Potential Application of Solar Power Systems for Residential Buildings in High-Density Urban Pattern : The Case of the Eixample District , City of the Barcelona , in Spain

The Importance of energy saving is one of the highlights of buildings environment during recent years. In order to improve the energy performance in residential dwellings, in countries with remarkable solar irradiation resource as a key issue for sustainable urban development, the usage of solar water-heating and photovoltaic systems are inevitable. The city of Barcelona with available an average solar radiation of about 1500 kWh/m 2 /year has a potential to produce significant amount of energy. This paper deals with collecting and analyzing the energy consumption data of four different blocks with approximately 640 inhabitants each in Eixample area-Barcelona and employing of a solar power as a water-heating and photovoltaic system instead of natural gas and electricity. The paper concludes with a discussion and suggestion of possible substitution energy resource scenarios to illustrate how the system may be improved at level of economics and energy saving to assist targeting of urban environment, in limited availability of fossil energy resources, climate change problems and economic crisis worldwide. Key-words: Energy saving; Buildings environment; Sustainable urban development; Solar water-heating system; Photovoltaic system.

[1]  X. Zhai,et al.  Solar integrated energy system for a green building , 2007 .

[2]  Viorel Badescu,et al.  Renewable energy for passive house heating: Model of the active solar heating system , 2006 .

[3]  Racine Tadeu Araújo Prado,et al.  Optimization of tank and flat-plate collector of solar water heating system for single-family households to assure economic efficiency through the TRNSYS program , 2006 .

[4]  Thomas E. Drennen,et al.  Solar power and climate change policy in developing countries , 1993 .

[5]  Mervyn Smyth,et al.  Experimental characterisation of a novel heat exchanger for a solar hot water application under indoor and outdoor conditions , 2011 .

[6]  F. López-Rodríguez,et al.  A simple procedure to size active solar heating schemes for low-energy building design , 2007 .

[7]  S. Canbazoğlu,et al.  Enhancement of solar thermal energy storage performance using sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate of a conventional solar water-heating system , 2005 .

[8]  K. F. Fong,et al.  Potential application of a centralized solar water-heating system for a high-rise residential building in Hong Kong , 2006 .

[9]  Soteris A. Kalogirou,et al.  Simulation of a solar domestic water heating system using a time marching model , 2002 .

[10]  T. C. Kandpal,et al.  Techno-economic evaluation of domestic solar water heating systems in India , 2004 .

[11]  Masud Behnia,et al.  Water-in-Glass Evacuated Tube Solar Water Heaters , 2004 .

[12]  C. Cruickshank,et al.  Heat loss characteristics for a typical solar domestic hot water storage , 2010 .

[13]  N. M Nahar,et al.  Year round performance and potential of a natural circulation type of solar water heater in India , 2003 .

[14]  S. Furbo,et al.  Energy savings for solar heating systems , 2006 .

[15]  Felix Ziegler,et al.  The use of ground heat storages and evacuated tube solar collectors for meeting the annual heating demand of family-sized houses , 2011 .

[16]  Xavier García Casals,et al.  Solar absorption cooling in Spain: Perspectives and outcomes from the simulation of recent installations , 2006 .

[17]  E. Dunlop,et al.  Potential of solar electricity generation in the European Union member states and candidate countries , 2007 .

[18]  J. K. Kaldellis,et al.  Feasibility analysis of domestic solar water heating systems in Greece , 2005 .

[19]  Antonio F. Miguel,et al.  Constructal design of solar energy-based systems for buildings , 2008 .

[20]  Constantinos A. Balaras,et al.  Potential for energy conservation in apartment buildings , 2000 .

[21]  Arif Hepbasli,et al.  Exergetic modeling and performance evaluation of solar water heating systems for building applications , 2007 .

[22]  Arif Hepbasli,et al.  Exergetic modeling and assessment of solar assisted domestic hot water tank integrated ground-source heat pump systems for residences , 2007 .

[23]  Indu R. Pillai,et al.  Methodology for estimation of potential for solar water heating in a target area , 2007 .

[24]  Soteris A. Kalogirou,et al.  Modelling of a thermosyphon solar water heating system and simple model validation , 2000 .

[25]  Chen Xi,et al.  Long term operation of a solar assisted ground coupled heat pump system for space heating and domestic hot water , 2011 .