Szargut proposed the algorithm for determination of the influence of irreversibility of components of thermal process on the emission of CO2 [6]. In the presented paper, basing on Szargut's proposal, the example of analysis of influence of operational parameters of coal fired power plant on the local increase of CO2 emission is presented. The influence of operational parameters on the local exergy losses appearing in components of investigated power plant are simulating making use of the semi-empirical model of power plant.

Basing on the first and second law of thermodynamics the fundamental trends in the Polish energy policy are analysed, including the aspects of environmental protection. The thermodynamical improvement of real processes (reduction of exergy losses) is the main way leading to an improvement of the effectivity of energy consumption. If the exergy loss is economically not justified, we have to do with an error from the viewpoint of the second law analysis. The paper contains a thermodynamical analysis of the ratio of final and primary energy, as well as the analysis of the thermo-ecological cost and index of sustainable development concerning primary energy. Analyses of thermo-ecological costs concerning electricity and centralized heat production have been also carried out. The effect of increasing the share of high-efficiency cogeneration has been analyzed, too. Attention has been paid to an improved efficiency of the transmission and distribution of electricity, which is of special importance from the viewpoint of the second law analysis. The improvement of the energy effectivity in industry was analyzed on the example of physical recuperation, being of special importance from the point of view of exergy analysis.

Oxy-fuel combustion (OFC) belongs to one of the three commonly known clean coal technologies for power generation sector and other industry sectors responsible for CO2emissions (e.g., steel or cement production). The OFC capture technology is based on using high-purity oxygen in the combustion process instead of atmospheric air. Therefore flue gases have a high concentration of CO2- Due to the limited adiabatic temperature of combustion some part of CO2must be recycled to the boiler in order to maintain a proper flame temperature. An integrated oxy-fuel combustion power plant constitutes a system consisting of the following technological modules: boiler, steam cycle, air separation unit, cooling water and water treatment system, flue gas quality control system and CO2processing unit. Due to the interconnections between technological modules, energy, exergy and ecological analyses require a system approach. The paper present the system approach based on the 'input-output' method to the analysis of the: direct energy and material consumption, cumulative energy and exergy consumption, system (local and cumulative) exergy losses, and thermoecological cost. Other measures like cumulative degree of perfection or index of sustainable development are also proposed. The paper presents a complex example of the system analysis (from direct energy consumption to thermoecological cost) of an advanced integrated OFC power plant.

Improvement in the exegetic efficiency of a solar air heater (SAH) can be done by enhancing the rate of heat transfer. In this work, the exergetic efficiency optimization of an artificially roughened solar air heater having an inverted L-shape rib has been performed. The numerical analysis of the exergetic performance of the solar air heater was carried out at a constant heat flux of 1000 W/m2. The study was conducted to investigate the effect of different relative roughness pitch (7.14–17.86) on the exergy losses, under the Reynolds number range of 3000 to 18 000. The roughness parameter of this geometry has been optimized and found to be among functional operating parameters like average solar intensity and temperature rise across the collector. The optimized value of relative roughness pitch is 17.86 at the isolation of 1000 W/m ², and the parameter of temperature rise ranges from 0.005 to 0.04.

Efficiency and electrical power output of combined cycle power plants vary according to the ambient conditions. The amount of these variations greatly affects electricity production, fuel consumption, and plant incomes. Obviously, many world countries have a wide range of climatic conditions, which impact the performance of power plants. In this paper, a thermodynamic analysis of an operating power plant located in Jordan is performed with actual operating data acquired from the power plant control unit. The analysis is performed by using first and second laws of thermodynamics. Energy and exergy efficiencies of each component of the power plant system are calculated and the effect of ambient temperature on the components performance is studied. The effects of gas turbine pressure ratio, gas turbine inlet temperature, load and ambient conditions on the combined cycle efficiency, power outputs and exergy destruction are investigated. Energy and exergy efficiencies of the combined cycle power plant are found as 45.29%, and 42.73% respectively when the ambient temperature is 34 ◦C. Furthermore, it is found that the combustion chamber has the largest exergy destruction rate among the system components. The results showed that 73% of the total exergy destruction occurs in the combustion chamber when the ambient temperature is 34 ◦C. Moreover, the results show that the second major exergy loss is in HRSC. The results show that the energy and exergy efficiency of the combined cycle power plant decreases as the ambient temperature increases. According to the calculation results, improvement and modification suggestions are presented.