Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Solar energy use in buildings
Ursula Eicker
Center for Sustainable Energy Technology, Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences,
Stuttgart, Germany
18.1 INTRODUCTION
Buildings account today for about 40% of final energy consumption worldwide, and
they are responsible for about one-third of overall CO 2 emissions (36% in Europe,
39% in the USA, about 20% in China). Figure 18.1.1 describes the distribution of
end energy consumption in the European Union (EU). Especially in urban structures,
building energy consumption is typically twice as high as transport, e.g. approximately
factor 2.2 in London. The energy consumption of buildings consists of heating, cooling,
ventilation, lighting and other electrical appliances. Solar energy contributes to the
supply of heating energy by passive solar gains, to the reduction of electrical lighting
consumption by “daylighting'' (i.e. illumination of indoor spaces) and contributes to
heating, cooling and electricity supply by active solar components such as solar thermal
collectors or photovoltaic modules.
Meanwhile, most countries have significantly increased their energy standards:
average heat transfer coefficients for new buildings are today about 0.3 and
0.4Wm 2 K 1 in Europe. In 2009, the EU tightened the Energy Performance of Build-
ings Directive (EPDB) and now demands nearly zero energy standards for new buildings
until 2020. Here, building energy demand is balanced with local renewable energy pro-
duction, mainly solar and biomass resources, resulting in a net zero energy demand.
For existing public buildings, the zero energy standard will come into effect in 2018.
Figure 18.1.1 Distribution of end energy consumption within the European Union with a total value
of 1.3 × 10 13 kWh per year.
 
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