Improvements in the Airtightness of Housing in Richmond, British Columbia

Controlling air leakage through the building envelope remains a challenge, especially in light of the imperative to transition to a net-zero energy building sector and the increasing importance of indoor air quality during extreme weather events such as wildfires. The British Columbia Energy Step Code is a performance-based compliance option in the British Columbia Building Code which is intended to provide a transition pathway to net-zero energy ready construction by 2032. For small residential buildings, performance targets entail thresholds for the measured air leakage rate through the building envelope. This paper reports on the airtightness of the first 145 single- and two-family dwellings built under the Energy Step Code in Richmond, BC. Although the first phase of the implementation of the Energy Step Code in Richmond entailed no airtightness targets (only testing), results indicate improvement compared to the historical levels of airtightness in the region.

Analysis of indoor environment and performance of net-zero energy building with vacuum glazed windows

The total energy and indoor thermal environment of an office building, which aims at the net-zero energy building, were measured and analysed. The annual total primary energy consumption of ‘Measurement’ was smaller than the value of ‘Calculation’ at design phase and achieved net-zero. The result of analysis of the thermal environment shows that the comfortable thermal environment was maintained. Also, the insulation performance and heat balance of the vacuum glazed windows in winter was evaluated. The overall heat transfer coefficients calculated by using the monitoring data were almost equal to the rated overall heat transfer coefficient and the high insulation performance of vacuum glazed windows was maintained even in the second year’s operation. In addition, the amount of heat gain due to solar radiation on the window surface was much larger than the amount of heat loss due to transmission. The vacuum glazed windows with high thermal insulation performance on the south side can reduce the heating load and contribute to the achievement of net-zero in the buildings.

State of the Art on Heat Pumps for Residential Buildings

Heat Pumps are becoming one of the most considered mechanical conditioning equipment in our buildings. While they are popular, there appears to be quite a vast range of system types and applications in building conditioning. This paper primarily reviews the literature on heat pumps, the various types, and the consideration of design end uses. The fact that there are different energy sources for heat pumps is considered, as well as the different sinks in which energy is stored or dissipated. It is evident that advanced heat pump systems cater well to the use of renewable energy resources. Therefore, in the move towards net-zero energy building operation, the correct selection of a heat pump can help to increase self-consumption of solar PV generation and even make use of direct solar energy heating. This paper reviews the technologies for heat pump selection, application, and design for residential buildings.

Zero Energy Buildings: Systematic Literature Review

Zero Energy Building or Nearly Zero Energy Building or Net Zero Energy Building-roughly means the same thing. ZEB for short is a building that has approximately zero energy consumption. The Zero Energy Consumption does not literally mean that the building does not consume any energy at all, on the contrary it is based on conservation of energy law in Physics. In a nutshell the building also generates energy from renewable resources, which is not just used to meet energy requirements of the building, but the surplus energy is also transferred to a transmission station or other building. Thus, ZEB is achieved. Use of ZEB is very crucial to save non-renewable resources like coal which are used to generate electricity

The use of BIM to achieve zero energy building

This Article introduces the advantage of using Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology to achieve the Zero Energy (ZE). A zero-energy building (ZE), also is known as a Zero Net Energy (ZNE) building, or Net-Zero Energy Building (NZEB). Net zero building is a building which is zero net energy consumption, which means that the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site. A net Zero-Energy Building (ZEB) is a residential or commercial building with greatly reduced energy needs through efficiency gains such that the balance of energy needs can be supplied with renewable technologies. In the concept of the net ZEB is a building which could reduce energy needs through efficiency and gain that balance of the energy needs via different renewable technologies. This paper will touch the necessity of integrating solar panels and wind energy design with BIM (Building Information Modeling) and how could that lead to achieve and reach the ZNEB (Zero Net Energy Building). The article will discuss the gap between modeling tools in energy and the achievement of sustainable features in models that produce for best design results and construction material in the project by using BIM (Building Information Modeling) to reach the ZNEB (Zero Net Energy Building). Keywords: Zero Net Energy (ZNE); Zero Energy Building; Zero Energy; Net-Zero Energy Building (NZEB); Zero-Energy Building (ZEB); Building Information Modelling (BIM)