Green transportation using solar energy with nearly zero emissions is of global importance to address the challenges of modern energy access for the transport sector, greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. In the Global South and in most off-grid areas, solar PV mini-grids are being used to provide energy access. However, there is redundant energy from these mini-grid systems during peak sunshine hours, which could be used for further profitable activities. E-mobility is a key use case that could be incorporated into the operation of mini-grids to minimise redundant energy, improve system performance, and increase mini-grid profitability. In this study, a model of a Machine Learning (ML)-based control system incorporating Internet of Things (IoT) for e-tricycle charging is proposed to optimise the use of energy from mini-grids for green transportation. In a case study, three ML models, namely Artificial Neural Network, Extreme Gradient Boosting, K-Nearest Neighbour and Random Forest, were trained on data acquired from three mini-grids to predict redundant energy for efficient electric vehicle (EV) charging. The results revealed that on average, the three communities had redundant energy in the ranges of 56.98–119.86 kWh, 74.39–311.87 kWh, and 57.03–274.66 kWh per day. Having validated the ML models, all the models could predict redundant energy successfully.

Access to clean cooking solutions is a critical issue in most developing countries, where traditional biomass dominates the cooking sector, contributing to indoor and outdoor air pollution. This study developed an institutional solar PV electric steam cooker (ISESC) that integrates sand-based thermal energy storage (TES) as a sustainable alternative for large-scale cooking. The ISESC converts solar PV electricity into thermal energy stored in quarry sand, generating steam for cooking. Field tests were conducted at a senior high school in Ghana to assess the cooking performance of commonly consumed staple foods under varying solar irradiance conditions (400–900 W/m2). The ISESC achieved a thermal efficiency of 38.9%, surpassing Scheffler dish-type solar steam systems (25–26.5%) by roughly 12–14% at comparable load conditions. The ISESC was able to cook rice, beans, and plantain, with final chamber temperatures of 105–110 °C, confirming the system's capacity for institutional-scale cooking. The lifecycle cost analysis revealed that despite a higher upfront investment, the ISESC achieves payback in 4.5 years and reduces total 20-year cooking costs by about 47% compared to traditional biomass cookstoves. The ISESC emission savings include 5312 kg of carbon dioxide, 11 kg of nitrogen oxide, and 7 kg of particulate matter 2.5 annually, directly contributing to Sustainable Development Goals 7, 13, and 3. The originality of this work lies in integrating sand-based TES with steam cooking at an institutional scale, providing a replicable pathway for sustainable, efficient, and clean cooking transitions across Sub-Saharan Africa.

In recent years, there has been a significant emphasis on transitioning to sustainable energy technologies. Among these, electric cooking (e-cooking) has emerged as a promising alternative to traditional cooking methods. This study employed a systematic review and bibliometric analysis to investigate emerging trends and advancements in solar PV-based e-cooking technology. The systematic review followed the PRISMA guidelines, and the bibliometric analysis utilised the R Studio Bibliometrix software package in conjunction with the Biblioshiny interface. The findings revealed a growing research interest in solar PV-based e-cooking, driven by concerns about climate change, energy security, and environmental sustainability, such as deforestation, indoor air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. The thematic analysis identified core research areas, including solar PV systems, renewable energy integration, developing clean and efficient cooking solutions, and addressing socio-economic factors for widespread adoption. Advancements were observed in areas such as solar PV-powered cooking devices, integrating PV e-cooking into microgrids and mini-grids, and exploring solar PV-based hydrogen production for cooking. Socio-economic and cultural factors were recognised as pivotal for successful technology adoption. The study highlights the potential of solar PV-based e-cooking as a sustainable and clean cooking solution and proposes future research directions, including optimisation of cooking devices, integration with advanced technologies, and comprehensive assessments of techno-economic viability and life-cycle impacts. The study findings are vital to researchers, policymakers, and industry stakeholders advancing the e-cooking sector for sustainable development.

