Optimal Building Envelope Design and Renewable Energy Systems Size for Net-zero Energy Building in Tetouan (Morocco)

The present study focuses on the optimizing of passive energy efficiency measures and the dimensioning of renewable energy systems to improve the energy performance and achieve net zero-energy building. A set of building envelope parameters have been considered including window-to-wall ratio, air change rate, transmission coefficient of the external surfaces and absorption coefficient of the solar radiation of the external surfaces. On the other hand, the considered renewable energy systems include a residential wind power system and a photovoltaic system for the production of electricity as well as a solar thermal collector for the production of domestic hot water. In order to obtain a reliable combination and an optimal solution, a multi-objective optimization was carried out. The obtained results show that more than 30% of energy saving can be achieved and 50% of building energy load can be covered instantly by renewable energy systems in Tetouan (Morocco).