Energy Flexibility and Renewable Energy Systems in Wood Building Constructions

Wood constructions are increasingly substituting conventional concrete or brick structures in new buildings due to their relevant environmental benefits, such as comparatively low embodied energy or high prefabrication potential. As the building sector still accounts for an estimated 35% of the EU's overall energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, the focus is not only on the energy during operation, but on the whole life cycle of the building, from the sourcing of materials, construction, demolition and reuse. 

There are a number of advantages associated with the construction of buildings partly or entirely made of wood, which include not only the CO₂ balance, but also the prefabrication and speed of assembly, as well as the high thermal comfort that wood structures can provide. This also applies to building stock extensions, that are using wood as their primary construction material. 

From an energy system perspective, new buildings are gradually being developed as zero or plus energy buildings, thus providing more energy on site than they require for heating, cooling and ventilation purposes. They also act as storage for a decentralised energy grid, which must deal with the rapidly expanding renewable energy generation. Wood buildings provide a particular challenge in this context, as their storage capabilities and potential for integrating renewable energy systems is different to that of conventional constructions with an inherent high thermal mass, such as concrete or brick buildings. 

The overall research question is therefore how buildings can provide comfortable indoor environments under changing climatic conditions with a minimal resource and energy use, and in particular, how efficiency, generation and storage of energy can become an inherent part of lightweight building structures. The proposed project will address part of this wider subject and will focus on the assessment of renewable building energy systems and energy flexibility measures that are particularly suitable for wood constructions and wood extensions. The study will connect to the work carried out in Research Project RP 3-2 (Co-Design, adaptation, integration and optimisation of multi-storey timber building systems for building stock extension) and aims to expand the findings of RP 3-2 by integrating the issues of energy storage and renewable energy systems in wood constructions. 

PARICIPATING RESEARCHER

Prof. Dr. Doris Österreicher
Institute for Building Materials, Building Physics, Building Systems and Design (IBBTE), University of Stuttgart

TEAM

Andrea Thiele (IBBTE)