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Performance-based climatic zoning for building energy efficiency applications has shown significant advantages when compared to methods that only rely on climate data. However, previous studies have primarily focused on small regions, which raises questions about the effectiveness of this approach for larger countries. To address this gap, this paper presents the first application of performance-based zoning to Brazil, detailing the process of revising the Brazilian climatic zoning standard using an open-source toolbox. Results of simulations for 100 variants of a detached dwelling using climatic data for 298 locations were clustered and analysed in terms of energy demand, thermal comfort, and mould growth risk (not previously used in climatic zoning studies). The paper employed a methodical approach to incorporate expert insights with the aim of enhancing and validating the outputs of the climatic zoning. To compare the proposed method with the current zoning of Brazil, and the degree-days zoning, the mean percentage of potentially misclassified areas (MPMA) was used, and its calculation was improved to handle an arbitrary number of conflicting performance indicators. The involvement of local experts was crucial in developing the proposed zoning method as they played a key role in defining the number of zones and establishing zones boundaries. The feedback from local experts confirmed the proposed method as a significant improvement over the current zoning, which is supported by the MPMA results (14%), outperforming both the current Brazilian and degree-day zones. The zoning method is applicable to countries of any size and level of complexity. • Performance-based zoning was successfully applied in the zoning of a large country. • Performance-based zoning considers all climatic variables simultaneously, addressing their complex interrelationship. • Performance-based zoning correctly captures the impact of topography and continentality in the climate. • The use of indoor mould growth risk improves the differentiation between climates with low and high humidity. • Expert panels provide valuable input in the definition of zone boundaries where climate data is not available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In the last decades, European countries have provided for stringent energy requirements for new buildings. In improving the energy performance of buildings, windows play a significant role as they largely influence the energy need. The windows design should base on the balanced trade-off between the solar heat gains and the heat transfer by transmission. In the paper, for some Italian climatic zones, the relation between the optimal window-to-wall ratio (WWR) and the energy need in residential nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEBs) is investigated. In the case studies, the envelope thermo-physical properties are consistent with the nZEB requirements established at national level. The energy performance assessment is carried out by means of a detailed dynamic simulation tool (EnergyPlus). The influence of different orientations and sizes of windows on the energy performance and the peak power are studied. The paper analyses the effect of WWR in the design of nZEBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract It is necessary to reduce the environmental load by reducing the energy consumption in the building sector. As one of the preferred methods, phase change materials (PCMs) are considered to be promising to store and discharge thermal energy. Recently, many studies of PCM applications in buildings by simulation tools have been conducted. However, there is not much research on glass curtain wall building (GCW) systems applied to PCM installation compared to conventional wall-based buildings (CWB). The objective of this paper is to investigate the optimization of PCM applied to GCW and to evaluate the building energy performance by EnergyPlus. A building model was selected from ASHRAE Standard 90.1–2013 prototype buildings, and Baltimore, Duluth, and Miami in ASHRAE climate classification was used as the input climate data. In this study, the experiment used Shape-stabilized PCM (SSPCM) with mixing ratio of n -octadecane and n -heptadecane (7:3), selected owing to the energy efficiency in the thermal comfort range based on ISO 13790. Considering PCM application to GCWs and CWBs, it is important to apply the optimized PCM considering the different approaches between GCWs and CWBs. In addition, a PCM melting temperature of 25 °C was the most suitable setting for the retrofit. PCM installation on a wall, a floor, and a ceiling with the same melting temperature was the most effective approach. Highlights • Different approaches of phase change material (PCM) installation according to building type. • Specific consideration of outdoor factors required for PCM installation on glass curtain wall building. • Optimized PCM melting temperatures of 22–24 °C and 25–26 °C depending on the building type. • PCM melting temperature of 25 °C was suitable for installation on glass curtain wall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate predictions of human-building interactions are essential to decrease energy waste and improve indoor comfort. Although users' dynamic behaviour has been recognised, most of simulation programs still work using deterministic rules. This paper investigates the effectiveness of both deterministic and stochastic models in reproducing window openings, using a Post-Occupancy evaluation (POE). A summer monitoring campaign in offices settled in Mediterranean climate was performed to acquire experimental data. Results highlight that deterministic approaches poorly reflect real behaviours. Probabilistic models seem to represent effective users' actions. Findings demonstrate the urgent need of behavioural approaches in simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate predictions of human-building interactions are essential to decrease energy waste and improve indoor comfort. Although users’ dynamic behaviour has been recognised, most of simulation programs still work using