I'm working at Energy efficient research and the last information that I have is that the consumption will increase in 100% for the next 20 years. Do you know any strategy for reduce consumption?
This is a very general question, so the answer can not be too specific, but I'll try.
For the reduction of heating power, insulation and intelligent use of the buildings place and orientation can be used. Additionally, renewable heating (mainly solar, biomass, geothermal) can reduce fossil fuel consumption.
For electrical power,energy management systems (EMS) can help to react on changes in demand or provision. Air conditioning in combination with thermal energy storage for cold can bring a large degree of freedom to power consumption. Combination of electrical power production with heat production (CHP) can provide power internally.
BIM models delivered from design/construction phases to the operating site plus wireless sensors enabling ambient intelligence and cloud monitoring of constructions connected to trading energy networks should enable, beyond what Andreas Ortwein rightfully pointed at, the emergence of new sorts of constructions in all domains (i.e. residential, commercial, industrial, offices).
Thank you for all answers! I am going to evaluate them and I would like to debate all these topics later.
Dear Filippo, I am not found of the world I described, especially as I think that privacy is threatened by this intrusion of ever more IT, wireless systems, and global monitoring. But even though I expect that some resistance in the residential sector might slow down a bit the massive intrusion of the techniques, I doubt that it will be the same for large commercial or industrial facilities where owners will be looking for more rational usage and more centralized control.
Plenty on the net on "passive housing" and "zero-energy housing". They need intelligent systems to provide a good in-door climate. By "intelligent" meaning 24/7 monitoring utilizing various sensors for ventilation and temperature. A passive house will save some 90% over a conventional building. They work also in a cold climate. We have passive houses in Sweden. Mind You, they use body heat and heat from domestic machines to keep the temperature up. So there is a lower limit to how energy efficient the machines in a household should be when it comes to emitting excessive heat! The old light bulb is now forbidden in Europe, otherwise an excellent source of heat. It is known that the passive houses sometimes needs "support" energy during the coldest months, when temperatures of -20C or less, are not uncommon outdoors. Could be due to the fact that we are a bit spoiled here and don´t accept the in-door temperature to drop below 20C, at any circumstances. Hardly any fossile energy is used to power houses. Some 95% of the power production comes from Hydro and Nuclear power.
A central, independent, organisation for europe can be found here:
http://www.passiv.de/en/index.php
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