Abstract
The protection of the natural environment and countering global warming are crucial worldwide issues. The residential sector has a significant impact on overall energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, it is extremely important to focus on all of the activities that can result in more energy efficient and sustainable city scale areas, preventing global warming. The highest improvement in the energy efficiency of existing buildings is possible by combining their deep refurbishment and the use of renewable energy sources (RES), where solar energy appears to be the best for application in buildings. Modernizations that provide full electrification seem to be a trend towards providing modern, energy efficient and environmentally friendly, smart buildings. Moreover, switching from an analysis at the single building level to the district scale allows us to develop more sustainable neighborhoods, following the urban energy modelling (UEM) paradigm. Then, it is possible to use the energy cluster (EC) concept, focusing on energy-, environmental- and economic-related aspects of an examined region. In this paper, an actual Polish suburban district is examined using the home-developed TEAC software. The software is briefly described and compared with other computer codes applied for UEM. In this study, the examined suburban area is modernized, assuming buildings’ deep retrofitting, the application of RES and energy storage systems, as well as usage of smart metering techniques. The proposed modernizations assumed full electrification of the cluster. Moreover, the examined scenarios show potential electricity savings up to approximately 60%, as well as GHG emission reduction by 90% on average. It is demonstrated that the proposed approach is a valid method to estimate various energy- and environment-related issues of modernization for actual residential clusters.
Highlights
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutralOver dozens of years, we have observed the constant growth of energy consumption, which has simultaneously increased greenhouse gas emissions [1], causing global warming.the academic sector has performed numerous researches focused on the widely understood environmental protection
This study shows that the TEAC software is a valuable computer tool for urban building energy models (UBEM) applications
The aim of this paper was to examine the possible effects of energy transformation of
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutralOver dozens of years, we have observed the constant growth of energy consumption, which has simultaneously increased greenhouse gas emissions [1], causing global warming.the academic sector has performed numerous researches focused on the widely understood environmental protection. We have observed the constant growth of energy consumption, which has simultaneously increased greenhouse gas emissions [1], causing global warming. There are numerous long-term strategies for providing a more sustainable environment in the future, among which the most ambitious plan is probably the EU strategy towards an environmental-neutral society by. The building sector has a crucial role in setting actions towards a sustainable future: buildings (both residential and commercial) are responsible for approximately one-third of energy consumption and approximately 40% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [1,3]. The best results can be obtained by combining deep building refurbishments with the usage of renewable energy sources (RES). Buildings with properly insulated enclosures, highly efficient appliances, especially heating, with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
