Solar systems for heating and cooling of buildings

Recently, the concept of net zero energy buildings has become a major topic in the R&D work on future buildings. In order to achieve a zero energy balance on annual level energy saving and energy efficiency measures have to be fully exploited. However, a demand for active heating and/or cooling will remain in most buildings and under most climatic conditions. Solar energy is the main on-site renewable energy source which can be used to achieve a high fraction of renewable energies to cover the remaining energy demand in buildings. Main energy needs in buildings are due to heating and/or cooling, depending on local climatic conditions and type of building. In this paper principle ways of covering part of the demand for heating, cooling and domestic hot water by using solar technologies are discussed and a design study of a solar thermally driven heating and cooling system for a virtual hotel is presented. A model of the same hotel has been investigated under various climatic conditions in order to study the impact of sizing of key components on the overall performance. In addition an analysis of economic performance is presented for the example of the location Malta in Mediterranean Sea. (C) 2012 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.