Managing Energy Efficiency in Buildings: How Standardization Will Help Architects and Design Concepters to Achieve Energy Performance of Buildings

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Ziegler ◽  
Essam Khalil
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Energy Performance Of Buildings

scholarly journals Economic assessment of energy efficiency investments in dwellings = Evaluación económica de inversiones de eficiencia energética en viviendas

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hector Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Economic Assessment ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Economic Modelling ◽  
Evaluación Económica ◽  
Energy Performance Of Buildings ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Definition Of

In order to improve the energy performance of buildings, the need to value economically investments of energy efficiency associated with the rehabilitation of dwellings arises. This point of view provides an useful tool for analysts who start in the economic appraisal of energy efficiency investments. The present research gives a conceptual framework for the economic assessment of these types of investments in dwellings. As a result, it is possible to identify two techniques in the appraisals of this nature: dynamic and static approaches. Both methods contrast the benefits (energy savings) with the costs of investments over time. However, they differentiate the opportunity and the moment when investment must be carried out given an uncertainty scenario. This conceptual precision allows the study of several publications where different alternatives in retrofitting houses where evaluated, confirming the considerations that must be taken into account when economic modelling is made: the type of approach to be used (dynamic or static) and; at the definition of the investment alternatives and scenarios, the aspects of time, irrevocability and uncertainty.ResumenEn pro de la mejora del desempeño energético de los edificios, surge la necesidad de evaluar económicamente las inversiones de eficiencia energética asociadas a la rehabilitación de viviendas. Este punto de vista trata de ser una herramienta útil para analistas que se inicien en la evaluación económica de inversiones en eficiencia energética. La presente investigación muestra un marco conceptual de la evaluación económica de este tipo de inversiones en viviendas. Como resultado, es posible identificar dos enfoques presentes en los análisis económicos de esta naturaleza: el dinámico y el estático. Ambos métodos contrastan los beneficios (ahorros energéticos) con los costes de las inversiones en el tiempo. Sin embargo, diferencian la oportunidad y el momento en que la inversión debe realizarse dado un escenario de incertidumbre. Esta precisión conceptual permite estudiar varias publicaciones donde se evaluaron diferentes alternativas de reacondicionamiento en viviendas, confirmándose las consideraciones que deben tenerse presentes en momento de realizar la modelación económica: el tipo de enfoque a usar (dinámico o estático) y, en la definición de las alternativas de inversión y escenarios, los aspectos de tiempo, irrevocabilidad e incertidumbre.

scholarly journals Achieving a More Sustainable and Fair Society: How Individual and Collective Action Shape the Energy Efficiency of Buildings / Conseguindo uma Sociedade Mais Sustentável e Justa: Como a Ação Individual e Coletiva Molda a Eficiência Energética dos Edifícios

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Parejo-Navajas
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Energy Performance Of Buildings ◽  
Use Behavior ◽  
Development Objective

AbstractThe behavior of occupants in buildings has an enormous impact on their energy consumption. Despite the efforts to improve the energy efficiency in buildings, there are still many barriers that need to be overcome. Behavior change measures -to improve the energy performance of buildings- are focused on both, the design and the use and operation of buildings. If we are really committed to achieving the sustainable development objective to improve our society’s well-being, special attention should be put into energy use behavior as it has been proven to be an effective way for improvement. ResumoO comportamento dos ocupantes em edifícios tem um enorme impacto no seu consumo de energia. Apesar dos esforços para melhorar a eficiência energética nos edifícios, ainda há muitas barreiras que precisam ser superadas. Medidas de mudança de condutas - para melhorar o desempenho energético dos edifícios - são focadas tanto no design como na utilização e operação de edifícios. Se estamos realmente empenhados em alcançar o objetivo de desenvolvimento sustentável para melhorar o bem-estar da nossa sociedade, uma atenção particular deve ser proporcionada em relação as condutas que influem no uso cotidiano de energia, uma vez que se provou ser um meio eficaz de progresso.

scholarly journals Agency and capacity in the planning and design phase of building renovations

