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The reduction of energy demand in buildings is one of the key challenges in contemporary construction. To this end, the application of structural and material partitioning solutions that provide a high level of thermal insulation and the employment of technical installations with high energy performance have become widespread. However, there are a number of other factors that can reduce energy demand. These include the optimal use of heat gains from solar radiation. An aspect that is often discussed in the literature is the overheating of buildings due to excessive heat gains from solar radiation. This article is a case study showing the impact of the orientation of a single-family passive house on its heating energy demand. The building under consideration is located in Central Europe. External climate parameters measured directly at the site during experimental examinations were used for the calculations. This paper adopts six calculation options, considering the different orientations of the glazed façade. As the simulations showed, the effect of solar radiation on the energy demand between two extreme options of glazing orientation, that is south and north-facing orientation, reached 4.7% of the annual energy demand for heating, while for the option corresponding to the actual location of the building and the option involving south-facing windows, the difference was 0.3%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrification of the transport sector is a key element in decarbonizing our societies. However, energy systems will have to cope with additional electricity demand due to the charging needs of electric vehicles (EVs) together with the integration of fluctuating renewable energy sources. Shifting EV charging during the day can contribute to absorbing photovoltaic (PV) production peaks and limiting the additional demand during peak periods. The EV batteries can then be discharged to the grid or home during the evening or other demand peaks. We developed a new methodology to quantify the flexibility gained from the EV-PV coupling from local mobility habits and local (or decentralized) photovoltaic production. Our approach first focuses on the geospatial modelling of mobility habits across Europe to quantify energy demand for charging. The charging demand is then distributed between residential areas, workplaces and points of interest (shopping, leisure, etc.) to model the spatiotemporal distribution of energy needs. We show and discuss a practical case in Copenhagen illustrating the impact of charging behaviour for three different scenarios. The methodology is implemented as a calculation module in the open-source online geographic tool for energy transition planning, Citiwatts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy sources (RESs) and electricity demand are not evenly distributed geographically across Europe. Thus, harvesting the wind energy from the north and solar energy from the south and delivering them to the demand in central Europe is a more viable solution. However, the present High-voltage alternating current (HVAC) transmission grids have been sometimes congested; thus, High-voltage direct current (HVDC) provides another possibility along the existing HVAC infrastructure. In this paper, we propose a hybrid HVAC-HVDC grid, allowing a large penetration of concentrated RES in Europe and North Africa. More specifically, the HVDC network is constructed to transfer wind and hydro electricity from northwestern Europe and solar electricity from north Africa, while the HVAC network is used to distribute electricity within each country or among adjacent areas. To quantitatively evaluate the feasibility and relevant performances, multiple dimensions of indicators are designed. Employing several European energy scenarios up to 2050, the performances of the proposed HVAC-HVDC infrastructure are analyzed and compared. The calculation results show that compared with the pure HVAC grid, the integrated HVAC-HVDC grid can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants, leading to a further reduction in the number of deaths from air pollution. In addition, the HVAC-HVDC grids can accommodate a higher penetration of RES without causing infeasible power flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global acceptance of sustainable development and renewable energy is rising as a result of climate change's growing effect on national and local governments. The EU 2030 agenda, which aspires to give everyone access to affordable, dependable, and sustainable energy in the future, reflects this. A barrier to achieving this goal is some renewable energy sources' limited reliability. While both private citizens and governmental organizations work to produce enough renewable energy to meet their needs, it is unclear how much investment will be needed to lessen the unreliability caused by environmental factors such seasonal variations in wind speed and daylight. In this regard, a tool that helps predict the energy output of sustainable sources throughout the course of the year for a particular location can significantly help in boosting the efficiency of sustainable energy investments. In this study, we use Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, installations spread across Europe, and open data sources to build such a tool utilizing artificial neural networks. We investigate the effects of various factors on the estimation of energy production as well as the potential use of public data to predict the expected output of sustainable sources. We give users the information they need to decide what investments to make based on the necessary energy production for their particular location. Our method offers an abstraction layer that is focused on energy production rather than radiation statistics and can be taught and customized for different locations using open data, in