Energy consumption and carbon emissions of building heating are increasing rapidly. Taking Liaobin coastal economic zone as an example, two scenarios are built to analyze the potential of energy consumption and CO₂ emissions reduction from the aspects of laws, regulations, policies and planning. The baseline scenario refers to the traditional way of energy planning and the community energy planning scenario seeks to apply community energy planning within the zone. Energy consumption and CO₂ emission are forecast in two scenarios with the driving factors including GDP growth, changes in population size, energy structure adjustment, energy technology progress, and increase of energy efficiency. To improve accuracy of future GDP and population data prediction, an ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average model) (1,1,1) model is introduced into GDP prediction and a logistics model is introduced into population prediction. Results show that compared with the baseline scenario, energy consumption levels in the community energy planning scenario are reduced by 140% and CO₂ emission levels are reduced by 45%; the short-term and long-term driving factors are analyzed. Policy implications are given for energy conservation and environmental protection.

Organic phase change material (PCM) with macro-encapsulation is attractive in energy storage applications as it has relatively low cost. This study focuses on using PET plastic pipes to encapsulate paraffin and using low-cost float stones to increase the thermal conductivity of PCM modules as they have a special structure of high porosity. Float stones were immersed in the liquid PCM and an ultrasonic welding method used to prevent leakage of the PET plastic pipes. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to discover the appearance of the composite PCM. The thermal performance of the PCM cylinder module was analyzed through experimental tests of a constant-temperature water bath and numerical simulations. The result indicates that this PCM Ccylinder module is superior in thermal energy storage compared with the reference module even though fewer PCM was contained and the latent heat loss is considerable. The pipe diameter is an important parameter when using this kind of PCM cylinder module in water tanks.

Residents tend to close the doors and windows of their residential kitchens in severe cold conditions, making insufficient outdoor air supply and aggravating indoor air pollution. In order to understand the ventilation and pollution status of the residential kitchens in a severe cold region and improve the ventilation system, this study used questionnaires, on-site tests, and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation to analyze a pollution and ventilation case in Shenyang, China. The method of using ceiling openings to compensate for outdoor air supply was proposed and optimized to improve air distribution in the residential kitchen. The average CO₂ concentration in the breathing region, air velocity, and temperature levels in the kitchen, before and after the improvement, were compared. The results indicated that the kitchen pollution in severe cold area of Shenyang is serious, and the ventilation habit has regional characteristics. Furthermore, the overall kitchen environment including air velocity, temperature, pollutant levels, static pressure, CO₂ concentration, indoor airflow fluctuation, and cooking fire were obviously improved for the ceiling make-up air cases. These findings provide a basis for improving the reasonable air distribution of residential kitchens in cold regions and for building a thermally comfortable environment. Implications: In order to understand the ventilation and pollution status of the residential kitchens in a severe cold region and improve the ventilation system, this study used questionnaires, on-site tests, and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation to analyze one pollution and ventilation case in Shenyang, China. The method of ceiling openings to compensate for outdoor air supply was proposed and optimized to improve air distribution in the residential kitchen. The average CO₂ concentration in the breathing region, air velocity, and temperature levels in the kitchen, both before and after the improvement, were compared. The results indicated that the kitchen’s air velocity, temperature, and pollutant levels are much better for the ceiling make-up air case compared with permeation and opening window cases. The static pressure, CO₂ concentration, indoor airflow fluctuation, and cooking fire showed remarkable improvement in the residential kitchens. These findings provide a basis for improving the reasonable air distribution of residential kitchens in cold regions and for building a thermally comfortable environment.