Page 86 - GRIHA Manual Volume III - Introduction to National Rating System
P. 86
Renewable energy application 79
CRIteRIon 18
RenewAble eneRy
utIlIzAtIon
Introduction
Buildings consume large amount of energy, and end-uses like air-conditioning and lighting account
for a substantial portion of the same. Construction rate in India is growing at an extremely fast
pace leading to growing consumption of fossil fuels by the buildings industry that result in a lot of
environmental damage. This situation poses a huge challenge for the building industry as a whole
to explore ways of reducing the use of fossil-fuel based energy resources.
Renewable energy is a solution to the issues of depleting fossil fuel reserves and increased green
house gas emissions due to burning of fossil fuels. Renewable energy has been defined as “energy
obtained from the continuous or repetitive currents of energy recurring in the natural environment”
(Twidell and Weir 1986). Renewable energy sources are environmentally clean and non-exhaustible.
The principal source of most of the renewable energy is the sun. Based on their sources,
renewable energy types can be categorized as direct forms of solar energy (solar thermal and solar
photovoltaic), indirect forms of solar energy (wind, hydro, bio-energy, and wave energy,) and non-
solar renewable energy sources (geothermal energy and tidal energy).
Depending on availability of resources, some of the aforementioned renewable energy sources
can be used for meeting energy requirements of buildings. Solar photovoltaic, biomass gasifiers
and wind turbines are examples of a few renewable energy technologies that have been installed in
building projects in India to meet a portion of the buildings’ energy demands.
Solution
Solar photovoltaic system
Solar photovoltaic (SPV) is a commercially available technology in India and SPV systems have been
successfully installed in many buildings.
An SPV system converts incident solar radiation to electricity using semi-conductor devices. This
conversion of energy from one form to another takes place due to the photo-electric effect.
A typical PV system consists of an array of photovoltaic modules and a balance of system (BoS),
which comprises support structure, cabling, battery, charge controller, inverter, mounting structure,
and so on. Components used in a system depend upon the type of system configuration, which in
turn is dependent on the application. For example, storage batteries are not used in grid interactive
PV system, and inverter is not used for DC load.
Usually SPV systems have a fixed orientation, which can be set (at an appropriate angle) at the time
of installation. However, there are sophisticated SPV systems available that use sun tracking devices
(single or double axis) to achieve high radiation all year round and thus have higher efficiency.
SPV system configurations can be of three types as described below.
CRIteRIon 18
RenewAble eneRy
utIlIzAtIon
Introduction
Buildings consume large amount of energy, and end-uses like air-conditioning and lighting account
for a substantial portion of the same. Construction rate in India is growing at an extremely fast
pace leading to growing consumption of fossil fuels by the buildings industry that result in a lot of
environmental damage. This situation poses a huge challenge for the building industry as a whole
to explore ways of reducing the use of fossil-fuel based energy resources.
Renewable energy is a solution to the issues of depleting fossil fuel reserves and increased green
house gas emissions due to burning of fossil fuels. Renewable energy has been defined as “energy
obtained from the continuous or repetitive currents of energy recurring in the natural environment”
(Twidell and Weir 1986). Renewable energy sources are environmentally clean and non-exhaustible.
The principal source of most of the renewable energy is the sun. Based on their sources,
renewable energy types can be categorized as direct forms of solar energy (solar thermal and solar
photovoltaic), indirect forms of solar energy (wind, hydro, bio-energy, and wave energy,) and non-
solar renewable energy sources (geothermal energy and tidal energy).
Depending on availability of resources, some of the aforementioned renewable energy sources
can be used for meeting energy requirements of buildings. Solar photovoltaic, biomass gasifiers
and wind turbines are examples of a few renewable energy technologies that have been installed in
building projects in India to meet a portion of the buildings’ energy demands.
Solution
Solar photovoltaic system
Solar photovoltaic (SPV) is a commercially available technology in India and SPV systems have been
successfully installed in many buildings.
An SPV system converts incident solar radiation to electricity using semi-conductor devices. This
conversion of energy from one form to another takes place due to the photo-electric effect.
A typical PV system consists of an array of photovoltaic modules and a balance of system (BoS),
which comprises support structure, cabling, battery, charge controller, inverter, mounting structure,
and so on. Components used in a system depend upon the type of system configuration, which in
turn is dependent on the application. For example, storage batteries are not used in grid interactive
PV system, and inverter is not used for DC load.
Usually SPV systems have a fixed orientation, which can be set (at an appropriate angle) at the time
of installation. However, there are sophisticated SPV systems available that use sun tracking devices
(single or double axis) to achieve high radiation all year round and thus have higher efficiency.
SPV system configurations can be of three types as described below.
