Analysis of the Relationship of the Improvement of Façades and Thermal Bridges of Spanish Building Stock with the Mitigation of Its Energy and Environmental Impact

David Bienvenido-Huertas

doi:10.3390/en13174499

Abstract

The energy improvement of building stock is essential to achieve a low-carbon economy. The improvement of façades is among the most common measures to reduce energy consumption. However, the effect of thermal bridges is undervalued in most cases. This study assesses the effect of improving building façades and thermal bridges. For this purpose, a case study is assessed for all climate zones in Spain, both in current and future scenarios, considering operational patterns from the COVID-19 pandemic. The study shows that the application of energy conservation measures focusing on reducing the thermal transmittance of façades and the linear thermal transmittance of thermal bridges has a more significant energy and environmental effect than other, more economical energy conservation measures that do not improve the effect of thermal bridges. Likewise, the application of energy conservation measures to improve façades can reduce carbon dioxide emissions but are far from achieving the 90% reduction set by the European Union by 2050. Consequently, these measures should be combined with other measures.

Highlights

The energy improvement of building stock is among the main challenges for architects and engineers due to deficient energy performance resulting from building standards without energy efficiency goals [1]
The relationship between climate zones and the greatest energy consumption will vary throughout the 21st century, and at the end of the century, the hot zones B3 and B4 will obtain similar values of energy consumption to that of zones D3 and E1, which are the zones with the greatest value in the current scenario
One of the lines of action to improve the building stock is dealing with envelopes, which could be significantly influenced by thermal bridges, together with other aspects, such as users’ operational patterns and the climate zone in which the building is located

Summary

Introduction

The energy improvement of building stock is among the main challenges for architects and engineers due to deficient energy performance resulting from building standards without energy efficiency goals [1]. The building sector is responsible for 40% of the energy consumption and 25% of the greenhouse gas emissions globally [2,3]. This deficient energy performance of buildings faces demanding goals by international bodies, such as the European Union, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ECMs are understood as any type of modification which allows the building energy performance to be improved [5]. Those ECMs focusing on improving various building elements could be adopted

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