English

The ICEO Project quantifies the thermal and electrical energy consumption in hospitals of an Italian region (Lazio Region). 26 out of the 57 (45,6%) hospitals of the region were selected for a questionnaire in order to acquire information about activities, structural characteristics, technologies and the energetic consumption during the years 2001-2003. Only 61,5% of the selected hospitals supplied the required information. The consumption data show a great variability between hospitals, not always explained by their technological level or by their complexity.

The energy consumption and indoor temperature of 9 housing units sited in the northern region of Honshu Island, Japan were investigated for a full two years from Dec. 2002 to Nov. 2004. Three of the houses were installed with all-electric equipment. The annual and daily energy consumption profiles of two typical houses were analyzed, and the annual energy consumption per house was found to range from 40GJ/year to 120GJ/year. In some houses, energy consumption during the second year decreased due to a rise in energy saving awareness.

In this paper insight is given in the potentials for energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, specifically when applied to the built environment in the Netherlands. To this end, an analysis is presented of the building stock development from now to 2050 and building concepts and scenarios for a mid-century energy-neutral built environment in the Netherlands. Special attention is given to the potential of energy management systems in buildings.

A global methodology is developed to optimize concepts for extremely low energy dwellings, taking into account energy savings, environmental impact and financial costs over the life cycle of the buildings. Energy simulations are executed with TRNSYS. The ecological impact is evaluated through a life cycle inventory of the whole building, whereas costs are evaluated through a cost-benefit analysis. The multi-objective optimization problem is solved with a combination of genetic algorithms and the Pareto-concept. Firstly the optimization methodology is presented.

The performance of “hybrid controlled” trickle ventilators, that is background ventilators whose opening area depends upon both the pressure difference across the vent and the relative humidity of the room air, are investigated by means of computer simula

Many naturally ventilated building designs rely on buoyancy (or “stack effect”) and night cooling of the structure. It is well known that for an exposed building, even mild winds can produce pressures well above those due to stack effect. It is also commo

The European research project “EULEB – European high quality Low Energy Buildings” intends to provide information about good examples of energy efficient buildings in use, in order to reduce prejudices and lack of knowledge of many key actors of the build

The discussions around the implementation of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) [1] – not only in national legislation but also in real practice – have revealed open questions and caused different interpretations. This paper deals with o

Near-extreme solar irradiance, ambient dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperatures are fundamentaldata for determining the peak building cooling load. Design solar irradiance has beenseparately and independently selected by both ASHRAE and CIBSE. This may result in overestimatedcooling loads, and in turn over-sized air-conditioning systems. Hence, a statisticmethod based on probability theory and heat transfer principles was developed for rationalselection of the three coincident design weather data used for calculating peak cooling loadsin a building with thermal lag less than one hour.

A growing interest has been addressed to multi-energy systems in buildings that involve theintegration of different energy sources to cover the thermal and electrical loads of thebuilding. A modelling approach to multi-energy systems in buildings based on the concept ofhybrid energy hub is presented. The model has been customised to be used in the conceptphase of the building design, either as a system simulation tool or as a system designoptimization tool.