DISTRICT HEATING SYSTEM DESIGN FOR RURAL NOVA SCOTIAN COMMUNITIES USING BUILDING SIMULATION AND ENERGY USAGE DATABASES

摘要

There are several benefits to district heating systems. The system design requires knowledge of community peak heating load and annual heating energy requirements. For this purpose, a residential energy model was developed using several energy usage databases. Hourly, peak, and annual heating demands were estimated by simulating 15 archetype houses using an hour-by-hour building simulation program, ENERPASS. Estimated heating profiles from model houses were used to design a district heating system for a hypothetical rural community in Nova Scotia. The findings show that building simulation is a very flexible and valuable tool in identifying the required peak and hourly energy demand of a community for the design of district energy system, and biomass district heating system can reduce community greenhouse gas emissions.