Abstract
Currently, the knowledge of energy consumption in buildings of new and existing dwellings is essential to control and propose energy conservation measures. Most of the predictions of energy consumption in buildings are based on fixed values related to the internal thermal ambient and pre-established operation hypotheses, which do not reflect the dynamic use of buildings and users’ requirements. Spain is a clear example of such a situation. This study suggests the use of an adaptive thermal comfort model as a predictive method of energy consumption in the internal thermal ambient, as well as several operation hypotheses, and both conditions are combined in a simulation model: the Adaptive Comfort Control Implemented Model (ACCIM). The behavior of ACCIM is studied in a representative case of the residential building stock, which is located in three climate zones with different characteristics (warm, cold, and mild climates). The analyses were conducted both in current and future scenarios with the aim of knowing the advantages and limitations in each climate zone. The results show that the average consumption of the current, 2050, and 2080 scenarios decreased between 23% and 46% in warm climates, between 19% and 25% in mild climates, and between 10% and 29% in cold climates by using such a predictive method. It is also shown that this method is more resilient to climate change than the current standard. This research can be a starting point to understand users’ climate adaptation to predict energy consumption.
Highlights
Concerns on the environmental degradation of the planet are increasing because it implies global warming and the extinction of animals [1], leading to the proposal of guidelines and standards to regulate resource depletion and the emission of pollutant gases to the atmosphere
Influence of Adaptive Comfort Control Implemented Model (ACCIM) on the Annual Energy Consumption comfort model of the EN15251 standard was used for the climate scenarios of 2050 and 2080
To evaluate the adaptive comfort models proposed globally, the averages of the reduction of the total energy consumption were determined with respect to the static model set in the current normative in force in Spain (CTE) in the climate scenarios
Summary
Concerns on the environmental degradation of the planet are increasing because it implies global warming and the extinction of animals [1], leading to the proposal of guidelines and standards to regulate resource depletion and the emission of pollutant gases to the atmosphere. The European Union set the need for reducing such gases by 90% by 2050 [2]. This need for reducing the emissions of pollutant gases is due to the significant impact of the building sector on the environment. In this sense, buildings are responsible for between 30% and 40% of the total energy consumption in the planet [3,4], and 40% of the emission of pollutant gases to the atmosphere [5,6]. Such percentages are mainly because of their deficient energy performance [7,8,9,10], other aspects, such as users’ behavior [11], are influential factors as well.
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