Sustainable housing with energy efficient and flexible solutions is pivotal in lowering emissions and energy consumption. Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) is an initiative to design and enable areas within a city to have a surplus of renewable energy generation and net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study aims to identify the necessary parameters to run energy simulations for a district with the simulation software City Energy Analyst (CEA). Then to analyse the districts with the implementation of Energy Efficiency Measures (EEMs) and integration of local renewable energy production. Lastly, the scenarios has been analysed based on their potential of becoming a PED.
The model for the simulation was calibrated based on data for U-values and energy demand from a building within the district located in Umeå, Sweden. Using the calibration, a model for a building district was created through scaling up the results and applying the building properties to all buildings. The first scenario was simulated with the same building properties as before a refurbishment project was initiated. The yearly average energy intensity for this scenario was simulated at 146.43 kWh/m2 of heated floor area. The same simulations were carried out for the remaining two scenarios: refurbishment and passive house. The energy intensity associated with these scenarios was 78.28 and 70.14 kWh/m2 of heated floor area respectively. The local renewable energy was also integrated into the scenarios and consisted of a total of 2410 m2 of photovoltaic cells with an energy production of 249 MWh. The conclusion from the results is that the EEMs mainly affect the heating demand of the district and the limited daytime hours during the winter solstice period affect the effectiveness of solar energy production which makes the feasibility of PEDs in the northern part of Sweden harder to achieve and proves that further measures is needed to achieve a PED.