Cocoa production is crucial to advancing economies. Conventional manual cocoa pod splitting is inefficient, labor-intensive, and hazardous, but mechanical cocoa pod splitting is underutilized due to unreliable energy sources. This research designs and integrates a solar photovoltaic (PV) system to power a cocoa pod-splitting machine for addressing the critical challenge of access to sustainable energy and postharvest handling technology in off-grid cocoa-growing communities. The design adopted an energy demand analysis, environmental assessment, system simulation and practical design implementation to validate the theoretical model and ensure enhanced operational efficiency, sustainability and reliability. An independent PV system consisting of five 275 W monocrystalline panels, 24 V, 40 A charge controller, 24 V hybrid GEL battery bank, and 1.3 hp DC motor was designed based on energy demand, theoretically modeled in MATLAB/Simulink and tested under real solar conditions in Ghana. The system demonstrated consistent energy supply to the machine, with sufficient autonomy for three operating days, whilst producing 5843.75 Wh/day, which surpasses the 4720.46 Wh/day energy requirement of the machine by 23.7%. Real-world performance aligned closely with simulation predictions, confirming the PV system’s viability, scalability and reliability. Analysis of variance conducted at a significance level of 0.05 to test for the statistical significance of differences in mean voltage supply across varying irradiance levels obtained an F−statistic=1.301α=0.05, demonstrating the solar PV reliability in operational voltage under varying solar conditions. The outcome of the experiment indicated a splitting efficiency of 98.92 %, a separation efficiency of 91–96.5 % and a bean damage proportion of 1.03 % with a 60 cocoa pods/minute throughput. The study achieves up to 74% improvement while maintaining accessible, eco-friendly and sustainable energy independence relative to prior systems. In conclusion, a solar PV system was successfully developed and implemented to power a cocoa pod-splitting machine, which supplied sufficient, sustainable, reliable and eco-friendly energy to address energy challenges in off-grid cocoa farming communities. Tests showed that the performance of the solar-powered cocoa pod splitting machine was robust, demonstrating a significant improvement over previous systems. The integration of renewable energy improves sustainability, minimizes reliance on fossil fuel and contributes to achieving SDG 7, 9, and 13 in postharvest agricultural mechanization.

For many countries in the global south, especially in Africa, cooking is done using biomass fuels, with severe indoor air pollution, negative health hazards, and environmental pollution. Therefore, transitioning to cleaner cooking fuels using renewable energy is critical to decarbonize the cooking sector. In this study, analyses were conducted on the energy, emissions, and economics of an innovative solar PV electric steam cooker (SESC), and the results were compared with a traditional biomass cookstove system (BCS) for institutional cooking. The SESC has sand as thermal energy storage incorporated into the design. Experiments were conducted on the SESC and the BCS to cook a common staple food (kenkey) in four senior high schools in Ghana. The experimental results show that the SESC reduces energy consumption by approximately 90 %, achieves an average thermal efficiency of 37.4 % (compared to 14.8 %-14.9 % for BCS), and eliminates direct emissions. The energy savings of the SESC are due to minimal heat losses because of its brick insulation, and the fact that the heated sand is able to hold heat and sustain cooking even when the solar PV energy source is turned OFF. In addition, the lifecycle cost analysis indicates that the SESC has a lower levelized cost of cooking a meal (4.8–6.3 USD/meal) compared to the BCS (8.4–10.5 USD/meal). The payback period for the SESC ranges between 4.8 and 6.8 years, making it financially viable for large-scale institutional cooking. The findings highlight the potential of solar steam cooking as a viable institutional clean cooking solution, with implications for policy interventions and subsidy programmes to promote adoption in large-scale food preparation settings.

Green hydrogen is an important part of the transition to a net zero economy, due to its potential to deliver high amounts of energy without pollution. One important opportunity to produce green hydrogen is the use of redundant energy on solar PV mini-grids. Redundant energy is the potential generation of a mini-grid that is never utilized due to low demand and the mismatch of peak solar PV generation and peak demand. In this study, a typical rural community solar PV mini-grid is simulated using Matlab Simulink and incorporated with a water electrolyser for hydrogen production. Having run the simulation for 365 days of the year, it was revealed that the mini-grid can produce a daily average of 1.18-2.16 kg, a monthly average of 36.59-64.84 kg and a yearly total of 609.26 kg of hydrogen. Subsequently, an artificial neuron network was trained with data acquired from the simulation. With varying configurations of the number of neurons and hidden layers, it was found that the model successfully predicts hydrogen production on the mini-grid with the highest performance (RMSE = 39.85 g and R2 = 0.9979) seen when the number of hidden layers is 40 and the number of neurons per hidden layer is 3.

