The Use of Key Enabling Technologies in the Nearly Zero Energy Buildings Monitoring, Control and Intelligent Management

• Main Authors: José Marco Lourenço, Laura Aelenei, Jorge Facão, Helder Gonçalves, Daniel Aelenei, João Murta Pina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-09-01
• Series: Energies
• Subjects: key enabling technologies; smart buildings; building monitoring; control; building management; nZEB
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/17/5524

The 2018 revision of the European Performance Building Directive (EPBD) requires that from the year 2020 onwards, all new buildings will have to be “nearly zero energy buildings”. It also further promotes smart building technologies, raising awareness amongst building owners and occupants of the value behind building automation. The European Commission also identified, in 2011, Key Enabling Technologies (KETs), which provide the basis for innovation in the EU. In the frame of the SUDOKET project, the Solar XXI building was used as a pilot case, as innovative integrated solutions and technologies are monitored and controlled. The objective of this paper is to validate a simulation of the laboratorial test room in EnergyPlus with data obtained experimentally and determine the impact of the control systems on energy needs and on thermal comfort. Two systems, in particular, were studied: the Building-Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) and the earth tubes. Once validated, the simulation of the test room without the systems was created, allowing their impact to be determined. The results show that, for the analysed periods, BIPVs reduced the heating consumption by 22% while also increasing thermal comfort, and the earth tube system would reduce the cooling needs by 97%.