contrast to cutting-edge alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the dynamic growth in both the global hunger for electrical energy and the share of variable renewable energy sources in the energy mix, distribution networks are facing new challenges where conventional solutions may not be the best ones. The increase in load in distribution grids is routinely countered by network development and expansion, in a great part to supply for on-peak load demand, which could also be done by utilizing supplementary technologies to lessen the need for or defer such expansion. Vehicle-to-grid technology could efficiently contribute to handling this issue, as electric vehicles can potentially function as storage capacities to mitigate the fluctuations of power generation. The battery energy storage systems of hybrid or completely electric watercraft, which are becoming increasingly popular, are no exception, either. These vehicles represent a considerable potential to create more complex vehicle-to-grid solutions for countries with significant inland or seaport networks, for example, Hungary, with the largest lake of Central Europe. Since there is only deficient information on the topic, the main goal of this study was to explore the energy storage capacities of small electric boats in the context of Lake Balaton, Hungary. By this example, the paper presents the potential utilization of Europe's significant network of sea and inland recreational ports for the purpose of energy storage. Similarly to other European countries, Hungary's energy strategy for 2030 also includes the promotion of virtual production integration, local energy communities and micro-grid solutions. At the beginning of 2021, the small electric boats in the sailing marinas of Lake Balaton represented a cumulative energy storage capacity of 4.8 MWh, which may reach even 15.6 MWh by 2030, by the promotion of micro-grid solutions. The innovative novelty of this study is that it regards small fully electric boats not just as vehicles, but also explores their energy storage potentials. The novel goal of these examinations is to explore the volume of the energy storage potentials of the small fully electric boats around Lake Balaton, the knowledge of which may facilitate the creation of new types of flexibility services related to energy storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electricity markets are increasingly influenced by variable renewable energy such as wind and solar power, characterized by a pronounced weather-induced variability and imperfect predictability. As a result, the evaluation of the capacity value of variable renewable energy, i.e., its contribution to security of supply, gains importance. This paper develops a new methodology to endogenously determine the capacity value in large-scale investment and dispatch models for electricity markets. The framework allows balancing effects to be accounted for that arise due to the spatial distribution of generation capacities and interconnectors. The practical applicability of the methodology is shown with an application for wind power in Europe. We find that wind power can substantially contribute to security of supply in a decarbonized European electricity system in 2050, with regional capacity values ranging from 1-40%. Analyses that do not account for the temporal and spatial heterogeneity of the contribution of wind power to security of supply therefore lead to inefficient levels of dispatchable back-up capacity. Applying a wind power capacity value of 5% results in an overestimation of firm capacity requirements in Europe by 66 GW in 2050. This translates to additional firm capacity provision costs of 3.8 bn EUR per year in 2050, which represents an increase of 7%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the GECROS model, we simulated the effect of improvements in photosynthesis a range of growth parameters, including yield, and on the εc (the conversion efficiency of absorbed solar energy to the chemical energy of biomass) and εi (the efficiency of solar energy interception or absorption by the canopy) parameters of the Monteith crop growth equation, for wheat and potato (which use C3 photosynthesis) and maize (which uses C4 photosynthesis). In the case of the C3 crops, the improvements in photosynthesis were via 20% increases in the parameters Vcmax (carboxylation capacity of Rubisco), Jmax (electron transport capacity), Sc/o (Rubisco specificity), κ2LL (efficiency of converting incident light into electron transport) and gm (mesophyll conductance), while for the C4 crop, it was via 20% increase in Vcmax, Jmax and Sc/o and a 20% decrease in gbs (the conductance that controls the leak of CO2 from the bundle sheath cells in C4 leaves). The changes were applied individually and in combination. The responses were modelled using climate data collected over a 10‐year period from 66 sites around Europe. Improvements in photosynthesis did result in increases in yield but with considerable variation between the parameters that were adjusted. The greatest increases were obtained for increases in Jmax and κ2LL (up to an average 11% increase for total plant biomass), and these increases were found across all Europe. Increases in both these parameters have a predominant effect on the light‐use efficiency for subsaturating irradiances. Improvements in the other parameters produced smaller increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present review provides a catalogue of relevant renewable energy (RE) technologies currently available (regarding the 2030 scope) and to be available in the transition towards 2050 for the decarbonisation of Energy Intensive Industries (EIIs). RE solutions have been classified into technologies based on the use of renewable electricity and those used to produce heat for multiple industrial processes. Electrification will be key thanks to the gradual decrease in renewable