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Potential of contemporary earth-sheltered buildings to achieve Plus Energy status in various European climates during the heating season

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  • Building Thermal, Lighting, and Acoustics Modeling
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Abstract

This study investigates the potential of contemporary Earth-Sheltered Buildings to contribute to sustainable societies by achieving Plus Energy Building status during the heating season. The buildings analyzed are intended to house a four-member family (102.5 m2). The house is equipped with a ground source heat pump, geothermal vertical probes, floor heating panels, an energy recovery ventilator, and building-integrated photovoltaic panels installed on the exposed building wall. The numerical analysis (using EnergyPlus software) was carried out for nine European sites covering five different climatic zones (namely: southern, Atlantic, continental, alpine, and northern climate) and three latitude belts spanning Europe from south to north. Buildings above 65° N (northern and alpine climate) could not achieve Plus Energy status with 20% efficient BIPVs. With 15% efficient BIPVs, the building above 59° N (northern climate) was incapable of achieving this as well. Regarding the monthly time step, the buildings in the southern and Atlantic climates with 15% efficient BIPVs were able to produce an energy surplus every month, as was the building in the Alps with 20% efficient BIPVs.

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Abbreviations

A :

area [m2]

COP:

coefficient of performance [—]

d :

thickness [m]

E :

electricity production and consumption [kWh]

el :

elevation [m]

f :

fraction [—]

HDD:

heating degree days [°C·d]

I :

solar radiation [kWh/m2]

k :

thermal conductivity [W/(m·K)]

Δp :

pressure drop [Pa]

R :

heat resistance [m2·K/W]

T :

absolute temperature [K]

TZ :

time zone [h]

U :

heat transfer coefficient [W/(m2·K)]

V :

volume flow [m3/s]

η :

efficiency [—]

λ :

longitude [°]

ρ :

density [kg/m3]

τ :

time [h]

φ :

latitude [°]

*:

correction

1:

inlet

2:

outlet

a:

exhaust from the thermal zone

b:

supply to the thermal zone

CR:

circumsolar region

DIFF:

diffuse

DIR:

direct

FAN:

fan

G:

ground

INV:

inverter

LAT:

latent

O:

obstacle

REFL:

reflection

SD:

skydome

SENS:

sensible

SH:

sky horizon

TOT:

total

BAT:

bathroom

BDR:

bedroom

BIPV:

building-integrated photovoltaic

ERV:

energy recovery ventilation

EHS:

end of a heating season

ES:

earth-sheltered

ESB:

earth-sheltered buildings

FHP:

floor heating panels

GSHP:

ground source heat pump

GVP:

geothermal vertical probes

H:

hall

IPCC:

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

K:

kitchen

LR:

living room

PEB:

Plus Energy Building

PV:

photovoltaic

SR:

storage room

SHS:

start of a heating season

SUB:

semi-underground buildings

Z :

thermal zone (room)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering, University of Kragujevac, Sestre Janjić 6, 34000, Kragujevac, Serbia

    Aleksandar Nešović, Nebojša Jurišević & Ivana Terzić

  2. Faculty of Environmental, Geomatic and Energy Engineering, Kielce University of Technology, Tysiąclecia Państwa Polskiego 7, 25-314, Kielce, Poland

    Robert Kowalik

Authors
  1. Aleksandar Nešović
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  2. Nebojša Jurišević
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  3. Robert Kowalik
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  4. Ivana Terzić
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Aleksandar Nešović, Nebojša Jurišević, Robert Kowalik, Ivana Terzić. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Nebojša Jurišević and Aleksandar Nešović, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nebojša Jurišević.

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This study does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Nešović, A., Jurišević, N., Kowalik, R. et al. Potential of contemporary earth-sheltered buildings to achieve Plus Energy status in various European climates during the heating season. Build. Simul. 17, 41–52 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-023-1061-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-023-1061-x

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