Elsevier

Energy

Volume 215, Part A, 15 January 2021, 118992
Energy

A comprehensive evaluation of zero energy buildings in cold regions: Actual performance and key technologies of cases from China, the US, and the European Union

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2020.118992Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The post-evaluation of zero energy buildings in cold regions is carried out.

  • The actual operation data of more than 400 cases were collected.

  • The energy performance, cost, design feature, technology selection are studied.

  • The regional difference in China, the United States, and the EU is compared.

  • Experience and recommendations for zero energy building in cold regions is provided.

Abstract

Evaluation of actual zero energy buildings (ZEBs) performance and identification of its regional characteristics are of great significance for similar future projects. Based on more than 400 cases in cold regions, this study compared the post-evaluation and drivers of ZEBs from China, the US and the European Union (EU). Results found that ZEB definition, energy drivers, standard, regional policies, technology adoption and their adoption ratio determine the energy performance of cases. Not all EU and China cases reach the net-zero energy target; however, most ZEBs in the US do. ZEBs in cold regions adopted multiple technologies to achieve high energy-efficiency. The adoption ratio of passive technologies is higher than that of active technologies, especially in China. The active technologies in cold regions are mainly seen in the application of advanced HVAC systems. Such application of renewable technologies exhibits strong regional characteristics; for example, the EU’s carbon emission reduction policies promoted the use of biomass-based technologies. The analysis also found that energy policies greatly enhance the development of ZEBs. Overall, achieving zero energy is a process, not an endpoint and many projects need further refinement after occupancy.

Section snippets

Credit author statement

Ran Wang, collected and analyzed the data, wrote and improved the paper. Wei Feng, conceived the research and designed the research methods. Lan Wang, made a comparative analysis of the zero energy builiding standard. Shilei Lu, conceived the research and designed the research methods.

The policy and energy target

Table 1 summarizes the main ZEB related policies in the three regions. In the US, the leadership of the federal government in climate action has been withdrawn, and local governments have become the standard-bearers of climate change, leading to new and aggressive carbon reduction targets, with a particular emphasis on architecture. Therefore, states have set ZEB policies within their jurisdictions. The top-down development strategy has been adopted to promote ZEBs in China. Under the

The climates

This research focuses on cold regions, and the targeted climate features (Fig. 3) are often described as climate zones 4–8 in the US, cold and severe cold climate zone in China, and climate zones 3–5 in the EU. Fig. 4 shows the distribution of cold regions in the three regions. For the three regions, the cold climate accounts for about two-thirds of the total area. Moreover, most of the ZEBs are distributed in this area, so it is important to study the actual performance of ZEBs in cold

Energy performance

  • Energy use intensity and renewable energy production intensity

Fig. 6 shows the energy use intensity (EUI) and renewable energy production intensity (RPI) of three regions, both in primary energy per square meter of building floor space on an annual basis. The balance line is used to assess the proximity of a building to zero energy consumption.

In the U.S, the ZEB cases are subdivided into two categories: verified ZEB and emerging ZEB. Verified ZEB has achieved zero energy for at least one full

Key features of ZEB in the cold regions

Four key features of ZEBs in cold regions: (1) definition form of ZEB affects its performance, (2) a high-performance envelope is critical, (3) advanced technology is not a necessary condition for a ZEB, and (4) optimal selection of renewable energy types is influenced by many factors. These are detailed below.

The statistical energy performance results show that the specific embodiment/definition form of ZEB in different regions affects case performance. The ZEB definition determines the

Conclusion

Based on more than 400 actual cases, this paper evaluated the actual energy performance of ZEBs, design features, and technology selection in three cold regions. The study mainly took into account the regional differences in natural resources, building characteristics and economic level, and compared the evaluation results among the US, the European Union, and China. Finally, a matching analysis between the actual ZEB performance and policies/standards was conducted. The main findings are as

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgment

This research has been supported by the “National Key R&D Program of China” (Grant No. 2016YFC0700100).

The U.S. authors recognize Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s support from the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231 and support from the Energy Foundation, United States.

The U.S. Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government

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