NZEB

To live in a healthy, comfortable and safe environment is a right for all human beings, yet the sustainability of this habitat requires proper utilization of natural resources. There are many concepts in architecture that take into account this basic assumption including; nearly zero energy, solar, green, sustainable, integrated, intelligent and zero carbon. In addition, there are many national and international directives and initiatives that promote and require constructions with a lower impact on the environment; however this is not the only issue in architectural design. Some of the other essential topics in architecture are structural soundness, affordability, aesthetics, ease of construction, the ability to deal with natural disasters etc. Therefore the design and construction of a building requires a team of professionals and customers to work together. This paper investigates the state of the art architectural technologies in net zero energy houses of the future by looking at the built examples from the Decathlon 2015 Competition, which are designed to be net zero energy as well as dealing with all the aforementioned topics. The methodology involves determination of architectural characteristics, other energy efficiency solutions and comparison studies between houses. The architectural characteristics, building elements, passive strategies, active strategies, solar energy, and other strategies are detailed for six competition houses that took the highest points in the " Energy Balance " category by measured results. Furthermore, state of the art technologies, which were integrated into the buildings, are also discussed in light of the measured energy efficiency of the houses. In conclusion, the common characteristics and individual technologies of the successful and not so successful net zero houses are given so that they can help light the way to more energy efficient constructions.

EU energy policy encourages member states and public authorities to start converting building stock into nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB) and adopting exemplary actions. ZEMedS project focuses on the issues related to the refurbishment of schools to nZEB. Presently, there is a gap in national regulation of Mediterranean countries to embody the 2012/27 EED as far as renovation rates of public buildings are concerned. As there is no clear definition of nZEB concept, a roadmap for nZEB, with numerical indicator for energy demand and the share of renewable energy sources is needed. In this context, ZEMedS project aims to cover a complete renovation path, tackling strategies for the envelope, the systems and renewable energy applications as well as the energy management and users' behavior.

The paper charts the early development of environmental thinking in Architecture up to the radical paradigm shift of modernism and brutalism. The resulting emphasis on proportional grammar over the technical performance of the interior environment would be common threads in Educational architecture leading up to the design of the Regional Technical Colleges (RTCs) in 1967. Changes in technology, materials and skills shortages led to the development of post war steel frame Hertfordshire Schools which greatly influenced the future direction of Technological School and College design. Financial rationalisation saw a movement away from the steel frame CLASP models to concrete frame Intergrid systems, which would directly influence a key precedent of the RTC design, the M&M building at the University of Birmingham. The intelligence of the building design by ARUP would be compromised by the Modernist emphasis on plastic over glazed facades, which lacked shading suffered from great heat loss. The movement away from quality materiality and exposed grid structure, resulted in a loss of delight and a greater level of brutalism

Achieving standards-based Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) in existing buildings is growing steadily due to the strong demand for deep retrofits in Europe. Existing non-domestic buildings pose challenges mainly due to occupancy patterns, lack of personal control over comfort and outdated building structures. Renovations of many postwar non-domestic buildings (>35 years old) have faced technical and financial challenges. Consequently, these buildings are often only partially retrofitted, which are often ad-hoc in nature. This paper describes the evaluation process of indoor environmental conditions in a partially-retrofitted university building in Galway (Ireland) originally built during the 1970s and partially retrofit in 2005. The research assesses criteria outlined in EN 15251 and draws on methods from ASHRAE 55 and CBE IEQ survey. Occupant surveys complemented by physical measurements were used to assess the compliance of IEQ parameters for thermal, visual and acoustic comfort and indoor air quality. The relationship between the performance of the building envelope and occupant comfort is described across retrofitted and non-retrofitted zones of the building. The results suggest that ad-hoc retrofitting of the façade did not make any significant difference to IEQ and occupants continued to adapt personally to the existing conditions. Their preferred satisfaction levels in the survey were lower than the measured thermal sensation. It is recommended that future retrofits are adequately planned and optimised to improve both IEQ and energy performance. A whole building retrofit approach must balance and include factors such as human health, building fabric and energy savings to avoid the pitfalls of current practice.

The ZEMedS School Technical & Financial Toolkit was developed in the framework of the Zero Energy MEDiterranean Schools (ZEMedS) Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) project by the joint collaboration of the Project’s Consortium to:

facilitate the understanding of design and construction decisions on the rising cost of energy;
set up a common nearly Zero-Energy Buildings (nZEB) strategy; and
analyse the available funding resources.

