Abstract
The building sector continues to register a significant rise in energy demand and environmental impact, notably in developing countries. A considerable proportion of this energy is required during the operational phase of buildings for interior heating and cooling, leading to a necessity of building performance improvement. A holistic approach in building design and construction represents a step to moderate construction costs in conjunction with reduced long-term operating costs and a low impact on the environment. The present paper presents an experimental evaluation of the energy efficiency of a building under real climate conditions; the building, which represents a holistically designed modular laboratory, is located in a moderate continental temperate climate, characteristic of the south-eastern part of the Pannonian Depression, with some sub-Mediterranean influences. Considerations for the holistic design of the building, including multi-object optimization and integrated design with a high regard for technology and operational life are described. The paper provides a genuine overview of the energy efficiency response of the building during six months of operational use through a monitored energy management system. The energetic analysis presented in the paper represents an intermediary stage as not all the energetic users were installed nor all the energetic suppliers. However, the results showed a reliable thermal response in the behaviour of recycled-PET thermal wadding used as insulation material in the building and for the intermediary stage in which the building has only secondary energy users, the energetic balance proves its efficiency, keeping the buffer stock of energy high values over 90%.
Highlights
Aiming to help address these issues, the European Union (EU) agreed with new rules for the energy performance of buildings directive; in 2010 it established a legislative framework that includes the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2010/31/EU (EPBD) [2] and later, in 2012, the Energy Efficiency Directive 2012/27/EU [3], promoting policies that help to achieve a highly energy-efficient and zero-emission building stock in the EU by 2050, to Energies 2021, 14, 5061
To reach more than 90% of indoor comfortable hours during a year, one must consider design strategies such as heating and humidification for 7047 h and cooling along with dehumidification for 387 h annually which leads to significant energy use during the year and for the building’s life span
The same achievement of more than 90% of indoor comfortable hours during a year can be reached when integrating holistic and passive design strategies in building design, such as internal heat gain, sun shading of windows, direct gain passive solar, night flushing of high thermal mass, etc
Summary
The built environment with its different forms (residential buildings, workplaces, educational buildings, hospitals, libraries, community centres, and other public buildings) is the largest energy consumer and one of the largest emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the European Union (EU). The same achievement of more than 90% of indoor comfortable hours during a year can be reached when integrating holistic and passive design strategies in building design, such as internal heat gain, sun shading of windows, direct gain passive solar, night flushing of high thermal mass, etc The renewable sources of energy are based on harvesting solar and wind energy: twelve 250 W polycrystalline cell panels intake solar energy, with an estimated amount of solar energy produced on‐site of 1269 kWh/year (the potential production of the installed polycrystalline cell panels under ideal conditions is 3427.29 kWh/year [32]), and a 1 kW
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