Combining Sufficiency, Efficiency and Flexibility to Achieve Positive Energy Districts Targets

Abstract

Energy efficiency, generation from renewable sources and more recently energy flexibility are key elements of present sustainability policies. However, we are beginning to see a recognition of the need to couple technological solutions with lifestyle and behavioral changes, sometimes labeled under the term “sufficiency”. Appropriate policies and design principles are necessary to enable sufficiency options, which in turn reveal that there is a bidirectional influence between the building and the district/city level. In this context, the authors discuss how city and building re-design should be implemented combining energy efficiency, flexibility, production from renewables and sufficiency options for achieving a positive energy balance at the district level even within the constraints of dense cities. Based on a review of recent advances, the paper provides a matrix of interactions between building and district design for use by building designers and city planners. It also compares possible scenarios implementing different strategies at the building and urban level in a case study, in order to evaluate the effect of the proposed integrated approach on the energy balance at yearly and seasonal time scales and on land take.

Measured Indoor Environmental Data in a Retrofitted Multiapartment Building to Assess Energy Flexibility and Thermal Safety during Winter Power Outages

“…There is growing interest in analyzing the effects of energy retrofits on the integration of renewable energy [19] and the behavior of retrofitted buildings under future weather scenarios to consider climate change impacts [20][21][22], analyses which are carried out through energy simulations. More recently, the potential of retrofitted buildings in providing energy flexibility via exploitation of thermal capacity of the building fabric (also called thermal mass) has been highlighted both via simulation models [23,24] and, to a lesser extent, measured data [25,26].…”

Sind mehr Solarmodule immer besser?: Bewertung des kommunalen Kohlenstoffausstoßes

“…Some energy sufficiency actions can be modeled by a homogeneous consumption reduction alone, e.g., lowering the heating temperature by 1° Celsius in winter, or disposing of a freezer. Yet energy sufficiency actions also relate to the shift and avoidance of particular energy uses (Erba and Pagliano 2021). As such, we model energy sufficiency through a combination of both homogeneous consumption reductions and flexibility in energy use.…”

Smart Cities and Positive Energy Districts: Urban Perspectives in 2021

“…This Editorial article provides a summary of the Special Issue of Energies, covering the published papers [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] which address several of the topics mentioned in the Introduction. Table 1 identifies the most relevant topics in each published paper.…”