Den vanligaste lösningen på problemet att för mycket energi används i den byggda miljön är implementering av energieffektiv teknik. Men installation av teknik räcker sällan för att nå förväntad energibesparing: det är människor som i sin vardag använder tekniken och de använder den inte alltid på det sätt som teknikutvecklarna har tänkt sig. I avhandlingen behandlas människors vardagliga användning av energiteknik. Det innebär att fokus skiftas från produktutvecklarnas och experternas intentioner och syn på teknikens användning, till det sociala sammanhang där människor lever sitt vardagsliv. Syftet med avhandlingen är att undersöka hur energiteknik som utvecklats för att hushålla med energi och effektivisera energianvändningen domesticeras i hemmet. En fallstudie har genomförts för att undersöka hur energikonceptet för passivhus med tillhörande teknik domesticeras i hemmet. Detta energikoncept förväntas leda till ett nytt energieffektivt sätt att hantera värmen i bostaden. Fallstudien består av två intervjuomgångar med boende i passivhusen i Lindås, söder om Göteborg. Utifrån ett sociokulturellt perspektiv på lärande och begreppet domesticering analyseras hur de boende tolkar energikonceptet i passivhus, hur de på olika sätt förändrar sitt förhållande till värme och sitt sätt att hantera värmen inomhus, samt hur och varför deras engagemang för energitekniken begränsas. I avhandlingen analyseras processen där de boende med stöd av tidigare erfarenheter och olika typer av resurser efter hand gör tekniken begriplig och lär sig att hantera värmen i sitt passivhus. En slutsats är att mer uthållig energianvändning inte kan nås enbart genom att utveckla nya energitekniska lösningar, utan det krävs också att förutsättningar skapas för att människor ska kunna lära sig hantera de mer hållbara alternativen och dessutom välja dem. / New and more energy efficient technologies are usually regarded as the solution to the problem with too high energy consumption in the built environment. It is not enough, however, to fulfil the expected reduction of energy consumption since other influential factors have to be considered as well. There are for example people who use technology in ways unintended by the developers. In this thesis, people’s daily use of energy-related technology is investigated. Thereby, focus is shifted from the technology developers’ expectations and opinions regarding how to use the technology towards the social contexts in which people live their everyday life. The aim in this thesis is to investigate the domestication in private homes of energy technology developed to reduce energy use and improve energy efficiency. A case study is conducted of how the energy concept in passive houses and its related technologies are domesticated in the daily life of householders. This energy concept is expected to lead to a new energy efficient way of handling heating. The case study comprises of two rounds of interviews with the occupants of the passive houses in Lindås, south of Gothenburg. The households’ interpretation of the energy concept of passive houses and how the householders change their andling of and relationship to the indoor temperature are analysed from a sociocultural learning perspective and the concept of domestication. The thesis analyses the process in which the household members learn how to handle the energy technology in their passive house, supported by their earlier experiences and other kinds of resources. One main conclusion is that sustainable energy use is not only a question of developing new, energy efficient technologies. In order to meet the national and international goals set up for energy efficiency and energy conservation, tools must be developed that encourage people to choose and to learn sustainable ways of using the new technology.

To reduce the emissions from energy use, high demands are set on new buildings. Studies have shown big differences between predicted and actual energy performance. This gap makes it more difficult to reduce the energy use in buildings. The aim of this study is to discover if deviations occur before the building is put into use, and if it does, discuss the reasons for that.  In this study, energy performance for 20 multi-family houses have been compared between the early design stage and the production stage. The result of this study is that there are no major differences in energy use between the different documents. On the other hand, there are big differences in some of the parameters that the energy use is dependent on. The reasons of this are discussed later in this thesis. None of the investigated buildings had the same value of energy performance in the production stage as in the early stage. The parameter that has shown the greatest difference is space heating and hot water recirculation. The biggest correlation was found between the energy required by the fans and the buildings total energy use.

The residential building sector plays an important role in combating climate change in Canada. Many energy efficiency solutions along with new building energy standards have been implemented to improve building energy performance. However, their effects on energy saving and GHG emissions reduction vary due to the complexity of the building systems and the variability of their operational conditions. This work quantifies such variability in both energy efficiency devices and building energy standards implementation, respectively. The first study in this dissertation assesses the energy savings from sensible heat recovery in a residential apartment suite in various locations across Canada. A series of detailed building energy performance models are developed in TRNSYS. The HVAC system’s annual energy consumption is simulated and the results are compared with and without HRV for each climate zone. The results show the heating energy savings of employing the HRV vary from 17 to 34% depending on the winter climatic conditions; while, the building cooling energy use can be increased due to the undesired thermal recovery occurring in the HRV during the cooling season. The second study investigates the free cooling potential of outside air in various Canadian cities. A series of thermal models developed using BEopt 2.8 for a hypothetical single-family house with various window-to-wall ratios and building aspect ratios simulates hourly building cooling load profiles. The free cooling potential is analyzed by comparing the maximum available and the actual usable free cooling for various building features and different climates. The results indicate that, although free cooling is widely available in most areas of Canada during the summer and shoulder seasons, only 17-42% of such free cooling is usable without the use of thermal storage. The last study examines the effects of two building energy standards - the BC Step Code and the Passive House criteria - on reductions in residential household space heating GHG emissions under different enforcement scenarios. The space heating energy and the GHG emissions are estimated using the forecast growth of single detached households for the period from 2020 to 2032. The results show that the space heating GHG emissions can be reduced by 77% and 89%, respectively if the BC Step Code or the Passive House criteria is implemented in Canada. It is also found the impacts of energy code on GHG emission mitigation are less significant in regions where the carbon intensity of the dominant heating fuels is low. / Graduate