Rural mini-grids in Ghana often experience substantial midday solar PV generation surpluses due to mismatches between peak production and local demand, with excess energy (redundant energy) frequently curtailed once batteries are fully charged. This underutilisation limits the socio-economic benefits of renewable electrification and highlights the need for alternative long-duration storage solutions. This study investigated the technoeconomic feasibility of converting excess PV energy from a 54 kWp mini-grid in Aglakope, Ghana, into hydrogen via electrolysis, storing it, and reconverting it to electricity using fuel cells. Redundant energy generation was quantified using measured PV output and load consumption and validated using statistical error metrics (R2 = 0.955). Hydrogen production and recovery potential were modelled for different electrolyser technologies, and system performance was evaluated using round-trip efficiency (RTE), levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH), and levelized cost of storage (LCOS), with comparative analysis against additional battery capacity. The results yielded an average monthly excess energy of about 2250 kWh, convertible into 43-53 kg per month of hydrogen depending on electrolyser type. The proposed hydrogen-fuel cell pathway yielded a RTE of 44.4 %, LCOH of $4.97/kg, and LCOS of $0.249/kWh, which is about 13 % higher than lithium-ion storage benchmarks. The study findings demonstrate that hydrogen storage can complement batteries, offer seasonal and multi-day storage capability, and reduce renewable curtailment. Therefore, wider adoption could be supported by cost reductions, efficiency improvements, and enabling policies, positioning hydrogen-based storage as a viable pathway for resilient, low-carbon rural electrification in off-grid contexts.

The aviation sector faces urgent pressure to decarbonize while maintaining reliability and cost-effectiveness. This study integrates aviation fuel demand forecasting, biomass feedstock assessment, and carbon savings estimation to evaluate pathways for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production in emerging economies. Using Ghana as a representative case within the region, the research quantifies feedstock availability, potential SAF output, and indicative production costs across hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids, Fischer–Tropsch, and hydrotreated-pyrolysis pathways. Results show that available biomass resources could produce over 4 Mt SAF, exceeding projected aviation fuel demand in developing countries by 2030 and enabling greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions above 12 Mt CO₂e yr⁻¹. Results illustrate that biomass mobilisation in developing economies can contribute to global aviation decarbonization frameworks such as the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation and drop-in fuel substitute for hybrid-turboelectric architectures in the short- to medium-term, with implications for energy security, trade balance, and sustainable growth. Despite this potential, cost-competitiveness remains a key constraint, requiring coordinated global efforts in policy design, financing mechanisms, and infrastructure development to enable scalable SAF production worldwide.

This study evaluates the fuel properties of five briquette samples made of Saw Dust (SD), Cocoa Shell (CS), Corn Cob (CC), Palm Kernell Shell (PKS) and Coconut Husk (CH), blended with starch at 50 % binder ratio to assess their suitability as boiler fuels, addressing the need to transition to cleaner, more efficient and sustainable boiler fuels for effective decarbonization of the heat and power sector of industry in Ghana. Pertinent solid fuel properties were measured to characterize fuel performance ranges. Environmental implications were also assessed through emissions measurements. SD emerges with the lowest relaxation ratio (1.39), indicating superior stability during transportation. CC exhibits the highest HHV (25.22 MJ/kg), while CH (187 g/h) demonstrates superior fuel economy. CH (27.93 %wt.) presents higher igniting potential, while CC and PKS may necessitate combustion-enhancing additives for ignition. CC (12.34 +/- 2.25 wt. %) yields lesser ash, potentially enhancing boiler performance and guaranteeing minimum maintenance as compared with the other briquette samples. Four-day average measurements reveal minimal CO2 and CO emissions for all samples, indicating negligible environmental threat. PM2.5 emissions mostly conform to WHO safety thresholds, albeit SD exceeding the recommended limit. The diversity of desirable fuel properties obtained, barring the few anomalies observed, demonstrate that briquettes hold the key to achieving fuel resource, environmental, and performance sustainability so far as boilers are concerned. The results also serve as pointers for further research to consolidate knowledge on more detailed fuel performance characteristics.

Transition to a sustainable energy supply is essential for addressing the challenges of climate change and achieving a low-carbon future. Green hydrogen produced from solar photovoltaic (PV) systems presents a promising solution in Ghana, where energy demands are increasing rapidly. The levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) is considered a critical metric to evaluate hydrogen production techniques, cost competitiveness, and economic viability. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of LCOH from solar PV systems. The study considered a 5 MW green hydrogen production plant in Ghana's capital, Accra, as a proposed system. The results indicate that the LCOH is about $9.49/kg, which is comparable to other findings obtained within the Sub-Saharan Africa region. The study also forecasted that the LCOH for solar PV-based hydrogen produced will decrease to $5–6.5/kg by 2030 and $2–2.5/kg by 2050 or lower, making it competitive with fossil fuel-based hydrogen. The findings of this study highlight the potential of green hydrogen as a sustainable energy solution and its role in driving the country's net-zero emissions agenda in relation to its energy transition targets. The study's outcomes are relevant to policymakers, researchers, investors, and energy stakeholders in making informed decisions regarding deploying decentralised green hydrogen technologies in Ghana and similar contexts worldwide.