The main aim of the toolkit is to assist energy managers, regional public institutions, decision-makers, building designers, contractors and other professionals at different stages of their activity relating to systematic energy management in buildings, to implement nZEB renovation initiatives at schools.

The Toolkit, incorporates detailed information on the benefits, technical strategies, available technologies, regional perspectives, public and private funding mechanisms and best practice studies on nZEB renovation of schools.

This Toolkit has been created as an interactive PDF, which allows the user to easily navigate through the document and its external information sources, by using embedded links.

Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) are currently an emerging performance target for
sustainable commercial buildings. A central issue is how this target can be met either through the
design of new buildings or retrofitting of existing buildings. From a review of the NZEB definitions it is
argued a new conceptualisation is needed which maps specific carbon abatement emissions for the
components of the total energy system. The NZEB approach is examined in four projects. It is argued
that retrofitting is needed to achieve reductions in global impact in terms of CO2 but often the scope of
work is beyond the owner’s capability, Hence, local, national and global ‘welfare’ (subsidies and
incentives) are needed. Nation states in this study are responding differently to this welfare capacity by
promoting or penalizing the NZEB building methodologies. More research is need to assess the level
of welfare needed to support NZEB and to limit the environmental impacts of commercial buildings in
line with GHG abatement targets.

The residential sector has become the main consumer of electricity. A grid-connected Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB), an approach for the mitigation of the energy usage can be achieved by the synthesis of passive strategies, efficient building systems, and renewable energy technologies. The main scope of this paper is to present a net zero energy single family two-storey housing prototype which is assessed using energy performance simulation tools to evaluate the environmental impacts of a variety of building envelope thermal characteristics that can be decided during the early-design stage to help developing a design that is capable of meeting our economic, environmental and social challenges in the climatic region of Alexandria, Egypt. To achieve this aim, two simulation software 'DesignBuilder' and 'Diva-for-Rhino' were used to conduct a series of sensitivity analysis on a set of design parameters which influence the building performance to examine the actual impact of each factor on cooling and heating loads to help with the design decision making with respect to the net zero energy goal for Egypt's climate and how to offset the building's annual energy need through building integrated photovoltaic units.

This is a preview (buy the whole ebook with 75% discount on printed edition at http://www.saige.it/Details.aspx?id=41) of a rich handbook (over 300 pages in original printed edition, much more in this ebook) about thermography applied to sector of building, that approaches the technique both from a theoric and practical point of view. Thermography is explained with a lot of thermal images as examples for physical consequences of formulae, and case histories of several kind of inspections are developed, from moisture and mold, to thermal bypass, to water infiltrations, to façade delamination, to building energy efficiency and construction defects. Every source of errors in measuring surface temperature with thermography is described in detail with rich examples, so that book is unvaluable for the beginner but interesting too for the skilled. Both European (EN) that USA (ASTM) technical standards are described in detail, with guidelines for evaluation of gravity for thermal insulation weakness in buildings. A chapter is dedicated to describing technical characteristics of thermal cameras and software, so the beginner may understand data sheets before buying a thermal imaging system. Two chapters are dedicated to blower door test and his synergy with thermography, with explanation of standards and case histories. The last chapter treats of heat flux meter and measuring of thermal transmittance in situ, making the book a complete text for nondestructive energy efficiency tests for building.
Davide Lanzoni, engineer, level 3 in thermography, is owner of SAIGE (www.saige.it), and perform both thermographic inspections in building and electrical, and training courses for certification in level 1 and level 2.

Nowadays the concept of Net ZEB is well-known
and widespread in the scientific community. The European
Union has set ambitious targets for 2020 and even more
ambitious for 2050. In order to reduce the domestic GHG
emissions by 80-95%, compared to 1990 levels- till 2050, the
building sector has to do its part and to pass through a deep
restructure. Therefore, it is grown the interest in design and
technical solutions for achieving a zero or nearly zero energy
building. This paper investigate several construction technologies
and system of energy production that can be adopted to build an
“enhanced saving” (parsimonious) building, which can strive for
the objective of NetZEB. Moreover the economic analysis of the
feasibility of the NZEB target has been developed.

