Net Zero Energy Districts in Greater Toronto Area

Aperçu:

In some areas over 40% of the consumed energy is used in residential areas. The challenges of energy conversion by limited fossil fuels and pollution of the environment by greenhouse gases, annual emission of more than 30 billion tons of CO2 alone, shows the importance of sustainable architecture and renewable energy sources. “Net Zero Energy Districts” are self sufficient districts in energy. In this case, the necessary energy for electricity, warm water, and heating of buildings in winter is provided by a combination of Photo-Voltaic (PV) solar panels, solar thermal, earth's heat or geothermal, wind and biomass. Sustainable architecture for energy saving and renewable energy conversion such as PV panels, solar thermal collectors, wind turbines, geothermal and biomass are the basics for building a Net Zero Energy District. The buildings are certified low energy buildings if they consume almost ten times less energy than average conventional existing buildings. We propose the construction of a Net-Zero-Energy-District in the GTA. We think building such residential areas enhances the life quality of its tenants, reduces the air pollution, eliminates the need for nuclear, coal, and other non-renewable sources of energy. A net-zero-energy-district is not only friendly to the environment, it is cost-effective, because a smart combination of the technologies mentioned earlier is a lot more powerful than each one of them individually. More important is the creation of nucleation center for a new environmentally friendly smart world. If we win the prize, we will produce blue-prints, calculations, and feasibility studies that will show developers will be better off building sustainable houses. We will convince people this is the way of future, and we better see it now. **Who are we?** We are a start-up company, PRISED Solar Inc., devoted to develop new technologies that make solar cells and PV energy conversion cheaper. **Definitions** Photovoltaics (PV) is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity using semiconducting devices that exhibit the photovoltaic effect. A solar thermal collector is a solar collector designed to collect heat by absorbing sunlight. The term is applied to solar hot water panels, but may also be used to denote more complex installations such as solar parabolic, solar trough and solar towers or simpler installations such as solar air heat. A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. A downhole heat exchanger, (DHE) also called a borehole heat exchanger, (BHE) is a heat exchanger installed inside a borehole. It is used to capture or dissipate heat to or from the ground. DHT's are used for geothermal heating, sometimes with the help of a geothermal heat pump. A geothermal heat pump, ground source heat pump (GSHP), or ground heat pump is a central heating and/or cooling system that pumps heat to or from the ground. Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel. Pictures courtesy of: robertwcorkery.files.wordpress.com www.romania-insider.com www.sustainableguernsey.info