English

This paper presents a conceptual design of a Performance Benchmarking System (PBS)for buildings called Buildings PBS, which aims to create an online knowledge-basedsystem for the life-cycle performance assessment of buildings. The research presented inthis paper is based on the concern that the performances of buildings are vital for bothwell-being and energy saving throughout their life-cycle. In order to achieve theBuildings PBS, this paper describes several research essentials such as the methodology,the deliverables, and the demonstration.

The fundamental proposition in this work is to introduce alternatives and technicalrecommendations to improve thermal comfort and low energy through architecturaldesign in healthcare spaces of obstetrical suites. It analyzes lighting and air conditioningplanning issues and the specific circumstances of the women and the newborn'shealthcare components to high quality birth care.

With the UK commercial sector only replacing buildings at 1-1.5% per year adaptationsto existing buildings are needed to maintain comfort levels, while reducing energy useand carbon emissions. In this study, occupants of a refurbished office recorded theirthermal sensations, assessment of lighting and air movement, perceptions of comfort andtheir reactions to adaptive opportunities. The observed mean thermal sensation votes andthe overall comfort votes correlated best with mean diurnal internal and externaltemperatures, respectively.

The present work was developed in 2005 in a Brazilian region of hot and humid climatewith volunteers performing sedentary activity. The predicted mean votes (PMV) , thethermal sensation votes (TSV) and the thermal preference votes (TPV) were acquired andcalculated according to the standards ISO7726 ISO7730 and ISO10551. PMV and TSVdid not show good correlation in naturally ventilated buildings. Differences were alsofound in those environments with the application of the methodologies proposed byHumphreys and Nicol and Fanger and Toftum.

The roadmap for energy efficiency measures in the existing building stock was developedwithin the framework of the European Intelligent Energy Europe programme or moreprecisely in the project ENPER-EXIST, which started in January 2005 and ended in June2007. The project can be summarised as follows:The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) set a series of requirementsspecifically dedicated to existing buildings. But the Member States were facing difficultiesto implement some of them.

The Eco-Culture project has been set up to demonstrate the use of energy efficienttechnologies integrated into new built high-performing cultural buildings. The reason isobvious as there is a need for knowledge about the various ways to improve theenvironmental performance of these types of cultural buildings across Europe. Threeremarkable buildings are included in this project:?? The Royal Danish Playhouse, Copenhagen, Denmark.?? The new Public Library, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.??

1.1 User behaviourMany reservations against energy conservation and renewable energies result from lack ofknowledge and ignorance on this subject in the different social, age and professionalgroups. The user behaviour has a strong influence on the energy performance ofbuildings, it can increase or decrease the energy consumption for heating and lighting bymore than 50 %. Additionally it can influence the indoor comfort. A change to better userbehaviour is a no-cost measure for the building owner and will therefore be supported bythem.

1.1. Depletion of oil reserves and global warming provide significant reasons to improveenergy management.1.2. UK final energy consumption by sector 2001 (Energy Consumption in the UnitedKingdom DTi)?? Services 18%?? Industry 25%?? Domestic 31%?? Transport 26%Facilities Managers have direct influence in the Services and Industry Sectorstherefore up to 43% of total energy consumption. There is indirect influence intothe other sectors since the examples of good energy management at work willoverflow into other actions.1.3. Building performance what performance?

In most graphs showing sector-by-sector energy use, buildings do not appear to have themost dominating role. But it has. Contrary to this, buildings probably account for almosthalf of the global energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, if we include the productionof building materials, the energy needed during the building process, the life span energyuse of buildings and the energy demanding demolishing phase.As a result, the building sector will be put more and more in the centre. The pressure onthe building sector to develop a smarter energy system will increase.

The EU Member States (MS) have been gradually transposing and implementing theEnergy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) into their own national legislation sincethe Directive was adopted in January 2003. The EPBD is the most significant measureadopted so far by the EU to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings.A main objective of the EPBD is to improve the energy performance of the Europeanbuilding stock. The EPBD proposes certain measures that encourage energy efficiencyimprovements existing large buildings.