Gli edifici ad alta efficienza energetica costruiti in Europa adottano prevalentemente la tecnologia delle pareti multistrato leggere (pareti stratificate a secco con la tecnologia S/R, pareti prefabbricate con il sistema SAAD, pareti in legno, etc) con un pacchetto costituito, quasi totalmente, da materiali strutturali a bassa densità ed isolanti termici ad elevato spessore (anche 20-30 cm), a basso peso specifico e, quindi, a bassa massa di accumulo, al fine di ottenere valori di trasmittanza termica stazionaria molto bassi (inferiori comunque a 0,15 W/mqK). E’, comunque, da considerare che tali tecniche di super-isolamento, trovano indicazione soprattutto in zone climatiche continentali del nord e centro Europa, dove i consumi per il riscaldamento invernale prevalgono nettamente su quelli per il raffrescamento estivo. Inoltre, mentre nel periodo invernale il requisito principale è la protezione del trasferimento del calore dagli ambienti interni all’esterno, durante il periodo estivo, uno dei requisiti è quello dello smaltimento, di notte, del sovraccarico termico accumulato durante il giorno: purtroppo, questa tipologia di involucro “iperisolata”, essendo caratterizzata da una bassa massa termica e, quindi, da una limitata inerzia termica, non permette di “scaricare” adeguatamente nelle ore notturne, il calore accumulato durante il giorno innescando, così, un processo di surriscaldamento. In zone climatiche calde e temperate come, ad esempio, l’area del bacino del mediterraneo, tale fenomeno di sovraccarico termico risulta molto spesso
irreversibile se non vi è, nella costruzione, un perfetto controllo delle fonti di irraggiamento solare (effetto serra) ed un’adeguata
gestione degli apporti gratuiti di calore all’interno dell’edificio (persone, elettrodomestici ed apparecchiature elettriche, illuminazione artificiale, etc). Oltretutto, con questa tipologia di involucro non è possibile sfruttare i benefici dei sistemi passivi di riscaldamento, vista la limitatezza e, in alcuni casi, la totale mancanza di superfici dotate di massa di accumulo termico in grado, quindi, di accumulare il calore quando necessario, per poi distribuirlo agli spazi interni quando l’effetto del guadagno solare cessa. Anche per quanto riguarda il raffrescamento passivo, la massa di accumulo termico appare necessaria in quanto potrebbe essere sfruttata come vero e proprio pozzo termico.
A questi inconvenienti si è cercato di porre rimedio mediante l’adozione di elementi strutturali dotati di massa di accumulo termico (come, ad esempio, solai e pavimenti massivi, corpi scala in cemento armato, strati di intonaco interno ad alto spessore, etc) e/o l’impiego, nella stratificazione delle tamponature esterne, di materiali dotati di una maggiore densità e/o calore specifico (ad esempio pannelli in legno massiccio tipo X-LAM, lana di legno e fibra di legno ad alta densità, fibra di legno mineralizzata, fibre di cellulosa o canapa, intonaci in terra cruda, etc.); tuttavia, il ricorso a tali soluzioni, anche se in alcuni casi consente di raggiungere degli ottimali valori di trasmittanza termica periodica e dei discreti valori di sfasamento ed attenuazione, non permette, comunque, di raggiungere
degli adeguati valori di capacità termica areica interna periodica, di massa termica e di ammettenza interna estiva. Infatti, in area
climatica mediterranea e, comunque, in zone dal clima caldo e/o temperato, un involucro edilizio altamente performante dal punto di vista energetico, se caratterizzato da una scarsa ammettenza interna e da un’insufficiente capacità termica areica interna periodica, (che in parole povere rappresenta la capacità di un componente edilizio di accumulare i carichi termici provenienti dall'interno) può innescare, all’interno dell’edificio, dei fenomeni di surriscaldamento sia nella stagioni estive che nelle stagioni intermedie, (soprattutto in ambienti con alto indice di affollamento) e, quindi, delle condizioni di estremo discomfort termico.

