Effectiveness and Sustainability of solutions sets aimed at Plus Energy Buildings. A multi-case and multi-domain investigation

Purpose: Plus Energy Buildings (PEBs) are gaining attention in construction for providing advantages not only on the singular building but also on higher levels, namely neighbourhoods and national grids. Different from the current standard of net zero energy buildings, PEBs lack broader and holistic investigations that consider energy, environmental, and economic performance indicators. These are needed to evaluate their often-debated effectiveness and environmental sustainability. To this purpose, this work assesses technical equipment functional systems aimed at PEBs by considering energy, environmental and cost performance indicators and by carrying out a multi-case and multi-domain investigation.

Method: A parametric modelling is carried out based on building energy simulations and user energy profile modelling in 16 case studies. Relevant Key Performance Indicators are derived and followed to attempt result clustering and to derive general considerations for the designed solution.

Finding: The study showed that the effectiveness of such systems is limited if PV modules are located on the roof exclusively. Moreover, heat pumps and PV technologies need to be better coupled and harmonised in subarctic regions. Overall, centralised systems perform better, and environmental and economic advantages depend on the national energy and economic context. Such results can be considered valid under the same conditions and circumstances; therefore, an extension of case studies is needed.