Performance analysis of a multi-source renewable energy system for temperature control in buildings of varied thermal transmittance and climate zone

The current paper presents a numerical analysis of a multi-source renewable energy system for building air conditioning aiming at decarbonising the building envelope. The thermal management of the building is pursued through a radiant floor fed by a heat pump and integrated with phase change materials for thermal inertia enhancement. A fan coil is foreseen for humidity control. The heat pump can be fed through three parallel circuits involving different thermal sources: air with an ordinary air-to-water heat exchanger, sun through photovoltaic thermal solar collectors, and ground using shallow ground flat-panel heat exchangers. At need, the ground can be exploited for thermal energy storage when the heat pump is idle. A set of dedicated control rules chooses the optimal source or mix of sources to exploit at any time. Simulations of a reference building, namely a large single-room snack bar, are performed for various plant configurations, hypothesising the building as located in distinct climate zones and characterised by different thermal transmittance. The thermal performance of the building is given in terms of primary energy needs per year and compared to that of an analogous single-source plant. Results show that the proposed system can lead to primary energy savings of up to 16% compared to the corresponding state-of-the-art single-source plant, being more effective if the geothermal field is large enough and the building heating and cooling needs are comparable. The relevance of a proper control algorithm for plant performance optimisation is highlighted: a thermal power-based approach is proposed and successfully tested. •A multi-source renewable energy system for buildings thermal management is proposed.•Air, sun, and ground can be exploited as thermal sources by means of heat exchangers.•A phase change materials integrated radiant floor covers the building thermal needs.•A control algorithm selects the sources to be used for the optimal plant operation.•TRNSYS simulations foresee energy savings up to 16% in different operating conditions.