Plenary Lecture

Sustainability Issues for Electric Transportation Systems



Professor Cornelia Aida Bulucea
Electrical Machines and Environment Engineering Department
Faculty of Engineering in Electromechanics and Environment
University of Craiova
ROMANIA

E-mail: abulucea@gmail.com

Abstract: The Universe Powers let us discover a part of their laws. We can not change the Nature laws but we must know and respect them. The human engineering actions and the living nature can not anymore be separated because the future survival of the society is strongly depending on physical, environmental and human resources. Scientists and public authorities around the world are realizing that human actions have to be responsable regarding not only the social and economic matters, but also the environment issues. The environmental problems are mainly consequences from a too strong belief in traditional engineering and economic growth as the solution. The first human intelligence step against ignorance would be to understand that the real world processes involving energy and matter need to be linked both to the engineering design and operation, and to the environment issues. For the moment, our correct activities must be referred into the frame of Sustainable Development that is encompassing three general areas, concerning the economical development, the environmental issues and the social protection problems. On a broader front, an utmost human world priority should be the improvement of public transportation systems. The merit of an electric transportation system is based not only on technical performance, safety, energy efficiency, economic acceptance but also on sustainability and exergy efficiency. This study emphasizes a number of sustainability-based concepts, such achieved energy, embodied energy and exergy, related as tools in order to describe, analyse and optimize the energy conversion in the electric transportation systems. Costs should reflect value and value is not associated with energy but with exergy and sustainability. Hence, the main aim of this investigation is to assess the sustainability of modern electric transportation systems, based both on electrical engineering analysis and on further alternative knowledge. An Electric Railway System should be considered a component of the Sustainable Development architecture if it meets certain criteria: a strong train operation safety, a high reliability of the electric supply and an increased exergy efficiency of the transportation system. In the paper only the urban railway vehicles with electric motors at wheels, operating in traction and electric brake regimes are taken into account. This study aimed at examining an underground railway train viewed as a system where different energy forms occur, so that the successive energy conversion chain is emphasized and the energy and exergy efficiencies, respectively, are compared. The exergy dynamic approach in that case study assessed interesting results concerning the electric trains sustainability in traction and electric brake regimes, emphasizing the negative effects of exergy destruction and the corresponding longterm environmental impact.
 

Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Cornelia Aida Bulucea is currently an Associate Professor in Electrotechnics, Electrical Machines and Environment Electrical Equipments in the Faculty of Engineering in Electromechanics and Environment, University of Craiova, Romania. She is graduate from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering Craiova and she received the Ph.D degree from Bucharest Polytechnic Institute. In Publishing House she is author of four books in electrical engineering area. Research work is focused on improved solutions for electrical networks on basis of new electric equipments and environmental impact of energy and electric transportation systems. She has extensive experience in both experimental and theoretical research work, certified by over 40 journal and conference research papers and 11 research projects from industry. She has held in the Association for Environment Protection OLTENIA and she is a regular invited keynote lecture for environmental engineering symposia organized by Chamber of Commerce OLTENIA. Due to WSEAS recognition as high scientific Forum she partcipated in three WSEAS International Conferences, presenting papers and chairing sessions. She is very proud of her two papers published in WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on ENVIRONMENT and DEVELOPMENT August 2007 and March 2008, respectively.