Heuristic Approach for Net-Zero Energy Residential Buildings in Arid Region Using Dual Renewable Energy Sources

Abstract

Optimizing a net-zero energy (NZE) residential building using what renewable energy resources are available in desert environments and budgeted within the limits of a governmental construction project is proving to be increasingly challenging for many countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Buildings in such regions encounter significantly high annual energy consumption rates, especially in the cooling capacity across a project’s life cycle, which in turn impacts the investment value. Therefore, this study presents a heuristic approach that aimed to examine the feasibility of NZE residential buildings in the KSA using an arid campus case study within the period of 2021–2022 based on the dual renewable energy sources of a geothermal heat pump (GHP), which served as a cooling system, and photovoltaic thermal collectors (PVT) serving as a power generation system. This study adopted a numerical technical assessment in the case study, using HAP software to analyze heating/cooling systems, and PVsyst V7.1.0 software for the variable simulation of solar photovoltaic power systems. This heuristic approach, through two assessment stages, achieved significant outcomes for a sustainable bottom-line, and provide a practical approach for achieving an NZE residential building in the King Faisal University (KFU) case study, as well as a reduction in energy consumption as well as the maintenance cost, which has a positive consequence on the payback period. Our study’s results have implications for both sustainable and green buildings with similar characteristics to those we investigated, and our results could be used to develop installation guidelines for renewable energy systems. Furthermore, our results can provide decision makers with a basis for retrofitting existing buildings to enhance their energy efficiency, increase investment value, as well as prevent the indiscriminate installation of renewable energy sources to merely increase the renewable energy installation rate.

The Role of Renewable Energy as a ‘Green Growth’ Strategy for the Built Environment

“…Systems of production and independent use of water and energy offer the possibility of significant resource consumption in residential areas [1,2,5,10,23]. As investment costs in solar energy reduce, rooftop solar panels become an affordable alternative to serving household energy needs (e.g., lighting, television, heating and cooling, and kitchen use) [6,8,9]. Additionally, emerging technologies even allow windows to generate energy under sunlight.…”

“…The built environment can be understood as a human-modified environment, where, along with buildings, supporting infrastructure sectors such as energy distribution, water supply, and waste management systems are present [1,2,4,8]. These sectors in particular account for a significant proportion of all natural resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions [1,2,4].…”

“…Statistics compiled by the International Energy Agency (IEA) show that electricity production is responsible for 40% of the world's carbon emissions, with the built environment accounting for more than a third of those emissions [2,8,9]. Renewable energy technology (RET) strategies offer the promise of greatly reducing the environmental impact of buildings and other commercial and public infrastructure [1,2,[4][5][6]9,10].…”

Sizing and Optimization of Solar Water Heater Systems for Different Demands

“…The use of factories and high energy consumption make products with raw materials so that most greenhouse gases are trapped in the world waiting for the sun to burn them up [44]. The research details the rise of greenhouse gases and the effect of global warming and makes solar water heater systems and helps optimize them [45]. The solar water heater is produced by Evacuated Tube Collectors (ETC) that convert the solar energy to heat energy and help to distribute the energy throughout the building or office and is applied for water heating and also energy consumption in houses [46].…”

Optimal Sizing and Management of Hybrid Renewable Energy System for DC-Powered Commercial Building

“…These buildings are designed to produce as much energy as they consume annually [3]. Achieving this requires the incorporation of various technologies and strategies [4], including (1) building automation systems that are capable of real-time monitoring and optimization of energy consumption across all building systems [5,6]; (2) energy-efficient building envelope design to minimize energy losses through heat transfer [7]; (3) the integration of on-site renewable energy to generate sufficient energy to meet the building's needs [8,9]; (4) energy storage systems to store excess power from on-site renewables for later use throughout periods of sharp loads or low generation [10]; (5) smart-grid integration that allows buildings to interact with local utility grids and participate in demand response programs to balance supply and demand and avoid the construction of new power plants [11,12]; (6) support for the electrification of transportation to minimize greenhouse gas emissions and overall energy consumption [13,14]; and (7) increased financial incentives from the government in order to promote broader adoption of green technologies [15].…”