Assessment of the renewable energy generation towards net-zero energy buildings: a review

Ahmed, A., Ge, T., Peng, J., Yan, W.-C., Tee, B. T. and You, S. (2022) Assessment of the renewable energy generation towards net-zero energy buildings: a review. Energy and Buildings, 256, 111755. (doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.111755)

Abstract

Decarbonizing the building sector is extremely important to mitigating climate change as the sector contributes 40% of the overall energy consumption and 36% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Net-zero energy buildings are one of the promising decarbonization attempts due to their potential of decreasing the use of energy and increasing the total share of renewable energy. To achieve a net-zero energy building, it is necessary to decrease the energy demand by applying efficiency enhancement measures and using renewable energy sources. Net-zero energy buildings can be classified into four models (Net-Zero Site Energy buildings, Net-Zero Emissions buildings, Net-Zero Source Energy buildings, and Net-Zero Cost Energy buildings). A variety of technical, financial, and environmental factors should be considered during the decision-making process of net-zero energy building development, justifying the use of multi-criteria decision analysis methods for the design of net-zero energy buildings. This paper also discussed the contributions of renewable energy generation (hydropower, wind energy, solar, heat pumps, and bioenergy) to the development of net-zero energy buildings and reviewed its role in tackling the decarbonization challenge. Cost-benefit analysis and life cycle assessment of building designs were reviewed to shape the priorities of future development. It is important to develop a universal decision instrument for optimum design and operation of net-zero energy buildings.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: You, Dr Siming and Ahmed, Mr Asam

Creator Roles

Ahmed, A.: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Validation, Writing – original draft
You, S.: Supervision, Writing – review and editing, Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Validation, Writing – review and editing

• Authors: Ahmed, A., Ge, T., Peng, J., Yan, W.-C., Tee, B. T., and You, S.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• Journal Name: Energy and Buildings
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0378-7788
• ISSN (Online): 1872-6178
• Published Online: 03 December 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V.
• First Published: First published in Energy and Buildings 256: 111755
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy