Renewable energy and sustainable buildings

Università telematica Pegaso: corso di laurea in Ingegneria civile

Insegnamento di inglese: renewable energy and sustainable buildings

Relatore: Ch.Ma Prof.ssa Susic Elisa
Candidato: La Ragione Colomba 0702100266
Anno Accademico: 2022/2023

Indice

1. Abstract
2. Premise
3. Chapter 1: renewable sources of energy
   • 1.1 Wind energy
     • 1.1.1 History
     • 1.1.2 How wind turbines are built
     • 1.1.3 Wind farms and environmental impact
     • 1.1.4 Wind energy market
   • 1.2 Geothermal energy
     • 1.2.1 History
     • 1.2.2 Geothermal energy
     • 1.2.3 Geothermal power plants and environmental impact
     • 1.2.4 Geothermal energy market
   • 1.3 Nuclear energy
     • 1.3.1 History
     • 1.3.2 Fission
     • 1.3.3 Fusion
     • 1.3.4 Environmental impact
     • 1.3.5 Nuclear energy market in the world
4. Chapter 2: special case of a solar-thermal system in a single-family villa
   • 2.1 Energy production
   • 2.2 Heating
   • 2.3 Dimensioning a photovoltaic and/or solar thermal system
   • 2.4 Amortisation of the photovoltaic system
     • 2.4.1 How to calculate the amortisation of a photovoltaic system
     • 2.4.2 Amortisation calculation of the studied case
   • 2.5 Economical comparison of the heating system
5. Chapter 3: Upshot
6. Sitography
7. Ringraziamenti

Abstract

Il presente lavoro si occupa del tema delle energie rinnovabili e sviluppa un esempio di come rendere green una villa monofamiliare. Come primo passo (v. capitolo 1) ho preso in esame le principali fonti di energia rinnovabile analizzandone sia gli aspetti positivi che negativi. L’elaborato si sposta poi sul piano pratico in quanto il capitolo 2 affronta la realizzazione di un impianto fotovoltaico solare-termico con particolare attenzione ai costi previsti per tale opera. Per completezza ho anche approfondito il tema delle agevolazioni fiscali per la sostituzione delle vecchie caldaie e ho confrontato una caldaia a pompa di calore con una a condensazione per sottolinearne la differenza di costo e di potenza.

Premise

The interaction of human activities with the surrounding environment is constant and unavoidable. Economic and social development are directly proportional to energy needs. Factories need energy to work, and the greater the production is the greater the need for energy. The more they produce the greater the demand for labour is. Trains, ships, planes and all means of transportation need it to move, houses are heated and lighted by energy and the list of its uses is almost endless. The more a nation is modernized the more energy it uses, but if this "behoof" ensures a better status for the population the downside are the serious problems it causes to the environment. As a matter of fact, the production systems still used are now universally recognized as harmful, while the residues and waste of human activities have a negative impact on the environment.

Natural resources represent indispensable and non-replaceable wealth in production and usage processes. Although trends of the past few years have shown the consolidation of the role of natural gas and the gradual establishment of renewable energies, between 1971 and 2022 the incidence of fossil fuels on Total Energy Supply (NRGSUP) at world level decreased only slightly (80.9% vs 86.6%), while the overall figure of NRGSUP almost tripled.

1 See: Energy statistics - an overview, EIA

2 Total energy supply definition

Total primary energy supply by fuel, 1971 and 2019

3 Data Source: IEA

Coming to Europe, in 2021 it reached a 21.8% share of its gross final energy consumption from renewable sources.

4 Gross energy consumption is defined in Directive 2009/28/EC on renewable energy sources as energy commodities delivered for energy purposes to final consumers (industry, transport, households, services, agriculture, forestry and fisheries), including the consumption of electricity and heat by the energy branch for electricity and heat production, and including losses of electricity and heat in distribution and transmission. Source: Gross final energy consumption

5 About UE see Renewable energy statistics

If the industrialized nations continue to draw and consume fossil sources at the current rate, the greatest danger, in the short and medium term, will be the irreversible damage caused to the environment. But are we sure that the problem are only industrialized nations and not also developing nations that utilize more and more energy and in general polluting energy?

3 Total primary energy supply by fuel

We hear a lot about the greenhouse effect, harmful emissions, climate changes, a disproportionate temperature soaring, glaciers melting at an unimaginable rate, animals move from their natural habitat and alien species of animals and plants "invading ecosystems they were never part of." The "world’s great" gather in very expensive meetings, but for the moment few things have changed.

Even if we are led to believe that the interest in environment and the effects of pollutions is something relatively new, already back in late nineteenth century, scattered groups of nature conservation advocates sprung up in England. Then, something arose in Germany as well, but until the 1960s the problem in general concerned only scientists and scholars.

The issue of pollution is closely connected not only to rich countries but also to poor and underdeveloped ones. In fact, they are characterised by high levels of environmental pollution; an example is the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, ranked as the most polluted city in the world in 2022.

6 Ruhi Çenet, an independent documentary filmmaker, during a report in the city of Lahore said that breathing the city air for one day has the same effect of smoking 15 cigarettes.

According to a 2018 survey by Pakistan air quality initiative (PAQI) level of air pollution is 9 times more harmful than safe acceptable values. Fine particles cost a hundred thousand lives every year and most of the victims are children. Due to the increasing pollution the life expectancy of Lahore residents has dropped by five years. Finally, in the last few months, many world media have drawn attention to the problem of the quality of the air in Lahore, thanks also to the study conducted by IQAir.

6 Ruhi Cenet was born in Turkey on October 20, 1990. He is a YouTube Creator, influencer and individual content creator for his digital channels. He studied computer science in India - Ruhi Cenet biography

The report published by the Swiss company highlights that is caused by a combination of vehicle and industrial emissions, the burning of crop residue and general waste, and dust from construction sites. Other factors of air pollution include large scale losses of trees to build new roads and buildings. Winter air pollution is worse due to temperature inversion, which results in a layer of warm air that is prevented from rising trapping air pollutants.

7 Air Quality in Lahore, Air Quality in Lahore (last seen: 18/03/23)

This trend, however, is not limited to developing countries, as Italian cities are also victims of bad air quality. Turin holds the black jersey for the most severe air pollution levels, which in 2022 exceeded the limit of 50 micrograms per cubic meter of PM10 for 98 days - the maximum allowed by law is 35 days per year. The proposals of Lega Ambiente party to improve the situation are public transport and energy requalification. In Italy, an example of the latter is represented by the controversial “Superbonus”, a 110% decree promulgated to increase energy efficiency and reduce seismic risk. These facilitated interventions are also meant to include the installation of photovoltaic systems and infrastructures for recharging electric vehicles in buildings.

8 Superbonus 110%

When environmental accidents and especially oil spills into the sea with the resulting pollution began to occur more often, environmentalist awareness began to develop, so much so that in 1968 the UN adopted Resolution 2398, which stipulated to convene a world conference on the human environment. Thus, the I UN Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm in 1972 and the United Nations Declaration on the Human Environment was signed. The success of the Stockholm conference, which is considered the real milestone for protection policies, is linked to two main facts: its final Declaration and the establishment of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. The 26 principles contained in the Declaration can be summarized in the focus that states and peoples should pay utmost attention to the environment while avoiding differences between developed and developing countries, but above all that international cooperation is needed to safeguard it.

UNEP has among its tasks the key assignment of monitoring the state of the global environment and collecting and spreading information on that subject.

9 Stoccolma, conferenza di, Laura Castellucci, Dizionario di Economia e Finanza (2012)

There have been many other conferences since the Stockholm’s one, but the one that was meant to make the difference is the 1997 Kyoto Conference where were established the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and other Protocol policies and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The agreement is based on the awareness of climate change and the influence of anthropogenic activities on the environment and on the ongoing global warming. Among the core principles of the convention (listed in Article 3) there are:

• Protection of the climate system, and thus combating climate change and its adverse effects;
• Awareness of the special needs and conditions of developing countries, which are particularly vulnerable to climate changes;
• Awareness that the lack of full scientific certainty is not a reason to postpone prevention and mitigation measures.

In Italy, the Kyoto Protocol was ratified by Law 120 of 2002, which prescribed the preparation of a National Action Plan to reduce emissions. In 2012, the Rio+20 Conference was held aiming to boost sustainable development and assess what has been achieved because of the decisions taken in the previous two decades. The final document, called "The Future We Want," was adopted/published after two years and led to numerous international and national processes on issues considered crucial to the future of the Planet. These included, first and foremost, the process of setting new global Sustainable Development Goals, and the creation of a High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

10 Governo Italiano, Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Sicurezza Energetica (mase.gov.it)

In addition to Governments, nine Major Groups ("business and industry, children and youth, farmers, indigenous peoples, local governments, nongovernmental organizations, the science and technology community, women, workers and trade unions") participated in the Rio+20 Conference and its preparation. Finally, in September 2015 the Governments of the 193 member countries of the UN signed the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an action agenda for people, Planet and prosperity. It incorporates 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in a grand program of action with a total of 169 targets or goals.

