ZERO ENERGY BUILDING BY SOLAR TRIGENERATION

CONTENTS:
1. INTRODUCTION

2. DEFINITIONS

3. CONSTRUCTION

4. SOLAR TRIGENERATION FOR BUILDINGS INVOLVES:

a) POWER GENERATION

b) WATER HEATING

c) COOLING. (ABSORPTION)

5. ADVANTAGES

6. DISADVANTAGES

7. APPLICATIONS

8. CASE STUDY

9. CONCLUSION

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ABSTRACT:
A zero energy building (ZEB) or net zero energy building is a general term applied to a building's use
with zero net energy consumption and zero carbon emissions annually. Zero energy buildings can be used
autonomously from the energy grid supply – energy can be harvested on-site by a Solar Trigeneration System,
which combines Solar Electric power system (Solar photovoltaic panels) with a Solar Water Heating System
(Solar thermal collectors or evacuated tube collectors) & also Air-Conditioning (Absorption Chillers).

Solar Trigeneration is defined as the simultaneous generation of power, heating & cooling from a
single heat source like solar energy. Energy consumption in a building is reduced to very low levels through
the use of highly insulated walls, ceilings and floors along with very efficient windows.

With space and water heating consumption at very low levels, it is possible to generate enough energy
through on-site, renewable energy systems to balance the energy consumed with the energy produced.
Currently, solar water heaters and photovoltaic systems are the most common methods of energy generation.

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1. INTRODUCTION:

1.1Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB)

At the heart of the ZEB concept is the idea that buildings can meet all their energy
requirements from low-cost, locally available, nonpolluting, renewable sources. A ZEB generates
enough renewable energy on site to equal or exceed its annual energy use .NZEB are very energy
efficient. Means if your building consumes all of the energy without loss, which is generated by
freely available renewable source of energy like sun, wind, geothermal, tidal etc available at zero cost
then that building may be called as net zero energy building or called a near-zero energy building or
ultra-low energy house.

The NZEB is the idea that any building can meet its energy requirements from low-cost,
locally available, zero polluting, renewable sources.

Energy Consumption house = Energy Generation house

2. Definitions

Net zero on-site energy use

In this type of ZEB, the amount of energy provided by on-site renewable energy sources is equal to
the amount of energy used by the building.

Net zero energy emissions

ZEB is generally defined as one with zero net energy emissions, also known as a zero carbon
building or zero emissions building.

Net zero cost

In this type of building, the cost of purchasing energy is balanced by income from sales of
electricity to the grid from electricity generated on-site. Also cost of fuel is zero.
Net off-site zero energy use

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A building may be considered a ZEB if 100% of the energy it purchases comes from

renewable energy sources, even if the energy is generated off the site.

3.Construction:

Zero-Energy Buildings are usually built with significant energy-saving features. The heating
and cooling loads are often drastically lowered by using high-efficiency equipment; added insulation of
walls, ceiling and floor; efficient windows having natural ventilation solar heating, lighting, shading
and other techniques.

These features can vary drastically between buildings in different climate zones. Water heating
loads can be lowered using water conservation fixtures, heat recovery units on waste water, and by
using solar water heating, and high-efficiency water heating equipment. In addition, free solar day
lighting with skylights or solar tubes can provide 100% of daytime illumination. Night time
illumination is typically done with fluorescent and LED lighting that use 1/3 or less of the power of
incandescent lights, without adding unwanted heat that incandescent lights do. And miscellaneous electric
loads can be lessened by choosing efficient appliances and minimizing phantom loads or standby power.

Other techniques to reach net zero (dependent on climate) are Earth sheltered building principles,
super insulation walls, and exterior landscaping for seasonal shading. Sophisticated 3D computer
simulation tools are available to model how a building will perform with a range of design variables
such as building orientation (relative to the daily and seasonal position of the sun), window and door
type and placement, overhang depth, insulation type and values of the building elements, air tightness
(weatherization), the efficiency of heating, cooling, lighting and other equipment, as well as local climate.
These simulations help the designers predict how the building will perform before it is built, and
enable them to model the economic and financial implications on building cost benefit analysis.

