Abstract
A crucial way to reach a future sustainable society concerns the path towards nearly zero-energy buildings because of large amounts of energy at stake. The present work proposes an approach for the optimal integration of small-scale technologies (renewable and traditional) to enhance the pathway of existing and inefficient buildings towards low-carbon systems in a cost–benefit effective manner. Operation optimization, as well as an innovative combined design, is investigated with the goal of selecting the capacity of the technologies to be installed depending on the expected operations. The renewable technologies are integrated with proper storage units, such as batteries and latent thermal storage, which allows for reducing the space required for the installation. Two different non-linear programming approaches are used with the aim of finding an optimal solution. The optimization allows for reducing operation costs of 22% for renewable energy sources (RES)-fed dwellings. The combined operation and design optimization lead to a reduction in installation and operating costs by 7%. In the analyzed case, the adoption of the advanced optimization approach shows that latent heat storage is more suitable to be installed than electric storage (−2.5% cost).
Highlights
The EU has set ambitious energy targets aiming at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40%by 2030 and reaching a 27% share of renewables by 2020
The heat-only-boiler operation results in a sort of on–off regulation that allows for maximizing the performances when it operates
The results clearly show that the availability of the optimization tool here presented (Case 1 and 2) allows one to save about 22% of the cost with respect to a non-optimized solution (Benchmark Case)
Summary
The EU has set ambitious energy targets aiming at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40%by 2030 and reaching a 27% share of renewables by 2020. To abate emissions and meet long-term decarbonization targets in this sector, it will require radical, fast and lasting pathways to convert existing buildings into near zero carbon systems [1,2,3]. For this reason, the use of renewable energy sources for supplying domestic needs is becoming increasingly important worldwide. Two main approaches exist for the exploitation of renewable energy sources (RES) for the building sector supply. The second option is the demand-centered approach, which consists in producing energy from RES where needed. Proper integration of the two Proceedings 2020, 58, 35; doi:10.3390/WEF-06914 www.mdpi.com/journal/proceedings
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