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ZEB
annual report 2014
NTNU professor Thomas Berker is inspecting
the ZEB Living Lab before moving in with
his whole family, hence becoming the first
research objects of the project. Photo: Anne J.
Bruland
|
Professor Thomas Berker ved NTNU
på befaring. Sammen med familien flytter han
inn i ZEB Living Lab, og blir dermed en av de
første som bor der. Foto: Anne J. Bruland
a ground heat-exchanger. Its output is stored
in a two-stage heat storage tank, equipped
with two auxiliary electric coils that can be
activated when the storage temperature
falls under the set-point. It is connected to
two solar thermal panels integrated in the
building facade. The balanced ventilation
system integrates a heat recovery unit with
85% efficiency and an additional electric coil
capable of heating the inlet air up to 40 °C.
Finally, a polycrystalline photovoltaic system
of 12.5 kWP aims at converting enough
energy to balance emissions due to building
operation, materials and construction.
Monitoring environmental parameters
and energy use patterns
The monitoring system has been designed
in order to be flexible and allow later
upgrading, avoiding custom or expensive
solutions. Environmental parameters such
as temperature, relative humidity, CO2
content and illuminance will be monitored
throughout the entire living area, in continuous
comparison with weather data collected
outdoor. The energy system monitoring
plan, through sensors mainly placed in the
technical room, will record: heat pump heating
output; energy delivered by the floor heating
systems and radiator; energy for domestic
hot water; energy for the water-based coil of
the ventilation plant; energy output from PV
and solar thermal panels; thermal energy
delivered by the hydronic circuit. Electrical
energy demand will be measured in almost
every power circuit in order to record the use
of electrical appliances, windows’ drivers and
auxiliary systems.
Collecting and analyzing data
The data acquisition system will be based
on the National Instrument compactRIO
platform, based on a modular structure where
units can be freely combined or added to suit
future measurements’ requirements. Such a
system will be controlled through LabVIEW, a
programming code specifically developed for
sophisticated measurements allowing control
systems actions, such as windows’ opening in
combination with the hybrid ventilation mode.
The data acquisition system will also perform
as input for controlling the window drivers on
the basis of outdoor/indoor environmental
parameters comparison.
Social experiments start
The Living Lab will first be used for public
demonstrations of ZEB concepts and
technologies. For this purpose, one or two test
families that are willing to open their house
to media and other visitors will move in and
share their experiences made while living in
a ZEB pilot building. Two ZEB researchers
with their families have already signalled their
interest to become these kinds of guides to
the building. Second, the lab will be used to
measure and describe the impact of the users’
daily routines on the overall zero emission
balance of the building. For this Ruth Woods,
a social anthropologist from Sintef Building
Research, and Marius Korsnes, a sociologist
from NTNU’s Centre for Technology and
Society, will conduct a series of experiments