Much focus is placed on energy efficiency as the most cost-effective way to reduce energy use
in commercial buildings. However, consumption can be reduced only so much. There is a point at
which the cost of adding efficiency measures is higher than that of using renewable energy such as
photovoltaic and other solar energy systems. 

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Aggressive energy efficiency strategies can reduce a building's energy consumption by 50% to
70%. Renewable energy technologies must be used to reach the goal of a net-zero energy building
(NZEB).

Zero-energy buildings are often designed to make dual use of energy; for example, They may
use heat recovery ventilation, hot water heat recycling, combined heat and power and absorption chiller units like Solar
Trigeneration.

4. SOLAR TRIGENERATION:

Solar Trigeneration is defined as the simultaneous generation of power, heating and cooling
with only the free energy from the sun providing the fuel. In Power Generating Plants/Stations we
can have Solar thermal Collectors like Parabolic trough or dish, Power tower, Solar pyramids etc to
generate steam which runs turbine and generate power, and remaining heat can be used for
heating and cooling. Currently, solar collectors like flat plate or evacuated tubes and photovoltaic
systems are the most common methods of energy generation.

A Solar Trigeneration energy system combines a:

1.  Solar Electric Power System by solar photovoltaic panels  with a

2. Solar Water Heating System by Thermal collectors or evacuated tubes.

3.  Solar air-conditioning from Absorption Chillers by using waste heat of water.

Zero energy buildings can be used autonomously from the energy grid supply – energy can be
harvested on-site by the Solar Trigeneration System. Thus solar cells and collectors are arranged for

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required power, heating and cooling for buildings like home, hotels or hospitals.

4.1.1 POWER GENERATION:

Solar electric power systems transform sunlight into electricity. Sunlight is an abundant
resource. Every minute the sun bathes the Earth in as much energy as the world consumes in an entire
year.

Fig. 2 Photovoltaic cell

Solar cells can be used to generate electricity. Solar cells employ special materials called
semiconductors which have p-type (having an extra hole) and n-type materials (having an extra
valence electron) separated by a junction, that create electricity when exposed to light. Solar cells,
also known as photovoltaic (PV) cells, do the work of making electricity by photovoltaic effect. The
photovoltaic effect refers to photons of light knocking electrons into a higher state of energy to create
electricity.
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Solar cells produce direct current electricity from light, can be stored in rechargeable a battery,
and an inverter to convert DC to AC current which can be used to power equipments. When more
power is required than cells are electrically connected together to form photovoltaic modules, or solar
panels. A single module is enough to power an emergency telephone, but for a house or a commercial
building the modules must be arranged in multiples as arrays.

Typically, an array is incorporated on the roof or walls of a building. Arrays can be connected
by cable to supply power for the building. Also called building integrated photovoltaic’s (BIPV).
Cells require protection from the environment and are usually packaged tightly behind a glass sheet.

Materials presently used for photovoltaic system include mono-crystalline silicon,

polycrystalline silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium serenade/sulfide which are in order of
increasing efficiency. The first practical application of photovoltaic’s was to power orbiting satellites
and other spacecraft, but today the majority of photovoltaic modules in arrays are used for domestic
purposes. The solar panels provide added insulation to the roof, while also reducing the air
conditioning load by 20 percent and extending the life of the roof.

Where a building is at a considerable distance from the public electricity supply (or grid) - in
remote or mountainous areas – PV may be the preferred possibility for generating electricity, or PV
may be used together with wind, diesel generators and/or hydroelectric power. In such off-grid
circumstances batteries are usually used to store the electric power.

In locations near the grid, however, feeding the grid using PV panels is more practical, and
leads to optimum use of the investment in the photovoltaic system. This requires both regulatory and
commercial preparation, such as net-metering or feed-in-tariff (Fit) agreements. Most photovoltaics
are grid connected. In the event the grid fails, the local system must not feed the grid to prevent the
Power losses.

