Solar decathlon Europe 2019: The resilient nest as a solar powered and energy efficiency rooftop house for urban density

Abstract

This paper presents the design concept, and monitoring results of the Resilient Nest which was participated in the Solar Decathlon Europe 2019 competition. The Resilient Nest has been designed as a lightweight rooftop house which can be placed on top of a row house in Bangkok, Thailand to respond an increased urban density. This additional rooftop house does not only increase the living space on an existing building, but it also ensures that the existing building become more viable, comfortable and eco-friendly. A solar energy, both electrical energy from photovoltaic panel and thermal energy from solar collector which are renewable energy, can accommodate the Resilient Nest rooftop as well as the existing building. The monitored results during 10 days competition results showed that the energy balance of the Resilient Nest was net positive of 171.81 kWh which was the highest value compared to other 9 competitors. The Resilient Nest generated 277.78 kWh as the first runner-up for the Energy generation. The power consumption for the HVAC system of the Resilient Nest during 10 days was only 37.65 kWh. Comparing to the suitable air conditioned house recommended by the Government Public Relations Department of Thailand, the Resilient Nest consumed over 14 times less energy because of its high performance thermal insulation, heat recovery system and solar thermal system. The low HVAC power consumption gave high performance for indoor comfort. As a result, the Resilient Nest won a second place in Comfort conditions contest.