A proposal on a co-generation system accompanied with phase change material to supply energy demand of a hospital to make it a zero energy building (ZEB)

Abstract

The concept of zero energy building (ZEB) has been developed rapidly to achieve an independent building of energy. This research proposes a new co-generation system to fulfill energy demand of a three-story hospital in Rome, Italy. The primary objective is to define the hospital as a ZEB by integrating a solar system. The simulation process, including the extraction of hospital’s energy consumption is conducted using BEopt. One of the advantages of this study is to relate a wide range of weather data to a ZEB, which is less considered concept. Optimization of the hospital’s energy consumption has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by 2.1 tons/h, contributing to environmental pollution prevention. Optimal outcomes demonstrate that the modified system achieves an exergy efficiency of 25.1 % and the modified co-generation system cost rate (CR) of 46.6 USD/hour, in its most efficient state. The new system’s performance in Rome leads to generate an annual electricity capacity of 210 MWh, 500 MWh of heating, and 215.3 MWh of cooling. The additional 201 MWh/year of electricity is available to be feed to the grid. Also, 475.8 MWh/year of heating and 211.96 MWh/year of cooling should be saved throughout the year to compensate for the costs of the system. Also, the effect of using PCM in walls as an energy storage medium was investigated. Finally, the environmental aspect of the proposed system is assessed, too. The findings of this research can be contributed as a sample for architectures who want to apply more novel energy techniques in building.