The trajectory of the world's energy use has moved towards the use of renewable energy to increase energy access. Solar energy's pace of growth as a result of its low cost has resulted in it being used to generate electricity for areas that do not have access to grid electricity. Thus, solar photovoltaic mini-grid systems have been deployed in several areas. Over time, it has been found that these systems generate a significant amount of redundant energy, which translates to low profitability for the mini-grid operators, as only a fraction of the system's capacity is used. This study seeks to investigate the economic feasibility of using this redundant energy for green hydrogen production and electric vehicle charging. The results revealed that both the green hydrogen production and electric vehicle charging are economically viable. Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return and Simple Payback Period obtained for green hydrogen production are $20,000, 24.6%, 9 years, while those of the electric vehicle charging are $109,625, 28.41%, 4 years respectively. Over the projects’ lifetime, levelised cost of hydrogen and levelised cost of energy for charging are $6.88/kg and $0.23/kWh respectively. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis revealed that the levelised costs for both projects are most sensitive to the plant capacity factor and capital expenditure. The study also shows that the wasted energy of the PV mini-grid could be reduced from as high as 69.95% to nearly 0%. This research underscores the potential of other clean energy technologies to reduce the wasted energy on existing PV systems, whiles improving the economic state of mini-grid communities.

PurposeThis study has assessed the thermal performance of locally fabricated bio-based building envelopes made of coconut and corn husk composite bricks to reduce building wall heat transmission load and energy consumption towards green building adaptation.Design/methodology/approachSamples of coconut fiber (coir) and corn husk fiber bricks were fabricated and tested for their thermophysical properties using the Transient Plane Source (TPS) 2500s instrument. A simulation was conducted using Dynamic Energy Response of Building - Lunds Tekniska Hogskola (DEROB-LTH) to determine indoor temperature variation over 24 h. The time lag and decrement factor, two important parameters in evaluating building envelopes, were also determined.FindingsThe time lag of the bio-based composite building envelope was found to be in the range of 4.2–4.6 h for 100 mm thickness block and 10.64–11.5 h for 200 mm thickness block. The decrement factor was also determined to be in the range of 0.87–0.88. The bio-based composite building envelopes were able to maintain the indoor temperature of the model from 25.4 to 27.4 °C, providing a closely stable indoor thermal comfort despite varying outdoor temperatures. The temperature variation in 24 h, was very stable for about 8 h before a degree increment, providing a comfortable indoor temperature for occupants and the need not to rely on air conditions and other mechanical forms of cooling. Potential energy savings also peaked at 529.14 kWh per year.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study present opportunities to building developers and engineers in terms of selecting vernacular materials for building envelopes towards green building adaptation, energy savings, reduced construction costs and job creation.Originality/valueThis study presents for the first time, time lag and decrement factor for bio-based composite building envelopes for green building adaptation in hot climates, as found in Ghana.

Solar home systems (SHS) are increasing being deployed as sustainable energy supply for the residential sector to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 7 target by 2030, especially for countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where national grid electricity supply is inadequate or weak. For SHS in SSA, however, a unique challenge exists as many of the households do not have access to net-metering system that allows extra PV energy generation during the daytime to be exported to the grid. This leads to waste energy generation (redundant energy) when the household energy demand is lower than the PV energy generation. In this study, analysis has been conducted to determine the magnitude of redundant energy of 3 SHS. Hypothesis testing of the existence of redundant energy from the SHS is also conducted. Our study has revealed that generally, there is redundant energy generation in the hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the households, with hourly values ranging from 0.37 kWh to 1.55 kWh. The redundant energy represents 29.6 %-56.3 % of the households' monthly PV energy generation. The findings of this study give insights into the potential of harnessing redundant energy of SHS for planning smart energy cities if net-metering systems were available.

