Evolution of climate zones for building in Spain in the face of climate change

Abstract

It is essential to design buildings that take on the dynamics of the climate throughout their entire life cycle, guaranteeing the development of a building stock that is certainly sustainable and resilient. This study's main objective is to demonstrate that the official Spanish climate zones for building do not represent the current climatic conditions and to show how these climate zones will evolve due to the impact of climate change. Given the significant impact that climate change will have on this country, as well as its climatic variety, the proposed methodology can be used as a reference in other regions. Updating of the climate zones of peninsular Spain for 49 cities has been carried out, through the adaptation of these zones to the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios. The results show that two-thirds of these cities are currently designing and constructing buildings with obsolescent climate data that do not take into account the current or future climate reality, which is significantly affecting previous calculations on the thermal performance of buildings. This work represents a significant scientific contribution in terms of reflecting on the current capacities and the possibilities of improving the building stock.