<p>In the United States, buildings are responsible for almost 40% of the country’s total energy consumption and 38% of the total greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers are constantly seeking sustainable and efficient energy generation solutions for buildings as society continues to cope with the intensifying energy crisis and environmental deterioration. Thermoelectric technology is one such solution that potentially can lead to significant energy recovery and conversion between waste or excess thermal energy and electrical energy. One promising application is integrating thermoelectric materials into the building envelope (TBE) for power generation and building heating and cooling without transporting energy among subsystems and refrigerant use. TBE can combine structural support and thermal storage with power generation and thermal-activated cooling and heating, thereby contributing to sustainable living and energy. </p> <p>TBE technology is still in its early development stages. This dissertation aimed to develop a fundamental understanding of the characteristics, behaviors, operation, and control of TBE systems as energy-efficient measures for thermal energy harvesting and thermal comfort regulation and to address the significant research gaps concerning high-conversion efficiency materials and optimal module configuration as well as system deployment related to real-world applications. Accordingly, this dissertation focused on the following three key objectives: (1) development and characterization of new thermoelectric composite materials; (2) identification of optimal designs and controls of TBE and established mathematical models for performance simulation; and (3) quantification of the energy-saving benefits of TBE. </p> <p>The following five aspects specifically were investigated:</p> <p>(1)<em> Material development and characterization</em>. New thermoelectric cement composites were developed with cement and various additives, material concentrations, and fabrication methods in the laboratory. Their thermoelectric properties (e.g., Seebeck coefficient, thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, power factor, and the figure of merit) were measured simultaneously and characterized at 300–350 K.</p> <p>(2)<em> Module evaluation.</em> Commercially available thermoelectric modules (TEMs) were assessed using well-designed test apparatus in both the heat pumping and power generation modes. The test results validated the numerical model, which assisted with performance comparison and material selection between cement-based and commercial TEMs for the TBE prototype.</p> <p>(3)<em> Prototype assessment. </em>A convective TBE prototype and a radiant TBE prototype were designed, assembled, and evaluated in a pair of controlled testing chambers. The TBE’s surface temperature, thermal capacity, and COP were assessed under summer and winter conditions. </p> <p>(4)<em> Prototype modeling. </em>The first-principle-based numerical models of both the convective and radiant TBE prototypes were developed in Modelica. The modeling results indicated good agreement with the experimental data. The verified models were used to study the impacts of the design parameters and operating conditions on the heat pumping performance of TBE.</p> <p>(5)<em> System simulation. </em>A TBE building system model was established by integrating the TBE prototype model within a building’s heat balance model, considering the building construction, climate condition, power control, etc. Its seasonal performance under various climate conditions was studied to identify the potential optimal operation and energy savings. </p> <p>This dissertation confirmed several key findings in the areas of material development, system design and operation, and energy savings. The TBE achieved higher efficiency with a heat pump for heating than for cooling generally. The TBE heating system performed better than a conventional electric heater (efficiency assumed at 0.9). The measures that improved TBE heating efficiency were enhancing the material’s thermoelectric properties, optimizing the geometry and number of TEMs, and improving the boundary heat transfer of TEMs. </p> <p>This dissertation concluded that the TBE system is a promising alternative to conventional heating systems in buildings. Furthermore, the knowledge gained will strengthen the understanding of thermoelectrics in the building domain and guide further development in TBE, as well as facilitate the operation of net-zero energy and carbon-neutral buildings. </p>

District heating plays a major role in the Swedish energy system. It is deemed a renewable energy source and is the main provider for multi-family dwellings with 90 %. Although the district heating fuel mix consists of majority renewables, a share of 5 % is provided from fossil fuels. To reduce fossil fuel usage and eradicate CO2-emissions from the district heating system new solutions are sought after. In this project, the potential for shortterm thermal energy storage in buildings is investigated. This concept is referred to as customer flexibility. Demand flexibility is created in the district heating system (DHS) by varying the indoor temperature in 50 multi-family dwellings with maximum 1◦C, without jeopardizing the thermal comfort for the tenants. The flexible load makes it possible to store energy shortterm in the building’ envelope. Consequently, heat load curves are evened in production. This leads to a reduction of the peak load in the DHS. Peaks are associated with high costs and environmental impact. Therefore, the potential benefits of customer flexibility are reduced peak production, fuel costs, and CO2-emissions, depending on the fuel mix in the DHS. The project objective is to examine the techno-economic potential of customer flexibility in a specific DHS. The case study is made in a DHS owned by the company Vattenfall, located in the Stockholm area. To evaluate the potential benefits of implementing the concept, seven key performance indicators are chosen. They are peak power, peak fuel usage, produced volume, total fuel cost, fuel cost per produced MWh, climate footprint, and primary energy. Moreover, an in-house optimization model is used to simulate multiple scenarios of the district heating DHS. Different sets of assumptions about the available flexibility in the DHS and the thermal characteristics of the buildings are made. Customer flexibility is modeled as virtual heat storage that can be charged up or down depending on the speed and size of the available storage at a specific outdoor temperature. Simulation results give a maximum peak power reduction of 10.9 % and annual fuel cost reduction between 0.9-3.6 % depending on the scenario. The results found are comparable to values found in similar studies. However, the environmental key performance indicators generated an increase in CO2-emissions and primary energy compared to the baseline scenarios. The result would have looked different if fossil fuels were used in peak production instead of biofuels. The master thesis also aimed to validate assumptions and parameters made in the input data to the optimization model. This was achieved by using results attained from a pilot in the specific DHS. Therefore results generated from the simulations are deemed accurate and confirm that customer flexibility leads to reduced peak production and DHS optimization. / Se filen