Thermal energy storage (TES) systems are pivotal in enabling wider adoption of renewable energy sources by overcoming their intermittent nature. However, many existing TES systems suffer from high costs or limited scalability. TES systems using sand as a storage medium have gained significant research attention in recent years due to availability and low cost. This bibliometric analysis aims to comprehensively examine and map the rapidly evolving research trends and evolution of sand-based TES systems, an emerging low-cost solution leveraging sand's abundance and favourable thermal properties as a storage medium. A systematic search was conducted on the Scopus database using PRISMA guidelines, and 339 relevant documents were included for analysis. The biblioshiny package in R software was used to perform the bibliometric analysis. The results revealed increasing publication trends since 2003, with notable contributions from countries like the United States of America, China, Saudi Arabia, India, and Spain. Research hotspots focused on numerical and experimental investigations of sand-based TES systems to evaluate thermal performance and optimise design parameters. The key research gap identified is optimising sand-based TES systems using artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning algorithms. Key future research directions include developing cost-effective sand property enhancement techniques, long-term stability assessments, design optimisation for applications like seasonal storage, and leveraging synergies between TES and other energy systems through detailed techno-economic analysis. The study provides comprehensive insights on growth, knowledge gaps, and a future roadmap to advance sand TES technology. This study will aid researchers in gaining a comprehensive overview of the field and identifying high-impact research areas to advance sand-based TES technology.

This article reports on a study conducted to assess the carbon storage potential of Bambusa vulgaris , the predominant bamboo species in Ghana. The study aimed to fill a knowledge gap on the potential of bamboo to sequester carbon for climate change mitigation in Ghana. Unlike previous studies that only focused on aboveground biomass, this study assessed belowground, litter, and coarse wood carbon pools. Allometric parameters and models were used to measure the aboveground biomass, while other carbon pools were directly measured. The results showed that the aboveground biomass of B. vulgaris had a carbon stock of 42.85 ± 9.32 Mg C ha −1 , which was 73% of the total biomass carbon stock. The carbon stocks of belowground, coarse wood and litter were 8.57, 3.02, and 4.25 Mg C ha −1 , respectively. The study also found that B. vulgaris had a high carbon dioxide sequestration potential of 215.39 Mg CO 2e ha −1 compared to 147–275 Mg CO 2e ha −1 for trees in general. The findings suggest that B. vulgaris could contribute to Ghana's transition to a low-carbon economy through carbon stock monitoring, reporting, and policy development to minimise the impact of climate change. Moreover, the inclusion of relevant carbon pools, including coarse wood and litter, in forest carbon estimates should be encouraged to provide a comprehensive understanding of the plant carbon cycle.

Solar PV mini-grids are increasingly being deployed in off-grid and island communities especially in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries to meet household energy demand. However, one challenge of solar PV mini-grids for community energy supply is the mismatch between the PV energy generation and household energy demand. PV mini-grid energy generation is highest in the afternoon whilst household energy demand is highest in the mornings and evenings, but lowest in the afternoons. This mismatch creates redundant energy generation during peak sunshine hours when battery energy storage is full, leading to low profitability for mini-grid systems. In this study, four machine learning models have been applied on an installed 30.6 kW mini-grid system in Ghana to ascertain the level of the redundant energy. The study has revealed that redundant energy exists on the mini-grid, in the range of 56.98 - 119.86 kWh/day. Further analysis has shown that the redundant energy can support household cooking energy demand through sustainable thermal batteries. With the four machine learning (ML) models applied in predicting the redundant energy, the most accurate ML model, K-nearest Neighbour Regressor, had a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.148 and a coefficient of determination (R2) value of 0.998.

The impact of the COVID pandemic has resulted in many people cultivating a remote working culture and increasing building energy use. A reduction in the energy use of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems is necessary for decreasing the energy use in buildings. The refrigerant charge of a heat pump greatly affects its energy use. However, refrigerant leakage causes a significant increase in the energy use of HVAC systems. The development of refrigerant charge fault detection models is, therefore, important to prevent unwarranted energy consumption and CO_2 emissions in heat pumps. This paper examines refrigerant charge faults and their effect on a variable speed heat pump and the most accurate method between a multiple linear regression and multilayer perceptron model to use in detecting the refrigerant charge fault using the discharge temperature of the compressor, outdoor entering water temperature and compressor speed as inputs, and refrigerant charge as the output. The COP of the heat pump decreased when it was not operating at the optimum refrigerant charge, while an increase in compressor speed compensated for the degradation in the capacity during refrigerant leakage. Furthermore, the multilayer perception was found to have a higher prediction accuracy of the refrigerant charge fault with a mean square error of ± 3.7

