Energy Efficiency & RES in Building Communities: Challenges and Opportunities of Comprehensive Building Renovations at District and Urban Level

Dear Colleagues,

Over 40% of global energy consumption and 30% of greenhouse gas emissions are related to the building sector [1]. Moreover, the majority of energy needs (heating & cooling, appliances, domestic hot water and cooking) are still met with fossil fuels. Already in 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change synthesis report identified that the building sector was the sector with the main economic mitigation potential using technologies and practices expected to be available in 2030 (estimated from bottom-up studies) [2]. Similarly, the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) highlighted from its beginning the potential of this sector in the path towards transforming the way the energy is used to reach the 2030 energy and climate goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving climate protection goals. In fact, particular attention is given to this sector in the European Commission’s proposal also for a long-term strategy (LTS) on greenhouse gas reductions.

The district scale approach is one of the most effective approaches to accelerate this process of reducing the energy consumption in the building sector as increasing its renovation rates. Moreover, this approach can also allow taking advantage of the interactions and synergies amongst the different buildings and optimising the implementation and integration of renewable energy sources. To implement this approach, methods and tools for supporting the identification of the potentials of different building clusters for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption as well as the optimal solution in each case are needed [3]. The idea of fostering integrated district-level energy efficiency renovation approaches are also mentioned by the European Union in different Commission recommendations, such as CR-EU 2019/786 of 8 May 2019 on building renovation [4].

This Special Issue looks for original research that addresses some of the major challenges facing energy efficiency in buildings and buildings communities (especially comprehensive renovations at district and urban level) as well as the implementation of renewables in building communities. District and urban scale is the priority, but also studies focused on building scale might be considered for publication if they present a high level of innovation and novelty, and the outcomes can be extrapolated to district or urban scale. For instance, submissions can focus on possible tools and methodologies for assessing building energy performance at district level, or tools or methodologies for identifying optimal renovations from a multi-perspective analysis (considering energy, economic, environmental and/or social criteria). Papers can also focus on the role that user behaviour plays on the final energy consumption, and the implementation of control systems and technologies that help promoting savings behaviours, a more energy efficient use and/or better interaction between users and energy systems, which results on optimising the operation of building energy systems. Papers are welcome to explore the synergies and balance between energy efficiency measures and implementation of renewable and high efficiency energy sources. Finally, exemplary and innovative real case studies that connect the research on these topics to the actual implementation could be also considered for publication, if these case studies usefully explain and show the main potentials and barriers that they face in the implementation stage.

Some specific topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Energy/economic/environmental analysis of building clusters: simulation tools, strategies and assessment methodologies at district level.
• Performance gap in energy renovations at district level: measured data vs calculated data
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the estimation of the energy and environmental performance of thermal systems in buildings and districts
• Potential of smart heating systems and zonal space heating controls for reducing energy consumption in buildings
• Influence of occupants’ behaviour on energy consumption: control systems and strategies for increasing occupants’ awareness of energy consumption and costs and promoting saving behaviours and more efficient energy use (e.g. individual metering and charging)
• Definition of electricity, DHW and occupancy profiles as tools for estimating energy saving measures in buildings at urban scale
• Building and district-level building occupancy measurement, estimation and modelling: effects on energy issue.
• Potential of combining energy efficiency measures and renewable sources at district level
• Integration of renewable and high efficiency microgeneration systems both at building and district level
• Optimization of the operation of heat and electricity generation systems at building or district level
• Exemplary case studies of implementation of comprehensive renovations at district level (focused on increasing the energy efficiency and/or implementing a significant new supply from RES): multi-perspective assessment of the renovation effects considering energy, economic, environmental and social issues.

References

1. European Commission, Energy, transport and environment indicators. Eurostat (2012)
2. IPCC, Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007) 144 pp.
3. S. Paiho, J. Ketomäki, L. Kannari, T. Häkkinen, J. Shemeikka, A new procedure for assessing the energy-efficient refurbishment of buildings on district scale Sustainable Cities and Society., 46 (2019), Article 101454
4. European Commission, Directive (EU) 2018/844 amending Directive 2010/31/EU on the energy performance of buildings and Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency (2018).

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• energy efficiency
• building energy performance
• district-scale, renewable sources
• nearly zero energy buildings
• nearly zero energy districts
• energy renovations