A SUSTAINABLE EXPERIMENTAL PLATFORM FOR THE NET ZERO ENERGY BUILDING: A CASE STUDY IN NORTH CHINA

Abstract

This paper is based on a practical case called CIFI Demonstration Building located in the Cold Zone, which

mainly aims to establish a domestic comprehensive experimental platform for the Net Zero Energy Building

(NZEB) in China. To achieve this target, firstly, an active solar energy system including solar PV panels,

thin-film PV glass and solar thermal plates is integrated to the building systems, aiming to generate adequate

energy to counterbalance the annual operational demands. Secondly, In order to carry out the comparative

study, the whole building is separated into three independent units sharing the same spatial topology which

highly encourages the passive natural lighting and ventilation, while integrating with different sustainable

strategies and technologies respectively, such as the double-skin ventilation curtain wall in Unit A, the

timber louver shading facade in Unit B and the highly integrated double solar photovoltaic glazed façade in

Unit C, etc. Thirdly, the entire building performances (e.g. energy balance, indoor thermal comfort, air

quality and visual comfort, matter and material flow etc.) are constantly traced and monitored with the help

of the pre-plugged sensors and meters in the units. And last but not the least, by analyzing and comparing the

firsthand data, the feasibilities of the general passive design methods and the specific sustainable strategies

and technologies are all carefully verified, which are very instrumental to feedback to the decision-making

and design phases, and to become a reference to the similar kind of solar buildings in the north China.

Keywords: Net Zero Energy Building; Solar energy;Building performance; Comparative study;

Fig. 1: Solar energy systems integrated to the building systems

Unit A

Unit B

Unit C

Fig. 2: Passive design methods and technologies

References:

[1]. Thalfeldt, M., Pikas, E., Kurnitski, J., & Voll, H. (2013). Facade design principles for nearly zero energy

buildings in a cold climate. Energy & Buildings, 67(4), 309-321.

[2]. Noris, F., Musall, E., Salom, J., Berggren, B., Jensen, S. Ø., & Lindberg, K., et al. (2014). Implications

of weighting factors on technology preference in net zero energy buildings. Energy & Buildings, 82(82),

250-262.

[3]. Song, Y., Sun, J., Li, J., & Xie, D. (2014). Towards net zero energy building: collaboration-based

sustainable design and practice of the beijing waterfowl pavilion. Energy Procedia, 57, 1773-1782.

[4].Good, C., Andresen, I., & Hestnes, A. G. (2015). Solar energy for net zero energy buildings – a

comparison between solar thermal, pv and photovoltaic–thermal (pv/t) systems. Solar Energy, 122, 986-996.

[5]. Song, Y., Li, J., Wang, J., Hao, S., Zhu, N., & Lin, Z. (2015). Multi-criteria approach to passive space

design in buildings: impact of courtyard spaces on public buildings in cold climates. Building &

Environment, 89, 295-307.

[6]. Sun, Y., Huang, P., & Huang, G. (2015). A multi-criteria system design optimization for net zero energy

buildings under uncertainties. Energy & Buildings, 97, 196-204.

Unit A

Unit B

Unit C