Build the Future Agreement number: SI2.664656

Baseline study for the Plus Energy Building Market Part 1: PEB-related technologies, their integration in existing PEB objects and future technological innovation potentials

Elaborated by Ekoport, May 2014

Summary Introduction............................................................................................................................................. 3 1. The PEBs definition .......................................................................................................................... 4 2. The reasons for PEBs ....................................................................................................................... 5 3. Expectations from PEBs ................................................................................................................... 6 4. The energy concepts of PEBs........................................................................................................... 7 4.1 Construction elements and insulation of building envelope ........................................................ 8 4.2 Housing control and building energy management systems (facility management).................... 9 4.3 Energy production and storage (combustion, co-generation, small biogas units, photovoltaic, photothermic, heat pumps, hydroelectric) ......................................................................................... 9 4.4 Energy consumption (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, heat recovery, cooling system) ... 12 4.5 HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, heat recovery, cooling systems) .......................... 14 4.6 Waste and water management ................................................................................................... 14 5. PLUS energy buildings examples ................................................................................................... 15 Effizienzhaus Plus (Plus Energy House) of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development, Berlin (2011) .............................................................................................................. 15 The spreadsheet list Spreadsheet 1 Passive and active systems in buildings .......................................................................... 7 Spreadsheet 2 Passive and active technologies in buildings................................................................... 7 Spreadsheet 3 General parts of energetic building facilities and its equipment .................................... 7 The figures list Figure 1 The components of a ZEB/PEB architecture during real-time operation. ................................. 8 Figure 2 Water-water heat pump scheme ............................................................................................ 10 Figure 3 Building envelope as an energy source ................................................................................... 10 Figure 4 Optimized consumption control – daily electricity production and consumption ................. 11 Figure 5 Shaft ventilation concept ........................................................................................................ 12 Figure 6 Natural ventilation with support fan concept ......................................................................... 13 Figure 7 Ventilation through building concept ..................................................................................... 13 Figure 8 Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery ............................................................................. 14 Figure 9 Effizienzhaus Plus house technical specifications ................................................................... 15 Figure 10 Effizienzhaus Plus scheme ..................................................................................................... 16 Figure 11 Effizienzhaus Plus- structure of the insulated exterior wall .................................................. 17 Figure 12 Effizienzhaus Plus – insulated roof structure ........................................................................ 18 Figure 13 Effizienzhaus Plus – schematic diagram of the technical concept ........................................ 19 Figure 14 Effizienzhaus Plus – schematic diagram of energy generation ............................................. 20 Figure 15 Effizienzhaus Plus – projected annual energy balance ......................................................... 20 Figure 16 Effizienzhaus Plus – heat provision scheme .......................................................................... 21 Figure 17 Effizienzhaus Plus – electric provision scheme ..................................................................... 21 Figure 18 Effizienzhaus Plus – schematic diagram of the lightning system .......................................... 22 Figure 19 Effizienzhaus Plus – schematic diagram of the ventilation system ....................................... 22 Figure 20 Effizienzhaus Plus – the real photo and conceptual key aspects .......................................... 23 Figure 21 Effizienzhaus Plus – Energy flows with and without electromobility.................................... 24

Introduction The study of Baseline Scenario for the Plus Energy Building (PEB) Market is compile as the Build the Future project starting point. The goal of the study is to complete the Template-list for PEB-related technologies data collecting and presenting. Build the Future (BtF) project appears from the demand-side innovation policies and implementing its aspects: -

A set of public measures (to increase demand for innovations, to improve conditions for the up-take of innovations, to improve the articulation of demand, In order to spur innovations and allow their diffusion)

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Aiming to address barriers (affecting market introduction of innovation and their uptake by customers)

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Aiming to support (the transformation of potential market needs into clear market signals)

The typical policy instruments for aspects implementation are public procurement / precommercial procurement, innovation oriented regulations and standards, Lead Markets, consumer policies and awareness-raising initiatives and labelling. The main target of the BtF is to build up the effective Roadmap of PEBs, including definition of goals and time horizon of the process, analysis of the demand, technology development, and market potential (drivers/barriers), consistency analysis and deduction of challenges and action fields and policy recommendations, all of these on nationals and EU level. The Roll Out Plan is the To Do list how to implement the Roadmap. The Roll out plan defines how the work shall be organised, led, implemented and how progress of the implementation of the roadmap shall be monitored. The Roll out plan need be led by the industry (organisations, federations), by public sector bodies (national, regional, local), public-private networks, existing European legal entities (Joint Undertakings). The Baseline study is a part of Work Package 1 of the project and it includes especially PEBrelated technologies, their integration in existing PEB objects as well as future technological innovation potentials. Another parts of WP1 are modelling tools for PEB design, monitoring solutions and relevant energy balancing methodologies, Economic factors, e.g. energy price scenarios, expected development of technology costs and the SWOT analyse.