power prices and the conversion of natural-gas-dependent processes. Industrial processes that are not eligible for electrification will still need a form of renewable heat. Among them, the following have been identified: concentrating solar power, heat pumps, and geothermal energy. These can supply a broad range of needed temperatures. Biomass will be a key element not only in the decarbonisation of conventional combustion systems but also as a biofuel feedstock. Biomethane and green hydrogen are considered essential. Biomethane can allow a straightforward transition from fossil-based natural gas to renewable gas. Green hydrogen production technologies will be required to increase their maturity and availability in Europe (EU). EIIs' decarbonisation will occur through the progressive use of an energy mix that allows EU industrial sectors to remain competitive on a global scale. Each industrial sector will require specific renewable energy solutions, especially the top greenhouse gas-emitting industries. This analysis has also been conceived as a starting point for discussions with potential decision makers to facilitate a more rapid transition of EIIs to full decarbonisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is inspired of idea to investigate possibilities to use solar energy for water heating in Lithuania. Lithuania is somewhere between central and north Europe. So that's mean that geographical position is not as favorable as it is in Mediterranean region but as harsh as it is northern Europe. The investigation is interesting and actual because this paper presents the first steps investigate small thermosiphon solar thermal system. Thermosiphon solar thermal systems are more common in south but not in central or even in north of the Europe. The author made theoretical calculation how water temperature in the solar water heater depends on the time and compare calculated data with real measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future power production in Europe is expected to include large shares of variable wind and solar power production. Norway, with approximately half of the hydropower reservoir capacity in Europe, can contribute to balance the variability. The aim of this paper is to assess how such a role may impact the Norwegian hydropower system in terms of production pattern of the plants, changes in reservoir level and water values. The study uses a stochastic optimization and simulation model and analyses an eHighway2050 scenario combined with increases in the hydropower production capacities in Norway. The capacity increases from ca. 31 GW in the present system to 42 and 50 GW respectively. The study uses 75 years with stochastic wind, solar radiation, temperature and inflow data. The results show that the hydropower system is able to partly balance the variable production and significantly reduce the power prices for the analyzed case. The paper shows that some of the power plants utilize their increased capacity, while other plants do not due to hydrological constraints and model limitations. The paper discusses how the modelling can be further improved in order to quantify more of the potential impacts on the future power system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to assess the contribution of European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) programmes operating in the Mediterranean area as a supporting way to achieve the renewable energy objectives established in European Union Directive 2009/28/EC. It addresses a combination of impact and thematic assessment applied to projects tackling solar energy over the period 2007-13. Observations indicate that although not always measurable, ETC contributions to the use and promotion of solar energy in the Mediterranean represent a key step forward in higher deployment. The paper also suggest alternatives to improve projects' outputs to be delivered in the new cycle 2014-20. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar photovoltaics (PV) plays an essential role in decarbonizing the European energy system. However, climate change affects surface solar radiation and will therefore directly influence future PV power generation. We use scenarios from Phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) for a mitigation (SSP1-2.6) and a fossil-fuel-dependent (SSP5-8.5) pathway in order to quantify climate risk for solar PV in Europe as simulated by the Global Solar Energy Estimator (GSEE). We find that PV potential increases by around 5 % in the mitigation scenario, suggesting a positive feedback loop between climate change mitigation and PV potential. While increased clear-sky radiation and reduced cloud cover go hand in hand in SSP1-2.6, the effect of a decrease in clear-sky radiation is outweighed by a decrease in cloud cover in SSP5-8.5, resulting in an increase in all-sky radiation. Moreover, we find that the seasonal cycle of PV generation changes in most places, as generation grows more strongly in winter than in summer (SSP1-2.6) or increases in summer and declines in winter (SSP5-8.5). We further analyze climate change impacts on the spatial variability of PV power generation. Similar to the effects anticipated for wind energy, we report an increase in the spatial correlations of daily PV production with large inter-model agreement yet relatively small amplitude, implying that PV power balancing between different regions in continental Europe will become more difficult in the future. Thus, based on the most recent climate simulations, this research supports the notion that climate change will only marginally impact renewable energy potential, while changes in the spatiotemporal generation structure are to be expected and should be included in power system design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the course of analysing the annual air temperature in Wrocław (TWr), a rapid change of the thermal regime was found between 