i-Yard 2.0: Integration of Sustainability into a Net-Zero Energy House

This research introduces a residential net-zero energy house named i-Yard 2.0, which was built by a team from Beijing Jiaotong University for the 2018 Solar Decathlon China competition. The concept was based on the needs of an aging population and achieves energy self-sufficiency through both active (i.e., solar energy) and passive design strategies. With the growing recognition of the need for better environmental protection, green building strategies have become mainstream in building development. A building’s energy balance is one of the most important indexes for assessing green buildings. The i-Yard 2.0 adopts an integrated design strategy with a sustainable development background. It takes a senior citizen-oriented design as the starting point and innovates in aspects such as community modeling, building strategies, passive spatial planning, the energy and building environment, and intelligent building control. The community comprises a new residential model called “cooperative living.” The building strategy adopts a modular assembly approach in order to achieve rapid construction suitable for this type of competition. The passive spatial plan uses the notion of the courtyard as a green core to regulate the microclimate. The building environment achieves net-zero energy by improving active energy access and reducing passive energy consumption. The internet control model was designed to incorporate intelligent building control. The i-Yard 2.0 provides not only a new form of senior residential housing for developing areas, it also provides a novel and worthy reference for net-zero energy housing in China.