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In recent years, the construction industry has been comprehensively focusing on energy performance of buildings and on achieving higher standards of living comfort. One of the most sophisticated ways to attain both at the same time is (re)achieving building’s climate balance by using bioclimatic design. Therefore, the main goal of this paper was to present a bioclimatic potential prognosis and to show its application on an example of the Alpine-Adriatic region. The bioclimatic potential prognosis was made for 21 characteristic locations. For this purpose, bioclimatic chart plots were made using elementary weather data and additionally, the actually received solar irradiance was precisely considered at every location. The latter was shown to have a large influence on the analysis results. Furthermore, an evaluation of performed bioclimatic potential prognosis was made with simulations of a generic building model using Energy Plus. The generic building model was tested in five selected locations and the heating and cooling demand results were compared with the bioclimatic potential analysis. The results showed that the application of the presented method can indicate which passive solutions should be applied in building design at a specific location in order to facilitate smaller energy usage and consequential higher indoor comfort. In addition, the presented approach can be used in order to incorporate the latest or predicted climate data into bioclimatic potential analysis. The latter has a significant influence on the design of buildings of the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper describes detailed structure of the integral automated regulation system for the control of indoor environment (ICsIE) which harmonises occupant comfort requirements and principles of bioclimatic approach. The ICsIE regulates indoor illumination, thermal conditions and air quality. The control unit of the system is designed as a hybrid cascade system incorporating fuzzy logic and conventional PI controllers. Regulation is executed with the use of sensors, which monitor the environmental conditions and adherent actuators. The ICsIE is currently installed in an occupied office in the building of the Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. During the operation the ICsIE was able to synchronise the aspects of thermal, illuminance and ventilation control and maintain indoor environmental conditions in the desired range of the set-point values. From the occupant point of view the ICsIE performed adequately, as manual interventions into the functioning of the system were rare. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]