Active Solar Heating System with Concrete Plate Heating Analysed with Dynamical Thermal Simulations

A single family house is planned on the south side of the Alps with the objective of integrating renewable energies in the heating design. Several ways of decreasing the thermal needs of the house are analysed. They involve the building envelope, ventilation system with heat recovery and an active solar heating system coupled to the active concrete plates of the house. The dynamic simulation programme TRNSYS is used to simulate the house, the active concrete plates and the solar heating system together. Dynamic simulations are used to confirm the technical feasibility of the studied concept, to check the thermal comfort and to establish the thermal potential of the solar heating system. The effective over-cost associated with each measure is assessed, which also takes into account the increase in price of auxiliary heat. From the economic point of view, a “solar heating system” measure is equivalent to a “solar passive” measure.