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The transition of the Net Zero Energy (NZE) concept from building to settlement scale has been theoretically approached in a number of studies. This paper examines the benefits and barriers associated with the implementation of the NZE concept at a settlement scale, by adopting a comprehensive approach for the design, construction, and monitoring of NZE settlements that was developed in the EU Horizon 2020 ZERO-PLUS project and implemented in four case studies. First, the ZERO-PLUS approach is presented, followed by an analysis of associated benefits and encountered barriers. Next, the roles of different stakeholders involved in the process are identified through stakeholder analysis. Finally, new dynamics that emerge and are critical to the successful implementation of NZE settlements are discussed. The ZERO-PLUS approach leads to achieving NZE settlements with an initial cost that is on average 16% lower than the cost of a typical NZEB, while achieving a net regulated energy consumption of less than 20 kWh/m2/year and renewable energy production of more than 50 kWh/m2/year. The implementation of NZE settlements revealed two main issues: 1) the external barriers that were raised by the planning policies and regulations; and 2) the challenge of managing and integrating the needs and requirements of project stakeholders. To overcome these barriers while reaping the benefits of the approach, the management of such projects needs to focus from the outset on the establishment of a project management structure that will ensure the coordination and integration of various stakeholders. The use of a standardized collaboration protocol from the preliminary design stage is recommended to facilitate future projects. Simultaneously, regulations need to be updated towards facilitating NZE settlement implementation. © 2020 The Authors

The concept of zero energy has emerged as the flagship for the achievement of energy conservation and CO2 emissions reduction in the built environment. The implementation of the concept beyond single buildings offers the potential of expanding the scale of zero energy performance while overcoming the limitations of single buildings related to building use, size, on-site renewable energy availability and cost. Literature to date has discussed the zero energy concept at neighborhood scale mostly by looking at theoretical and simulated cases, including both existing and new developments. All types of energy use can be considered for achieving a zero energy balance at neighborhood scale or only the building related component. Often research focuses on Renewable Energy sizing and management for achieving the balance. The present paper analyses the real data obtained from the first year of monitoring of a pilot Zero Energy Neighborhood. A comprehensive monitoring schema, with a Web-GIS monitoring platform at its core, has been developed for the measurement and verification campaign. Performance analysis has shown that the pilot neighborhood has achieved the targets set for the net regulated consumption, renewable energy production, and cost. When considering the total consumption and PV production of the neighborhood, the first five months of monitoring starting from the beginning of summer, it has achieved a positive balance. Overall, the neighborhood has achieved a positive energy balance on a yearly basis for its regulated energy needs.

Existing research suggests that students are an under-reported and under-supported group of the population that frequently lives in fuel poverty. Furthermore, studies show that students do not realize that they live in fuel poor conditions and are rarely recognized as a group vulnerable to fuel poverty. The aim of the research presented in this paper is to understand, evaluate and consequently reveal the experiences of students living in the private-rentedd sector, quantify their possible exposure to fuel poverty, and to determine the impacts of this exposure on their well-being. Three thousand five hundred and twelve students from seven European countries participated in this research making it the largest study to date targeting this specific social group. Our results demonstrate that this group is vulnerable to fuel poverty and that their exposure to such conditions can have a detrimental effect on both their mental and physical health, as well as their social life. © 2020, © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Measurement and verification (M&V) has become necessary for ensuring intended design performance. Currently, M&V procedures and calculation methods exist for the assessment of Energy Conservation Measures (ECM) for existing buildings, with a focus on reliable baseline model creation and savings estimation, as well as for reducing the computation time, uncertainties, and M&V costs. There is limited application of rigorous M&V procedures in the design, delivery and operation of low/zero energy dwellings and settlements. In the present paper, M&V for four pilot net-zero energy settlements has been designed and implemented. The M&V has been planned, incorporating guidance from existing protocols, linked to the project development phases, and populated with lessons learned through implementation. The resulting framework demonstrates that M&V is not strictly linked to the operational phase of a project but is rather an integral part of the project management and development. Under this scope, M&V is an integrated, iterative process that is accompanied by quality control in every step. Quality control is a significant component of the M&V, and the proposed quality control procedures can support the preparation and implementation of automated M&V. The proposed framework can be useful to project managers for integrating M&V into the project management and development process and explicitly aligning it with the rest of the design and construction procedures. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