1. The PEBs definition The project is focused on the Plus Energy Buildings – PEBs, so its object are energetic aspects and total energy balance of buildings. The average buildings consume electricity and fuels for heating, in different amounts. The buildings that require keeping the overall energy consumption of a building below 120 kilowatt-hours per square metre per year (this is around one-third of energy demand in the average household in the United States and almost half of energy demand in the average household in the European Union) are called Passive houses. Passive house refers to a widely-used German voluntary energy label. The more above standard then passive houses are Zero Energy Buildings (ZEBs). Zero Energy Building should refer to a building with very low energy demand, and that the energy consumed is primarily supplied by renewable sources. Also it means that ZEBs are buildings whose annual energy balance, both in terms of the final energy and the primary energy, is in equilibrium. And the top of the buildings energy “evolution” are the Plus Energy Buildings – PEBs – buildings which generate a surplus in the annual balance of final energy and primary energy.

2. The reasons for PEBs The final energy consumption in buildings is in variously sources declared between 30 – 50 %. The International Energy Agency (IEA) mentions that buildings represent 32% of total final energy consumption. In terms of primary energy consumption, buildings represent around 40% in most IEA countries. Primary energy consumption refers to the direct use of energy at the source, or supplying users with crude energy which has not been subjected to any conversion or transformation process. Final energy consumption refers to energy that is supplied to the consumer for all final energy uses such as heating, cooling and lighting. (www.iea.org/aboutus/faqs/energyefficiency) The principal potential and benefits of PEBs are in the decreasing of impacts of net electricity and heating/cooling consumption. Impacts are results of emissions causation, so PEBs, by supplement renewable energy technologies: 

reduce greenhouse gases (eq. CO2 emissions) – decrease global warming

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reduce acidifying emissions (eq. SO2 emissions) – decrease acidification

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reduce eutrophic emissions (eq. PO43- emissions) – decrease eutrophication

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reduce photochemical oxidative emissions (eq. CxHy emissions) – decrease photochemical smog creation

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reduce ozone depletion, human toxicity, abiotic depletion potential ….. and many more impact categories

3. Expectations from PEBs What severally users and stakeholders expecting above all from PEBs? House owners 

Climate protection

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Prestige

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Desire to become independent from energy imports

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Incentive to earn money from power production and feed-in

Intermediaries (architects, energy consultants, researchers, building industry) 

Climate protection

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Optimization of the building as a system

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Brand building for products that differentiate

Politics 

Obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

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Independence of energy imports

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Business development

4. The energy concepts of PEBs Energy systems and technologies are passive and active. Spreadsheet 1 Passive and active systems in buildings

Energy demand Heat Cold Air Light Current

Passive system Preserve heat Protection against overheating Natural ventilation Use of daylight Efficient use of power

Active system Efficient heat production Dissipate heat Efficient mechanical ventilation Optimized artificial light Decentralized power production

Spreadsheet 2 Passive and active technologies in buildings

Passive system Compact building Highly insulated Passive solar gains and efficient sun protection Natural ventilation Passive cooling system

Active system Photovoltaic cells Solar thermal collectors Heat pump / heat recovery Energy-efficient appliances Energy-efficient lighting

Spreadsheet 3 General parts of energetic building facilities and its equipment

Facility Construction elements and insulation of building envelope Housing control and building energy management systems Energy production Energy consumption HVAC

Waste and water management

Facility equipment walls, doors, windows, roofs – thermal resistance, long term energy accumulation facility management combustion, co-generation, small biogas units, photovoltaic, photothermic, heat pumps, hydroelectric control systems, energy saving appliances heating, ventilation, air conditioning, heat recovery, cooling systems

Figure 1 The components of a ZEB/PEB architecture during real-time operation.

4.1 Construction elements and insulation of building envelope Keystone: Minimization of consumption by design process! Energy for heating 

Passive standard

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Saving armatures

Energy for cooling

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Cooling - South orientation

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Solid shading elements (PV panels)

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Reflective facade optical raster (reflection of direct sunlight, diffuse light goes inside)

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Tendency for max. 20 W/m2 load – natural night ventilation + accumulation

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Central server – water heating?

