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Ons gebouwenpatrimonium behoort tot de grootste, oudste en meest energieverslindende van Europa. De Vlaamse Regering heeft de ambitie om over dertig jaar alle woningen over een energielabel A te laten beschikken. Een gedeelte van deze gebouwen bezit erfgoedwaarde of is beschermd als monument. Standaardoplossingen voor energiebesparing zij niet altijd toe te passen met respect voor de erfgoedwaarden van deze gebouwen. Daarom schreef het agentschap Onroerend erfgoed in 2019 een bestek uit voor het “Ontwikkelen van een energieprestatiecertificaat voor beschermde woningen”. Het onderzoek toont aan dat het ontwikkelen van een gestandaardiseerd EPC voor erfgoed mogelijk is, brengt de belangrijkste parameters in kaart, geeft een vereenvoudigde set van erfgoedvriendelijke energiezuinige aanbevelingen en reikt twee werkbare oplossingen aan voor het definiëren van een energiedoelstelling voor de beschermde woningen. De volledige studie werd getoetst aan de hand van 10 representatieve cases Daartegenover staat de conclusie dat de kosten en inspanningen voor de verdere ontwikkeling van het EPC voor erfgoed, niet in verhouding zijn tot de beperkte doelgroep (eigenaars van beschermd erfgoed). Er werd dan ook beslist om het EPC voor erfgoed niet verder te ontwikkelen maar een eenvoudiger instrument te ontwikkelen: het erfgoedenergie-advies. Dit instrument zal in de loop van de tweede helft van 2023 aangeboden worden aan de eigenaars van beschermd erfgoed.

Shading control strategies are nowadays employed in office environments to improve the visual comfort of the user. These strategies are often solely illuminance-based whereas comfort metrics as the Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) also need luminance values. In previous studies, daylight glare has been assessed by calculating the DGP from luminance maps obtained via a luminance camera or from a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image obtained with a commercially available camera. These detectors are traditionally mounted close to the user and aligned with the viewing direction. In real office environments, this camera position is impractical, and simulations based on machine learning techniques have shown a relation between the DGP from an observer's viewpoint and the DGP calculated from a ceiling camera. This paper experimentally validates this method in a real office environment by using two different cameras and two different illuminance sensors, i.e., a low-cost illuminance sensor and a calibrated sensor. Both cameras render similar results, although one camera overestimates the DGP. Moreover, the shortcomings of the simulation results are pinpointed and the obstacles for a realistic application are addressed. Furthermore, it was found that when moving the cameras to different positions, the sun position was shown to be an informative additional input for correlating the two DGP values. In future work, additional data will be analysed to determine the performance in other weather conditions and window orientations.

In this research, a modelling tool is presented to de- rive surrogate models of thermal energy transfers in buildings, to support the development and testing of smart control algorithms. A data-driven approach is used to identify a model that is able to predict the indoor temperature in a case-study building when an electric heater is turned on. The approach is demon- strated on data obtained from EnergyPlus simula- tions, which resolve the heat balance equations to simulate the thermal response of a building. The model structure that was selected is a second-order ARMAX transfer function whose parameters were identified with a Least Squares optimisation criterion. The model inputs were limited to the heater’s power, the global horizontal solar radiation and the outdoor dry-bulb temperature.

The RenovActive renovation concept seeks to offer healthy, affordable, easy to reproduce, scalable solutions for the existing building stock of European housing. The concept was developed and tested in a prototype phase, where 7 principles have been applied to a semidetached house built in the 1920s, situated in a garden city in Brussels. The renovated prototype was occupied by a family and monitored for two years. The monitoring was performed, after renovation, both through data, sensors, and extensive interviews and questionnaires with the family. In general, the family living in the house is very satisfied with the indoor environment. The results show a general indoor CO2- concentration below 900 ppm, and an indoor temperature between 21°C and 26°C. The technical and sociological monitoring show indication for the additional potential to optimize and improve indoor comfort levels and perception. As an example, there are discrepancies between setpoints and programming we initiated, based on standards and scientific inputs, based on predicted behaviors. But user interactions, and preferences in real life situation when occupying the house, as well as situational perceptions and culture, modified user setpoints compared to our initial setpoints, that in some settings could have a negative impact on the indoor environment. This indicates that a technical system operating the indoor environment must be both flexible and robust to accommodate for multiple and varying preferences of building inhabitants.

This renovation concept seeks to offer healthy, affordable, easy to reproduce, scalable solutions for the existing building stock of European housing. The concept was developed and tested in a prototype phase, where 7 principles have been applied to a semidetached house built in 1920s, situated in a garden city in Brussels. The prototype was now occupied by a family and monitored for two years. The monitoring was performed both through data, sensors and extensive interviews and questionnaires with the family. In general, living in the house is positively perceived by the family, who state they are very satisfied with the indoor environment, such as temperature, air quality and daylight. Sensor data results show a general indoor CO2-concentration below 900 ppm. Indoor temperature measurements vary between 21°C and 26°C. The occupants are very satisfied with the house, however the technical and sociological monitoring show there is further potential to optimise and improve indoor comfort levels and perception. There are discrepancies between setpoints and programming, based on predicted behaviours, and user actions and preferences in real life, as well as situational perceptions and culture. This goes to prove that technical systems operating the indoor environment must be both flexible and robust to accommodate for multiple and varying preferences of building inhabitants.