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• The paper has a focus on energy consumption habits and trends using statistical methods. • Occupants' behavior is monitored using smart metering system and awareness surveys. • The impact of a serious game on occupant's behavior is evaluated. The paper has a focus on energy consumption habits, trends and intervention strategies in residential buildings, mainly through the serious game approach with a combination of direct consumer feedback through smart metering. More than 150 homes in France and Spain have been involved in the research experiment and the consumption habits of approximately 50 homes were deeply analyzed. The applied methods, processes, results and findings of the monitoring data analysis are presented in the paper with two aims. First, consumption profiles and trends were determined for apartment homes with regard to heating, domestic hot water and electric consumption. Second, the impact of a serious game experiment was assessed comparing energy consumption, indoor air temperature and users' habits (based on questionnaires) before and after launching the experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Energy Communities analysis and review in Europe and, more specifically, in Spain. • Promoting energy poverty reduction and cooperation through Energy Communities. • Real case study focused on reducing energy poverty in the city of Getafe (Spain). • Selection of public buildings to implement energy community in two neighborhoods. • Significant electricity bill reductions for energy poverty households. Advancements in renewable energy technologies, a growing awareness of the need for sustainable energy solutions, and the emergence of new business models in the energy sector, have contributed to the growth of Energy Communities. Public entities can find in energy communities today an opportunity to tackle energy poverty, to increase the cooperation among citizens and to empower them to be a more active player within the energy sector. This paper analyzes energy communities in Europe and focuses specifically on Spain; considering the three beneficial aspects previously mentioned. It aims to obtain ground truth about the applications of these new citizens' arrangements. A citizen-led initiative at the city of Getafe (Madrid, Spain) is included and discussed in detail. This case study focused on reducing energy poverty of its participants. An energy community was designed and implemented as a collective PV solar self-consumption infrastructure. The roofs of various public buildings in the two case study neighborhoods were selected for locating the PV installations. Real metered data were used to evaluate the solution. A public building was selected for the energy community, considering generation on roof and dwellings proximity. The results provided that out of the 77% PV generations could be used to contribute to the demand of 100 residences; while the resulting 23% would provide approximately 60% of the energy demand of the public building. The setting up of the Energy Community not only had the technical part but also included workshops seminars and information sessions, to ensure that people prone to benefit and maximize its impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low energy efficiency of the European building stock is both a social and environmental issue. However, plans and studies on energy retrofitting interventions do not usually evaluate the impact of these measures on households' energy affordability. This paper analyses and compares the effect of alternative retrofitting strategies on thermal energy services' affordability in Spanish vulnerable households. This analysis was carried out by applying the Required Thermal Energy Expenditure model proposed in previous studies to several 2030 residential building stock scenarios, setting 2020 as a baseline. Therefore, this work proposes a methodological approach to assess the impact of the considered energy efficiency interventions on energy poverty in winter (WEP) and summer (SEP) and carries out both a 'social cost' and a cost-benefit analysis. The dwelling's thermal-enclosure retrofitting stands out as a very WEP-reduction and social-cost effective measure. Instead, replacing old thermal systems with more efficient ones would have a higher impact on SEP. Combining both kinds of retrofitting measures could reduce heating and cooling required expenditures by, respectively, 49% and 59%, and decrease the WEP and SEP share, correspondingly, by 35% and 63%. These results might inform policymakers to enhance the targeting and design of energy efficiency programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a study of the thermal performance of a single-family house located in a coastal city in northern Spain that was built according to Spanish standards during the 1990s. The study estimates an annual energy demand of around 95 kWh/m 2 and a thermal power rating of the heating system of around 16 kW. The potential energy savings that would be obtained by implementing different retrofitting measures frequently used nowadays are also quantified: installing a ventilation system with heat recovery, improving the insulation of opaque construction elements, replacing the existing windows with high-thermal performance windows, and reducing air infiltration rates. These integrated actions on the house would reduce the annual energy demand below the requirements of both the Technical Building Code (24.24 kWh/m 2 year for this case of study), which is the regulation currently in force in Spain, and the well-known Passivhaus standard (15 kWh/m 2 year), which is one of the most widespread building standards in Europe. Compliance with these requirements means that the annual energy demand and the size of the heating system would respectively be potentially reduced by 81% and 57% of the present values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A methodology to assess energy flexibility of building clusters in a GIS framework. • Building clusters become energy prosumer by deep renovation and renewable energies. • It aims to integrate a wider spatial decision tool for environmental public policy. • Comfort thermal indexes quantify energy flexibility to measure peak load reduction. • Cluster design approach may help reduce investment costs and reach cost optimality. Natural resource depletion, global warming and pollution pose substantial threats in prioritizing environmental policy, both for private organizations and for governments. Half the EU building stock is prior to energy efficiency standards, thus making it an urgent challenge for the EU to aim at decarbonized cities by 2050. Urban energy retrofitting at cluster level represents a major opportunity, as its current rate is lower than an annual 1%, 3% being the EU desirable rate. This paper presents a bottom-up methodology to assess energy flexibility of building clusters within a Geographic Information System (GIS) framework, applied on a district scale. Energy performance certificates and GIS-based data permit diagnosis and neighborhood selection. The methodology evaluates building cluster energy flexibility via energy demand reduction and PV production. The results show the building cluster hourly load profile for heating and cooling, and thermal comfort indexes. It is expected that this GIS-based methodology will become part of a wider spatial decision support tool for environmental public policies contributing to building stock transformation, from energy consumer to prosumer through deep renovation and renewable energy use. Finally, this methodology is adaptable to other climates, particularly within Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]