Net energy metering is used to measure a customer's total electric consumption against that
customer's total on-site electric generation.  When a customer's onsite generation of power exceeds
the amount that they use, the customer's solar energy system (or other renewable energy system)
exports the extra electricity to the grid.  When the power requirements of the customer exceed their
onsite generation of power, the customer imports the electricity they need from electric grid. The
customer pays the electric company for any extra power they use over the amount they generate OR

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the customer receives a credit or refund from the electric company if they exported more power to the
grid, than what they consumed.  

The power output of photovoltaic systems for installation in buildings is usually described in
kilowatt-peak units (kWp).

4.1.2 Optimum Orientation of Solar Panels

For best performance, PV systems aim to maximize the time they face the sun. Solar trackers
aim to achieve this by moving PV panels to follow the sun. The increase can be by as much as 20% in
winter and by as much as 50% in summer. Static mounted systems can be optimized by setting at an
angle through analysis of the Sun path.

4.2 SOLAR WATER HEATING

Solar water heating or solar hot water is water heated by the use of solar energy. Solar heating
systems are generally composed of solar thermal collectors, a water storage tank or another point of
usage, interconnecting pipes and a fluid system to move the heat from the collector to the tank. Solar
water heating deals with the direct heating of liquids by the sun. A solar water heating system may
use electricity for pumping the fluid, and have a reservoir or tank for heat storage and subsequent
application. The water can be heated for a wide variety of uses, including home, business and small
industrial uses.

Three types of solar collectors are used for residential applications:

4.2.1 Flat-plate collectors:

Glazed flat-plate collectors are insulated, weatherproofed boxes that contain a dark absorber plate
under one or more glass or plastic (polymer) covers. Unglazed flat-plate collectors – typically used
for solar pool heating – have a dark absorber plate, made of metal or polymer, without a cover or
enclosure.
4.2.3 Batch collectors:

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Also known as integral collector-storage (ICS) system, these feature one or more black tanks or
tubes in an insulated, glazed box. Cold water first passes through the solar collector, which preheats
the water.

The water then continues on to the conventional backup water heater, providing a reliable source
of hot water. They should be installed only in mild-freeze climates because the outdoor pipes could
freeze in severe, cold weather.But both collectors above discussed have considerable heat losses to
environment through convection and radiation, also less efficient in cold conditions

4.2.4 Evacuated-tube solar collectors:

Fig 3: Evacuated (or vacuum) tubes panel

An evacuated tube collector contains several parallel rows of glass tubes connected to a
header pipe. Each Evacuated tube consists of outer glass tubes made from extremely strong
Borosilicate glass. The outer tube is transparent allowing light rays to pass through with
minimal reflection. The inner tube is of aluminum or copper fin attached to a metal pipe coated
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with a special selective coating like Barium getter. This features excellent solar radiation
absorption and minimal reflection properties. The space between the two tubes is evacuated by
removing air and sealing both ends. This forms a vacuum, which acts as insulation. This
converts solar radiations to heat needed to be retained. This increases the performance of
evacuated tubes .The inside tube may get heat upto 150+ degree centigrade but outer tubes are
cold to touch. This means that evacuated tubes can perform well even in cold conditions when
flat plate collectors perform poorly.

There are two types of water circulation:

4.2.5 Passive water circulation:

In this water flows without pump and flow controller to circulate water also called thermo-
siphon, or heat pipe.

4.2.6 Active water circulation:

In which a pump and flow controller is used to circulate water which is preferred. In this the
required flow and temperature can be controlled, intern reduces over heating in summer and
freezing in winter seasons, thus more preferred.
There are two types of active solar water heating systems:

4.2.7 Direct circulation systems :

Pumps circulate household water through the collectors and into the home. They work well in
climates where it rarely freezes.

4.2.8 Indirect circulation systems :

Pumps circulate a non-freezing, heat-transfer fluid through the collectors and a heat exchanger.
This heats the water that then flows into the home. They are popular in climates prone to freezing
temperatures.

