Energy Sustainability of a Cluster of Buildings with the Application of Smart Grids and the Decentralization of Renewable Energy Sources

Abstract

The optimal design of a building and city, including the balance of their energy performance, must include requirements from a wide range of areas, especially electrical engineering, informatics, technical equipment of buildings, construction and architecture, psychology and many other fields. It is the optimal design, simulation and modelling that are most reflected in the energy requirements of buildings while meeting the requirements of energy sustainability. The impact of buildings and cities on the environment is crucial and unmistakable. It should be emphasized that an inappropriately (architecturally or technologically) designed building with state-of-the-art control technology will still have worse properties than an optimally designed building without a control system. This inspired us to design a building energy model (BEM) with the implementation of a Smart Grid in a decentralized sustainable energy system, which is a microgrid from renewable energy sources (RES). This inspired us to conduct an analysis of simulation models (simultaneous simulations) to show the possibility of their application in the process of fully satisfying energy needs in a given urban region. The main goal is to design an original methodology for the design of smart “Nearly Zero Energy Buildings” (NZEB) and subsequent energy sustainability solutions. This led us to use Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER), PV*SOL (2D solar software design tool for the photovoltaic system performance), Monte Carlo and DesignBuilder. The EMB was designed based on the Six Sigma design quality management methodology. In the process of integrating Smart Grids with energy efficiency solutions for buildings, an original optimization basis was designed for smart buildings and smart urban areas. The proposed EMB was verified in an experiment.