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Producción Científica, The need for airtightness control is a reality given its impact on buildings' energy use and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). For the past few years, this fact has resulted in energy performance regulations establishment that involves airtightness requirements in many countries in Europe and North America. In this sense, efforts should not only be focused on new buildings, but also existing ones. Considering that around 90% of the built stock in the EU is expected to still be standing in 2050 and that almost 75% of the buildings are energy inefficient, attention must be paid to retrofitting actions. Airtightness predictive models have become useful in the decision-making process and to estimate input values in energy performance simulation tools. So far, several predictive models have been developed in different countries. However, specific construction systems and practices lead to a lack of consensus regarding the impact of different factors on airtightness performance. Therefore, the applicability of existing models is limited to their specific contexts. This paper presents a predictive model for envelope airtightness, which was developed from a database that contains a fully characterised representative sample of the residential building stock in Spain. A General Linear Model (GLM) was considered to assess significant variables related to the age of the building, typology, building state, construction system, and dimensions. As a result, a predictive model is presented and validated. Overall, even if some limitations were identified, the relevance of the model proposed is warranted from the statistical point of view. The airtightness predictive model presented offers a procedure for airtightness estimation of residential buildings in Spain., Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (grant BIA2015-64321-R)

Producción Científica, The need for airtightness control is a reality given its impact on buildings' energy use and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). For the past few years, this fact has resulted in energy performance regulations establishment that involves airtightness requirements in many countries in Europe and North America. In this sense, efforts should not only be focused on new buildings, but also existing ones. Considering that around 90% of the built stock in the EU is expected to still be standing in 2050 and that almost 75% of the buildings are energy inefficient, attention must be paid to retrofitting actions. Airtightness predictive models have become useful in the decision-making process and to estimate input values in energy performance simulation tools. So far, several predictive models have been developed in different countries. However, specific construction systems and practices lead to a lack of consensus regarding the impact of different factors on airtightness performance. Therefore, the applicability of existing models is limited to their specific contexts. This paper presents a predictive model for envelope airtightness, which was developed from a database that contains a fully characterised representative sample of the residential building stock in Spain. A General Linear Model (GLM) was considered to assess significant variables related to the age of the building, typology, building state, construction system, and dimensions. As a result, a predictive model is presented and validated. Overall, even if some limitations were identified, the relevance of the model proposed is warranted from the statistical point of view. The airtightness predictive model presented offers a procedure for airtightness estimation of residential buildings in Spain., Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (grant BIA2015-64321-R)

Producción Científica, The need for airtightness control is a reality given its impact on buildings' energy use and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). For the past few years, this fact has resulted in energy performance regulations establishment that involves airtightness requirements in many countries in Europe and North America. In this sense, efforts should not only be focused on new buildings, but also existing ones. Considering that around 90% of the built stock in the EU is expected to still be standing in 2050 and that almost 75% of the buildings are energy inefficient, attention must be paid to retrofitting actions. Airtightness predictive models have become useful in the decision-making process and to estimate input values in energy performance simulation tools. So far, several predictive models have been developed in different countries. However, specific construction systems and practices lead to a lack of consensus regarding the impact of different factors on airtightness performance. Therefore, the applicability of existing models is limited to their specific contexts. This paper presents a predictive model for envelope airtightness, which was developed from a database that contains a fully characterised representative sample of the residential building stock in Spain. A General Linear Model (GLM) was considered to assess significant variables related to the age of the building, typology, building state, construction system, and dimensions. As a result, a predictive model is presented and validated. Overall, even if some limitations were identified, the relevance of the model proposed is warranted from the statistical point of view. The airtightness predictive model presented offers a procedure for airtightness estimation of residential buildings in Spain., Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (grant BIA2015-64321-R)

Air infiltration through the building envelope has already been proven to have a significant energy impact in dwellings. Different studies have been carried out in Europe, but there is still a lack of knowledge in this field regarding mild climates. An experimental field study has been carried out in the Mediterranean climate area of Spain and the Canary Islands in order to assess the air permeability of the building envelope and its energy impact. A wide characterization and Blower Door tests have been performed in 225 cases in Alicante, Barcelona, Málaga, Sevilla and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for this purpose. The obtained mean air permeability rate for the 225 studied cases was 6.56 m3/(h·m2). The influence of several variables on airtightness was statistically analysed, although only location, climate zone and window material were found to be significant. Air infiltration has an energy impact between 2.43 and 16.44 kWh/m2·year on the heating demand and between 0.54 and 3.06 kWh/m2·year on the cooling demand.

Air infiltration through the building envelope has already been proven to have a significant energy impact in dwellings. Different studies have been carried out in Europe, but there is still a lack of knowledge in this field regarding mild climates. An experimental field study has been carried out in the Mediterranean climate area of Spain and the Canary Islands in order to assess the air permeability of the building envelope and its energy impact. A wide characterization and Blower Door tests have been performed in 225 cases in Alicante, Barcelona, Málaga, Sevilla and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for this purpose. The obtained mean air permeability rate for the 225 studied cases was 6.56 m3/(h·m2). The influence of several variables on airtightness was statistically analysed, although only location, climate zone and window material were found to be significant. Air infiltration has an energy impact between 2.43 and 16.44 kWh/m2·year on the heating demand and between 0.54 and 3.06 kWh/m2·year on the cooling demand.

Air infiltration through the building envelope has already been proven to have a significant energy impact in dwellings. Different studies have been carried out in Europe, but there is still a lack of knowledge in this field regarding mild climates. An experimental field study has been carried out in the Mediterranean climate area of Spain and the Canary Islands in order to assess the air permeability of the building envelope and its energy impact. A wide characterization and Blower Door tests have been performed in 225 cases in Alicante, Barcelona, Málaga, Sevilla and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for this purpose. The obtained mean air permeability rate for the 225 studied cases was 6.56 m3/(h·m2). The influence of several variables on airtightness was statistically analysed, although only location, climate zone and window material were found to be significant. Air infiltration has an energy impact between 2.43 and 16.44 kWh/m2·year on the heating demand and between 0.54 and 3.06 kWh/m2·year on the cooling demand.