Cork Institute of Technology Net Zero Energy Retrofit
What are the special requirements for Zero energy retrofits? Why Net Zero Energy?
bE spoke to Marc O’Riain, Paul O’Sullivan and Fergus Delaney, members of the research team from Cork Institute of Technology, and Turlough Clancy from Henry J Lyons – Project Design Architects.
Team collaboration was everything on this project.
Zero2020 Energy is a Net Zero Energy Retrofit project at the Cork Institute of Technology. The Zero2020 project is a live test bed whose aim is to demonstrate the feasibility of achieving net zero energy by 2020 within the constraints of a refurbished building.
The retrofit was developed by the C.I.T Zero 2020 research team and forms the first stage of an ambitious target to achieve Net Zero Energy, whereby the building would generate as much energy as it uses, by 2020.
The project is designed in a modular fashion to provide ‘plug and play’ capability for research in sustainable energy and in building energy systems. A net zero energy building produces as much energy as it uses in a year. The methodology is based on minimising consumption and supplementing the balance with renewable energy.