deterministic rules. This paper investigates the effectiveness of both deterministic and stochastic models in reproducing window openings, using a Post-Occupancy evaluation (POE). A summer monitoring campaign in offices settled in Mediterranean climate was performed to acquire experimental data. Results highlight that deterministic approaches poorly reflect real behaviours. Probabilistic models seem to represent effective users’ actions. Findings demonstrate the urgent need of behavioural approaches in simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indoor air quality has received much attention in recent years because of its rising pollution levels, leading to significant health problems. Indoor air quality has become an important issue because technology development of thermal windows and buildings which have become more energy efficient, leads to sealed buildings, which can greatly increase concentration of pollutants thus presenting high risks to health. In this sense, there is more research focused on assessing human health effects due to exposure to different levels of pollution. This is particularly important as people spend on average 80−90 % of their time indoors. Reducing energy demand for heating and cooling is essential for improving the energy efficiency of a building, but modern technology re-circulates the air instead of refreshing it leads to reduced air quality. The paper attempts to provide an understanding of how contaminants, increased population density in cities, the use of new synthetic materials and traffic pollution contribute and interact to increase adverse effects on humans and deteriorate indoor air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the challenges faced by social housing providers in the UK when implementing quality assurance procedures in their effort to provide their tenants with energy-efficient homes. Based on data collected from the project team and project documentation, a comparative analysis of the procurement process of two social housing developments in the UK is presented. The results of the study show that despite the two case studies pertaining to the same housing association, they followed different quality management approaches to deliver energy efficient dwellings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conducted a study on the energy-saving potential of a developed thermotropic window. Office buildings in different climate regions of China were compared in terms of heating, cooling and lighting energy demands. Results show that annual heating and cooling energy demands for office buildings differ largely, while lighting energy demand at different climates keeps a significant percentage of the total energy demand, ranging from 36.1% to 66.3%. Meanwhile, thermotropic windows achieve a great advantage in improving daylighting performance and in reducing the overall energy demand, by reducing the overall energy demand by 2.27%-8.7% and 10.1%-21.72%, respectively, compared to movable shading devices and Low-E windows. This means that this kind of thermotropic windows have a great potential in applications in different climatic regions and can be considered as a good substitute of solar shading devices and Low-E windows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing attention towards the optimization of the overall performance of a building, in terms of both indoor environmental quality and energy consumption, has brought about the need to carry out analyses, which consider the interactions of all affecting parameters. In particular, thermal and daylighting analysis should be carried out in synergy to ensure the best performance in both domains. Within this framework, the paper presents a study on daylighting and energy behavior of rooms with different architectural features. The study has been conceived to account for a broad range of possible configurations of office buildings in the climate site of Turin (Northern Italy), and has been performed through numerical simulations carried out with Daysim and EnergyPlus. The results outline the daylighting performance (in terms of spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA)) and the energy demand for lighting, heating and cooling and demonstrate that optimizing daylighting can lead to a reduction of the total energy demand of an office. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to their very low thermal conductivity, Vacuum Insulation Panels (VIPs) have recently seen a fast development and an increasing penetration in building thermal insulation market. However, there is still a lack of knowledge about their performance when actually applied in buildings. In fact, the thermal bridging effects that occur in VIP junctions are not easily evaluable while produce a reduction of the global thermal performance. In this paper, the linear thermal transmittances related to VIP junctions considering different joint materials between VIPs panels and different wall configurations were assessed through a 2D numerical analysis. Finally, through a quasi-steady state simulation, a parametric building case study was analysed, with the aim to evaluate the influence of the thermal bridging effects on the overall building energy need. The results shows that the thermal bridging effect due to VIPs assemblies have not a negligible influence on the overall building energy performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupant behaviour can cause major discrepancies between the designed and the real total energy use in buildings. A possible solution to reduce the differences between predictions and actual performances is designing robust buildings, i.e. buildings whose performances show little variations with alternating occupant behaviour patterns. The aim of this work was to investigate how alternating occupant behaviour patterns impact the performance of different envelope design solutions in terms of building robustness. Probabilistic models of occupants' window opening and use of shading were implemented in a dynamic building energy simulation tool (IDA ICE). The analysis was carried out by simulating 15 building envelope designs in different thermal