Investigating the energy demand and supply of a residential neighborhood in Malmö

Abstract: Facing the climate change and the energy crisis, the governments are taking steps to reduce the energy use and enhance the integration of renewable energy installations. Built environment is attributed to 40% of the global energy use, and the literature indicates that integrating the local renewable energy sources to the grid and meanwhile renovating the buildings can significantly improve the energy performance of the building sector. This thesis studies the energy performance and the potential to utilize solar energy and wind of a single-family house and an apartment block in Malmö, South Sweden. The case buildings were built in the 1940s, with aged construction materials and building services system. Through the study, it is noticed that the measured heating supply to the single-family house is not related to the weather and indoor activity. It can be inferred that there might be heating energy wasted and indoor discomfort. In high altitude countries like Sweden, it is possible for Photovoltaic panels facing East and West to have higher annual production than panels facing the South. Since the electricity flow between panels, grid and user is transient, most of the solar photovoltaic system is grid-connected distributed system.