Certification of indoor environmental quality : application of a classification method to a case study

The energy performance of a building is closely related to the expected or achieved indoorenvironmental quality. The European Directive 2002/91/EC about energy performance of buildingssuggests that beside the energy class, also the relative IEQ level should be expressed. Recently CEN produced a draft (pr EN 15251 / 2005 Criteria for the Indoor Environment, including thermal,indoor air quality, light and noise), where a method for the classification and certification of IEQ isproposed.This study is focused on indoor thermal quality, analysed through a long term evaluation, based onfield monitoring. Different models of thermal comfort have been examined; in particular, a model formechanically heated and naturally ventilated environments, has been proposed. Thermal qualityindexes, obtained from the elaboration of field data, have been used for the classification of a casestudy.