1987 and 1989. TWr increased by >1°C, a strong, statistically significant positive trend emerged. The analysis of processes showed that strong warming in the cold season of the year (December–March) occurred as a result of an increase in the NAO intensity and warming in the warm season because of increased sunshine duration in Wrocław (ShWr). Multiple regression analysis has shown that the winter NAO Hurrell's index explains 15% of TWr variance, and the ShWr of the long-day (April–August) period 49%, whereas radiative forcing 5.9%. This indicates that the factors incidental to the internal variability of the climate system explain 64% of the TWr variability and the effect of increased CO2 concentration only ~6%. The reason for this rapid change of the thermal regime was a radical change in macro-circulation conditions in the Atlantic-European circular sector, which took place between 1988 and 1989. The heat, which is the cause of warming in Wrocław, comes from an increase in solar energy inflow (April–August) and also is transported to Europe from the North Atlantic surface by atmospheric circulation (NAO). These results indicate that the role of CO2 in shaping the contemporary temperature increase is overestimated, whereas the internal variability of the climate system is underestimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In line with the energy development strategy of Europe, it is necessary to implement energy efficient buildings, in which the external enclosures are converters of solar energy to thermal. Therefore, the purpose of the publication was the scientific substantiation and development of the solar heating system with the use of rooftop solar panels. Graphical and analytical dependences of the coefficient of thermal efficiency of the solar panel in heat supply system from the angles of solar radiation incoming and the density of the radiation flux were obtained. Analysis of the results showed that the coefficient of thermal efficiency of the solar panel without transparent coating with the placement of pipelines of the circulation circuit of the coolant over the heat absorber increases by 50%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The built environment in communities is responsible for at least 40% of the entire energy consumption in the EU. This environment is closely analyzed under the national and European strategies aiming to increase sustainability in the communities through energy efficiency actions and the use of renewable energy sources. Once these European objectives are met, optimistic scenarios show that the solar-thermal (ST) systems will be able to provide from 3.6% of the amount of the thermal energy demand in 2020, up to 15% in 2030, and 47% in 2050. The EU energy strategy demands that by 2030 all new buildings should be able to entirely cover the energy amount needed for heating / cooling and domestic hot water (DHW) by using ST systems, whereas the old buildings will have to cover at least 50% of the amount needed for heating / cooling and DHW by using ST systems. This paper proposes a novel methodology to design optimized ST systems implemented at district level, while developing various implementation scenarios; a comparative analysis of individual projects (e.g.: for one apartment blocks), groups of multi-family houses (2, 5, 10 apartment blocks) up to districts (25 and 50 apartment blocks) allows for the optimal sizing of the feasible and affordable ST arrays, also making use of the already existent complementary infrastructure for DHW. A case study (Taberei District - Odorheiu Secuiesc Town, Harghita County) validates the methodology and outlines that district DHW production, entirely based on ST systems, supports the lower initial investment and payback time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although methods of using renewable energy are knows all over the world (biomass, solar, wind, geothermal and hydro), so far only a relatively small fraction of the technical and economic potential of renewable energy is being used today. Investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency represent an important solution for environment and for economic crisis that Europe and the world at large are facing today. This paper presents the evaluation of renewable energy potential use for an independent house. The house uses a system comprising photovoltaic panels and solar panels. When there is surplus of electricity supplied from panels, this extra energy is stored in batteries to be used during not producing periods. We also use a solar thermal collector for thermal energy. The energy required for the home is used for household's appliances, for heating and for domestic hot water. Local real weather data are used in the modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both wind and solar irradiance are considered as variable sources of energy. The generated power is dependent on varying weather conditions. In this study, three indicators are introduced: generation power-to-storage day ratio, photovoltaic-to-wind energy ratio, and reliability improvement indicator. The values of the indicators are determined for 5701 points located in Europe. The results have been presented on charts illustrating statistics of the indicators as well as on maps. This study illustrates various aspects of the solar and the wind energy potential in the context of energy storage. The results show that for the majority of locations, the cost of 1 kWh of storage must be up to 3.2 times less than the cost of 1 kW of a photovoltaic system. Also, it should be up to six times less than the unit cost of the wind turbine system at 50 m in order to decrease the system cost, depending on the number of autonomy days. For most of the locations, the nominal power of the photovoltaic system should be significantly lower than the power of the wind turbine if the system is to meet the required reliability. If the