zones of an Office Reference Building in 3 climates: Stockholm, Frankfurt and Athens. In general, robustness towards changes in occupants' behaviour increased with increasing thermal mass and with decreasing transparent area of the envelope. The importance of the robustness' evaluation is highlighted in this paper, in order to obtain optimized buildings' designs for more accurate and realistic energy predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characteristics of urbanism and its construction properties are critical factors in shaping energy demand and citizens' quality of life. Urban typology approaches classify the urban built environment through common patterns, facilitating building energy analysis and energy retrofitting. However, current methods struggle between detailed local building classifications and broad land spatial distributions, which include built environments. This paper presents a systematic methodology to objectively identify and classify residential urban areas according to representative Homogeneous Urban Zones (HUZs), aiming at improving the analysis of urban block energy behaviour by considering buildings and their surrounding urban conditions. Based on the characterisation of urban clusters, this methodology merges current urban classifications and defines representative urban block indicators using geographic information systems. The urban clusters are statistically delimited by testing a set of urban indicators grouped by constructive systems, morphology, and surface cover. If they successfully meet the statistical criteria of the outlier's filter, test-of-goodness-fit, and non-overlapping check, the clusters are then validated as HUZs; otherwise, they are merged, split, or rejected. Finally, the urban residential areas classified as HUZs are characterised by average, maximum, and minimum range values based on a set of representative urban indicators. This methodology was applied to the city of Madrid resulting into the definition of 10 statistically significant HUZs, grouped into four different categories. Because of the shown good adaptability of HUZs to the local urban context, it is expected that the present HUZ method represents an improvement for the standardisation of the residential building energy modelling evaluation. • A method to systematically classify Homogeneous Urban Zones (HUZs) is presented. • HUZs discern urban zones relevant for the residential buildings' energy evaluation. • The urban block scale of HUZs considers local urban and building characteristics. • HUZs are delimited statistically throughout 10 urban block indicators. • 10 statistically significant HUZs were identified in Madrid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Occupant behavior is a main factor influencing the building energy performance. • Synthetic review about the occupant presence and occupants' interactions was presented. • Monitoring approach, occupant modeling and energy feedback programs are the key approaches for human behavior analysis. • The integration of social science is essential for the analysis process of the occupant behavior topic. The building sector in the world is responsible for nearly 36% of the final energy consumption and nearly 40% of total direct and indirect CO 2 emissions. Reducing buildings energy consumption is an absolute necessity, and one of the most efficient methods is the estimation and optimization of building energy performance. One of the significant factors affecting the building energy performance is the occupant behavior. Recently, there has been growing interest in the occupant behavior field. Within the framework of this context, different methods have been proposed and developed especially when the traditional methods, such as interview and survey, are not efficient and sufficient to analyze and to predict the occupant behavior with better accuracy. This research provides a comprehensive characterization of the occupant behavior through, a review of current approaches for occupant behavior analysis. The main key issues and drivers affecting the energy behavior of habitants identified on the literature were synthetized and presented. Furthermore, the paper highlights the necessity of including the energy feedback programs as a main key in the topic of occupants, in order to integrate them in the building performance process. This research is a part of a European project H2020 "Holistic Energy and Architectural Retrofit Toolkit (HEART)". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel-low thermal conductive insulations were used for the building applications. • Energy and cost analysis were made for different climate region and fuels. • Optimum insulation thickness was decided for highest energy and cost saving. • An annual savings of about 14 % can be achieved for the optimum insulation. In this study, energy analysis was carried out to decide the building energy performance for different climate regions and fuels with various novel polyurethane insulation materials. The coal, natural gas, liquefied-petroleum-gas (LPG), fuel-oil and electricity were considered as the fuel. The results show that 3% paper mill sludge (PMS) added polyurethane foam has the best thermal resistance. When 3% PMS added polyurethane is compared with the standard one, the largest heat need reduction occurs in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th regions to be 14.6 %, 13.57 %, 13.14 % and 12.57 %, respectively, for the insulation thickness of about 0.049 m. 3% PMS added polyurethane can provide the largest energy saving cost of 1.456 $/m2.year for LPG in the fourth region for the insulation thickness of 0.0245 m. It is followed by electricity, fuel oil, coal and natural gas to be 1.033 $/m2, 0.97 $/m2, 0.456 $/m2 and 0.23 $/m2, respectively. In the case of 0.0245 m thickness, life-cycle saving varies between 8.86–54.6 $/m2 and the payback period changes between 1.37 years and 8.76 years depending on the fuels. The new polyurethane reduces the required thickness of the insulation materials about almost halve for all region thereby reducing the insulation material cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]