Abstract
In the Canadian north, the cost of space heating is very high due to the harsh weather, its remoteness, lack of transportation, and dependency on the high cost of fossil fuel imported from the South. Since the North has an abundance of solar energy, significant energy savings with some added construction cost in houses could be achieved by applying high-performance building envelopes and solar design strategies. The objective of this paper is to investigate the potential of both passive and active solar design strategies in improving the energy efficiency of northern housing. Firstly, a reference house representing a typical single-family home in the North is modeled using EnergyPlus, and the key passive design parameters are optimized to minimize life-cycle cost. Then, the air-based building integrated photovoltaic/thermal (BIPV/T) system is applied to the optimized house and integrated with HVAC systems. It is found that optimal passive solar design can reduce the heating energy demand by 42% with an incremental cost of 8% for Yellowknife and by 27% without incurring an incremental cost for Kuujjuaq. Integrating BIPV/T with HVAC systems can reduce the defrost time of heat recovery ventilator (HRV), extend the working hours and improve the COP of air source heat pump (ASHP). The reduction in the total energy consumption is in the range of 1.4%–3.0% by integrating HRV and 0.3%–0.6% by integrating ASHP due to the mis-match of solar availability and heating energy demand. To maximize the utilization of solar energy available, the optimal use of thermal energy recovered from BIPV/T system in northern housing requires further investigation.
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Abbreviations
- A pv :
-
area of BIPV/T, also refer to the projected area of the bottom/back surface (m2)
- C p :
-
specific heat of the air (J/(kg·K))
- C add :
-
additional labor cost ($)
- C con :
-
initial construction cost ($)
- C con-US :
-
average construction cost in the US currency ($)
- C life :
-
life-cycle cost ($)
- C oper :
-
life-cycle operational energy cost in the present year ($)
- C pre :
-
present cost ($)
- C i :
-
cost in year i ($)
- D h :
-
hydraulic diameter (m)
- D, E, F :
-
roughness coefficients D, E, and F (—)
- f :
-
location factor (—)
- h c,bot :
-
convective heat transfer coefficient on the bottom surface of BIPV/T air cavity (W/(m2·K))
- h c,pv :
-
convective heat transfer coefficient on the interior surface of BIPV/T panels (W/(m2·K))
- h o :
-
exterior surface film coefficient (W/(m2·K))
- h r :
-
radiative heat transfer coefficient (W/(m2·K))
- i :
-
number of years (—)
- I t :
-
solar irradiance on the south roof (W/m2)
- M :
-
volume airflow rate (m3/s)
- Nu :
-
Nusselt number (—)
- Pr :
-
Prandtl number, v/α (—)
- P ele :
-
local electricity price ($/kWh)
- Q :
-
energy consumption (kWh)
- R ins+roof :
-
thermal resistance including RSI 1 insulation on the bottom surface and the thermal resistance of the roof (m2·K/W)
- Re :
-
Reynold number, ρVDh/μ (—)
- T a :
-
air temperature in BIPV/T cavity (°C)
- T a(mean) :
-
average temperature of Ta at each section (°C)
- T attic :
-
attic air temperature (°C)
- T bot :
-
temperature of the bottom surface of BIPV/T air cavity (°C)
- T o :
-
outdoor air temperature (°C)
- T pv :
-
temperature of the BIPV/T panel (°C)
- T SupAirIn :
-
supply air inlet temperature (°C)
- T Threshold :
-
threshold temperature; typical value: −12.2 °C
- V wind :
-
wind speed (m/s)
- w :
-
width of the BIPV/T air cavity (m)
- x :
-
distance from the air inlet in BIPV/T air cavity (m)
- X DefrostTime :
-
fractional time period for frost control (0 · XDefrostTime · 1)
- X Initial :
-
initial defrost time fraction; default value: 0.083
- X RateofIncrease :
-
rate of defrost time fraction increase; default value: 0.012 (K−1)
- α pv :
-
absorptivity of PV panels (—)
- δ :
-
discount rate (—)
- ε bot :
-
emissivity of the interior surface of the bottom surface (—)
- ε pv :
-
emissivity of the interior surface of the PV panels (—)
- η elec :
-
BIPV/T electrical efficiency (—)
- ρ :
-
density of air (kg/m3)
- σ :
-
Stefan-Boltzmann constant (W/(m2·K4))
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial supports received from The Fonds de recherche du Québec Nature et technologies (FRQNT) (No. 2019-PR-254829) and Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science at Concordia university.
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Ma, L., Ge, H., Wang, L. et al. Optimization of passive solar design and integration of building integrated photovoltaic/thermal (BIPV/T) system in northern housing. Build. Simul. 14, 1467–1486 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-021-0763-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-021-0763-1