4.2 Housing control and building energy management systems (facility management) Heating (cooling) system 

Controlled circulation of hot water (time periods, temperature sensors on distant outputs

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Radiating wide area system

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Low-temperature for heating / high-temperature for cooling

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Integrated piping system in the constructions

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Floors used for accumulation (also from solar gains)

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Double piping system

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High cooling demand is not anticipated

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Pre-cooling, pre-heating, predictive control system of the building

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Pumps with EC motors (eco-design)

Maximising use of PV electricity 

Triggered consumption – „run on demand“ when PV are producing energy

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Controlled consumption – „adjust on demand“ – heating systems, pumps etc.

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Distributed accumulation

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Notebooks in special plugs – controlled charging and discharging

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El. Accumulator for boiler room – pumps, ventilators powered by them

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Accumulator for each floor

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Accumulator for outdoor lighting

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Appliances connected to the internet

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Power router for management

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Controlled charging of accumulators when there is waste electricity

4.3 Energy production and storage (combustion, co-generation, small biogas units, photovoltaic, photothermic, heat pumps, hydroelectric) Heat sources (heat pumps) - Basic heat and cooling sources 

Water-water

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Air-water with flexible output

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Connected to the grid

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Connected to PV system (special regulation)

Water-water heat pump

Figure 2 Water-water heat pump scheme

Building envelope as energy source

Figure 3 Building envelope as an energy source

Power sources - As a part of the building 

PV systems

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Wind turbines

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Micro-grid / power management of the building

Optimized consumption control

Figure 4 Optimized consumption control – daily electricity production and consumption

Interaction with public grid Keystone: Minimizing interaction with public grid

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Public grid (network) serves only as a backup for case of collapse of alternative sources or long term low production of our sources

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Grid on, Grid off or Grid backup

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Supplying power to the network or accumulate it in form of heat/short term in batteries

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Controlled distribution system

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Necessity to know (measure) the consumption of appliances in the system

4.4 Energy consumption (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, heat recovery, cooling system) 

Definition of equipment and demands in design phase – can we do it better than in the main building?

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LED lighting

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Some circuits for direct current: exterior lighting, general lighting in combination with distribution of energy

Ventilation Hybrid system – combination of natural and mechanical ventilation 

At least for the office part (residential only with mechanical – non stable operation scheme)

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Possibility of natural night ventilation – cooling by automatic windows at night

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Connection to building solution – solar chimney

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Connection to building safety system

Natural ventilation concept: A) Shaft ventilation concept with automatic windows or intakes; local shafts (3-5 per building); shafts with solar chimney (see picture below)

Figure 5 Shaft ventilation concept

B) Natural ventilation with support of electric fan with low input

Figure 6 Natural ventilation with support fan concept

C) Ventilation through building – cross ventilation or one side ventilation

Figure 7 Ventilation through building concept

Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery 

Instead of night pre-cooling other low-energy cooling

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Simulations do not recommend night mechanical ventilation

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Activation of building (concrete) core from inside

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Circulation of liquid through building envelope (radiation cooling) or through ground heat exchanger

Figure 8 Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery

Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery 

Zone ventilation (per floor, per operation unit)

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Small zone ventilation units

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All together vent. units - possible merging of units

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Under pressure ventilation of toilets

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Various placing of ventilation intake to the building (above water area, north facade)

4.5 HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, heat recovery, cooling systems) 

Local recuperation of hot water on output (showers)

Heat accumulation- Long term storage 

Storage of all waste heat from the building (simulation needed)

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Earth storage system in the building foundations

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Easy to create x problematic earth conditions

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Other storage system

4.6 Waste and water management

5. PLUS energy buildings examples Effizienzhaus Plus (Plus Energy House) of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development, Berlin (2011)

Efficiency House Plus with Electric Mobility is a 130 square meter experiment that was built in December 2011. Commissioned by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development, the home produces twice as much energy as it consumes. Launch of a systematic and practical analysis of plus energy buildings (including electromobility).

