Energy Design for a Nearly Self-Sustaining Residential Building: Technical and Economic Feasibility of Advanced Heating and Cooling Systems.

Energy efficiency in buildings is essential for promoting environmental sustainability and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. With the increasing global demand for energy-efficient solutions, innovative technologies are fundamental. This project, developed during an Erasmus at the U. Politécnica de Madrid, aims to design advanced energy systems for a residential complex comprising 63 apartments and two swimming pools. The objective is to fulfill the building's thermal demand through cutting-edge energy solutions. The study focuses on technologies with the potential to transform energy self-production in buildings. Hybrid solar panels, which combine photovoltaic and thermal collector functions to produce electrical and thermal energy, air-water heat pump and thermal energy storage systems are central to this approach. Furthermore, adsorption chillers are analyzed for providing cooling with minimal electrical input through physical adsorption processes. Emphasis is also placed on applying phase change materials to the building's external walls. Integrating these technologies demonstrates their collective potential to improve building energy efficiency while underscoring the gap between theoretical potential and practical feasibility in real applications. The objective of this project is to evaluate and compare different energy system configurations capable of meeting the building's thermal demands while ensuring economic feasibility and environmental sustainability. The goal is to identify the optimal combination of systems that best achieves the intended results. Three distinct configurations were developed: -Conf 1 combines thermal solar panels, an air-water heat pump, and an adsorption chiller. This setup prioritizes solar thermal energy for heating, supplemented by the heat pump. The adsorption chiller provides necessary cooling with minimal electricity use, focusing on exploiting solar energy. -Conf. 2 relies more on the air-water heat pump for both heating and cooling, with thermal solar panels providing thermal energy for DHW. -Conf 3 integrates thermal solar panels, an adsorption chiller, an air-water heat pump, and PCMs applied to the building's external walls. This configuration enhances the overall system performance by incorporating the thermal buffering capability of PCMs, aiming to further reduce peak energy demands- Each configuration includes appropriately sized thermal storage systems to ensure an efficient energy management. The analysis was conducted using software tools such as HULC for detailed building modeling, Excel for data processing and calculations and PVGIS for assessing solar energy potential. The analysis shows that, while theoretical outcomes are promising, high initial costs pose significant economic challenges to implementation. However, the environmental benefits are clear: the proposed design for the residential complex could cut CO₂ emissions by tens of tons annually, highlighting the positive impact of deploying these technologies on a larger scale. Many of these technologies are still emerging, with potential for cost reductions and better economic feasibility as they mature. As these technologies mature, production costs may drop, making them more feasible for residential use. Coordinated efforts, especially government incentives like tax breaks and subsidies, could make these solutions viable. Public-private collaboration is key to advancing sustainable energy solutions.