Economic and Environmental Assessment on Implementing Solar Renewable Energy Systems in Spanish Residential Homes

María-José Bastante-Ceca,José-María Piñero-Vilela,Alberto Cerezo-Narváez

doi:10.3390/en14144183

María-José Bastante-Ceca, José-María Piñero-Vilela + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/en14144183

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Abstract

In Europe, buildings are responsible for more than one third of the total final energy demands and greenhouse gas emissions. In the last twenty years, the European Union has published a succession of energy performance of building directives to define and ensure the fulfilment of a series of objectives regarding greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, energy efficiency and energy generation from renewable sources in buildings. For its part, Spain is adapting its legal framework, transposing these directives with the aim of achieving greater energy efficiency and sustainability for buildings. Under this context, an energy, economic and environmental assessment is performed to analyze the impact of these regulatory changes on a single-family home including a photovoltaic installation for self-consumption with surpluses and/or a solar thermal installation for domestic hot water supply, located in each one of the eight thousand one hundred thirty-one municipalities that make up Spain. The energy behavior of the original house is compared with that obtained after it is updated with these new facilities. The transient system simulation tool is used for the energy study. The results show that the European objectives are far exceeded. The energy savings achieved range from 67% to 126%, carbon dioxide emissions decrease by 42% to 100% and energy bills are reduced in cost by 32% to 81%. The findings of this work can be used by policymakers as guidelines for the development of national strategic plans and financial incentives for the promotion of small-scale residential photovoltaic and solar thermal applications, as well as by designers, supervisors, managers and developers to include them in their projects.

Highlights

IntroductionBuildings have become the largest energy consumers in Europe, accounting for approximately 40% of European Union (EU) energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [1]
To quantify the impact of incorporating solar renewable energy systems in the transformation of existing and new single-family homes into nearly Zero-Energy Buildings (nZEBs), the energy behavior, energy costs and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of a house without renewable energy sources has been compared to a house that incorporates them
Figures to be shown include the maps from the geographic information system (GIS) software, providing this information for each of the 8131 Spanish municipalities, using the inverse distance weighted (IDW) technique

Summary

Introduction

Buildings have become the largest energy consumers in Europe, accounting for approximately 40% of European Union (EU) energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [1] In this context, buildings must face the challenge of achieving energy management that enables them to contribute to economic growth, social welfare and sustainability, while preserving non-renewable resources and the natural environment [2]. Buildings must face the challenge of achieving energy management that enables them to contribute to economic growth, social welfare and sustainability, while preserving non-renewable resources and the natural environment [2] They have the opportunity of adopting measures aimed at saving energy, reducing their demand and/or improving the efficiency of their systems [3]. Occupant behavior lifestyles cannot be underrated [6], this issue is outside the scope of this research

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