Figure 9 Effizienzhaus Plus house technical specifications

Figure 10 Effizienzhaus Plus scheme

Construction elements and insulation of building envelope (walls, doors, windows, roofs – thermal resistance, long term energy accumulation) Using measuring sensors installed in the highly insulated, wood exterior walls, the temperature, humidity as well as the temperature flow will be measured and analyzed in real time in the home’s exterior walls, its roof and its floor. In particular, this is intended to better describe the moisture in the open-pored insulation material. The home is constructed on a slab, made of prefabricated, reinforced concrete strip and individual foundations. These foundation elements are surrounded by the cantilever timber panel ground floor structure. The roof and ceiling construction are also made from cantilever timber panels, as are the external and internal bearing walls. Along the entire, glazed east and west façades, individual steel supports provide additional strengthening for the ceiling

and roof constructions. The timber panel components of the home’s shell are highly insulated, thanks to blown-in cellulose fibers. Additional hemp insulation provides a high level of sound insulation for the interior. To the extent permitted by the current state of technology, no adhesives are employed to mount the wall and floor coverings so that, in case of a subsequent reconfiguration or redesign, individual types can be separated into clearly identifiable materials. The picture window area remains uninsulated but is accessible for the electric vehicles. The wood constructions open to the effects of weather in the picture window area are constructed from larch – a very weather-resistant native wood. The floor in the picture window area is made of solid oak, so that, here too, no chemical protection is required. The construction of the terrace is similar. The generous glass façades are equipped with triple-insulated glass, the gaps between the panes being filled with argon, a noble gas. Beyond this, the glass façade along the east side is also equipped with an exterior sun shield made of aluminium slats. This shield can be either automatically controlled, or also manually. The closed façades are clad on the south side with back-ventilated, thin-film solar cells and on the north side with color printed glass that looks the same but does not generate power. Almost the entire roof area is covered.

Figure 11 Effizienzhaus Plus- structure of the insulated exterior wall

Figure 12 Effizienzhaus Plus – insulated roof structure

Housing control and building energy management systems (facility management) Using weather reports as a basis, the home’s energy management system is designed to estimate the produced energy amounts and energy consumed by the home (for the home itself and for electromobility) and to deduce the battery storage utilization rate. This will permit improved utilization of the generated solar cell current. Motion sensors turn lights on when they're needed, and household appliances switch themselves on at the most convenient time to exploit surplus power. Whether cars or smart phones, the house is full of gadgets waiting to be charged. A tangle of cables makes this possible - except for outdoors, where an induction coil can charge the family's electric vehicles wirelessly through a metal plate.

Figure 13 Effizienzhaus Plus – schematic diagram of the technical concept

Energy production and storage (combustion, co-generation, small biogas units, photovoltaic, photothermic, heat pumps, hydroelectric) The main source of power comes from a solar array on the roof. The house depends on automated, well-timed use of appliances and a system of batteries to make use of solar energy when the sun isn't shining. The glass-encased showcase is also equipped with a 40 kWh storage battery. Using newly employed battery management systems and the charging/alternator unit, exhausted lithium ion battery cells from the electromobility area will be examined with regard to their aging, their residual power level and their employment as house batteries. With regard to selecting the correct battery size (battery storage) for the Efficiency House Plus, a newly developed software tool will be employed for the first time to economically ensure the currently high specific expenses of house batteries. In conjunction with appliances that only use energy when needed, the set up delivers 16,500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year - far more than the 2,000 kWh that the family (in the pilot project) previously needed. The rest is used to power the family's two electric cars and electric bicycles parked in the garage. Additional power output is fed into the public grid.

Figure 14 Effizienzhaus Plus – schematic diagram of energy generation

Figure 15 Effizienzhaus Plus – projected annual energy balance

Energy consumption (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, heat recovery, cooling systems) The completely glass-enclosed east and west faces provide a generous feeling of space and allow a great amount of daylight to enter the home. On the east side, an exterior, adjustable sun screen provides shade. The sun screen’s louvers prevent the home from overheating and, if needed, can act to shield inhabitants from the rays of a lowlying sun. On the west side, this function is fulfilled by the picture window so that no exterior sun protection is required. Energy efficient LED lights are used to illuminate the home. The lighting is equipped with dimmer switches and is controlled by motion detectors.

Figure 16 Effizienzhaus Plus – heat provision scheme

Figure 17 Effizienzhaus Plus – electric provision scheme

Figure 18 Effizienzhaus Plus – schematic diagram of the lightning system

HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, heat recovery, cooling systems) With the home heavily insulated to prevent energy waste, an automatic ventilation system ensures the house maintains a comfortable temperature. A mechanical ventilation and extraction system provides very good air quality for the interior spaces. In addition, every lived-in room within the home can also be manually ventilated. The heat contained in the extracted air is recovered prior to the exhaust air being channeled into the space between the ground and the floor panel.

Figure 19 Effizienzhaus Plus – schematic diagram of the ventilation system

Figure 20 Effizienzhaus Plus – the real photo and conceptual key aspects

Figure 21 Effizienzhaus Plus – Energy flows with and without electromobility

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