The official launch of the Sustainable Development Goals coincided with the beginning of 2016, guiding the world on the road ahead for the following 15 years. In fact, signatories have committed to achieving the SDGs by 2030. From a general perspective, goals can be divided into those that relate to the social sector and others that relate purely to the environment and sustainability:

For the purpose of this paper, objectives 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) are particularly important and closely related as the use of affordable and clean energy makes cities and communities more sustainable. This consideration does not apply only to space heating and electricity use, but also to transport emissions that are an important source of pollution.

To achieve this, we do not have to look far; nature provides us with clean, renewable energy sources: sun, wind, geothermal energy, and the water that enables hydroelectric power plants to operate.

Unfortunately, globally there are some difficult elephants to move: huge developing states that refuse to accept the gravity of the situation even though they are the ones most affected not only by very heavy pollution but also by climatic disasters that are caused precisely by reckless treatment of the environment. However, there is room for hope: according to news reports, it appears that India has committed to produce 50 percent of its needs with solar energy by 2050, even though it still uses huge quantities of coal and other fossil energies.

11 BP Statistical Review 2022 India Insights

Chapter 1: renewable sources of energy

1.1 Wind energy

1.1.1 History

What is wind energy? Is it a recent discovery or has man been familiar with it since ancient times? What are the uses of this type of energy? These are just some of the questions many people ask when they hear about wind energy. Wind power is the energy produced by the wind. It is a renewable source and produces no polluting waste, and it is certainly not a recent discovery as already in ancient times boats and sailing ships were driven by sails inflated by the wind.

The earliest known example of the use of wind energy to power a machine is the wheel or organ of Heron of Alexandria in the 1st century A.D., which functioned thanks to a blade that, propelled by air, transmitted motion to an axle connected to a toothed wheel, which set in motion a plate that descended and moved arms that drove a piston that ran in a cylinder, allowing the production of mechanical energy. This is the same principle that was later used in windmills, the facilities built to harness wind energy thanks to the use of paddles and to transform it into mechanical energy used to grind grain or other materials in agriculture, handicrafts or industry. Mills are the hallmark of the Netherlands, but prototypes were in fact built in Persia around 3000 B.C. and from there spread all over the world.

Currently, there are two types of windmills, i.e., with vertical or horizontal blades, of which the former is the most common; however, the same range can be found in modern wind turbines that are used for large-scale energy production.

1.1.2 How wind turbines are built

Wind turbines consist of several parts:

• The structure is holed up by the support tower, usually made of steel and other metal alloys. It also has the function of absorbing vibrations caused by the rotation of the blades.
• The rotor and shaft housing on which the blades are mounted is the nacelle, a semi-mobile horizontal structure and the generator spacecraft must follow the direction of the wind and can therefore move horizontally.
• The generator is a mechanical wheel covered by a magnetic coil which, once in motion, generates electro-mechanical energy.
• To transmit the movement of the blades to the generator there is a rotating structure that is connected to the generator on one side and to the blades on the other side called the shaft.
• Elongated sails made of steel or metal alloys are mounted on the mast and are the actual wind blades that rotate to follow the direction of the wind currents.

When wind blades are struck by the wind, they rotate, transmitting this movement to the shaft and generator. As they rotate, the generator coils mechanically produce energy, i.e., the mechanical movement is transformed into an electrical voltage by interacting with magnets. The energy is then collected and channelled into large cables that reach the base of the support tower.

Obviously, each turbine is equipped with control and safety systems that guarantee the control of the structure and correct energy production. The produced energy is then conveyed to special accumulators from which it is stored in special batteries or fed into the grid. Maintainers also block them in the event of a breakdown or other necessity in order to be able to work on them safely.

1.1.3 Wind farms and environmental impact

Wind energy is clean and is a renewable source, but the installations are generally linked with some issues:

• Plants are quite noisy and if wind farms are built too close to population centres, they cause noise pollution;
• According to environmentalists, cause serious damage to biodiversity;
• In addition, flocks of wild birds, unfortunately, tend to collide with the blades during their operation.

It should also be noted that according to the Italian Wind Energy Association (ANEV), the replacement of the first generation of wind turbines. The amount of wind turbines being decommissioned in Italy over the next decade can be estimated.

13 Roberto Rossi, articolo Pale eoliche: come