Sustainable Energy Model in Tecnocampus Higher Education …
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3 Technological Solution
According to Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (hereafter EPBD),
the three following appropriate actions, shall be driven for the pursued energy savings
characteristic of the Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (hereafter, nZEB):
a. Further promotion of the use of renewable energy.
b. Energy efficiency improvement in cooling, heating and electricity systems and
in its cost.
c. Building envelope enhancement by improving its thermal insulation and solar
protection.
The Technological solution purposed to ensure a reliable approach towards a
nZEB performance, is broken down in two clearly different strategies for respectively covering the first two actions referred to above, which are central to all energy
transitions (IEA 2017): The first one is focused on exploiting the power of the nearby
Tub Verd affordable and energy provider system from renewable sources, configured
as a heat and cold distribution piping network for satisfying TCM climate requirements. Energy efficiency improvement has been the other fundamental conducted
strategy for the achievement of a better energy performance. Note that in this first
stage of the global project, we have focused our analysis on one of the two University
buildings of the Park, called TCM1. A detailed description of both main strategies
is presented at the following subsections.
3.1 Tub Verd Technology
Mataró city has gained a well-deserved recognition for its role in promoting renewable energies. It is in fact known as an energy sustainable city. The Tub Verd (literally
“Green Tube”) project is an example. Tub Verd is an urban network configured as
a district heating and cooling (hereafter, DHC) distribution system. A lot of discussion addressing District Heating (DH), District Cooling (DC) and DHC technologies
and potential enhancements, exists in the literature (Rezaie and Rosen 2012; Li et al.
2017.). According to Werner (2017), the fundamental idea of district heating is to harvest heat resources or local fuel in order to support local end-user heating demands
that would otherwise be wasted by employing an urban network of heat distribution. Likewise, DHC systems can be supplied by a combination of different energy
sources. Traditional primary energy sources that perform as excess heat suppliers,
are Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plants through waste incineration processes (Persson
and Münster 2016), Cogeneration systems also known as Combined Heat and Power
(CHP) plants (that simultaneously produce thermal and electric energy by using the
same process) and Industrial Processes where the exhaust heat energy resulting from
different high temperature processes is also recovered (Naegler et al. 2015). All these
pointed processes represent an efficient alternative to conventional technologies due
to their high EE performance.
781
3 Technological Solution
According to Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (hereafter EPBD),
the three following appropriate actions, shall be driven for the pursued energy savings
characteristic of the Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (hereafter, nZEB):
a. Further promotion of the use of renewable energy.
b. Energy efficiency improvement in cooling, heating and electricity systems and
in its cost.
c. Building envelope enhancement by improving its thermal insulation and solar
protection.
The Technological solution purposed to ensure a reliable approach towards a
nZEB performance, is broken down in two clearly different strategies for respectively covering the first two actions referred to above, which are central to all energy
transitions (IEA 2017): The first one is focused on exploiting the power of the nearby
Tub Verd affordable and energy provider system from renewable sources, configured
as a heat and cold distribution piping network for satisfying TCM climate requirements. Energy efficiency improvement has been the other fundamental conducted
strategy for the achievement of a better energy performance. Note that in this first
stage of the global project, we have focused our analysis on one of the two University
buildings of the Park, called TCM1. A detailed description of both main strategies
is presented at the following subsections.
3.1 Tub Verd Technology
Mataró city has gained a well-deserved recognition for its role in promoting renewable energies. It is in fact known as an energy sustainable city. The Tub Verd (literally
“Green Tube”) project is an example. Tub Verd is an urban network configured as
a district heating and cooling (hereafter, DHC) distribution system. A lot of discussion addressing District Heating (DH), District Cooling (DC) and DHC technologies
and potential enhancements, exists in the literature (Rezaie and Rosen 2012; Li et al.
2017.). According to Werner (2017), the fundamental idea of district heating is to harvest heat resources or local fuel in order to support local end-user heating demands
that would otherwise be wasted by employing an urban network of heat distribution. Likewise, DHC systems can be supplied by a combination of different energy
sources. Traditional primary energy sources that perform as excess heat suppliers,
are Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plants through waste incineration processes (Persson
and Münster 2016), Cogeneration systems also known as Combined Heat and Power
(CHP) plants (that simultaneously produce thermal and electric energy by using the
same process) and Industrial Processes where the exhaust heat energy resulting from
different high temperature processes is also recovered (Naegler et al. 2015). All these
pointed processes represent an efficient alternative to conventional technologies due
to their high EE performance.