Integrated Thermal Adequacy, System Intelligence, And Renewable-Energy-Assisted Systems

Heating in colder weather is a human necessity which cannot he ignored. Jordan; despite being within the solar belt of the world; is subjected to cold air temperatures during Fall, Winter, and Spring. Relying mainly on fossil fuel or electricity generated from fossil fuel has significantly increased heating costs. Towards construction cost cutting, residential buildings were constructed with weak thermal considerations. This paper first defines a new term; namely thermal inadequacy to represent the combinatory effect of poor design and low budget construction of a residential unit (house, apartment, studio, etc.) from the heating point of view. Then the paper proposes an integration policy targeting three aspects: thermal adequacy, system intelligence, and renewable enerpi assistance to significantly relieve the burden of heating costs and provide sustainability by lowering consumed enerp:. A case study for heating a 142 m2 apartment during a day in early spring of 2015 was considered. Detailed physical model is presented to cover the second by second heat transfer, heating input, and solar PV system design. The model is then used to assess different policies in heating and prove the paper's main proposal. It was found out that only with the proposed integration of the three aspects, the heating costs can be reduced by more than 82%.