reliability of the power supply has to be increased from 95% to 98%, the nominal power of the photovoltaic generator has to be increased, depending on the assumed days of autonomy, between 1.25 and 1.45 times and the power of the wind turbine at 50 m between 1.3 and 2 times for the greater number of locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to its spatio-temporal variability, the mismatch between the weather and demand patterns challenges the design of highly renewable energy systems. A principal component analysis is applied to a simplified networked European electricity system with a high share of wind and solar power generation. It reveals a small number of important mismatch patterns, which explain most of the system's required backup and transmission infrastructure. Whereas the first principal component is already able to reproduce most of the temporal mismatch variability for a solar dominated system, a few more principal components are needed for a wind dominated system. Due to its monopole structure the first principal component causes most of the system's backup infrastructure. The next few principal components have a dipole structure and dominate the transmission infrastructure of the renewable electricity network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2004, the photovoltaic industry production broke the 1 GW production barrier and became a 5.8 billion € business. European market share rose from 1999 to 2004 from 20% to 26% reaching about 310 MWp in 2004. With a growth rate of more than 40%during the last 5 years, photovoltaics is one of the fastest growing industries worldwide. In order to maintain this growth rate, the photovoltaics industry needs not only reliable political framing conditions to ensure a return on investment, but continuous innovation and research. This leads to the search for new development with respect to material use and consumption, device design, reliability and production technologies as well as new concepts to increase the overall efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global electricity demand is constantly growing, making the utilization of solar and wind energy sources, which also reduces negative environmental effects, more and more important. These variable energy sources have an increasing role in the global energy mix, including generating capacity. Therefore, the need for energy storage in electricity networks is becoming increasingly important. This paper presents the challenges of European variable renewable energy integration in terms of the power capacity and energy capacity of stationary storage technologies. In this research, the sustainable transition, distributed generation, and global climate action scenarios of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for 2040 were examined. The article introduces and explains the feasibility of the European variable renewable energy electricity generation targets and the theoretical maximum related to the 2040 scenarios. It also explains the determination of the storage fractions and power capacity in a new context. The aim is to clarify whether it is possible to achieve the European variable renewable energy integration targets considering the technology-specific storage aspects. According to the results, energy storage market developments and regulations which motivate the increased use of stationary energy storage systems are of great importance for a successful European solar and wind energy integration. The paper also proves that not only the energy capacity but also the power capacity of storage systems is a key factor for the effective integration of variable renewable energy sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an environmental sustainability assessment of residential user-scale energy systems, named solar home systems, encompassing their construction, operation, and end of life. The methodology adopted is composed of three steps, namely a design phase, a simulation of the solar home systems' performance and a life cycle assessment. The analysis aims to point out the main advantages, features, and challenges of lithium-ion batteries, considered as a benchmark, compared with other innovative devices. As the environmental sustainability of these systems is affected by the solar radiation intensity during the year, a sensitivity analysis is performed varying the latitude of the installation site in Europe. For each site, both isolated and grid-connected solar home systems have been compared considering also the national electricity mix. A general overview of the results shows that, regardless of the installation site, solid state nickel cobalt manganese and nickel cobalt aluminium lithium-ion batteries are the most suitable choices in terms of sustainability. Remarkably, other novel devices, like sodium-ion batteries, are already competitive with them and have great potential. With these batteries, the solar home systems' eco-profile is generally advantageous compared to the energy mix, especially in on-grid configurations, with some exceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes solar thermal technologies for the solution of long term Europe`s energy problem with better reliability. A short overview about solar energy is explained with a basic energy analysis. This report also includes some evaluations and discussions of solar energy systems in the following pages. The general purpose of the article is to understand how efficiently solar thermal systems generates energy, and solve the Europe`s increasing energy demand in our century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A benchmarking exercise was organized within the framework of the European Action Weather Intelligence for Renewable Energies ("WIRE") with the purpose of evaluating the performance of state of the art models for short-term renewable energy forecasting. The exercise consisted in forecasting the power output of