The Use of Key Enabling Technologies in the Nearly Zero Energy Buildings Monitoring, Control and Intelligent Management

José Marco Lourenço,João Murta Pina,Laura Aelenei,Daniel Aelenei,Helder Gonçalves,Jorge Facão

doi:10.3390/en14175524

José Marco Lourenço, João Murta Pina + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/en14175524

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Abstract

The 2018 revision of the European Performance Building Directive (EPBD) requires that from the year 2020 onwards, all new buildings will have to be “nearly zero energy buildings”. It also further promotes smart building technologies, raising awareness amongst building owners and occupants of the value behind building automation. The European Commission also identified, in 2011, Key Enabling Technologies (KETs), which provide the basis for innovation in the EU. In the frame of the SUDOKET project, the Solar XXI building was used as a pilot case, as innovative integrated solutions and technologies are monitored and controlled. The objective of this paper is to validate a simulation of the laboratorial test room in EnergyPlus with data obtained experimentally and determine the impact of the control systems on energy needs and on thermal comfort. Two systems, in particular, were studied: the Building-Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) and the earth tubes. Once validated, the simulation of the test room without the systems was created, allowing their impact to be determined. The results show that, for the analysed periods, BIPVs reduced the heating consumption by 22% while also increasing thermal comfort, and the earth tube system would reduce the cooling needs by 97%.

Highlights

In the European Union, buildings are responsible for approximately 40% of the energy consumption and 36% of the greenhouse gas emissions [1]
The present study focuses on KEToperation, demonstrating the application of Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in monitoring, control and smart management of a test room, regarding its energy consumption and occupant thermal comfort, whose conclusions contribute to the development and promotion of KETs in the building sector
Energies 2021, 14, 5524 regarding its energy consumption and occupant thermal comfort, whose conclusions contribute to the development and promotion of KETs in the building sector

Summary

Introduction

In the European Union, buildings are responsible for approximately 40% of the energy consumption and 36% of the greenhouse gas emissions [1]. In 2010, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) recast [2] introduced new requirements with the objective of attaining environmental and energy efficiency goals and produce innovative and efficient buildings. Along with the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), the two directives aimed to significantly improve the buildings in the EU, from an energetic point of view and from an environmental perspective [2]. In both directives, special attention is paid to public buildings in terms of energy efficiency measures, drivers and barriers [3] and their optimal calculation [4]. For a building to be considered nZEB, it must reduce its energy consumption and produce energy from renewable sources, which can compensate for the majority of the building’s consumption [6] without jeopardising the occupant’s thermal comfort

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