The EU Directive 2010/31 abstained from prescribing harmonized and strict requirements for nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEBs), to provide EU countries flexibility and room for maneuver in setting national targets, in view of the impact of local climatic conditions and specific territorial and socio-economical features on heating and cooling needs. Benchmarks are usually provided in terms of primary energy needs, however the definition of accurate calculation methodologies, notably as regards the cooling share, is a rather challenging task. Nonetheless, its accomplishment is cardinal to countries, like Mediterranean ones, were the building performance is mostly dictated by summertime sensitivities. This paper presents a cutting-edge approach to nZEB performance analysis: the monthly quasi steady-state (EN 13790 as implemented in Italian UNI/TS 11300) and hourly dynamic calculation methods (developed under the standard UNI EN ISO 52016-1:2018) are compared, with due attention to the cooling energy consumption, to spot pros and cons of a finer temporal discretization. Potential nZEB design alternatives in three different Italian climatic zones are contemplated and used to confront the effectiveness of the above procedures. 1. Introduction Considering the tightening of global warming and the increasing occurrence of summer heat waves even in temperate climatic contexts, it is essential to tackle the design of a nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB), that maintains high cooling performance and preserves summer comfort even under abnormal conditions [1], [2]. Despite the awareness of the international scientific community, the actions implemented by the national regulatory instruments, in response to the European Directive 2010/31/EU (EPBD recast) [3], merely aim at verifying envelope insulation and solar shadings compliance with prescribed performance indicators [4], [5], disregarding the higher degree of dynamism in summertime. The quasi steady-state calculation method of EN ISO 13790:2008 [6], gold standard for almost all EU countries today, is effective for the calculation of heating needs, but presents severe limitations in the case of cooling energy [7-12]. Also, the tools for dynamic calculation (e.g. TRNSYS and EnergyPlus) are sophisticated and still poorly used by designers, due to the considerable commitment of time and resources. In this context, newly introduced EN ISO 52016-1:2017 [13] (replacing EN ISO 13790) specifies calculation methods for the assessment of buildings energy need for heating and cooling, providing a novel simplified hourly method alongside the monthly method. The dynamic hourly method offers opportunities of great interest [14]. In fact, it is able to deliver more accurate results, without computational overload [15]. In EU countries this regulatory evolution entails the need to revise the current procedure for calculating heating and cooling needs, also in relation to nZEB.

More than 40% of the overall energy consumption and 36% of the overall CO2 emissions are produced by buildings in Europe. Looking through the European building stock, only 1%-1.5% of it is the newly built each year. An important adaptation strategy to comply with future legislation to an economically viable approach is to adapt the building stock to future energy standards. In refurbishment projects high energy savings and reductions of greenhouse gases can be achieved by using multifunctional facade systems. One of their main applications is for fast thermal refurbishment of the existing building stock. They provide high thermal requirements and make use of the advantages of prefabrication. Avoiding thermal bridges, achieving high air tightness targets, and its compactness are its outshine specifications on energy efficiency. Also, Large-scale innovative renewable energy sources can be integrated. Another focus lies in considering different technical solutions and integration of new " smart-materials " which subsumes solar comb also. This paper investigates multifunctional facade systems whose smart material is used as solar comb. Some applied examples are also examined to understand effectiveness of these systems. In conclusion role of multifunctional façade system on refurbishments and energy save rates of them are discussed and evaluated.

Estonian Governmental Regulation „Minimum Requirements for energy performance“ that regulates the
construction of Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB) states that the requirement for summertime indoor
temperature is regarded as complied with if, during the period from 1 June to 31 August, the indoor
temperature does not exceed the limit temperature (the cooling setting) of 27°C by more than 150 degree
hours (°Ch) in residential buildings.
At the same time Estonian standard “Daylight in dwellings and Office“ states that all the new apartments
have to have at least three hour lasting constant direct solar access from 22.April until 22.August including
June 22 nd. The requirement means that it is challenging to design balconies to block the direct solar access
during the warmest period of the year. As a consequence overheating problems in new apartment buildings
exists. This paper gives recommendation how to modify the solar insolation requirements for apartment
buildings in a way that there will still be solar exposure in the apartments but without overheating the rooms.

The traditional construction systems of façades in Spain give rise to a large number of thermal bridges. Designers do not attach importance to their impact on the energy demand of buildings. This effect is increased with the introduction of greater thicknesses of thermal insulation required by regulations. One of the thermal bridges that has the greatest impact on energy demand in residential buildings is the junction of façades with intermediate slabs (slab fronts), which becomes more significant as the number of floors in the building increases. This paper analyzes this type of thermal bridges and proposes two novel construction improvements that reduce their impact on energy demand, while maintaining traditional façade construction systems. Thermal bridges (traditional construction system and improved systems) have been analyzed through the value of the linear thermal transmittance using THERM software. EnergyPlus was used to carry out an analysis of annual energy efficiency indicators of nZEB dwellings in three Spanish cities: Alicante, Barcelona and Madrid. This study shows that the application of the two proposed novel constructive improvements allows reducing the value of the linear thermal transmittance of the thermal bridge between 20% and 63.4% and the heating demand between 16.1% and 22.6%.

Vernacular buildings in Egypt express a variety of passive low-tech approaches in design and construction to achieve human comfort and fulfil inhabitants’ requirements. They have been devised to suit living in regions where local inhabitants had to invent various passive building strategies to live under severe local climatic conditions without depending on fossil fuels. This paper discusses a retrofitting approach for off-grid vernacular buildings in the Western Desert of Egypt. The study hypothesis argues that, when retrofitted and equipped with renewable energy solutions, vernacular structures can act as nearly zero energy buildings. A post occupancy evaluation was used as an assessment tool for two pilot projects that served as case studies. Results showed that combining vernacular passive strategies with affordable active renewables such as roof top solar panels results in a hybrid energy efficient retrofitting solution for deprived off-grid vernacular buildings. The intention is for the results to act as a basis for future retrofitting that would take into account the challenges and obstacles inherent in such work. This is an aim capable of contributing to a reduction of energy consumption that would also encourage retrofitting using renewable solutions for existing housing stock in Egypt.

We once knew how to design and build
buildings properly. But in the oil age we
forgot or decided that other concerns, like
aesthetics or cheap construction were more
important than durability and functionality.
As we lobby for adequate standards to
address the environmental crisis, we need
to understand why we don’t seem to care,
what drives political decision making and
why many in our industry are so resistant to
change. We once knew, but we forgot.

Reduction of energy use in buildings in EU is expected to be reached with help of fulfilling of requirements of low and nearly-zero energy buildings (nZEB) policy. The efficient way to accomplish the purpose of the nZEB is to apply the integrated design process, considering the long-term sustainability and building costs as a one setup. The multi-storey large concrete element building is renovated to nZEB as a Horizon2020 MORE-CONNECT project pilot in Tallinn. The study of that project includes complex of measures: hygrothermal measurements and analysis, highly insulated facade and roof elements, the full modernisation of heating and ventilation systems. Ventilation ducts are installed into the modular panels to minimize supply ductworks in apartments. Roof panels include solar panels and collectors for renewable energy production. All technical systems will be equipped with monitoring systems and data will be logged periodically. The designed thermal transmittance is U≤0.11W/m2K for walls, U≤0.10W/m2K for roof and U≤0.80W/m2K for windows and external doors. The analyse, design and renovation process of the integrated nZEB design method gave us a unique experience, showing weak links in the chain and helping to prevent faults in the whole process in the future.

This paper contextualizes the 1967 design of Regional Technical College (RTC) campuses in Ireland, with reference to the influence of oil crises on early green design and the establishment of a regulatory environment. Variation between NZEB and Passive House low energy strategies are discussed. Design Science and Action research inform solution-oriented methodologies in a pilot retrofit project on 1.5% area of an RTC building. Problem investigation notes previous schemes, stakeholder's goals, building evaluation and energy performance diagnosis. Environment interaction between context and artifact are discussed. Design validation includes simulated envelope performances, which inform design iterations. Phenomena are evaluated in terms of energy performance during a critical time window. Findings from the design process of the pilot project are presented, outlining its limitations, scalability and commercialization potential.

Arising from Ireland's first measured nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB) retrofit, this paper explores the potential impact of EU member state (MS) proposed cost-optimal nZEB retrofit implementation on Irish building codes, and in turn how that may impact current best practice in low-energy retrofit design practices. The paper compares cost-optimal methodologies to best practice and discusses how design retrofit strategies could change in the context of market drivers and value engineering. The implications for capital investment and return are discussed, highlighting variations from EU guidance, with specific regard to net present value (NPV), scenario analysis, building lifespan, residual value and calculation period in the Irish cost-optimal calculations. A case study of a 1974 non-residential building highlights nZEB retrofit best practice immediately prior to MS cost-optimal calculations, demonstrating the importance of fabric-first interventions in extending building lifespan and reducing energy demand. The reported demonstrator project is the first measured site nZEB retrofit in an Irish context, outperforming reported cost-optimal energy consumption, costing less than new-build and adding an additional 40-year building lifespan. The paper concludes that the proposed Irish cost-optimal nZEB retrofit packages may drive design strategies towards active solutions, and away from fabric-driven retrofits, whilst not complying with EU guidance.

Growing urbanization is driving urban policy makers to adopt sustainable practices aimed to limit the environmental impact of buildings which are responsible for an estimated 36% of climate-changing gas emissions in European cities. In order to meet the ambitious emission reduction targets set by the EU, it is essential to develop a policy for CO2 emissions saving. This work investigates the regulations of European countries that introduce carbon compliance requirement as an implementation of the EPBD such as UK, Ireland, Austria and some Eastern European countries. With reference to the typical consumption pattern of an Italian home, the paper analyses the current limits of primary energy, RES requirements and CO2 emissions, investigating the relations between EPnren and carbon dioxide emissions levels.

Building energy efficiency and urban waste management are two focal issues for improving environmental status and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The main aim of this paper is to compare economic costs of new building envelope structures designed by authors reusing and upcycling municipal waste in order to decrease energy demand from the building sector and, at the same time, improve eco-friendly waste management at the local scale. The reuse of waste for building envelope structures is one of the main principles of the Earthship buildings model, based on the use of passive solar principles in autonomous earth-sheltered homes. This Earthship principle has been analyzed in order to optimize buildings' energy performance and reuse municipal waste for new building envelope structures in urban areas. Indeed, the elaborated structures have been designed for urban contexts, with the aim of reuse waste coming from surrounding landfills. The methods include an analysis of thermal performance of urban waste for designing new building envelope structures realized by assembling waste and isolating materials not foreseen in Earthship buildings. The reused materials are: cardboard tubes, automobile tires, wood pallets, and plastic and glass bottles. Finally, comparing economic costs of these new building envelope structures, the obtained results highlight their economic feasibility compared to a traditional structure with similar thermal transmittance.

The Energy Efficiency Directive aims to accelerate the refurbishment rate of public buildings through a binding target. ZEMEDS project assists the public sector in going beyond the proposed 3% renovation target and bringing together industry elements to provide packaged solutions. The project focuses on renovating schools from EU regions on the Mediterranean coast. Schools represent an important part of the building stock. In Mediterranean regions of Italy, Greece, Spain and France, there are around 87,000 schools. nZEB are achieved by combining high energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. High energy efficiency has been widely developed for North‐Centre European climates. However Mediterranean climate, in relation to low energy consuming buildings, has not been deeply studied, even if it represents 17% of EU‐27 population (86 million people).This document presents the current situation in 4 Mediterranean countries (France, Greece, Italy and Spain) regarding nZEB approach and current situation of school buildings.

According to Directive 2010/31/EC the member states of the EU shall ensure that by 31 December 2020 all new buildings will be nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEB). They are characterized with very high energy performance, but they still need to meet the energy demand associated with their typical use, which includes energy for heating, cooling, ventilation, hot water and lighting. This energy should be covered to a significant extent by renewable energy. In the early design stages the generalized criteria of the energy performance of the building have to be used. The performance of the building envelope could be evaluated with the Form Factor as a measure of the compactness of the building and the average thermal transmittance U-value of the building envelope. A grid of roses of solar radiation is recommended as a method to evaluate the distribution of solar resources for a plot, situated in a complex urban environment and to guide the architect about the best exposure of the main fa...

According to Directive 2010/31/EC the member states of the EU shall ensure that by 31 December 2020 all new buildings will be nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEB). They are characterized with very high energy performance, but they still need to meet the energy demand associated with their typical use, which includes energy for heating, cooling, ventilation, hot water and lighting. This energy should be covered to a significant extent by renewable energy. In the early design stages the generalized criteria of the energy performance of the building have to be used. The performance of the building envelope could be evaluated with the Form Factor as a measure of the compactness of the building and the average thermal transmittance U-value of the building envelope. A grid of roses of solar radiation is recommended as a method to evaluate the distribution of solar resources for a plot, situated in a complex urban environment and to guide the architect about the best exposure of the main fa...

It always shocks me that Ireland did not manage to introduce mandatory building standards till 1992, when the UK had standards soon after the great fire of London 1667 and first published enforceable national building energy regulations in 1964. The relationship between the lobbyists, government policy, geo-political/economic factors and oil prices have long been intertwined and interrelated. External factors have changed our priority toward energy consumption in buildings, making us as consumers more aware of building energy costs or less concerned with them when designing our buildings. What is clear is that regulations play a seminal role in setting a baseline for investment decision-making and the absence of regulations (of adequate enforcement) would allow for the unfettered priorities of the market to drive down standards, which can lead to the disasters we have seen illustrated in Ireland by high profile building failures at developments such as Priory Hall, Longboat Quay and Millfield Manor.

