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Abstract: The present paper aims to present a distant-learning training module that concerns the environmental design of urban buildings. The whole approach attempts to integrate topics that concern the design of urban buildings from various points of views, e.g. active and passive systems, automation systems, indoor air quality, economic aspects, energy and resources management. The package offers both printed and electronic material that gives the possibility to the students to study the various topics by using different educational methods. Additionally, the present package contains software tools that permit the students to examine real or hypothetical situations and to study further the influence of various parameters that concern the environmental building design. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article deals with the energy performance of eight new and existing museum buildings located around Europe. Various energy efficiency and microclimate improvement measures have been adopted to reduce the energy consumption of the buildings and improve the comfort conditions. The investigation was implemented in two principal phases. During the first phase, energy simulation studies were performed in all buildings to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed measures and the various design possibilities. The energy consumption for heating, cooling, lighting and other electrical devices was calculated with and without the application of the proposed techniques and the corresponding energy conservation was estimated. Therefore, the proper measures from the energy point of view were adopted. During the second phase, measurements of the energy consumption were performed in the buildings after the finalization of the construction and the implementation of the proposed measures. The energy conservation was again calculated to evaluate the energy efficiency of the final construction. In addition to the energy aspect, the environmental impact of the final construction of the museums was investigated by calculating the reduction of the CO2 emissions due to the applied energy conservation techniques. Finally, the economic efficiency was examined by assessing the payback period of the adopted measures.The results of the present work show that the adaptation of energy conservation techniques in museums buildings can reduce significantly the energy consumption by respecting at the same time the requirements of the exhibition spaces and the comfort conditions of the visitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The archaeological museum of Delphi is one of the most visited museums in Greece with visitors ranging from about 150,000 to 300,000 per year. The building was retrofitted as a result of the Greek case study in the demonstration project ‘MUSEUMS—Energy Efficiency and Sustainability in Retrofitted and New Museum Buildings’ which was executed within the fifth Framework Programme of the European Commission DG TREN (Energie Programme). The retrofitting works aimed to integrate bioclimatic and sustainable measures in the existing exhibition halls, to minimize energy consumption and to improve comfort and exhibition quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present the architecture, the algorithms and the performance results of an integrated indoor environment energy management system (IEEMS) for buildings. The buildings’ users comfort requirements are fulfilled and regulated using a fuzzy controller. The fuzzy controller’s structure is adjusted to the users’ requirements that are monitored via a smart card system. The IEEMS is installed in two buildings in Athens and in Crete, both in Greece. The energy conservation achieved by the IEEMS operation is more than 30% compared to the existing control system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]