Possibilities of Upgrading Warsaw Existing Residential Area to Status of Positive Energy Districts

Abstract

This paper analyses possibilities of refurbishment of Warsaw’s residential buildings towards standards of the Positive Energy District. The annual final energy consumption in the city in 2019 for the district heating was 8668 GWh, gas (pipelines) was 5300 GWh, electricity from the grid was 7500 GWh, while the emission of the carbon dioxide was 5.62 × 109 kg. The city consists of 18 districts, which are heterogeneous in terms of typology and structure of buildings. The great variety of buildings can be seen, for example, by the annual final energy demand for space heating and hot water preparation per unit of room area. This annual index ranges from over 400 kWh/m2 in historic buildings to 60 kWh/m2 in modern buildings. A reduction in the consumption of non-renewable energy sources and carbon dioxide emissions can be achieved by improving the energy standard of residential buildings and by using renewable energy sources: solar energy, geothermal energy and biogas. The potential barriers for achieving the status of a positive energy district, for example, problems connected with ownership, financing new investments and refurbishment and legal boundaries, have been identified. Moreover, changing the existing electrical grid and district heating systems in urban areas in Warsaw requires comprehensive modernization of practically the entire city’s infrastructure.

Audit-Based Energy Performance Analysis of Multifamily Buildings in South-East Poland

“…The same can be said about the number of building users per unit area or volume: n inh (A net ) and n inh (A usable ) and about ventilation airflow rate: V vent (V H ), V vent (A net ), V vent (A usable ) and V vent (n inh ). Several authors have reported a general trend that older buildings in Poland are more energy-intensive [7,70,73]. However, this relationship was not noticed here, probably due to the fact that some of them could be partly modernised before preparation of energy audits.…”

“…Then, 28 pairs with strong correlation, i.e., when |r| > 0.7 (Table 3), were highlighted with the colour. As can be noticed, energy performance of buildings, described by the E A indicator, varied significantly, from energy efficient (with E A < 65 kWh/m 2 ) to very inefficient buildings with E A > 200 kWh/m 2 [69][70][71]. Total efficiency of the heating system was from 0.64 to 0.96.…”

Smart Cities and Positive Energy Districts: Urban Perspectives in 2021

“…This Editorial article provides a summary of the Special Issue of Energies, covering the published papers [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] which address several of the topics mentioned in the Introduction. Table 1 identifies the most relevant topics in each published paper.…”

“…In [6], Hanna Jędrzejuk and Dorota Chwieduk analyze the possibilities for the refurbishment of Warsaw's residential buildings towards the standards of a Positive Energy District. The paper refers to the theoretical potential for the use of renewable energies, which appears to be a rational solution only if there is a reduction in energy demand for traditional methods which, in this case, means reducing the energy demand of existing buildings or erecting new ones in accordance with the latest energy and environmental standards.…”

A Comprehensive PED-Database for Mapping and Comparing Positive Energy Districts Experiences at European Level

“…Even though different studies and practical experiences of PEDs focus on new development districts, in order to achieve Greenhouse Gasses (GHG) emissions reduction goals by 2050 [24][25][26], it is necessary and urgent to undertake an ambitious transformation process of the existing districts in a sustainable and climate-neutral direction [27][28][29][30]. Today, 75% of buildings in Europe are inefficient from the energy perspective, and their annual retrofitting rate is estimated to be around 1% [8].…”