scholarly journals Towards Nearly-Zero Energy in Heritage Residential Buildings Retrofitting in Hot, Dry Climates

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 13934
Author(s):  
Hanan S. S. Ibrahim ◽  
Ahmed Z. Khan ◽  
Yehya Serag ◽  
Shady Attia
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Heritage Buildings ◽  
Dry Climates

Retrofitting “nearly-zero energy” heritage buildings has always been controversial, due to the usual association of the “nearly-zero energy” target with high energy performance and the utilization of renewable energy sources in highly regarded cultural values of heritage buildings. This paper aims to evaluate the potential of turning heritage building stock into a “nearly-zero energy” in hot, dry climates, which has been addressed in only a few studies. Therefore, a four-phase integrated energy retrofitting methodology was proposed and applied to a sample of heritage residential building stock in Egypt along with microscale analysis on buildings. Three reference buildings were selected, representing the most dominant building typologies. The study combines field measurements and observations with energy simulations. In addition, simulation models were created and calibrated based on monitored data in the reference buildings. The results show that the application of hybrid passive and active non-energy generating scenarios significantly impacts energy use in the reference buildings, e.g., where 66.4% of annual electricity use can be saved. Moreover, the application of solar energy sources approximately covers the energy demand in the reference buildings, e.g., where an annual self-consumption of electricity up to 78% and surplus electricity up to 20.4% can be achieved by using photo-voltaic modules. Furthermore, annual natural gas of up to 66.8% can be saved by using two unglazed solar collectors. Lastly, achieving “nearly-zero energy” was possible for the presented case study area. The originality of this work lies in developing and applying an informed retrofitting (nearly-zero energy) guide to be used as a benchmark energy model for buildings that belong to an important historical era. The findings contribute to fill a gap in existing studies of integrating renewable energy sources to achieve “nearly-zero energy” in heritage buildings in hot climates.

scholarly journals Demand Side Flexibility Potential and Comfort Performance of Non-Residential Buildings

2021 ◽  
Vol 2069 (1) ◽  
pp. 012151
Author(s):  
Georgios Chantzis ◽  
Panagiota Antoniadou ◽  
Maria Symeonidou ◽  
Effrosyni Giama ◽  
Simeon Oxizidis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Heating System ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Demand Side ◽  
Eu Directive ◽  
The Eu

Abstract The need to create and maintain a sustainable indoor environment is now more than ever compelling. Both the legislation framework concerning the energy performance of buildings, as determined in its evolution through the EU Directives 2010/31/EU, 2012/27/EU and 2018/844/EU, and the European strategic plans towards green buildings, denote the need of sustainability and comfort of indoor environment for the occupant. Moreover, the EU Directive 2018/2001 sets the renewable energy target of at least 32% for 2030, denoting that the high renewable energy sources penetration level leads to challenges in the design and control of power generation, transmission and distribution. Demand side management may be able to provide buildings with the energy flexibility needed, in order to utilize the intermittent production of Renewable Energy Sources in a much more efficient and cost-effective way. The flexibility potential of installed building systems is investigated, while considering the effects on the indoor environment conditions and the perceived comfort. The implemented Demand Response (DR) control strategy shifts loads by changing heating system set point temperatures, based on market clearing prices of the day ahead market. The results indicated a reduction in energy consumption and energy costs, while maintaining indoor environment quality at satisfactory levels.

scholarly journals Net-Zero Energy Districts and the Grid: An Energy-Economic Feasibility Case-Study of the National Western Center in Denver, CO, USA

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 638
Author(s):  
Benjamin A. Saarloos ◽  
Jason C. Quinn
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Net Zero Energy ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Net Zero

Given the enormous impact of buildings on energy consumption, it is important to continue the development of net-zero energy districts. Opportunities exist for energy efficiency and renewable energy on a district level that may not be feasible in individual buildings. Due to the intermittent nature of many renewable energy sources, net-zero energy districts are dependent on the energy grid. The novelty of this work is to quantify and optimize the economic cost and grid independence of a net-zero energy district using the National Western Center (NWC) in Denver, CO, USA as a case study. The NWC is a 100+ ha campus undergoing a major redevelopment process with a planned 170,000 m2 of total building space, an emphasis on sustainability, and a net-zero energy goal. Campus plans, building energy models, and renewable energy performance models of on-site solar, biomass, and thermal renewable energy sources are analyzed in multiple energy scenarios to achieve net-zero energy with and without on-site energy storage. Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is optimized as a function of variables defining the energy and economic relationship with the grid. Discussion herein addresses trade-offs between net-zero energy scenarios in terms of energy load, LCOE, storage, and grid dependence.

