Energy and Buildings 71 (2014) 142–154 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Energy and Buildings j ourna l ho me pa g e: www.elsevier.com/locate/enbuild Solar-assisted localized ventilation system for poultry brooding Hajar Fawaz a , Mohamad G. Abiad b , Nesreen Ghaddar a,∗ , Kamel Ghali a a Department of Mechanical Engineering, American University of Beirut, PO Box 11-0236, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon b Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, American University of Beirut, PO Box 11-0236, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 23 August 2013 Received in revised form 24 November 2013 Accepted 13 December 2013 Keywords: Localized ventilation in poultry houses Broiler brooding Solar heating of poultry house Localized heating a b s t r a c t This research aims at investigating the efficiency and performance of a solar-assisted localized heating and ventilation system for chicken brooding in a prototype of 16-pens poultry house. Numerical 3-D simulations were carried out in order to model the heated space where a convective unit is employed to deliver the heating needs as well as fresh air requirement that maintain Ammonia (NH 3 ) and Carbon Dioxide (CO 2 ) concentrations at the micro environment of the chicken below 25 ppm and 2500 ppm, respectively, in accordance with published standards. The system performance was analyzed and com- pared to a conventional fuel-based fully mixed heating and ventilation system. The results show that the localized system has saved 74% of the energy demanded in the conventional fully mixed system. Moreover, a solar system that relies on parabolic concentrators has been able to cover 84% of the load required for a winter flock of six-weeks. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Food security is one of the peaking global concerns that require full awareness to avoid the rising hazards. In 1966, the World Food Summit defined food security as the physical and economical abil- ity of all people at any time to access sufficient and safe food that satisfies their dietary demand. However, this is not the case. The estimations of the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, have shown an increase in the number of undernourished people by 75 million in 2007 over that in 2003–2005 to become 923 million hungry people in the world [1]. Moreover, the increasing rate of population and economic growth is accompanied by an increase in the energy demand, so that prices of fuel oil are rising and food prices are affected in return. According to FAO, food prices started to rise in 2002 to show a very sharp increase in the years of 2006 and 7007; and by 2008, food prices increased by 64% above those in 2002 [1]. The increase in food prices will definitely affect food security, as it will be hard for poor people to get food. In Lebanon, a country study by the United Nations Development Program, UNDP, has shown that 28% of the Lebanese people are poor and other 8% are very poor to get a total of 300,000 Lebanese persons who cannot afford their food needs [2]. The increasing costs of food production due to the increasing costs of energy are leading to food insecurity and utilizing renew- able energies in food production would serve as a solution. Hence, this strategy would best fit in both the economical basis and the ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +961 1350000x2513/+961 3174406. E-mail address: farah@aub.edu.lb (N. Ghaddar). energy efficiency one. Livestock production is observed to be highly involved in the global warming as well as the air and water pol- lution, and shares a fraction of 0.18 in greenhouse gas emissions, which is higher than that of transportation [3]. Besides, poultry pro- duction accounts for 44% of the world’s total demand for domestic livestock [4], and the increasing rate in the global population will lead to an increase in the need for poultry supply in the upcoming years. In poultry brooding, heating is vital in the first week for the development of the chicken before they become able to regulate their own body temperature. In their six-weeks brooding period, chicken are highly sensitive to the surrounding temperature that may harm their performance if low [5]. Moreover, as the chicken develops sufficient size and hair coverage, heating requirements decrease gradually with advanced stages in brooding according to ASHRAE recommendations [6]. In addition to the importance of heat for the chicken develop- ment, ventilation is another critical issue in the poultry industry. Due to the rising costs of fossil fuels, adequate ventilation is not well achieved in most poultry houses because of the additional load it adds on the heating system. Ammonia (NH 3 ) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) are the two main gases that must be kept below their critical concentration levels in poultry houses. Ammonia is mainly generated by the manure of the chicken, and when its con- centration exceed its critical level, it will negatively affects the broilers’ growth performance and immunological response; as a result, broilers’ weight will decrease and lead to an economical loss due to their weak performance [7]. On the other hand, carbon diox- ide results from both the manure and the respiration of the chicken. Reece and Lott have observed that the exposure of broilers to high 0378-7788/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2013.12.021