Status of the development of the CEN and ISO standards on energy performance of buildings assessment procedures

The Recast-EPBD1 requires an update of the current (2007/2008) set of CEN-EPB standards. This update work started in 2012 and will result in a new set of CEN-EPB standards.. Where possible this work will be done parallel with ISO. This project is based on EU-Mandate 480. This mandate accepted by CEN, requires a really out of the box thinking approach of the standard developers. This project is coordinated by CENTC371 the “Program Committee on EPBD” and is considered to be a step forward in progressing towards European Energy Codes for Buildings.

Are women feeling colder than men in air-conditioning buildings?

Recently the international media like in USA, Canada, UK, Denmark, Germany etc. has been discussing the issue of differences between men and women regarding thermal comfort and the preferred room temperature. This presentation will discuss the issue of thermal comfort and the existing knowledge on the influence of gender, age, race, etc.

How cool roofs interact with PCMs: investigating thermal-energy behavior of a cool roof membrane with paraffin based PCM inclusion

The effect of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) to optimize indoor thermal comfort conditions and reduce cooling energy requirement when included in envelope components and materials is demonstrated by an extensive scientific literature (Zhou et al., 2012. Orò et al., 2012). In this view, this research consists of the development and prototyping of an innovative passive cooling polyurethane based membrane with PCMs inclusion for roofing applications (Pisello et al., 2015).

Concrete in ventilated facades for natural cooling of buildings. SINHOR project

The framework in which the SINHOR project takes place is the "Service Contract R + D + i Relating to Competence Scope of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing" with the research project entitled "Analysis of the energy performance of closures concrete based on maximizing the benefits derived from the thermal inertia". Meeting the "20-20-20" targets for reduction of CO2 emissions necessarily involves a drastic reduction of energy consumption in buildings. SINHOR project is oriented to promote the use of concrete solutions in buildings based on maximizing the benefits of its thermal inerti

Materials to fight urban climate change

Local climate change and in particular, the urban heat island, is the more documented phenomenon of climate change. It deals with the development of higher ambient temperatures in the dense areas of cities suffering from high anthropogenic heat release, compared to the temperature of the surrounding suburban or rural areas. Actually, there are available measurements for about 400 cities around the world. Heat island exists at any latitude and may be present during the day or night period, depending on the local thermal balance.

Impact of the new rite 2013 (regulation on thermal installation) on indoor air quality

This paper presents a comparison of Indoor Air Quality in several buildings constructed prior to the implementation of the new Spanish regulation on thermal installations (RITE, 2007 modified on 2013) and some new ones that fully accomplish the requirements of this new regulation.

Ventilation tool for improving the usability of ventilation levels related to Spanish regulations

Choosing the right baseline level of ventilation has a big impact in the calculated energy needs of buildings.

Energy saving as a consequence of the proposed change in Spanish regulations relating to indoor air quality

Recently research at the Eduardo Torroja Institute for construction sciences proposes a new wording for the IAQ regulations for dwellings included in the Spanish Building Code.
The main goal of the earlier research was to adapt required ventilation rates to real needs to achieve a reduction of ventilation rates and energy demand with no negative impact on indoor air quality.

Energy and IAQ friendly variable ventilation rates, according with the proposed indoor air quality regulations included in the Spanish building code.

The Spanish Building Code (BC) regulates indoor air quality (IAQ) requirements in dwellings by establishing threshold continuous flow rates according to the occupancy, use of the rooms and their usable area. The implementation of this threshold flow allow adequate IAQ.
A revised IAQ requirement have been proposed. These new requirement quantifies the IAQ as a function of CO2 concentration which means an non continuous flow rates ventilation systems will be able to be used.

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