two wind farms and two photovoltaic power plants, in order to compare the merits of forecasts based on different modeling approaches and input data. It was thus possible to obtain a better knowledge of the state of the art in both wind and solar power forecasting, with an overview and comparison of the principal and the novel approaches that are used today in the field, and to assess the evolution of forecast performance with respect to previous benchmarking exercises. The outcome of this exercise consisted then in proposing new challenges in the renewable power forecasting field and identifying the main areas for improving accuracy in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Must try harder' is the UK engineering community's verdict on government plans for the energy sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the globally increasing share of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, precise forecasts for weather data are becoming more and more important. To compute such forecasts numerous authors apply neural networks (NN), whereby models became ever more complex recently. Using solar irradiation as an example, we verify if this additional complexity is required in terms of forecasting precision. Different NN models, namely the long-short term (LSTM) neural network, a convolutional neural network (CNN), and combinations of both are benchmarked against each other. The naive forecast is included as a baseline. Various locations across Europe are tested to analyze the models' performance under different climate conditions. Forecasts up to 24 h in advance are generated and compared using different goodness of fit (GoF) measures. Besides, errors are analyzed in the time domain. As expected, the error of all models increases with rising forecasting horizon. Over all test stations it shows that combining an LSTM network with a CNN yields the best performance. However, regarding the chosen GoF measures, differences to the alternative approaches are fairly small. The hybrid model's advantage lies not in the improved GoF but in its versatility: contrary to an LSTM or a CNN, it produces good results under all tested weather conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industry sector has an important impact on primary energy consumption at the international level, and solar energy constitutes a real alternative to cover these energy needs partially. Among thermosolar concentration technologies, Linear Fresnel Collector (LFC) technology has some advantages that make it more accessible to industries. With the aim of providing new tools for easier decision-making processes, in the present work, several energy audits were carried out in industries (located in the south-west of Europe, with considerable steam consumptions), quantifying thermal and energy consumptions and defining both work schedules and seasonality. Afterwards, a comparison based on three factors was carried out: Thermal consumption regarding total industry consumption, the performance of the work during the solar schedule, and the quantification of the monthly average concentrated energy for a certain LFC facility. The analysis carried out according to these criteria showed different results for each case, making a global assessment necessary to suitably ponder each factor. This analysis ranked tomato industries as the most suitable for LFC technology, due to the fact that their main operating period was during the months with the highest solar isolation, and the solar schedule was completely integrated in a 24-h working day. Also, industrial waxes and laundries showed a good combination of both facts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radiometric ground truth data from seven Norwegian stations (58-64 deg. N), and from five other European stations (38-61 deg. N), are compared to satellite-derived data in the present paper. Hourly globalirradiance at ground level is estimated by the Heliosat procedure from the 'visible' channel of the geostationary satellite METEOSAT. With increasing latitude this satelllite sees the earth's surface at an increasingly unfavourable angle. Nevertheless, in this paper, global irradiance estimates reproduce high latitude ground truth data with negligible Mean Bias Deviations (MBD) and only minor deviations regarding frequency distributions. Moreover, the Root Mean Square Deviations (RMSD) are comparable to those typically seen between ground truth stations some 20-30 km apart. Using a number of auxiliary models, a multiplicity of ground level solar radiation data is obtained from satellite-derived global irradiance data, and made available at the SATEL-LIGHT www server. The accuracy of the half-hourly data thus derivedfrom Heliosat global irradiances, using models for diffuse fraction,luminous efficacy and slope/horizontal ratios, is successfully verified against ground truth data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the studies carried out in project PASCOOL to document and assess the thermal performance of selected buildings in Southern Europe and to identify possible improvements. Twenty-three buildings from nine European countries were surveyed and monitored for a shprt period during summertime. The measurements and survey data obtained formed the basis for sensitivity studies with thermal simulation. The selection encompassed buildings of typical construction, including both recent and traditional, residential and non-residential. The sensitivity studies addressed the effects of shading, thermal inertia, ventilation, window orientation and colour of external surfaces,envelope insulation, and occupancy patterns. The paper presents the methodology adopted for the measurements and sensitivity studies and discusses the main conclusions drawn from the studies. It identifies options for improving occupant thermal comfort with little or no mechanical cooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]