4.2.9 Overheat protection

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The water from the collector can reach very high temperatures in good sunshine, or if the
pump fails. Designs should allow for relief of pressure and excess heat through a heat dump. Almost
all systems have pressure relief valves through which excessive water pressure or steam can be
vented.

4.3 SOLAR COOLING.

All the hot water cannot be made useful in solar water heating. The remaining heat of water
can be combined to other applications like cooling. Solar water heating system can form part of a
solar thermal cooling system, promoting efficient temperature control of buildings. During cold
conditions, the same system can provide hot water for heating.

4.3.1 Air conditioning by Vapor Absorption refrigeration cycle:

Absorption cooling is the first and oldest form of air conditioning. An absorption air
conditioner does not use an electric compressor to mechanically pressurize and increase the
temperature of refrigerant. Instead, this absorption device uses a heat source, such as a large solar
collector, to evaporate the already-pressurized refrigerant from an absorbent/refrigerant mixture. This
takes place in a device called the vapor generator. Although absorption chiller requires electricity for
pumping the refrigerant, the amount is small compared to that consumed by a compressor in a
conventional electric air conditioner or refrigerator. When used with solar thermal energy systems,
absorption coolers must be adapted to operate at the normal working temperatures for solar collectors:

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90° to 150°C.

Fig 4: Absorption Refrigeration Cycle using heat from solar panels.

The basic absorption cycle employs two fluids, the refrigerant, and the absorbent. The most
commonly fluids used are ammonia as the refrigerant, water as the absorbent in refrigeration cycle
which attains below 0degree used for Freezing. And water as refrigerant, lithium bromide or lithium
chloride as absorbent for air conditioning cycles which attain upto 10 to 8 deg.

These fluids are separated and recombined in the absorption cycle. In the absorption cycle the
low-pressure refrigerant vapor is absorbed into the absorbent releasing a large amount of heat. The
liquid refrigerant/absorbent solution is pumped to a high-operating pressure generator (heat) using
significantly less electricity than that for compressing the refrigerant for an electric chiller. Heat is
added at the high-pressure generator from steam or hot water from collectors. The added heat causes
the refrigerant to separate from the absorbent and vaporize. The vapors flow to a condenser, where
heat is rejected and condense to a high-pressure liquid. The liquid is then throttled though an
expansion valve to the lower pressure in the evaporator where it evaporates by absorbing heat and
provides useful cooling. The remaining liquid absorbent, in the generator passes through a valve,
where its pressure is reduced, and then is recombined with the low-pressure refrigerant vapors

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returning from the evaporator so the cycle can be repeated. This system is common in large
commercial buildings. Water under low pressure is evaporated from the coils that are being chilled.
The water is driven off the lithium bromide solution using heat.

Under normal conditions, water vaporizes at (100° C), but within the absorber, water can
vaporize as low as (8° C). This low temperature allows the water to cool quickly as it moves out of
the absorber. The chilled water then moves through the evaporator, where blowers cool the air
flowing over the evaporator coils containing the chilled water and out into the building.

In a single-effect absorption chiller, the heat released during the chemical process of absorbing
refrigerant vapor into the liquid stream, rich in absorbent, is rejected to the environment. In a
multiple-effect absorption chiller, some of this energy is used as the driving force to generate more
refrigerant vapor. The more vapor generated per unit of heat or fuel input, the greater the cooling
capacity and the higher the overall operating efficiency. Single-effect Generator. Temp 80 – 100 C,
COP 0.6 – 0.8.

A double-effect chiller uses two generators paired with a single condenser, absorber, and
evaporator. It requires a higher temperature heat input to operate to have good efficiency. Double-
effect, Gen. Temp100 – 160 C, COP 1.0 – 1.2.

Triple-effect chillers can achieve even higher efficiencies than the double-effect chillers. These
chillers require still higher elevated operating temperatures that can limit choices in materials and
refrigerant/absorbent pairs. Triple-effect chillers are under development.Triple-effect, Gen. Temp 160
– 240 C, COP ABOUT 1.7.

