An Investigation on the Feasibility of Near-Zero and Positive Energy Communities in the Greek Context

Vasileios Sougkakis,Komninos Angelakoglou,Nikolaos Margaritis,Konstantinos Lymperopoulos,Nikos Nikolopoulos,Paraskevi Giourka

doi:10.3390/smartcities3020019

Vasileios Sougkakis, Komninos Angelakoglou + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities3020019

Copy DOI

Abstract

Near Zero Energy and Positive Energy communities are expected to play a significant part in EU’s strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Within this context, the work presented in this paper aims to investigate the feasibility of: (a) a new-built positive energy neighborhood; and (b) the retrofit of an existing neighborhood to near zero energy performance in the city of Alexandroupolis, Greece. Proposed measures involve the rollout at the community scale of renewable energy technologies (PV, geothermal heat pump), energy efficiency (fabric insulation, district heating and cooling networks) and storage systems (batteries). A parametric analysis is conducted to identify the optimum combination of technologies through suitable technical and financial criteria. Results indicate that zero and near zero emissions targets are met with various combinations that impose insulation levels, according to building regulations or slightly higher, and consider renewable energy production with an autonomy of half or, more commonly, one day. In addition, the advantages of performing nearly zero energy retrofit at the district, rather than the building level, are highlighted, in an attempt to stimulate interest in community energy schemes.

Highlights

The EU has set the ambitious target of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050
It can be seen that achieving at least 100% of thermal and electrical energy self-supply can be met by various combinations of the technologies considered; most configurations do not meet the financial criteria
Viable positive energy performance can be achieved in only three scenarios (Configuration 10 of Case A and Configurations 6 and 10 of Case B)

Summary

Introduction

The EU has set the ambitious target of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The key targets for 2030 are: achieving at least 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to the 1990 levels, a minimum 32% share of renewable energy in the final energy consumption, and a minimum 32.5% increase in energy efficiency [1]. Provisions in increasing the energy efficiency of buildings are included in Directive 2010/31/EU on the Energy Performance of Buildings (recast) (EPBD) In this context, the EPBD (recast) requires that all new buildings should be nearly-zero energy buildings from 31st December 2020 onwards, while all new public buildings should be nearly-zero energy as from the 31st December 2018 [4]. Directive 2012/27/EU on Energy Efficiency requires a 3% renovation of the total floor area of public buildings on an annual basis [5]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion