Meeting Future Requirements - Smart-ECO Buildings Towards 2020/2030 - page 73

use and environmental impact. Considering the effects of climate change, building
practices will have to change to ensure buildings continue to fulfill their functions
throughout their life cycle.
Most of the strategies for adapting buildings to the effects of climate change
are described in this topic (see Chap. 3 ) . The adaptive measures listed below give
us something we can think about and act upon today. The good news is that many
of these measures also help to mitigate climate change—and quite a few reduce
building operating costs or improve durability, benefiting building owners as well
as the future of the planet.
The challenge to achieving sustainable buildings and reduced climate change
impact is usually not a lack of access to technical solutions but a lack of uptake
by building sector stakeholders. This challenge must be tackled through policy,
finance and education.
4.1.2 Integration of Buildings in the Energy Networks
Consideration of energy efficiency in buildings needs to be embedded in considera-
tions of energy efficiency on an urban scale (or rural or suburban), including influ-
ence on traffic patterns as well as on energy infrastructure (UNEP 2007 ). Trends
emerging in the power system suggest that the highly centralized paradigm that
has dominated power systems for the last century may eventually be replaced, or at
least diluted, by an alternative. Researchers worldwide are recognizing the promise
of micro-grids to improve energy efficiency by moving thermal generation close to
possible uses. This would permit waste heat recovery and use, and better integration
of small-scale dispersed renewables into the energy supply infrastructure.
De-centralised supply plants, in fact, allow for more economical and efficient
coupling of systems with alternative energy sources (wind and sun, with “dis-
tributed availability”) and for the use of heat sources within the development
area (groundwater, air, waste heat) (Gonzalo and Haberman 2006 ). This concept
improves the safety of energy supply, which, at our present state of knowledge,
means using the energy available at the site and avoiding import as far as possible
(exceptions were highlighted in Sect. 3.2 ) (Hegger et al. 2008 ).
Buildings are very likely to become “virtual power stations” producing surplus
energy and feeding it into the smart grids that were presented in Sect. 3.2 . The
challenge for the future is the integration of centralised and de-centralised sources
of energy, balancing demand and supply (which is intermittent due to the nature
of renewable sources). Energy will have to be stored with innovative means, such
as the fuel cells (as discussed earlier) or electric cars plugged to the grid. Plug-in
hybrid fuel cells for cars may contribute electricity and heat when the car is parked
and connected to a building (and parked it is most of the time). Fundamental
research shows possibilities to directly utilize the energy rich sugar alcohols (sorb-
itol, mannitol) derived via a catalytic process from cellulose, hemi-cellulose of
rapidly growing leaf trees (e.g. aspen, poplar, hybrid-poplar, etc.).