Renewable energy in a dense urban fabric: solar gain estimation in the case of a turn of the century district

Abstract

Buildings are responsible for significant amount of energy consumption. The new constructions already obliged to use decreased amount of energy, but the older buildings are ineffective compared to them. The new building energetic prescriptions in force since 2021 in Hungary require considerable share of renewable energy produced on-site. In case of a densely built urban fabric, the above renewable ratio can mostly be reached by using solar technologies. The author surveys the solar characteristics of a Budapest downtown area. Considerable ratio of the stock is residential, traditional apartment house type built around the turn of the 19th-20th century. The retrofit solutions and renewable power generation are restricted by the dense fabric and the heritage protection rules as well. In present paper the estimation of solar energy potential of the above characteristic building type is introduced. The European Union conform Hungarian calculations used system is used to define the values. The methodology contains 3D modelling and irradiation software simulation. As result, the connection between the footprint and irradiation data of the characteristic heritage buildings are introduced, as well as the solar power generation potential of the building type in question. Also, the heritage protection compatibility of the solar systems are studied.