Renewable Energy Sources (RES)
Renewable energy sources are understood as a variety of non-fossil sources of energy. They are called renewable, as they are permanently available and extractable without creating additional CO2 in the atmosphere. For example the combustion of biomass would only emit the amount of CO2 that has been absorbed during the growing process in a short time circle.
Therefore the increasing use of renewables instead of fossil energy resources is one of the two pillars (the other one being energy efficiency) in the concept of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving the climate protection targets.
The availability and potential of renewable energy sources, such as wind, sun, biomass, hydropower and geothermal energy, differ considerably depending on location. Moreover, temporal availability of some of these, e.g. wind and solar energy, is subject to short time fluctuations. For this reason, energy supply of buildings by renewables is often a question of energy storage and distribution as well.
In CONCERTO an integrated approach of combining the use of renewable energy sources and of low carbon technologies at community level is a main focus.
Low Carbon Technologies
With the help of modern technologies, energy consumption of buildings can be reduced successfully and the energy sources employed are used more efficiently. Technologies are called low carbon as they help to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change. With the help of new and innovative products, energy saving potentials can be maximized.
Various products are available for the building services of heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation. Either they affect the building envelope to reduce the energy demand (such as insulation or glazing) or they are integrated in the energy supply or distribution (such as CHP units or district heating networks) to improve the efficiency of energy transformation.
In CONCERTO a key characteristic is the integrated approach of combining the use of low carbon technologies and of renewable energy sources on the community level.
You can access to the description of each technology applied in the CONCERTO sites and communities:
Renewable energy sources are understood as a variety of non-fossil sources of energy. They are called renewable, as they are permanently available and extractable without creating additional CO2 in the atmosphere. For example the combustion of biomass would only emit the amount of CO2 that has been absorbed during the growing process in a short time circle.
Therefore the increasing use of renewables instead of fossil energy resources is one of the two pillars (the other one being energy efficiency) in the concept of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving the climate protection targets.
The availability and potential of renewable energy sources, such as wind, sun, biomass, hydropower and geothermal energy, differ considerably depending on location. Moreover, temporal availability of some of these, e.g. wind and solar energy, is subject to short time fluctuations. For this reason, energy supply of buildings by renewables is often a question of energy storage and distribution as well.
In CONCERTO an integrated approach of combining the use of renewable energy sources and of low carbon technologies at community level is a main focus.
Low Carbon Technologies
With the help of modern technologies, energy consumption of buildings can be reduced successfully and the energy sources employed are used more efficiently. Technologies are called low carbon as they help to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change. With the help of new and innovative products, energy saving potentials can be maximized.
Various products are available for the building services of heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation. Either they affect the building envelope to reduce the energy demand (such as insulation or glazing) or they are integrated in the energy supply or distribution (such as CHP units or district heating networks) to improve the efficiency of energy transformation.
In CONCERTO a key characteristic is the integrated approach of combining the use of low carbon technologies and of renewable energy sources on the community level.
You can access to the description of each technology applied in the CONCERTO sites and communities:
- by search by map or by name of the technology
All information about the single technologies will be available in two information categories that differ in the level of detail. The second information level “more detailed” will be available end of 2012.
CONCERTO is co-financed by the