Surface overgrowth on gold nanoparticles modulating high-energy facets for efficient electrochemical CO2 reduction

Nanoscale ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Woong Choi ◽  
Joon Woo Park ◽  
Woonghyeon Park ◽  
Yousung Jung ◽  
Hyunjoon Song
Keyword(s):  
Gold Nanoparticles ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Co2 Reduction ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Reduction Reaction ◽  
Chemical Energy ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Electrochemical Co2 Reduction

Electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (eCO2RR) has been considered one of the potential technologies to store electricity from renewable energy sources into chemical energy. For this aim, designing catalysts with high...

scholarly journals Optimisation of Energy Accumulation for Renewable Energy Sources

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 205-210
Author(s):  
Milan Belik ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Model Building ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Photovoltaic System ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Pv System ◽  
Energy Accumulation ◽  
Wind Power Station ◽  
Future Production

This project focuses on optimisation of energy accumulation for various types of distributed renewable energy sources. The main goal is to prepare charging – discharging strategy depending on actual power consumption and prediction of consumption and production of utilised renewable energy sources for future period. The simulation is based on real long term data measured on photovoltaic system, wind power station and meteo station between 2004 – 2021. The data from meteo station serve as the input for the simulation and prediction of the future production while the data from PV system and wind turbine are used either as actual production or as a verification of the predicted values. Various parameters are used for trimming of the optimisation process. Influence of the charging strategy, discharging strategy, values and shape of the demand from the grid and prices is described on typical examples of the simulations. The main goal is to prepare and verify the system in real conditions with real load chart and real consumption defined by the model building with integrated renewable energy sources. The system can be later used in general installations on commercial or residential buildings.

scholarly journals Refurbishment of a house in a historical building: energy saving, electrification and flexibility

2020 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 02010
Author(s):  
Giada Romano ◽  
Elisa Pennacchia ◽  
Sofia Agostinelli
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Energy Saving ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Building Envelope ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Automation Systems ◽  
Architectural Constraints ◽  
Current Energy

Buildings with architectural constraints and recognized historical values require a careful design process, aiming to combine the needs of conservation and the adaptation of the buildings to the modern use and its accessibility. The feasible interventions consist in improving the energy performance of the building envelope, in inserting efficient technological systems and using renewable energy sources where possible. The compatibility between the architectural constraints of the building and its more sustainable future use represents a crucial challenge. This work presents the interventions designed and realized on a small villa located in the Prati district, in Rome. Starting from the requests of the client, the primary objective was to create a comfortable house both in the winter and in the summer season, with widespread use of automation systems for managing the utilities. In line with the current energy scenario, the interventions were oriented to energy efficiency, the reduction of polluting emissions, the electrification of utilities and the use of renewable energy sources. The proposed solutions showed high gains in terms of energy saving even if the changes to the building envelope were limited by the desire to preserve the values of the cultural heritage. Therefore, a virtuous refurbishment can effectively respond to current energy efficiency goals.

Villa Castelli - Transformation of Historical Building into Nearly Zero Energy Building

2019 ◽  
Vol 887 ◽  
pp. 148-155
Author(s):  
Paola Penna ◽  
Oscar Stuffer ◽  
Alexandra Troi ◽  
Valentina Carí
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Building Envelope ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Uniform Structure ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Historical Building ◽  
Zero Energy Building ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Heritage Building

