Abstract
The increase of people living in large cities and the expansion of new urban areas are keys to defining new sustainable models. It is estimated that about 70% of the EU population lives in urban areas, and it is expected to reach 80% by 2030. Consequently, it is important to find a new concept of buildings that can reduce the total energy consumption. The Solar Decathlon is an international university competition, born in 2002, created by the U.S. State Energy Department (DOE). Students are challenged to design and operate a full-scale, innovative and sustainable house able to exploit solar radiation as its sole energy source. The objective of the competition is to promote research and education in sustainable architecture and solar energy fields. This paper presents an overview on the contribution of LIFT (Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Technical Physics of Roma Tre University) to the winning project of the Solar Decathlon Europe 2014 competition: The RhOME for denCity. This project consists of a building properly designed to produce a solar-powered house that is cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive.
Highlights
During the last few decades, the availability, cost and sustainability of the energy resources have caused instabilities in the energy production and distribution chain
The rapid increase of the electricity demand is a general constant around the world. This growth responds to various reasons, among which the increasing awareness of global warming caused by greenhouse emissions stand out, the inevitable exhaustion of traditional energy sources in the following decades and the need for countries to assure energy self-dependence [1,2]
The RETScreen tool allows the modelling of many systems for the analysis of the technical, economic and environmental impact. This tool allows one to analyse the greenhouse gas emissions reduction due to the substitution of a conventional heating and cooling system typically used in a residential building with a system composed by more effective elements and powered by renewable energies
Summary
During the last few decades, the availability, cost and sustainability of the energy resources have caused instabilities in the energy production and distribution chain. The rapid increase of the electricity demand is a general constant around the world. This growth responds to various reasons, among which the increasing awareness of global warming caused by greenhouse emissions stand out, the inevitable exhaustion of traditional energy sources in the following decades (fossil fuels) and the need for countries to assure energy self-dependence [1,2]. The building sector and people activities in buildings are responsible for approximately 31% of the global final energy demand, one-third of the energy-related CO2 emissions, two-thirds of the halocarbon emissions, 25%–33% of black carbon emissions and almost 60% of the world’s electricity consumption [3]. Investments in new energy infrastructures and grid improvements must be achieved [4], which is of particular significance in the European Union context, where new buildings will have to be nearly zero energy buildings (nearlyZEB’s) from 2020 [5,6]
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