Building-integrated rooftop greenhouses : an energy and environmental assessment in the mediterranean context
Nadal, Ana (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Llorach-Massana, Pere (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Cuerva, Eva (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria de Projectes i de la Construcció)
López Capel, Elisa (Newcastle University. School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development)
Montero Camacho, Juan Ignacio (Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries)
Josa Garcia-Tornel, Alejandro (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria Civil i Ambiental)
Rieradevall, Joan (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)
Royapoor, Mohammad (Newcastle University. Sir Joseph Swan Centre for Energy Research)

Date:	2017
Abstract:	A sustainable and secure food supply within a low-carbon and resilient infrastructure is encapsulated in several of The United Nations' 17 sustainable development goals. The integration of urban agriculture in buildings can offer improved efficiencies; in recognition of this, the first south European example of a fully integrated rooftop greenhouse (iRTG) was designed and incorporated into the ICTA-ICP building by the Autonomous University of Barcelona. This design seeks to interchange heat, CO2 and rainwater between the building and its rooftop greenhouse. Average air temperatures for 2015 in the iRTG were 16. 5 °C (winter) and 25. 79 °C (summer), making the iRTG an ideal growing environment. Using detailed thermophysical fabric properties, 2015 site-specific weather data, exact control strategies and dynamic soil temperatures, the iRTG was modelled in EnergyPlus to assess the performance of an equivalent 'freestanding' greenhouse. The validated result shows that the thermal interchange between the iRTG and the ICTA-ICP building has considerable moderating effects on the iRTG's indoor climate; since average hourly temperatures in an equivalent freestanding greenhouse would have been 4. 1 °C colder in winter and 4. 4 °C warmer in summer under the 2015 climatic conditions. The simulation results demonstrate that the iRTG case study recycled 43. 78 MWh of thermal energy (or 341. 93 kWh/m2/yr) from the main building in 2015. Assuming 100% energy conversion efficiency, compared to freestanding greenhouses heated with oil, gas or biomass systems, the iRTG delivered an equivalent carbon savings of 113. 8, 82. 4 or 5. 5 kg CO2(eq)/m2/yr, respectively, and economic savings of 19. 63, 15. 88 or 17. 33 €/m2/yr, respectively. Under similar climatic conditions, this symbiosis between buildings and urban agriculture makes an iRTG an efficient resource-management model and supports the promotion of a new typology or concept of buildings with a nexus or symbiosis between energy efficiency and food production.
Grants:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CTM2013-47067-C2-1-R
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Rooftop greenhouse ; Building performance simulation ; Measured energy data ; Energy Plus ; Energy-food nexus ; Building-rooftop greenhouse symbiosis
Published in:	Applied energy, Vol. 187 (February 2017) , p. 338-351, ISSN 0306-2619

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.11.051

Post-print 31 p, 2.8 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA) > Sustainability and Environmental Protection (Sostenipra)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles