EC 2000 high performance buildings that reduce or avoid air conditioning.

This paper outlines progress in the THERMIE Target project Energy Comfort 2000 after three and a half years. Seven of the eight buildings are under construction and the eighth will be starting on site in May 1997. The project covers the design, construction, commissioning and monitoring of the buildings which are offices, university buildings, and public and recreational buildings, together with "horizontal activities" which link the projects together. All buildings have been designed to save at least 50% of the energy consumption of conventional buildings and to avoid or minimise the use of air-conditioning, by passive design methods. Results from monitoring of the first completed building show that it has saved 7 4% of the energy of an equivalent air-conditioned building, with the majority of the occupants believing that the building provides comfortable internal conditions. The many useful results from EC2000 are being produced for dissemination in the form of "Information Dossiers", subjects to date include fire safety in atria, natural ventilation design, control strategies and windows.