Economic and environmental benefits of low-cost passive low-energy buildings

Energy and environmental issues are the main reasons many countries increasingly emphasize the energy efficiency of buildings. Passive low-energy buildings (PLEBs) emerged as a new trend in the development of the energy efficiency of buildings given their comfort and high energy efficiency. However, cost hinders the promotion of PLEBs in developing areas. This study focuses on buildings in Northwest China. A PLEB was analyzed by introducing the solar heating system as well as its economic and environmental indicators. This study aims to explore the economic and environmental benefits (EEBs) of low-cost PLEBs. First, the structures and parameters of the envelope were confirmed according to the specifications of PLEB and new energy-saving building (ESB) respectively. Second, energy consumption for heating was resolved using the PHHP software package of PLEB and the energy simulation software DeST-h. These methods confirmed the design scheme of the solar heating system of the PLEB and the ESB. Finally, the ESB was used as basis for analyzing the economic performance of the PLEB in terms of incremental cost and annual earnings. Results show that energy consumption for heating in winter and investment in the solar heating system for the PLEB is lower than that for the ESB, whereas the total incremental cost of the PLEB is higher than that of the ESB. These results are based on the premise of guaranteeing indoor thermal comfort in winter. The PLEB has higher EEBs than the ESB when the service life of solar heating systems is used as calculation period. The results of this study have important reference value for the research on low-cost PLEBs in areas with rich renewable resources. © 2016 Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology. All rights reserved.