Thermal performance analysis of net zero energy home for sub zero temperature areas

With the increase in energy demand globally, environmental risks are also becoming more serious than ever before. Emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) are hastily contributing to global warming and ozone depletion phenomenon. Buildings play a major role in consumption of energy and emission of greenhouse gases. It is need of the hour to design such buildings which have zero emission and have renewable resources of energy for on-site generation. The theory of net zero energy and zero emission home is hot topic in the sustainable building industry these days. This study targets to design a model towards energy-neutral or net-zero energy home in sub-zero temperature areas. On-site renewable energy resources are employed to generate energy independently including solar and wind energy. System is simulated for whole year on hourly basis in TRNSYS® simulation software. Results have shown good tendency for the construction of net-zero energy homes and renewable energy resources have shown promising outputs for on-site energy generation. Cold climate areas may have lower energy generation due to lower solar insolation during winter season. Pakistan has shown very good results and surplus energy produced. Lowest value of photovoltaic electric power generated is recorded 680 W in Barcelona during January, whereas Sydney has a lot of potential for PV generation of 1400 W. For wind turbine with hub height at 46 m, system produced 0.2 MW lowest value in California and highest value 1.85 MW in Karachi. Annual peak zone temperature has been recorded for Lahore 65 °C. System designed finds highest implementation with stated conditions. Keywords: Renewable energy, Net zero energy buildings, Sustainable energy, Energy security, Sub-zero weather areas