Development of sustainable energy options for buildings in a sustainable society

WOS: 000209553300003In this study, a building with a volume of 392 m(3) and a net floor area of 140 m(2) is considered as a case study with the indoor and exterior air temperatures of 20 degrees C and -15 degrees C, respectively. For heating applications, seven options are studied, namely (i) electric boiler, (ii) cogeneration, (iii) biomass/wood, (iv) ground heat pump water-water (v) heat pump borehole/glycol, (vi) standard boiler and (vii) solar collector as driven by renewable and non-renewable energy sources. Energy and exergy analyses are conducted to assess their performances and compare them through energy and exergy efficiencies and sustainability index. Energy and exergy flows are studied and illustrated accordingly. Also, the energetic and exergetic renewability ratios are employed here along with sustainability index. The results show that overall exergy efficiencies of heating systems are found to be 2.8%, 5.5%, 6.0%, 6.4%, 6.1%, 5.4% and 25.3%, while the sustainability index values for the seven cases considered are calculated to be 1.029, 1.058, 1.063, 1.069, 1.065, 1.057 and 1.338 for options 1 through 7, respectively. So, solar collector-based heating system gives the highest efficiency and sustainability index values. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Aksaray University; Ege University; University of Ontario Institute of Technology; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of CanadaThe authors gratefully acknowledge the support provided by Aksaray University, Ege University and University of Ontario Institute of Technology, as well as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada