B. Arch. – IV, Sem.

- VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 Definitions

• Buildings connected to power grid can be termed as “Net

Zero” if their energy consumption is equal to their energy
production over a year

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 Net Zero Energy Buildings connected to Grid

Advantages of connecting
to grid:

• Surplus energy if present, is not

wasted.

• If generated energy is less than

demand, the demand is fulfilled by
the power grid.

• Buildings that produce a surplus

of energy over the year are
called “Energy Surplus
Buildings”

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 Why Net-Zero Energy Buildings?

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 Energy Consume by different sector

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZE Design for Renewables

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 Design Features

• Mixed mode ventilation with solar chimney

• Rainwater harvesting

• Solar PV and thermal

• Ground source heat pumps

• Radiant underfloor heating and cooling

• Energy recovery ventilation

• Daylighting

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 Air Change Driving Forces

Wind Effect Stack Effect Combustion and Ventilation

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZE Design for HVAC

• Variable refrigerant flow (VRF) – very cost effective now

compared to traditional systems

• Ground source heat pumps

• Radiant heating/cooling

• Displacement ventilation (and sometimes Under Floor Air

Distribution -UFAD)

• Energy recovery ventilation (ERV)

• Use LED lighting where you can and use lighting controls
wherever they will help, e.g. occupancy and daylight sensing

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZE Design for HVAC
Variable refrigerant flow (VRF) – very cost effective now

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZE Design for HVAC Geothermal Energy

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZE Design for HVAC Geothermal Energy

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZE Design for HVAC Ground source heat pumps

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZE Design for HVAC Ground source heat pumps

• Uses constant ground

temperature to provide
heating & cooling

• Fluid pumped through

underground tubes; heat
extracted or rejected

• One of the highest efficiency

space conditioning systems

16
B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZE Design for HVAC

• Installed cost of system very high (drilling ground loops)

• Pumping energy
• Systems with problems—difficult to diagnose,
expensive to fix

17
B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZE Design for HVAC Radiant heating/cooling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYjMBfORftk

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZE Design for HVAC

Displacement ventilation (and sometimes UFAD)

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZE Design for HVAC

Energy recovery ventilation (ERV)

• Heat Recovery Ventilation

• It transfer heat or coolness
from stale exhaust air to
fresh intake air.

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZE Design for HVAC Heat Recovery Ventilation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-ejqk5ounE

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZE Design for HVAC

• PV -PHOTOVOLTAICS
– Straightforward
installation, easy to
predict output
– Expensive but
electricity is very
useful and excess can
easily be sent to the
grid (grid=battery)
– Government subsidies
are available

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZE Design for HVAC

• Solar Thermal
“hot water”

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZE Design for HVAC lighting control devices

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=98&v=IV-vB1G5ZxU&feature=emb_logo

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZEB Design

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZEB Design

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 NZEB Design Targets

• Produce as much as we consume

• Production is usually MUCH more expensive than reducing waste.

- Hence the energy demanded by building should always be

reduced to a greater extent before adding production.

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET
 Advantages and Disadvantages of ZEBs

• Advantages:
1. Isolation for building owners from future energy price increases.
2. Increased comfort due to more-uniform interior temperatures.
3. Reduced total cost of ownership due to improved energy efficiency.
4. Reduced total net monthly cost of living.

• Disadvantages:

1. Initial costs can be higher – effort required to understand, apply, and

qualify for ZEB subsidies.
2. Very few designers or builders have the necessary skills or
experience to build ZEBs.
3. Challenge to recover higher initial costs on resale of building.

B. Arch. – IV, Sem. - VII Building Material & Construction Technology - VII Faculty of Architecture, SCET