Some of the installations projected will also be used for the cooling system of the building.

• Upper air grilles.

• During night hours, use of grilles to collect cool air flow generated at an artificial lake located in front of the South facade.

• Absorption engine, supplied by solar thermal panels and a biomass boiler.

• Automatic natural ventilation support at nights.

vah/ij л

rvi. l

Fig.6 Working scheme of the absorption cooling engine

The absorption cooling system, together with the solar thermal panels, provides a high efficiency since the greater the energy demand for cooling is, the higher will also solar radiation be. This will make the photovoltaic panels work at maximum capacity.

2.2. Installations

An installation for the management of water is also projected. For this purpose, the following actions are considered:

• Collection of rainwater and storage in an artificial lake.

• Use of water for cooling of air and radiating floor.

• Recycling of wastewater for WC and for garden irrigation.

Moreover, all the systems are designed to be fully integrated and monitored by a control unit, so that a global quantification of systems and resources can be carried out at any moment. The main actions regarding this are:

• Lighting control.

• Temperature control for the solar collection system, the photovoltaic installation, the biomass boiler and the adsorption engine.

• Control of the photovoltaic installation connection to the electricity grid.

• Control of blinds at night.

• Control of blind slats according to solar radiation.

• Control of the natural cooling system at night.

• Control of the heating of common use rooms with the air from the chambers between the photovoltaic panels and the facade of the building.

3. Conclusion

The aim of the construction of a building with these particular features is to put in practice the most innovative technologies in order to minimise the energy demand. The basic line of work is the detailed analysis of all equipment, as well as the focusing on the thermal insulation of the building so that energy supply — always from renewable sources — is reduced as much as possible.

Following the principles of sustainable construction, the project described in the present communication is intended to show that renewable energy technologies can be satisfactorily integrated in construction, with similar efficiency to conventional ones. It is also relevant to note that important economic savings and high profitability will be achieved during the life of the building.

The PETER building is projected to work as a laboratory that will allow the comparison of results obtained in real situations with simulation data generated in the present study. In sum, our efforts are focused towards the industrialisation of construction, and we believe this project to provide an important “know how” reference in such direction.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express their gratitude to Program INTERREG III of the European Union — as to the rest of cofinancing institutions — for financial aid for PETER Project. Cooperation among all members of the Project is also acknowledged.

References

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