The increasing effect of climate change as a result of CO2 emissions emanating from utilization of conventional energy resources is driving national and regional policies towards global energy transformation in all sectors, including the transportation sub-sector. Internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV), which use fossil fuel are the main contributors of CO2 emissions in the transport sub-sector. Grid-powered battery electric vehicles (BEV) and solar electric vehicles (SEV) have the potential to reduce emissions in the transportation sub-sector and are therefore being promoted in regions where solar radiation levels are appreciable. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is one of the regions that receives significant radiation levels compared to other parts of the world, however, countries in the sub-region are yet to tap into the enormous benefits of SEV. In this study, comparative lifecycle analysis has been conducted on the total cost of ownership (TCO) of Hyundai Ioniq (BEV), Sono Sion (SEV) and Toyota Corolla (ICEV) for commercial transport operations in SSA, with a case study in Ghana. Research was conducted on 100 drivers of 5-seater petrol/diesel light commercial vehicles (LCV) in the city of Accra and Kumasi. Data were taken on their driving profiles, average travel distance, fuel cost and maintenance cost. Their choices between ICEV, BEV and SEV were also ascertained. Our study revealed that 70% of LCV travel up to 300 km and below, daily. The total cost of ownership for LCV at an average annual travel distance of 60,000 km were 0.21 US$/km, 0.17 US$/km, 0.15 US$/km and 0.14 US$/km for Used-ICEV, New-ICEV, BEV and SEV for 20-year analysis period, respectively. The total cost savings with BEV and SEV usage are at least 28% and 34%, respectively, compared to traditional diesel or gasoline ICEVs. Payback periods for SEV and BEV compared to ICEV are 3.5 years and 4.5 years, respectively. Our study has revealed that there is potential emission savings of 70% and 75% for BEV and SEV, respectively, compared to ICEV. Finally, this study highlights that utilization of SEVs and BEVs for light vehicle commercial transportation in SSA can potentially lead to post-COVID recovery and growth in the sub-region, amidst increasing diesel and petrol prices for ICEVs.

Thermal energy storage systems, also known as thermal batteries integrated with phase change materials, have gained significant attention in recent years as a promising solution for sustainable energy supply. Thermal batteries can significantly promote a sustainable energy supply by boosting the efficiency and reliability of renewable energy systems, enhancing energy access in isolated regions, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and enhancing energy security. However, there are still challenges to optimising these systems to maximise their efficiency and effectiveness. This study presents a systematic literature review of various thermal batteries for industrial, commercial, and domestic applications. The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines were adopted for this review. The primary objective was to identify factors affecting thermal battery performance. Data collection was focused on research papers published from 2013–2023 extracted from the Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases. The study findings highlight the importance of considering material thermophysical properties, design configurations, and operating conditions when optimising thermal batteries. Also, this study highlights the current state of knowledge in the field and suggests future research and development directions. In particular, artificial intelligence and machine learning are suggested to promote faster and more precise optimisation of thermal batteries. The findings of this study are useful to academia and industries promoting the adoption of sustainable energy solutions for a greener and more resilient future.

In hot-humid climates, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), ambient temperatures and relative humidity are as high as 35 °C and 84%, respectively, requiring the use of mechanical cooling systems for indoor thermal comfort. Split-type vapor-compression air-conditioners (SVAC) are mainly used for space cooling in SSA and consume 60–80% of total energy consumption in commercial and public buildings. Appropriate control strategy of the indoor set-point temperature of SVAC can result in significant energy savings in these buildings. In this study, modeling and dynamic simulation have been conducted using EnergyPlus to predict the energy saving potential and indoor thermal comfort of buildings in hot-humid climates by controlling set-point temperature of the SVAC. In a case study, climatic data for Ghana, was used to predict the energy saving potential and indoor thermal comfort. The study results revealed that, to ensure indoor thermal comfort at high outdoor temperature condition of 35 °C, the least and optimum set-point temperatures of the SVAC should be 21 °C and 25 °C, respectively. On the other hand, for low outdoor temperature condition, the least and optimum set-point temperatures were 22 °C and 26 °C, respectively. Considering 1-star and 2-star rated SVACs which are dominantly used in Ghana, operating at 21–25 °C in the case of high outdoor conditions, and 22–26 °C for low outdoor conditions relative to the least temperatures resulted in energy savings of 8–33% and 12-44%, respectively.