The Simulation of a Zero-Energy Residential Building for the Solar Decathlon Competition

Solar Energy ◽  
2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael R. Wassmer ◽  
Michael J. Brandemuehl ◽  
Adam Jackaway
Keyword(s):  
Residential Building ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Design Tool ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Solar Decathlon ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact

In 2002, the Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored the world’s first university competition to design and build a completely solar powered house. One requirement of the competition was to perform simulations of the house’s photovoltaic, solar thermal, and space conditioning systems. By instituting this requirement, DOE is encouraging the building industry to apply the “whole-building design” approach to residences as a method of reducing financial and environmental operation costs of the building over its lifetime. This paper describes the simulation approach taken by the University of Colorado Solar Decathlon Team. In addition to describing the process of simulating a zero-energy residential building, the specific results of the simulations and related parametric studies are also presented. The design and analysis process provides a case study in the application of six different simulation tools for zero-energy building design. Energy-10 provided an environment for parametric analysis of building design options during the critical early design phase. However, it lacks the flexibility to model solar electric, solar thermal, and specialized HVAC systems. FChart gave valuable guidance early in the project on the impact of solar system sizing and performance. TRNSYS is extremely flexible in that it can simulate various solar systems and the interactions of virtually any thermal system commonly found in buildings. This flexibility is accompanied by the burden of complexity and a generic user interface that limits its use as a routine building design tool. Radiance, AGI32, and ECOTECT provided specialized simulation tools for the integration of the daylight delivery system, external shading devices, and the electric lighting system. Additional development is required to better integrate these design needs into general building energy analysis tools.

Solar Thermal Electric Panel (STEP): Thermal and Energy Testing

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel A. Lamson ◽  
Stuart W. Baur
Keyword(s):  
Performance Analysis ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Simulation Software ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Prototype Model ◽  
Roof System ◽  
Solar Decathlon ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Solar House

The concept of combining both solar thermal and electric systems is not new yet the limited use and further development needed has been noted by both the Department of Energy in the U.S. [1] and the EU Coordination Action PV-Catapult in Europe [2]. These reports and the university’s solar house entry in the Department of Energy’s 2005 Solar Decathlon provided the opportunity for research and development of a hybrid roof system that combined both photovoltaics with a wet solar thermal system. The main goal of this research was to design and develop a hybrid roof system based on previous research. Once designed then build a prototype model for the purpose of performance analysis with the final stage being the implementation in the university’s solar house entry into the 2005 solar decathlon. This paper discusses the hybrid roof design and performance analysis. The design and development was initialized by a group of students and advisors from both the University of Missouri-Rolla and Crowder College with the intent to use the hybrid system as part of the solar houses in the upcoming solar decathlons. Previous research studies on hybrid roof systems have shown increased performance however the differences in the systems studied vary in their setups and use of materials. In the case of this study a series of copper tubes were integrated into a metal seam roof with an amorphous silicon panel encased in low iron glass. This experiment encompassed almost 160 square feet of hybrid Solar Thermal Electric Panel (STEP) system panels and performance data acquired was used for input to computer simulation software to optimize the system for application. Based on experimental tests the STEP system yielded overall efficiency of 50%. This is compared to a separate thermal and electric system with an estimated 26% for the same roof area. The glazed versus unglazed analysis yielded a glazed panel reducing the PV collection by 23% yet increasing the thermal collection by approximately 200%. In conclusion this paper will discuss experimental performance analysis on the STEP system thermal and overall outcomes.

Energy or carbon? Exploring the relative size of universal zero carbon and zero energy design spaces

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Parkin ◽  
Manuel Herrera ◽  
David A Coley
Keyword(s):  
Design Space ◽  
Relative Size ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Software Environment ◽  
Space Forms ◽  
Regulatory Frameworks ◽  
Regulatory Standards ◽  
Zero Carbon ◽  
The Impact