In riferimento alle linee della ricerca europea, prevalentemente fondate sulla “questione energetica” (cfr. direttive 2010/31/UE e 2012/27/UE), da affrontare secondo un approccio sistemico e di lungo periodo, le tematiche relative all’efficienza e all’efficientamento energetico costituiscono elementi centrali del dibattito scientifico internazionale.
La risposta allo squilibrio fra le risorse ambientali e la crescente richiesta energetica può essere individuata nello sviluppo di strumenti e metodologie di supporto e orientamento alla progettazione indirizzati al soddisfacimento delle istanze ambientali, di benessere e di sicurezza degli individui, evidenziando l’opportunità di applicare modalità d’intervento integrate al fine di ottenere edifici caratterizzati da ridotti impatti ambientali con condizioni di comfort adeguate alle esigenze dei fruitori e ridotto fabbisogno energetico nella vita di esercizio. Razionalizzazione dei consumi, utilizzo adeguato di energia prodotta da fonti energetiche rinnovabili (Fer) e impiego di tecnologie, componenti e materiali innovativi che garantiscono elevate performance energetico-ambientali, costituiscono i driver per il progetto e la realizzazione di manufatti energeticamente efficienti.
Dal concetto di efficienza energetica deriva quello di efficientamento finalizzato alla ricerca della massima efficacia per gli interventi di miglioramento delle performance energetico-ambientali del patrimonio esistente, attraverso l’applicazione di tecniche di efficientamento.

In reference to the lines of the European research, mainly based on the “energy issue” (see directives 2010/31/UE and 2012/27/UE), to be addressed according to a systemic approach and the long-term issues relating to the energy efficiency and energy improvement, are central within the international scientific discussion.
The answer to the imbalance between natural resources and the growing demand for energy can be found in the development of tools and methodologies to support and guide the design process. These address the satisfaction of environmental, welfare and safety requirements of individuals, highlighting the opportunity of applying integrated methods of intervention to obtain buildings with best comfort conditions and less energy requirement during the operational phase.
Rationalizing consumption, appropriate use of energy produced from renewable sources and use of technologies, components and innovative materials that provide high energy and environmental performance, are the drivers for the design and implementation of energy-efficient products.
From the concept of energy efficiency derives the concept of energy improvement, aimed at finding the most effective interventions for improving energy-environmental performance of existing buildings, through the application of energy improvement techniques.

In recent years in the construction, industry has developed a new energy policy that refers to the current European Directive 31/2010/UE that wants to reduce the energy consumption through the design of Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB). However, being able to take on different meanings of that terminology is important to investigate the characteristics that mark its concept so, is considered like a case of study a building defined NZEB-Project Botticelli in Mascalucia (Catania, Italy)-located in a Mediterranean climate context of reference. From this analysis, we highlight the main strategies used for the design of high performance buildings, that are similar to the Passivhaus strategies, whose criteria, however, identify limits of reference very selective, especially suitable for some contexts climate. The goal of the investigation is the analysis of these "limit" values respect to specific situation of local Mediterranean climates, paying attention to the orientation of the building through the parameter of solar radiation. Being the envelope the element that characterize the energy efficiency, is take in consideration in the case of study the external opaque component to value the energy performance during the use phase; so, is possible to identify the connection between the "limit" parameters for the design of an high-performance building and the climatic parameters of the context of reference to obtain more complete information about the energy performance of the component.

Vernacular buildings in Egypt express a variety of passive low-tech approaches in design and construction to achieve human comfort and fulfil inhabitants’ requirements. They have been devised to suit living in regions where local inhabitants had to invent various passive building strategies to live under severe local climatic conditions without depending on fossil fuels. This paper discusses a retrofitting approach for off-grid vernacular buildings in the Western Desert of Egypt. The study hypothesis argues that, when retrofitted and equipped with renewable energy solutions, vernacular structures can act as nearly zero energy buildings. A post occupancy evaluation was used as an assessment tool for two pilot projects that served as case studies. Results showed that combining vernacular passive strategies with affordable active renewables such as roof top solar panels results in a hybrid energy efficient retrofitting solution for deprived off-grid vernacular buildings. The intention ...