Economic and Environmental Assessment on Implementing Solar Renewable Energy Systems in Spanish Residential Homes

Alberto Cerezo-Narváez, María-José Bastante-Ceca and José-María Piñero-Vilela
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Alberto Cerezo-Narváez: School of Engineering, University of Cadiz, 11519 Puerto Real, Spain
María-José Bastante-Ceca: Project Management, Innovation and Sustainability Research Center (PRINS), Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 València, Spain
José-María Piñero-Vilela: School of Engineering, University of Cadiz, 11519 Puerto Real, Spain

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 14, 1-39

Abstract: In Europe, buildings are responsible for more than one third of the total final energy demands and greenhouse gas emissions. In the last twenty years, the European Union has published a succession of energy performance of building directives to define and ensure the fulfilment of a series of objectives regarding greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, energy efficiency and energy generation from renewable sources in buildings. For its part, Spain is adapting its legal framework, transposing these directives with the aim of achieving greater energy efficiency and sustainability for buildings. Under this context, an energy, economic and environmental assessment is performed to analyze the impact of these regulatory changes on a single-family home including a photovoltaic installation for self-consumption with surpluses and/or a solar thermal installation for domestic hot water supply, located in each one of the eight thousand one hundred thirty-one municipalities that make up Spain. The energy behavior of the original house is compared with that obtained after it is updated with these new facilities. The transient system simulation tool is used for the energy study. The results show that the European objectives are far exceeded. The energy savings achieved range from 67% to 126%, carbon dioxide emissions decrease by 42% to 100% and energy bills are reduced in cost by 32% to 81%. The findings of this work can be used by policymakers as guidelines for the development of national strategic plans and financial incentives for the promotion of small-scale residential photovoltaic and solar thermal applications, as well as by designers, supervisors, managers and developers to include them in their projects.

Keywords: photovoltaic energy; solar thermal energy; EPBD; energy savings; energy costs; environmental impacts; GHG emissions; CO 2 reduction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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