Renewable Energy Utilization in Rural Residential Housing: Economic and Environmental Facets

Abstract

Energy and climate policies benefit from modernized construction technology and energy supply source choices. Energy-efficiency improvement and CO2 emission reduction will result from renewable energy (RE) utilization in new and retrofit single-family houses in rural Poland. Several house construction scenarios and heating energy sources comparing building costs and potential emission reduction are based on already existing structures calculated for a 100 m2 dwelling corresponding to the average rural home. With the addition of thermal insulation and RE-generating equipment, construction costs increase, but the energy costs of operating the home dramatically shrink between a conventional and energy-neutral house. The latter scenario includes thermal solar panels and a heat pump as heating energy sources as well as electricity-generating PV panels. Replacing coal with environmentally-friendly RE reduces CO2 emissions by about 90% annually. Additionally, lower dependence on coal lessens other GHG emissions leading to immediate air quality improvement. New house building regulations guide homeowner construction and heating energy choice, but even larger gains could result from retrofitting existing rural houses, expanding environmental benefits and generating energy bill savings to households. However, the varying climate throughout Poland will require the purchase of energy in winter to assure residents’ comfort.

Insights and Evidence on Energy Retrofitting Practices in Rural Areas: Systematic Literature Review (2012–2023)

“…[79,80]; Klepacka. A.M. [86,87]; and Arıcı, M., Jiang, W., Li, Q., Li, D., and Qi, H. [99,101]. As remarked from the timeline of publications, it seems these authors split/developed the same research line for two publications.…”

Multi-Objective Optimization for Winter Heating Retrofit in Rural Houses of Cold Regions: A Case Study in the Wusu Area

“…Ma L conducted an analytical study on the impact of utilizing solar spaces on the heating energy consumption of rural residences, focusing on three aspects: type of glass in solar spaces, type of filling gas, and thickness of the gas layer [33]. Aleksandra Siudek and others studied the energy efficiency and CO 2 emissions of renewable energy in new construction and renovations in rural areas [34]. Gang Li and colleagues proposed a new method of energy utilization in rural areas, demonstrating that rooms heated with the new system are more comfortable and economically perform better than those with traditional systems [35].…”

A New Approach to the Economic Evaluation of Thermomodernization: Annual Assessment Based on the Example of Production Space

“…The motivation for scientific research and studies in this area is the search for optimal solutions that not only yield results in reducing energy consumption, but are also economically justified. As indicated by numerous articles [20,29,[31][32][33], the renovation of buildings, despite unquestionable benefits in reducing energy consumption, is an undertaking requiring significant investment. The authors took the initiative to identify the optimal solution for another case and thus contributed to research towards cost optimization using a new approach in the selection of thermal modernization options and measures, because in many studies on lowering energy demand in buildings, thermal modernization measures are considered seasonally (Table 1).…”