N e a r l y Z e r o E n e r g y B u i l d i n g s , S m a r t G r I d s a n d S m a r t C i t i e s
739
NEARLY ZERO ENERGY BUILDINGS, SMART GRIDS AND
SMART CITIES: CONCEPTS FOR OUR CITIES OF TOMORROW
A. Scognamiglio
1
, M. Annunziato
2
, G. Graditi
3
1
ENEA, UTTP FOTO, Portici, Italy
2
ENEA, UTTEI, Casaccia, Santa Maria di Galeria, Italy,
3
ENEA, UTTP FOTO, Portici, Italy
Abstract
The European Directive on Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB, ED 2010/31/EU)
establishes that starting from 2021 all new buildings have a Nearly Zero Energy
consumption referred to primary energy. This new condition has many consequences in
the way buildings are designed, and also in the way cities will perform from an energy
point of view. In fact, since the buildings will have to integrate renewables for supplying
the energy they need, they will be morphed from energy consumers into energy
producers. Buildings will be kinds of “thresholds” between the city and the people, where
the exchange of energy happens.
This shift in perspective will influence not only the way the buildings are conceived, but
also the way the energy grid is conceived. Buildings will be nodes in a wide producer's
grid that extends to a district or to a city, and the city itself should perform as a kind of
“management” system, able to control all the interactions within its boundaries.
What is possible to do for making this system efficient?
The authors of this paper, participating in the International Energy Agency (IEA) SHC-
ECBCS Task 40-Annex 52,
Towards Net Zero Energy Solar Buildings
, and in the
European Energy Research Alliance
(EERA) on the topic of Smart Grids and Smart
Cities, investigate these issues.
In particular, the scenario NZEBs is described and discussed with a special focus on
smart approaches, technologies, and energy management systems.
The paper will present some of the approaches conceived to respond to the above-
described context, with focus on Smart Cities, Smart Grids, and Nearly-Net Zero Energy
Buildings. The aim of the paper is opening a perspective on the challenge that the
architectural design (or could be said the whole society) will have to take up in the near
future.
Keywords:
Net-Nearly Zero Energy Buildings, Smart Grids, Smart Cities.
Introduction
Since the most of the inhabitants of the Earth live today in urban areas (about one in
two people lives in a city, and in only about 35 years, two out of three will) [UNFPA 2011]
and two thirds of the world’s energy is consumed here [IEA 2008a] it is easy to
understand that the challenge of the sustainability of our future is going to be taken up in
the cities. As this challenge mainly deals with the necessity of imagining a sustainable
future development of our cities, in order to ensure good quality of life, it is quite obvious
that our ability to design our buildings is crucial, being buildings big consumers of energy.
Saving energy and generating the energy we need from renewable energy sources (in
order to avoid pollution) are certainly part of the future cities scenarios, but also many
other aspects for the good development of a city have to be taken into account. For
instance, the services that a city can offer the citizens should be suited on the citizens’
demand, and the city itself should be able to adapt itself on a changing demand.
Focusing solely on the energy perspective, the wide use of renewables has changed the
energy scenario in recent years, and in consequence our conventional, centralised
system of energy generation is most probably going to be replaced by a "web" of energy
