The importance of being Zero Energy Building (ZEB)

Nowadays the energy consumption levels are off the charts in many regions. That’s why we have to do everything in our power to try and eliminate large energy consumption in particular in energy building which represents one of the greatest portions of our global footprint.

Annually each building in Europe consumes about 210 kilowatts of energy per meter square on average. The average building in Spain consumes about 150 kilowatts per square meter. However, this number drastically changes to more than 270 kilowatts in Finland. In Europe, non-residential buildings are on average 55% more energy intensive than residential buildings.

Space heating is the most important end-use in the residential sector (67%), even so its share has been slightly declining since 2000 (4% less than in 2000). Apart from the Mediterranean countries, the share of space heating is in a range of 60% - 80% of total energy consumption but it is less than 50% in Spain and below 30% in Portugal. Water heating ranks second with a quite stable share (13%). Electrical appliances are of greater importance: their share has increased from 9% to 11%. Cooking represents 6% of the total and lighting 2%.

A Zero Energy Building is a building that has a zero-energy consumption. This means that all the energy used by the building is renewable energy created on site with technologies like solar photovoltaic, geothermal cooling and heat pumps. It’s renewable energy that can be used meaningfully and the results can really pay off in a masterful manner.

Zero Energy Buildings are great because they are not contributing that much to the greenhouse gas emissions. On top of that, they are lowering energy consumption which helps protect the environment in many ways. Zero energy buildings are energy efficient, reliable, comfortable, durable and environmentally friendly and they are ready for smart grid.

Nowadays regular energy systems tend to go in a one-way direction. They generate energy and then send it to the building/user. The smart grid uses a two-way power flow between the utilities and customers. What this means is that whenever the building generates renewable energy it can export it to the energy grid, as well as being able to acquire energy from the grid. Everyone in the smart district will contribute to energy generation and you will be getting energy from others if you can’t generate it on your own. It’s very efficient and creative at the same time.

 Electrical smart grid components could be split into 4 major categories:

• Energy source.
• information-based controllers.
• information assessors.
• information collectors.

Zero Energy Buildings will require setting up some digital technologies like smart meters, peer-to-peer energy exchange technologies, weather forecast stations, IoT and multi energy networks collaborative information systems. Based on those technologies smart grids, and moreover smart districts, are the future because they help optimize and customize everything while also keeping the entire system as seamless and simple as possible.

Creating a zero-energy district is very challenging. These tend to include multiple buildings and they optimize energy efficiency, as well as renewable energy generation and even thermal energy across the building. The idea is to generate more energy than is needed or at least equal. They make it easy for the people living where could be energy loss or lack of energy. They have energy efficient buildings and many methods that can be used for energy optimization. On top of that, you will also aggregate the energy loads and also access cooling and heating strategies to cover the entire district.

Having a system to manage the entire process as well as a Building Management System (BEMS) is a must

Transferring from a regular neighbourhood to a Zero Energy District requires a lot of commitment, but with the implementation of the EU 2020 climate and energy targets, there’s more focus on adding Zero Energy District right now. Having local renewable energy is possible and having a system to manage the entire process as well as use a Building Management System (BEMS) is a must.

According to the top down projections in Europe, there will be around 1.9% of the GDP accounted for by the residential construction output in 2020. 20% of the residential construction market has new settlements, and these can include zero energy buildings more easily.

It’s expected to need more than 4 million new homes in the EU alone by 2020, with 6 million more between 2021 and 2030. The reality is that all these new homes can be adapted to include ZEB features. And the costs savings can be upwards of 70 billion EUROs. Of course the supply side is just as important because the building permits issued in various countries will differ according to the local requirements.

The Island of Croatia, Hvar and the Val-de-Ruz have declared and trying to be self- sufficient. The municipalities of the Val-de-Ruz claims to be totally self-energy- sufficient by the end of the year 2030. Similarly, Helsingør, in Denmark, has declared to reduce carbon emissions and to be carbon neutral by the year 2050.

One thing is certain, there’s a very high demand for the Zero-Plus buildings in Europe. There are still challenges to overcome like converting old buildings to this system and even the costs of implementing this set of features to newer homes. However, the potential is huge and with the right approach we can obtain some incredible results.

Download the PDF version