RENEWABLE ENERGY

Cols

Summary

Renewable Energy covers the systems that generate, store, and offset energy on a building site: solar photovoltaics, solar thermal and geothermal heat pumps, battery storage, and the net zero strategies that combine them. Notes cover siting, system types, and the standards and definitions that apply.

Battery Storage and Resilience Power
Stationary battery energy storage in buildings, with NFPA 855, UL 9540, and UL 9540A as the governing safety standards and local siting rules.
Net Zero and Net Positive Strategies
How zero energy buildings are defined, including the DOE source-energy definition, and the strategy of efficiency first and on-site renewables second.
Rooftop Solar PV
Photovoltaic modules, racking, inverters, and rapid shutdown equipment mounted on roofs to generate electricity for buildings and the grid.
Solar Photovoltaics
Rooftop and site solar photovoltaic systems, with orientation, tilt, and shading rules of thumb for siting and layout.
Solar Thermal and Geothermal
Solar water heating system types and ground-source heat pump loop types, with the siting and freeze-protection issues that decide between them.

Sources

U.S. Department of Energy: geothermal heat pumps, https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2021-08/ES-Geothermal heat pumps_080221.pdf
NFPA: residential energy storage system regulations, https://nfpa.org/news-blogs-and-articles/blogs/2021/10/01/residential-energy-storage-system-regulations

Types

Sources