Development of design criteria for net zero energy building in composite climate zone

Abstract

Buildings nowadays are expected to be designed to meet higher energy performance, sustainability to enjoy healthy and comfortable environment for the occupants. This research work is based upon exhaustive study for development of design criteria of net zero energy building (NZEB) in composite climate zone. The online survey, case studies of important national and international nearly zero energy buildings have been carried out. The energy conservation building codes and green building ratings have also been studied. It was found that there are three key design strategies to design NZEB, first is passive design strategy for building envelope consisting insulated walls, roofs, fenestration, orientation and day lighting. Second is active design strategy for optimizing heating, ventilating and air conditioning, lightings, equipment and their controls. The third is renewable energy strategy for energy generation to meet the balance energy load of the building through net metering system. Based upon these three design strategies, the researcher has proposed a NZEB equation. The sum of annual energy reduction through energy conservation measures and annual energy generation from renewable energy system should be equal to total annual energy demand of the building. This equation of net zero energy building has been validated on design and construction of BISA building located at Ludhiana, Punjab falls under the composite climate zone. The analysis, evaluation and validation have been carried out on system generated model of the building. The reduced annual energy demand of the building of 432.74 MWh is met from the renewable energy generation of rooftop solar photovoltaic power plant of capacity 300kWp and satisfied the net zero energy balance equation. These design criteria will be helpful to design professionals and developing government policies for new upcoming buildings. newline