Table Of ContentSofia-Natalia Boemi
Olatz Irulegi
Mattheos Santamouris Editors
Energy
Performance
of Buildings
Energy Efficiency and Built Environment
in Temperate Climates
Energy Performance of Buildings
Sofia-Natalia Boemi · Olatz Irulegi
Mattheos Santamouris
Editors
Energy Performance
of Buildings
Energy Efficiency and Built Environment
in Temperate Climates
1 3
Editors
Sofia-Natalia Boemi Mattheos Santamouris
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Physics Department, Group Building
Process Equipment Design Laboratory Environmental Research Athens
Aristotle University Thessaloniki National and Kapodistrian University
Thessaloniki of Athens
Greece Athens
Greece
Olatz Irulegi
University of the Basque Country
San Sebastián
Spain
ISBN 978-3-319-20830-5 ISBN 978-3-319-20831-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-20831-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015944477
Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
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Preface
Ever since the oil crisis in 1973, it has been understood that a large amount of the
energy consumed in buildings for their heating, cooling, and lighting is directly
linked to the way in which the buildings are designed. Different categories of
buildings have different energy needs. But at the same time, energy consumption
of buildings for cooling and heating needs is dictated by the climate, the type of
building, and the equipment that has been installed. In addition, with recent cli-
mactic changes, especially the constant temperature increases, which affect the
built environment, the need to record the actual situation and promote good prac-
tices becomes imperative.
At the same time, it was realized that a densely built urban environment creates
a microclimate on its own, affecting energy balance. It is obvious that without a
correct interpretation of climatic, geographic, and location parameters, meeting the
goals in a project a posteriori would be very difficult. An improved architectural
approach improves both energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality and,
consequently, the quality of life of the inhabitants. Also, a series of technologies
has been incorporated in building design, utilizing solar energy in order to achieve
lighting, heating, and cooling, with minimal conventional energy consumption.
In that sense, this book gathers all available information on energy efficiency
in the built environment in areas with similar climatic conditions, to southern
European countries. Notably, it tries to cover a gap by presenting concentrated
information of the most important building sectors: residential, commercial,
healthcare, and educational. Emphasis is on the existing building stock because
improving its energy performance and using renewables is crucial not only for
achieving the EU’s 2020 targets, but also for meeting long-term objectives of cli-
mate and energy strategies. Also, it presents an overview of the development of
energy technology, analyzing the trends and of systems used to decrease demand,
as well as examining strategies for energy-saving, evolving, and renewable
energies.
The goals of this book are to clarify the present trade-offs inherent in defin-
ing sustainability, to study technology and technology-intensive options, and
v
vi Preface
to provide a framework for assessing decision-making. These goals are of key
importance, as through the development and implementation of effective energy
conservation policies, the success and the need for further energy conservation in
the building sector, as well as the importance of the implementation of renewables,
are addressed. Special attention is given to the growing debate about the impact of
climate change and internal temperatures in buildings—one of the major reasons
for fuel poverty and therefore an increase in mortality.
The book is, in fact, a handbook on energy efficiency for readers wanting to
understand the performance of different types of buildings. Current regulations in
each country and expected mid-term trends provide important context. It includes
four different parts with 25 chapters—all contributions from highly recognized
experts—covering most of the countries with temperate climates, such as Spain,
France, Italy, Greece, and Cyprus. But experts from other countries, such as
Ireland and Austria, also contributed to the book, presenting the most promising
developments in their fields of expertise.
This volume is organized as a handbook that provides information not only
for the scientific world but also for the wider public, which needs to know about
energy efficiency in order to discuss and brainstorm among themselves about how
the transition to a sustainable energy future can be achieved.
Therefore, Part I focuses on the challenges and priorities for a sustainable built
environment. It presents seven chapters on energy and the built environment, its
policies, and how building performance is affected by climate change. In addition,
users’ behavior is analyzed and evaluated in order to understand how it affects
building performance and, in reverse, how building performance affects employ-
ment. Part II describes the actual performance of building stock and provides data
on construction market activity, performance levels of recently built or renovated
buildings, and steps beyond sustainability for various buildings. Part III analyzes
the maturity, reliability, efficiency, cost, and market availability of technologies
that decrease the demand for energy for building supply. Last but not least, Part IV
describes tools and strategies for microclimatic analysis of the built environment.
In general, energy-intensive services and “luxuries” are ignored and factors that
impact the wider public, such as the use of solar energy, are introduced. From that
point of view, the wider objective is to provide readers with the background and
methodologies to develop their own conceptualization of energy efficiency and a
possible roadmap towards Net Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB).
