Energetic advantages and well-being improvement for building occupants, connected to dynamic building envelope solutions, with special focus on intelligent solar shading and ventilative cooling of NZEB and ZEB buildings

Abstract

Across Europe, rising outdoor air ambient temperatures connected to the global warming and climate change, combined with an ageing population and urbanisation, are putting in evidence that population is potentially becoming more vulnerable to heat in summer especially during heatwaves. In particular high energy efficient buildings designed without consideration for potential “overheating” mitigation are foreseen in the future to be at risk of summertime discomfort and rising costs (and relative direct or indirect CO2 emissions) for additional air conditioning operation needs. Beside the best HVAC technologies, intelligent solar shading and ventilative cooling are considered, by several EU governments and experts, two key elements for further improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings and optimising the low-energy designs of new buildings. These technologies seems still under-utilised despite the fact it provides a major impact on the reduction of energy consumption of the built environment and, for this reason, present paper is concentred on the evaluation of the advantages represented by the use of intelligent solar shading and ventilative cooling in order to take the best energetic impact form solar heat gains in winter and minimise these heat gains in summer, also using the air ambient cooling energy hence reducing the cooling loads to be solved with mechanical cooling at total benefit of even more energy efficient and resilient / future-proof buildings.