A review on the relation between the energy and exergy efficiency analysis and the technical characteristic of the renewable energy systems

One of the most important factors that can persuade human to use the renewable energy systems versus the conventional energy systems are the technical characteristics that include the reliability, maintenance requirements, availability, sustainability and environmental impacts. Technical characteristics of a system can affect the performance of the system. In the context of this work, the existent studies on the relation between the technical characteristic and the performance of the system are reviewed. It is concluded that there is a close relation between the performance of the system based on energy and exergy analysis and the technical characteristics. The systems which are more reliable and sustainable have less environmental impact and high energy and exergy efficiencies. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.