What Americas Cup and a heritage building have in common? They both aim at innovative technologies and cutting-edge solutions. The owner of the project, an ex-crew member of the most famous sailing match race in the world, pushed the planning team to develop extraordinary solutions for his house. The house, Villa Castelli, is an historical listed building located on the Como lake. During its history, it has been transformed many times, giving as results a non-uniform structure composed by different construction technologies. The aims of the owner were: an overall refurbishment particularly focused on energy efficiency, the exploitation of renewable energy sources based on-site production and a fixed budget. To reach these goals, the energy needs have been reduced improving the performance of the thermal envelope. Then, the building's technical systems have been re-developed in order to exploit as much as possible available renewable energy sources. From the very beginning, it was clear that, for finding optimal solutions, a multidisciplinary approach was necessary. The design approach should be the result of a shared approach integrating different fields, such as creative design, technology, knowledge of material properties, building physics. The great synergy among building envelope retrofitting, innovative technological solutions and the deployment of renewable energy sources allows the transformation of this historical listed building into an outstanding example of a nearly zero energy building (nZEB).

scholarly journals Accelerating Energy Renovation Solution for Zero Energy Buildings and Neighbourhoods—The Experience of the RenoZEB Project

Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Vavallo ◽  
Marco Arnesano ◽  
Gian Marco Revel ◽  
Asier Mediavilla ◽  
Ane Ferreiro Sistiaga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
European Level ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
A Value ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
New Buildings

Buildings are the key factor to transform cities and to contribute to recent European energy efficiency objectives for 2030 and long-term 2050. New buildings account to only 1–2% annually. Yet, ninety percent of the existing building stock in Europe was built before 1990, it is therefore necessary to promote their energy renovation to achieve the set objectives. Renovation solutions are available on the market, yet a wrong implementation and integration due to a lack of knowledge neither maximizes the energy performance of the post-retrofitting nor the financial optimisation and viability of the projects. This paper presents research on a plug & play, modular, easy installable façade and ICT decision making technologies to provide affordable solutions in order to overcome those deep renovation barriers. The paper sets out by defining a value framework that can be applied by real estate investors for making better retrofitting decisions for residential buildings, through mapping targeted building typologies and investigating new building revalorisation strategies, new renovation concepts and KPIs for evaluation. Thereafter the paper presents the modular and easy-to-install façade system that is replicable and scalable at European level.

Ecological houses of Southern Kazakhstan using renewable energy sources

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ardasher Namazbay Yussupov ◽  
Akmaral Ardasherovna Yussupova
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Wide Range

PurposeThe purpose of this article discusses the design of underground eco-houses using a dome structure of light construction while taking into account the historical experience of the development of the local population. This article considered the traditions of folk architecture and modern sophistication in the creation of energy-efficient eco-houses in foreign countries in the context of architecture and construction of affordable residential homes for the local population.Design/methodology/approachThe research presented in this paper was motivated by the need for developing agro-tourism facilities in hard-to-reach areas of the Silk Road in Southern Kazakhstan causes the construction of eco-houses built using local construction materials. Since ancient times in Southern Kazakhstan and during seasonal migrations in yurts of light construction, people have lived in mud-brick houses deep in the ground. Along with architectural and artistic solutions in building construction, great importance was attached to saving material resources, labour costs and achieving heat stability of residential buildings.FindingsIn the architectural and planning solution of the eco¬-house, progressive directions of construction of agrotechnical structures using renewable energy sources are adopted. Particular importance was given to the choice of the construction site on an elevated area nearby historical monuments and a favourable season for the construction of eco-houses with considering the natural and climatic characteristics of rural areas of Southern Kazakhstan.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper discussed the issues of insulation, ventilation and improving the eco-house microclimate comfort using local building materials. Improving the architectural and artistic expressiveness of the eco-house in terms of the tradition of folk architecture was also explicitly discussed in this paper.Practical implicationsTables with the justification of expediency of construction of economical eco-houses in natural and climatic conditions of Kazakhstan and Central Asia are provided. The results help to improve the energy efficiency of eco-houses in Kazakhstan by using renewable energy sources.Social implicationsSocial benefits are associated with the use of local raw materials. Eco-houses built from traditional building materials can become accessible to a wide range of people and stimulate the development of small businesses. This may be associated with the construction of eco-houses to serve visiting tourists in remote picturesque oases, as well as the manufacture of dome structures, felt products and the preparation of reed panels and so on.Originality/valueThe thermotechnical characteristics of the region's ground energy are given, which can significantly save the cost of heating the eco-house. Solutions for optimal insolation, ventilation of the eco-house are provided, taking into account the natural and climatic conditions of Southern Kazakhstan.

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