Contents
1 The Built Environment and Its Policies ........................ 1
Eduardo de Oliveira Fernandes
Part I Challenges and Priorities for a Sustainable Built Environment
2 Climatic Change in the Built Environment in Temperate
Climates with Emphasis on the Mediterranean Area ............. 19
Constantinos Cartalis
3 The Role of Buildings in Energy Systems ....................... 37
Argiro Dimoudi and Stamatis Zoras
4 Challenges and Priorities for a Sustainable Built Environment
in Southern Europe—The Impact of Energy Efficiency
Measures and Renewable Energies on Employment .............. 63
Mattheos Santamouris
5 Indicators for Buildings’ Energy Performance .................. 79
Sofia-Natalia Boemi and Charalampos Tziogas
6 Life Cycle Versus Carbon Footprint Analysis
for Construction Materials ................................... 95
Efrosini Giama
7 Economic Experiments Used for the Evaluation
of Building Users’ Energy-Saving Behavior ..................... 107
Nieves García Martín, Gerardo Sabater-Grande,
Aurora García-Gallego, Nikolaos Georgantzis,
Iván Barreda-Tarrazona and Enrique Belenguer
vii
viii Contents
8 Technologies and Socio-economic Strategies to nZEB
in the Building Stock of the Mediterranean Area ................ 123
Annarita Ferrante
Part II The Built Environment
9 Households: Trends and Perspectives .......................... 167
Antonio Serra
10 Office Buildings/Commercial Buildings: Trends and Perspectives ... 203
Dionysia Denia Kolokotsa
11 Energy Efficiency in Hospitals: Historical Development,
Trends and Perspectives ..................................... 217
Agis M. Papadopoulos
12 The Hotel Industry: Current Situation and Its Steps
Beyond Sustainability ....................................... 235
Sofia-Natalia Boemi and Olatz Irulegi
13 Schools: Trends and Perspectives ............................. 251
Martha C. Katafygiotou and Despoina K. Serghides
Part III Building’s Design and Systems
14 New Challenges in Covering Buildings’ Thermal Load ............ 271
Simeon Oxizidis
15 Energy Technologies for Building Supply Systems: MCHP ........ 291
Sergio Sibilio and Antonio Rosato
16 The State of the Art for Technologies Used to Decrease
Demand in Buildings: Thermal Energy Storage ................. 319
A. de Gracia, C. Barreneche, A.I. Fernández and L.F. Cabeza
17 Solar Thermal Systems ...................................... 349
L.M. Ayompe
18 Solar Energy for Building Supply ............................. 377
Theocharis Tsoutsos, Eleni Farmaki and Maria Mandalaki
Contents ix
19 The State of the Art for Technologies Used to Decrease
Demand in Buildings: Thermal Insulation ...................... 399
Stella Chadiarakou
20 Cool Materials ............................................. 415
Michele Zinzi
21 Shading and Daylight Systems ................................ 437
Aris Tsangrassoulis
22 The State of the Art for Technologies Used to Decrease
Demand in Buildings: Electric Lighting ........................ 467
Wilfried Pohl
Part IV The Microclimatic Environment
23 Tools and Strategies for Microclimatic Analysis
of the Built Environment .................................... 485
Olatz Irulegi
24 Microclimatic Improvement .................................. 499
Francesco Spanedda
25 Modelling and Bioclimatic Interventions in Outdoor Spaces ....... 523
Stamatis Zoras and Argyro Dimoudi
Index ......................................................... 541
Chapter 1
The Built Environment and Its Policies
Eduardo de Oliveira Fernandes
Abstract The built environment with its vast scale and innumerable opportunities
for local action is a key element in the pursuit of sustainability, and more so in
the advancement of the quintessentially environment-friendly strategies of suffi-
ciency. If pressure on the global environment from energy use is due more to the
nature of the source than to the amount of primary energy used, the built environ-
ment as an energy system can rely largely on benign passive energy means well
adapted to local climate and resources. An architecture of complexity that eschews
universal solutions must thus emerge in the future. The institutional framework
that regulates buildings and urbanism must be updated and refined to promote
rather than hinder this progression of the built environment towards environmental
sufficiency.
1.1 Buildings Throughout Time
The first “buildings” made by man were nothing more than temporary, makeshift
structures affording some degree of protection against the extremes of the climate,
wild animals, and other humans. Primitive man was no different from other ani-
mals in exploiting whatever protection natural vegetation and the orography could
provide; however, as intelligence allowed humanity to gradually extend its territo-
rial range, domesticating plants and animals and increasing in numbers, it was no
longer possible to depend on the occasional cave or tree, and people learned to
erect artificial shelters using plant fibre, the animal hides, mud, stone, or any other
material obtainable from the surrounding environment.
Man, as a gregarious species, often builds shelters in close proximity. These
agglomerations constituted the first human settlements, the organization of which
E. de Oliveira Fernandes (*)
University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
e-mail: [email protected]
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 1
S.-N. Boemi et al. (eds.), Energy Performance of Buildings,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-20831-2_1