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1409-1425
Author(s):  
Katharina Reindl
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Design Phase ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Energy Performance Of Buildings ◽  
Planning And Design ◽  
Municipal Housing ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract The building sector is a large energy consumer and is responsible for high CO2 emissions; hence, improving the energy performance of buildings is vital. Building renovations open opportunities to improve their energy performance. Building professionals and other actors in the early phase of renovations decide what energy efficiency and saving measures will be implemented. Their role is studied here from a middle-out perspective (MOP), investigating the different actors’ agency and capacity. Agency refers here to an interest in and a willingness to implement energy efficiency and saving measures, and capacity refers to the ability to implement such measures. Higher agency and capacity are said to increase the realisation of the planned energy efficiency and saving measures. The data was gathered during three planning and design phases of renovation projects of a municipal housing company in a middle-sized Swedish town. A case study was conducted which is based on semi-structured interviews with actors from the planning and design phase of the renovations, as well as participant observations and a document analysis. The levels of agency and capacity of professionals in the middle of a project’s planning and design phase are investigated thoroughly, but the here defined top and bottom levels are also in focus. The analysis shows that a mismatch in agency and capacity on the different levels hindered the uptake of energy efficiency and saving measures in the planning and design of the renovation projects.

scholarly journals Are LEED-Certified Buildings Energy-Efficient in Practice?

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Amiri ◽  
Juudit Ottelin ◽  
Jaana Sorvari
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Search Result ◽  
Energy Performance Of Buildings ◽  
Energy Aspects

Depletion of natural resources and climate change are undoubtedly the biggest challenges that humankind faces today. Here, buildings have a crucial role since they consume the majority, i.e., 30% to 40% of the total energy resources. Green building certification is one of the solutions to limit the energy use in buildings. In addition, it is seen to indicate a consideration for sustainability aspects in construction. LEED is the most widely used certificate worldwide. However, recently some critics have raised doubts about LEED and whether it actually implies sustainability. Most of the criticism has been targeted to the energy aspects of LEED. Nevertheless, there is no consensus on the usefulness of LEED: is it really beneficial for the environment, and is it worth of the money and time invested on the certification process? In this study a critical analysis of the literature to find an answer to this question is presented. Altogether 44 peer reviewed articles dealing with the abovementioned issue were selected out of 164 search result. Based on the studied material, the different aspects of LEED from the viewpoint of energy-efficiency are discussed. From the 44 reviewed articles, ten articles state that LEED certificate indicates energy efficiency while eight papers end up with an opposite conclusion. The rest of the papers do not take any stand on this matter. The study showed that energy efficiency of LEED-certified buildings is questionable especially at lower levels, i.e., certified. Therefore, it is recommended to modify the Energy and Atmosphere category of LEED in order to improve the actual energy performance of buildings.

scholarly journals E(nergy) p(erformance) c(ertificate) of buildings and dwellings: Influence of disposition and orientation

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (Suppl. 4) ◽  
pp. 1129-1141
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Rajcic ◽  
Ljiljana Djukanovic ◽  
Ana Radivojevic
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Economic Evaluation ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Building Unit ◽  
Energy Performance Of Buildings ◽  
The Future ◽  
Comparison Of The Results ◽  
Insight Into

Following the guidance set by the Directive on the energy performance of buildings (recast) (EPBD2), current regulations in Serbia which refer to the issue of energy efficiency and energy certification of buildings provides an opportunity of certification of selected unit of a building, such as a dwelling. This measure was set in order to make it possible for owners or tenants of the building or the building unit to assess and compare its energy performance. From the user?s perspective this measure is very important since, apart from reviewing the quality or the deficiencies of space in which they live, it would be an important parameter of economic evaluation of the apartment in the future. As energy performance of the apartment is not a priori identical to that of the whole building, the paper will analyze and compare these values for different positions in a horizontal and vertical plan of the same apartment within the building. Comparison of the results obtained for individual dwellings and for a building as a whole, will provide insight into the extent to which the disposition and the orientation of the apartment affect its energy performance.

scholarly journals GIS-based urban energy modelling and energy efficiency scenarios using the energy performance certificate database

