimpy but suggests that performance information does not play a major role in stimulating these initiatives. In contrast, two of the examples of large-scale innovation show that performance information plays a critical role at all stages. The paper concludes by supporting the contention of others writing on this topic: that more research is needed on innovation, particularly on its link to performance information. In that context, other conclusions drawn in this paper are tentative but suggest that the quality of performance information is as important for innovation as it is for performance management. However, innovation is likely to require its own particular performance information that may not be generated on a routine basis for purposes of performance management, particularly in the early stages of innovation. And, while the availability of performance information can be an important success factor in innovation, it does not stand alone. The commonality of a number of other factors identified in the literature surveyed for this paper strongly suggests that equal if not greater priority needs to be given to attenuating factors that inhibit innovation and to nurturing incentives.