5. ADVANTAGES:

1. Isolation for building owners from future energy price increases.

2. Increased comfort due to more-uniform interior temperatures.

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3. Reduce or completely eliminate the electric power Bills, gas expenses, total monthly cost of ownership

due to improved energy efficiency.

4. Solar energy systems are environmentally friendly (pollution free) and economically superior

compared to non-renewable energy systems.

5. Improved reliability - solar systems can work upto 25-30 years without any service.

6. Solar systems are quiet and easy to use, and they require no fuel other than sunlight which is

free.
7. Solar systems contain no moving parts, they are durable, reliable, and easy to maintain.

8. As electricity from a generation system is generally not required to be transferred over a long

distances, the transmission and distribution losses would be negligible.

9. Resale value of these building can recover higher initial costs with energy system.

10. Future legislative restrictions and carbon emission taxes/penalties may force expensive

retrofits to inefficient buildings that can be eliminated.

6. DISADVANTAGES:
1. Initial costs can be higher because of effort required to understand, apply, and qualify for ZEB
subsidies and installation of Solar Trigeneration.
2. Very few designers or builders have the necessary skills or experience to build ZEBs.
3. Climate-specific design may limit future ability to respond to rising or falling ambient
temperatures due to global warming.
4. Not so efficient compared to other source of energy conversion.
5. Solar energy capture using the house envelope only works in locations unobstructed from the
SUN.

7. APPLICATIONS:
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Homes, Colleges, Stores, Government-facilities, Hospitals, Hotels, Manufacturing,

Laundries, Office buildings, Radio and Television Stations, Restaurants, Shopping centers,
Airports, Colleges & Universities, Dairies, Server Farms, Food Processing Plants, Theatres
and Military Bases and many more.

8. CASE STUDY

Solar Trigeneration is now a reality at the Audubon Center at Debs Park several miles from
downtown Los Angeles and is one of the world's first Net Zero Energy Buildings . The Audubon Nature
Center is totally powered by the sun’s energy and Solar Trigeneration energy system! It is 100% solar-
powered, uses 80% less water than a conventional building of the same size, incorporates an on-site
waste water treatment system.

Fig. 4 World’s first net zero energy building

The 5,300 square foot (492 M²) building operates entirely “grid-free” and without any electric
connections to the electric grid, or natural gas connections – a truly sustainable power and energy
solution. 

The Audubon Center doesn’t rely on the over-burdened electric grid or even natural gas. 
Therefore, the Audubon Nature Center NEVER receives an electric bill or natural gas bill.... ever!

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The Audubon Nature Center's 5,000 (465 M²) square foot office and conference facility is
powered by a Solar Trigeneration system that features a 25-kilowatt solar electric power system
where the energy is stored in a bank of batteries. The Center is cooled by a 10-ton solar absorption cooling

system powered by an array of very efficient solar heat pipe vacuum tube thermal collectors.

The collectors heat the water to temperatures of above 90 degree centigrade stored in a
4542.5Litres insulated tank. The Solar Trigeneration system at the Audubon not only provides the
air-conditioning in the summer but also heats the building in the winter, and provides the hot water
for the kitchen and bathrooms.

Fig. 5 Water Heating Unit & Cooling Unit at Audobon.

The absorption cooling system uses only 4 kW per ton of electricity to operate compared to the 1.6 kW-per-
ton electricity consumption of compressor-type air conditioning -- very significant since air conditioning
consumes 40 to 60 percent of the energy used in buildings.

9. CONCLUSION:

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A Trigeneration system is only advisable from an economical point if the cost of electricity
generated by it is lesser then that purchased from a utility system. If utility is not available,
Trigeneration becomes necessary irrespective of cost of energy generation.

10.REFERENCES

http://www.netzeroenergyhome.ca/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-energy_building

http://www.oikos.com/library/green_building_glossary.html

http://www.netzeroenergyhome.ca/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltaic_cell

http://www.solar_trigeneration.com.ca/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/solar_water_ heating

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/solar_absorption_chiller

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