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guglielmina Mutani ◽  
Valeria Todeschi
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Energy Model ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Energy Performance Of Buildings ◽  
Urban Energy

AbstractThe EU building stock is 97% not energy efficient and the promotion of energy retrofitting strategies is a key way of reducing energy consumptions and greenhouse gas emission. In order to improve the energy performance of buildings, the European Union released the Energy Performance of Buildings and the Energy Efficiency Directives. The certification of the energy performance of a building is a central element of these Directives to monitor and promote energy performance improvements in buildings, with the aim of increasing their energy efficiency level, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This work evaluates the energy performance of existing residential buildings using the energy performance certificate database and identifies the more effective retrofitting interventions by applying an urban-scale energy model. The novelty of this study is that a new retrofitting database is created to improve the results of a building energy model at urban scale taking into account the real characteristics of the built environment. The here presented GIS-based monthly engineering model is flexible and easily applicable to different contexts, and was used to investigate energy efficiency scenarios by evaluating their effects of city scale. An urban energy atlas was designed for an Italian city, Turin, as a decision-making platform for policy makers and citizens. This energy platform can give information on energy consumption, production and productivity potential, but also on energy retrofitting scenarios. The results of this work show that it is possible to obtain energy savings for space heating of 79,064 MWh/year for the residential buildings connected to the district heating network in the city of Turin; these interventions refer mainly to thermal insulation of buildings envelope with windows replacement and allow a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 12,097 tonCO2eq/year.

scholarly journals How Are the Smart Readiness Indicators Expected to Affect the Energy Performance of Buildings: First Evidence and Perspectives

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 9496
Author(s):  
Paris A. Fokaides ◽  
Christiana Panteli ◽  
Andri Panayidou
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Building Sector ◽  
Energy Performance Of Buildings ◽  
First Results ◽  
European Standards

In 2018, the European Commission adopted the Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) concept in the recast of the directive on the energy efficiency of buildings. The set of SRIs is a measure of the intelligence of buildings systems, and its promotion is expected to contribute to the energy savings of the building sector. These indicators are relatively new and were developed only at the beginning of last decade, within European standards. This study introduces and elaborates on these indicators, as delivered in the final report of the European Commission. Some first results, which are obtained using a tool developed by the European Commission, are also presented. The work identifies gaps and perspectives for improvement of this system, as well as predicting the evolution of its implementation in the coming years, through specific numerical scenarios.

Climate Zones Classification for Buildings Energy Efficiency Assessment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josep Roca ◽  
Blanca Arellano ◽  
Qianhui Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Climatic Data ◽  
Building Energy Efficiency ◽  
Climatic Zones ◽  
Climate Zones ◽  
Energy Performance Of Buildings ◽  
And Cluster Analysis

<p>The definition of the building climate zones is the basis for studying the effects of urban climate on building energy consumption and efficiency. In Spain, the transposition of the European Directive on Energy performance of buildings (Directive 2010/31/EU) has been carried out through the Technical Building Code (CTE), which divides the territory into climatic zones through which it evaluates the energy performance of buildings. However, the CTE carries out a climatic division based on administrative criteria ("provinces", NUT3), which leads to oversimplifying the Spanish climatic reality.</p><p>In this sense, the paper develops a new methodology for classification maps of climatic zones of buildings in Spain in order to improve the CTE. Therefore, the application in Spain of the CTE, Köppen and ANSI / ASHRAE methodologies are critically studied and compared. A first approach shows inadequacies that could be improve to optimize the energy efficiency of buildings. The climatic data for Spain -provided by the European Climate Assessment & Dataset Project (https://www.ecad.eu/) since 1950 (with a resolution of 1 km<sup>2</sup>/pixel) are analyzed, and a series of climatic indicators are established (such as the number of summer days, tropical nights, heating degree days, …). Next, OLS and cluster analysis are used as a method to define the Spanish climatic zones. Finally, the research proposes a new climate zones classification for Spain. The new classification provides more detailed climate information for building energy efficiency research and improves the classification defined in the CTE.</p>

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