Design Issues for Net Zero-Energy Buildings

Abstract

Net Zero-Energy Buildings (NZEBs) have received increased attention in recent years as a result of constant concerns about energy supply constraints, decreasing energy resources, increasing energy costs and the rising impact of greenhouse gases on world climate. Promoting whole building strategies that employ passive measures together with energy efficient systems and technologies using renewable energy became a European political strategy following the publication of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive recast in May 2010 by the European Parliament and Council. However designing successful NZEBs represents a challenge because the definitions are somewhat generic while assessment methods and monitoring approaches remain under development and the literature is relatively scarce about the best sets of solutions for different typologies and climates likely to deliver an actual and reliable performance in terms of energy balance (consumed vs generated) on a cost-effective basis. Additionally the lessons learned from existing NZEB examples are relatively scarce. The authors of this paper, who are participants in the IEA SHC Task 40-ECBCS Annex 52, “Towards Net Zero Energy Solar Buildings”, are willing to share insights from on-going research work on some best practice leading NZEB residential buildings. Although there is no standard approach for designing a Net Zero-Energy Building (there are many different possible combinations of passive and efficient active measures, utility equipment and on-site energy generation technologies able to achieve the net-zero energy performance), a close examination of the chosen strategies and the relative performance indicators of the selected case studies reveal that it is possible to achieve zero-energy performance using well known strategies adjusted so as to balance climate driven-demand for space heating/cooling, lighting, ventilation and other energy uses with climate-driven supply from renewable energy resources.

Review on mechanical behavior of solar cells for building integrated photovoltaics

“…BIPV is an important approach to building energy conservation and an effective way to achieve a "zero energy building" or even a "negative energy building" [125,126,127]. A new form of photovoltaic building integration is proposed and the mechanical problems of BIPV from the material, cell and component levels are analyzed.…”

Mass Customisation for Zero-Energy Housing

“…For the built environment, zero energy is translated as a building that produces as much energy as it consumes, also known as 'zero-energy buildings' (ZEBs) [34][35][36][37][38][39]. Zeroenergy standards focus on operational energy, rather than on embodied energy, on the basis of the fact that 80% of the energy is consumed during the operational phase of a dwelling [40].…”

Evaluation of passive design strategies to achieve NZEB in the corporate facilities: the context of Bangladeshi subtropical monsoon climate

“…Second, renewable energy technologies such as PVs, solar thermal, wind turbines, heat pumps and district heating and cooling should be installed to fulfill the remaining requirement of energy. Aelenei et al (2012) suggest three basic principles of NZEB development such as passive design strategies to reduce current energy consumption associated generally with heating, cooling and lighting, installation of energy-efficient active appliances and finally the implementation of renewable energy systems. Passive house techniques lead to achieving the first NZEB objective by ensuring the building's energy efficiency.…”