Net Zero Energy Buildings Performance Indicators and Thresholds

Buildings account for 34% of world energy consumption and about half of electricity consumption. The nearly/Net Zero Energy Building (nZEB/NZEB) concepts are regarded as solutions for minimizing this problem. The countries of Southern Europe, which included the nZEB concept recently in their regulatory requirements, have both heating and cooling needs, which adds complexity to the problem. Brazil may benefit from their experience since most of the Brazilian climate zones present significant similarities to the Southern European climate. Brazil recently presented a household energy consumption increase, and a growing trend in the use of air conditioning is predicted for the coming decades. Simulations with various wall and roof solutions following the Brazilian Performance Standard were carried out in a low standard single-family house in three different climate zones in order to evaluate thermal comfort conditions and energy needs. Results show that in milder climate zones, achieving thermal comfort with a low energy consumption is possible, and there is a great potential to achieve a net zero-energy balance. In the extreme hot climate zone, a high cooling energy consumption is needed to provide thermal comfort, and the implementation of a nearly zero-energy balance may be more feasible.

show abstract

“…52 Disregarding these critical factors can lead to Sick Building Syndrome. 53 This paper shows the following:…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

The applicability of nearly/net zero energy residential buildings in Brazil – A study of a low standard dwelling in three different Brazilian climate zones

Corvacho

Resende

Monzón-Chavarrías

2020

Indoor and Built Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Designing NZEHs with the potential to increase building energy efficiency or on-site energy production post-occupancy is a critical challenge and requires a thorough cost-benefit analysis, which remains for future studies about NZEH design under uncertainties due to human-building interaction. Performance-based design approaches and clear performance thresholds can help making the decision and designing robust NZEH [44].…”

Section: Key Results and Comparison With Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…al [16] reviewed the energy performance of 25 NZEBs and showed that at least 5 of those buildings had high EUIs while meeting the zeroenergy performance goal. A ZEB should have a low EUI and CO2 emissions by design, rather than meet high energy demand with more onsite renewable energy generation [11], [44]. Although the optimal balance between energy efficiency measures and onsite renewable energy production for ZEBs remains a challenge, performance indicators and thresholds can provide a common standard for ZEBs and ease evaluating the performance of ZEBs.…”

Section: Key Results and Comparison With Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Proposed energy efficiency thresholds vary worldwide mainly due to the climatic, social, technological, and economic variations between countries and differences in ZEBs definition and terminology. For example, several European countries adopted incentives to meet the Passive House (PH) standard that calls for a heating and cooling demand energy below 15 kWh/m 2 per year [44]. The European Energy Performance Building Directive (EPBD) requires 3 kgCO2/m 2 or lower per year associated with building energy demand from grid as the carbon emissions threshold to achieve the 2050 goal of becoming the first climate neutral continent [45].…”

Section: Key Results and Comparison With Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Net Zero Energy Housing: An Empirical Analysis from Measured Data

Nikdel¹,

Agee²,

Reichard³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study reports an empirical analysis of an all-electric, Net Zero Energy Housing (NZEH) development located in a mixed-humid climate zone (4A, Virginia, USA). Circuit-level energy monitors were used to measure energy consumption and energy production data (solar photovoltaic) at 1-hr intervals in six identical apartments over 24 months. The study employs a multi-step case study methodology to a) empirically evaluate energy consumption and production data, b) identify the temporal variability of energy consumption and production data at different time scales, c) understand the impact(s) of weather and human-building interaction on energy consumption and production, and d) synthesize the study’s “lessons learned” toward data-driven recommendations for future NZEH researchers and practitioners. The study found that the development’s net zero energy goal was achieved in three of six case units and that NZEH housing performance was more influenced by human-building interaction than weather variability. The analysis also found the solar photovoltaic (PV) performance to be reliable across the sampled units over the periods of measurement, suggesting that solar PV could be oversized as an approach to overcome verifiability in HBI and achieve NZEH performance goals.

show abstract

“…At the same time, the high solar irradiance exposes the buildings to significant solar heat gains that must be carefully controlled by solar shading devices and ventilation systems to prevent overheating and thermal discomfort; this will avoid, or significantly reduce, the use of air conditioning systems. In passive buildings, an accurate control of solar gains is always required, because sufficiently ample charge/discharge loops of building thermal mass may not be provided by means of night-time ventilative cooling, under extreme heat gains conditions [12][13][14]. In the Mediterranean climate, thus, the two concepts of passive house and nZEB, find a very challenging environment, which requires an explicit definition of the comfort objectives and particular care both during the design and the operational phase [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Yearly operational performance of a nZEB in the Mediterranean climate

Causone

Tatti

Pietrobon

et al. 2019

Energy and Buildings

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Over the last decades, the reduction of the energy use in the building sector has become a topic of major investigation and policy development worldwide. Guidelines have been defined to drive governments and building construction stakeholders towards the retrofit of the existing building stock and to the construction of new highperformance buildings. However, availability of operational data is often limited, especially when it comes to high performance buildings in warm climates, although it is essential to define design approaches targeted to energy efficiency, to design smart energy grids and demand-response oriented energy programs. Buildings, such as living laboratories, may offer opportunities to implement and develop energy databases, to provide benchmarks and to study occupant behaviour under different operational conditions. The paper investigates the energy and thermal comfort performance of a residential building in the Mediterranean climate. The building, certified as Passivhaus and equipped with an advanced monitoring system, allows to test different control strategies, to study occupant behaviour and to provide real time operational data. In particular, the data analysis showed a positive energy balance on yearly basis, i.e. an energy use of 59.7 kWh/m 2 net/year vs. an on-site energy generation of 76.0 kWh/m 2 net/year. The energy breakdown highlighted, that energy uses related to user behaviour and comfort requests account for about 72 % of the total energy use, confirming that occupant behaviour is one of the major drivers of the operational energy use (and the related services) in high performance buildings.

show abstract

Net Zero Energy Buildings Performance Indicators and Thresholds

Cited by 7 publications

References 29 publications

The applicability of nearly/net zero energy residential buildings in Brazil – A study of a low standard dwelling in three different Brazilian climate zones

The applicability of nearly/net zero energy residential buildings in Brazil – A study of a low standard dwelling in three different Brazilian climate zones

Net Zero Energy Housing: An Empirical Analysis from Measured Data

Yearly operational performance of a nZEB in the Mediterranean climate

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About