Ankara

PILOT CASE: ÇAMLIK DISTRICT

Introduction

In the Ankara case study, we focus on a gated community composed of low-rise housing units, namely, “Çamlık District.” The goal of the project is to investigate the possibility of transforming the district into a Positive Energy District (PED).

Pilot Site

Çamlık District, located in Çankaya region, is a low-rise settlement with high amounts of greenery and row houses. According to the Energy Performance Certificate documents, the buildings were built in 1986. The region is subjected to a continental climate. However, owing to the ever-increasing temperatures, recent summers have been relatively hotter and drier, whereas winters have been warmer with much less snowfall. According to Ankara’s typical meteorological year (TMY) file [1], the value for heating degree days (HDD) is 2814 and 222 for cooling degree days (CDD).

Data Sources

Various types of data were collected to develop a database for energy modeling. Building footprint areas are obtained from Ankara Municipality through the city’s CAD plan. The building heights are derived from on-site photographs. During the modeling stage, the floor height was regarded as 3 meters, and window-to-wall ratio information was inferred through on-site analysis. For the thermal properties of building façades, a combination of materials was used to fit the mandatory U-value limits proposed by the legislation of the Turkish standards for construction, also known as TS-825 [2]. The amount and placement of vegetation on the site are identified through satellite images from Google Earth.

Figure 1: Aerial photograph of Çamlık District

Figure 2: Aerial photograph of Çamlık District

Building Properties

The district constitutes a low-rise regional plan with fair amounts of green areas and vegetation. Coupled with its unique community engagement, Çamlık District resembles a rather European district and is, therefore, well-fitting for research purposes.

Buildings have been constructed in a relatively recent time period. They have the entrance floor, the second floor that includes a balcony, and an attic floor, which in some cases are upgraded by fenestration units. The buildings are designed and constructed with a reinforced concrete system and completed with partition walls.

The houses are privately owned or rented, mainly by families. The district is composed of approximately 50.800 m2 total area and 22.600 m2 conditioned area. There are 257 residential buildings and a central building in which social gatherings and events are held. Table 1 depicts a comprehensive review of the site.

Figure 3: Image of housing units in Çamlık District

Methodology

The methodological framework of the study consists of four main steps. First, a baseline model is created to calculate the initial demands. Following, the façade configurations were modeled according to the recent Turkish standards, which consisted of the fundamentals of step 2. Consequently, a heat pump model was integrated into the energy model for step 3 to meet the heating and cooling demand. Finally, photovoltaic panels were modeled to calculate renewable energy generation potential.

Figure 4: Methodology Chart

Co-learning Process and Strategies

In order to achieve cooperation with the inhabitants, a number of steps were taken. Firstly, a meeting between the project partners and the administrative board of Çamlık District was realized in the consortium of the PED-ACT project. The executive organs of the project came together with the board to discuss the scope and aim of the project and the means of contribution it could bring about. Following this initial meeting, a second interaction was organized by the PED-ACT METU Team, in which a comprehensive presentation of the project was presented to the community members. Subsequently, a survey was created to obtain further data regarding the buildings, energy usage, natural gas and electricity bills, and schedules.

Results

The energy efficiency measures implemented in the Çamlık District of Ankara led to significant energy savings across the scenarios. Through the scenarios of envelope retrofitting and heat pump modeling, a significant decrease in the energy demand of the district is observed compared with the initial scenario.

Figure 5: Image from the model, building typology, and external shading effects, Çamlık District

For the PV application, two scenarios were evaluated: “normal,” utilizing only south-facing surfaces, and “extreme,” utilizing all feasible roof areas (Figure 4). The “extreme” scenario allowed more space for PV installations, resulting in a significant increase in annual energy production.

Although the energy production per area decreased due to less suitable tilt angles in the extreme scenario, the overall production still substantially increased. In the “normal” scenario, solar panels could meet a significant portion of the energy demand during certain months, while in the “extreme” scenario, they could meet the entire demand in several months. In the normal scenario, PV implementation over envelope retrofitting and transitioning to a heat pump for heating and cooling resulted in PV energy production meeting 106% of the district’s annual electricity demand. Transitioning to the “extreme” scenario increased annual energy production by 142% resulting in energy production reaching 256% of the district’s annual electricity demand. Overall, the PV installations, especially in the extreme scenario, greatly enhanced the district’s ability to generate renewable energy, heat pump integration, and envelope retrofit significantly reduced thermal energy demand, thus making Çamlık District a dynamic PED annually.

Figure 6: Types of housing units with different roof types in the Çamlık District

References

[1] Ankara Climate Data 2004 – 2018 TMY. (2023). Retrieved September 15, 2023, from https://climate.onebuilding.org/WMO_Region_6_Europe/TUR_Turkey/index.html

[2] Türk Standartları Enstitüsü. (2013). TS 825: Binalarda Isı Yalıtım Kuralları (Rev. ed.). Ankara: Türk Standartları Enstitüsü.