One aim of zero carbon, or zero energy, buildings is to help slow climate change. However, regulatory definitions frequently miss substantial emissions, for example ones associated with the materials the building is constructed from, thereby compromising this goal. Unfortunately, including such emissions might restrict the design space, reduce architectural freedom or greatly increase costs. This work presents a new framework for examining the problem. The zero carbon/energy design and regulatory space forms a sub-space of the hyper-volume enclosing all possible designs and regulatory frameworks. A new mathematical/software environment was developed which allows the size and shape of this sub-space to be investigated for the first time. Twenty-four million building design/regulatory standard combinations were modelled and assessed using a tree classification approach. It was found that a worldwide zero standard that includes embodied emissions is possible and is easier to achieve if a carbon rather than an energy metric is adopted, with the design space twice the size for a carbon metric. This result is important for the development of more encompassing regulations, and the novel methods developed applicable to other aspects of construction controlled by regulation where there is the desire to examine the impact of new regulations prior to legislation. Practical application: As energy standards become more strict, and given the growth in non-regulatory standards (such as Passivhaus), there is the need to study the potential impact of any element of a standard on the range of designs that can be built or the materials that can be used. This work sets out a general framework and method for doing this. The approach and results will be of interest to policy makers, but also to engineers and architects wondering what the key constraints to design the adoption of various philosophies to low energy/carbon standards might have within their work. For example, the implications of the building standard (or client) requiring embodied emissions to be included or the energy balance period for renewable generation to be monthly, not annual.

scholarly journals Modeling Nearly Zero Energy Buildings for Sustainable Development in Rural Areas

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 2593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reza Khakian ◽  
Mehrdad Karimimoshaver ◽  
Farshid Aram ◽  
Soghra Zoroufchi Benis ◽  
Amir Mosavi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Saving ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Payback Period ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Multiple Parameters ◽  
Shading Devices ◽  
The Impact

The energy performance of buildings and energy-saving measures have been widely investigated in recent years. However, little attention has been paid to buildings located in rural areas. The aim of this study is to assess the energy performance of two-story residential buildings located in the mountainous village of Palangan in Iran and to evaluate the impact of multiple parameters, namely building orientation, window-to-wall ratio (WWR), glazing type, shading devices, and insulation, on its energy performance. To attain a nearly zero energy building design in rural areas, the building is equipped with photovoltaic modules. The proposed building design is then economically evaluated to ensure its viability. The findings indicate that an energy saving of 29% can be achieved compared to conventional buildings, and over 22 MWh of electricity can be produced on an annual basis. The payback period is assessed at 21.7 years. However, energy subsidies are projected to be eliminated in the near future, which in turn may reduce the payback period.

On the Overall Energy Efficiency of a High-Performance Solar Energy Residential Building

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam J. Wong ◽  
Jorge E. Gonza´lez ◽  
Sergio Escobar ◽  
Mark Aschheim
Keyword(s):  
Solar Energy ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Hvac System ◽  
Solar Pv ◽  
Solar Decathlon ◽  
Pv Array

This paper describes the energy performance of a solar house over its first year of monitoring. The 2007 Solar Decathlon house currently sits on Santa Clara University’s campus at 60.4 m2. The house is powered entirely by solar PV and solar thermal off the grid. This solar energy house is heavily instrumented with more than 100 sensors to measure temperatures, humidity, power consumption of electric appliances, lighting, water, and performance of a 7.2 kW solar PV array and a sophisticated HVAC system. The instrumentation includes a full weather station. The house is divided into two interconnected modules, and constructed with high thermal insulation and sustainable materials. The instrumentation also allows quantifying energy performance of individual components as well as the overall energy performance of the house. The paper focuses on the complete energy balance of the house as a function of weather conditions, and of the performance of individual components. Of particular interest is the performance of the solar PV and solar thermal systems. The solar thermal system includes an absorption air conditioning unit, integrated with a thermal storage tank to provide all energy needs for water consumption and heating. The I-V curves of the full PV array are reported, demonstrating peak, off-peak, and seasonal performance and deviations from manufacturers’ conditions. Similarly, the overall COP of the solar-driven HVAC system is reported for both cooling and heating modes. Finally, it is shown how data can be used to demonstrate improvement of simulation tools for solar building energy performance. Although data has been collected since March 2009, this paper focuses on performance during summer 2009.

