I thought it could be interesting to share a little more about my PhD research.
First of all, I started in September 2021, so everyhting is very new and not fully developed. The work is about integrated energy design and performance evaluation of positive energy buildings in Norway, socalled «Plusshus» in Norwegian. I will focus on energy use, indoor environmental quality and greenhouse gas emissions, with the intent to compare simulations and intial design goals for energy use and indoor environment with monitored data from the occupancy phase. Positive energy buildings are highly energy efficient and technical buildings, which require efficient management and control in the occupancy phase. Investigating the possible performance gaps between intended design and actual energy use will hopefully provide insights to how we can design highly energy and resource efficient buildings in the future.
The research will be based on casestudy buildings, approximately 10 different buildings in the Oslo region, including several Futurebuilt projects. They have different functions, kindergartens, schools, office, and housing, but all share the same initial goal of reaching a surplus of generated energy over a year.
As previosly mentioned, the research is a part of syn.ikia, which aims to develop sustainable positive energy neighbourhoods (SPEN).
PEB is the abbreviation for positive energy buildings, and there are numerous similar abbreviations, such as ZEB (zero emission building or zero energy building), and NZEB (near zero energy/emission building). To make it more confusing, there are several variations for the neighbourhood level as well. For example, PED (positive energy district), ZEN (zero emission neighbourhood), and PEN (positive energy neighbourhood). They have slightly different definitions, but share a focus on energy efficiency and generation of renewable energy, either on the building or neighbourhood level.
I will try to update on the progress here, and share bits and pieces from the process.
My drawing skills are not exceptional, but I tried to make a little schematic of positive energy buildings below. You’re welcome 😉