The Analysis of Passive Design in Zero-Energy Buildings: A Case Study of Solar Decathlon

2013 ◽  
Vol 689 ◽  
pp. 119-124
Author(s):  
Cheng Chen ◽  
Rong Wen Du ◽  
Hao Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Solar Decathlon ◽  
Living Space ◽  
Design Build ◽  
Passive Design ◽  
Ecological Landscape ◽  
Solar House ◽  
Zero Energy Buildings

In order to promote the development of the zero-energy buildings, the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is held biennially, in which every team is required to design, build and operate an energy-efficient house powered by the sun. This paper is focused on the innovative passive design in the Solar Decathlon 2011 in following five categories: the indoor and outdoor space, the envelop, the ecological system as well as the shading structure. Based on the case studies, it is suggested that the solar house is emphasizing more flexible living space, the multifunctional envelop and the ecological landscape.

scholarly journals Thermal and Vibration Comfort Analysis of a Nearly Zero-Energy Building in Poland

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Fedorczak-Cisak ◽  
Marcin Furtak ◽  
Jolanta Gintowt ◽  
Alicja Kowalska-Koczwara ◽  
Filip Pachla ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Technical Requirements ◽  
Low Energy Buildings ◽  
Passive Houses ◽  
Construction Law ◽  
The Impact

Placing emphasis exclusively on minimizing energy consumption in low-energy buildings can adversely impact thermal comfort and vibrational comfort. Vibrational comfort is extremely important in building design, especially within mining or seismically active territories, and due to car transportation in city centers. In this article, a new approach to designing passive buildings and nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEBs) in Poland is proposed, which has a strong emphasis on the necessity of providing comfort of use in passive houses and NZEBs. Additionally, vibration comfort provisions in the design process are examined. The research gap that will be addressed by the research presented in this article is to extend the comfort conditions of passive buildings and NZEBs into the area of vibratory comfort. The second goal of the project is to determine the impact of solar control systems on the conditions of thermal comfort. The conclusions from the research will allow for the optimization of design assumptions for passive houses and NZEBs. The conclusions from the tests can serve as the basis for introducing appropriate construction law requirements in Poland. The results of the research, which are presented in the article, indicate that the technical requirements that are applicable in Poland ought to include requirements regarding the use of sun blinds in NZEBs and passive buildings (not only as recommendations). In particular, the use of apertures on the south side ought to be mandated. The article can also be the basis for introducing the requirements of vibration comfort to the PN–EN 15251:2012 “Indoor environmental input parameters for design and assessment of energy performance of buildings addressing indoor air quality, thermal environment, lighting and acoustics” standard, which is the basis for designing the parameters of the internal environment for buildings.

Optimization of Photovoltaic/Thermal Collectors

Solar Energy ◽  
2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph McCabe
Keyword(s):  
Photovoltaic Module ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
National Renewable Energy Laboratory ◽  
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Solar Decathlon ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fluid Transfer ◽  
Institute Of Technology ◽  
And Performance

Recent designs in the Solar Decathlon have incorporated solar electric modules with heat capture. Zero Energy Buildings (ZEB) solicitations through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have recently awarded photovoltaic / thermal (PV/T) projects incorporating air and fluid based heat transfer mediums. This paper introduces the PV/T collector with a quick history of four different research and development projects starting with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1978. Suggestions for engineering design and performance guidelines are provided. A demonstration of a zero glazed thin film amorphous silicon photovoltaic module with air as the fluid transfer medium, captured off the backside, is presented. The paper provides suggestions on applications and appropriate environments for various PV/T collector types.

Process and Lessons-Learned From an Interdisciplinary Collaboration in the Design and Construction of a Net-Zero Energy Solar House

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mona Azarbayjani ◽  
Valentina Cecchi ◽  
Brett Tempest
Keyword(s):  
Development Process ◽  
Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Design Development ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Solar Decathlon ◽  
Net Zero Energy ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Solar House

This paper reviews the development process of a net-zero-energy modular house, called UrbanEden, which was the UNC-Charlotte entry to the 2013 US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition. It reports the collaboration of students and faculty from various colleges and schools at UNC-Charlotte working towards delivering a net-zero energy house for the competition held in October in Irvine California. The study presents the participation of students involved in various phases of schematic design, design development and construction. It also identifies the composition and organization of students through the two-year progress and how it evolved throughout the process. The paper also reviews the curriculum integration in school of Architecture with Engineering. The lessons learned from the process will be discussed.

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