The understanding of energy-related occupant behaviour and its better reproduction in building energy analysis has recently become a primary field of interest. The combination of computing ease and the availability of big streams of high resolution building performance data enhance the ability to study this behaviour. In this context, data mining methods are increasingly employed. The aim of this study is to propose a data mining methodology for the characterization of heating behaviour in residential buildings. The methodology consists of two multivariate statistical analysis methods, namely Principal Component Analysis (PCA) followed by cluster analysis. The methods were applied on monitored gas consumption data of five dwellings in Italy. Findings support literature indicating that people heat their homes in different ways. It was found that households do not always follow a different heating schedule on weekends, have very different temperature preferences and operate the heating system at different hours during the day. In fact, some households may change heating practices over the heating season. The highlight of the proposed methodology is the insightful and simple way that PCA can extract succinct information about the heating behaviour of the user. © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Purpose: This paper aims to present findings from an EU-funded international student-led energy saving competition (SAVES) on a scale previously unseen. There are multiple accounts of short-term projects and energy saving competitions encouraging pro-environmental behaviour change amongst students in university dormitories, but the purpose of this research is to provide evidence of consistent and sustained energy savings from student-led energy savings competitions, underpinned by practical action. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods approach (pre- and post-intervention surveys, focus groups and analysis of energy meter data) was used to determine the level of energy savings and quantifiable behaviour change delivered by students across participating university dormitories. Findings: This research has provided further insight into the potential for savings and behaviour change in university dormitories through relatively simple actions. Whilst other interventions have shown greater savings, this project provided consistent savings over two years of 7 per cent across a large number of university dormitories in five countries through simple behaviour changes. Research limitations/implications: An energy dashboard displaying near a real-time leaderboard was added to the engagement in the second year of the project. Whilst students were optimistic about the role that energy dashboards could play, the evidence is not here to quantify the impact of dashboards. Further research is required to understand the potential of dashboards to contribute to behavioural change savings and in constructing competitions between people and dormitories that are known to each other. Social implications: SAVES provided engagement with students, enabling, empowering and motivating them to save energy – focusing specifically on the last stage of the “Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action” framework. Automated meter reading data was used in the majority of participating dormitories to run near real-time energy challenges through an energy dashboard that informed students how much energy they saved compared to a target, and encouraged peer-to-peer learning and international cooperation through a virtual twinning scheme. Originality/value: Findings from energy saving competitions in universities are typically from small-scale and short-term interventions. SAVES was an energy-saving competition in university dormitories facilitated by the UK National Union of Students in five countries reaching over 50,000 students over two academic years (incorporating dormitories at 17 universities). As such it provides clear and important evidence of the real-world long-term potential efficiency savings of such interventions. © 2018, Richard Bull, Joanna Romanowicz, Neil Jennings, Marina Laskari, Graeme Stuart and Dave Everitt.

This paper examines the extent to which different household socio-demographic and building characteristics contribute to high energy use in Social Housing. Using data from the sample created in the framework of the EU funded ICE-WISH project (social housing pilots in ten European countries, of around 25 dwellings each), an odds ratio analysis was performed to examine the effect of socio-demographic and building's structural determinants on high residential energy consumption. The analysis is performed separately for electricity use for lighting and appliances and for energy consumption for space and water heating. Results indicate that high electricity consumption in social housing is related to both socio-demographic characteristics of the occupants and characteristics of the buildings in which they live (OR = 5.6 for households with three occupants compared to single households and OR = 3 for households living in houses greater than 80 m2), whereas high energy consumption for space and water heating is only related to building characteristics (OR = 1.15 for households with three occupants compared to single households and OR = 4.77 for households living in houses greater than 80 m2). The outcomes of this paper call for future energy policy to intelligently incorporate traditional and behavior-based energy efficiency interventions for reducing residential energy consumption and CO2 emissions. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

The success of projects encouraging pro-environmental behaviour change amongst students in university accommodation has been well documented but typically focuses on small-scale interventions – whether geographically or temporally. This paper presents findings from an EU funded international competition, which discusses insights on a scale previously unseen. SAVES is an inter-dormitory energy-saving competition that is being run in five countries and has reached over 50,000 students over the last two years specifically, over 480 dormitories at 17 Universities. Building on the successful UK ‘Student Switch Off’ (SSO) competition run by the National Union of Students, SAVES provides engagement with students, enabling, empowering and motivating them to save energy – focusing specifically on the last stage of the ‘Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action’ framework. Smart meter data is used to run real-time energy challenges through an energy dashboard that informs students how much energy they are using, and encourage peer-to-peer learning and international cooperation through a virtual twinning scheme. This paper presents findings on the effectiveness of Student Switch Off competition, as it has been implemented in Europe. A mixed methods approach (pre- and post- intervention surveys, focus groups and analysis of energy meter data) was taken to evaluate the level of energy savings and quantifiable behaviour change delivered in students across participating dormitories and countries. Reflections and recommendations are offered towards the role of student-led competitions and energy dashboards as a method for communicating data to students.

This paper presents the methodology for the calculation of an indoor environmental quality indicator for residential buildings. The 'Dwelling Environmental Quality Index' has been developed with the purpose of assisting both households and property managers to identify potential problems with the indoor environment whilst ensuring that indoor environmental quality is not compromised in favour of energy saving. Based on the combined effect of three simple and commonly measured indoor environmental parameters - air temperature, relative humidity and CO2 concentrations; the index reflects in a single value the quality of indoor environmental conditions for the monitored period, in compliance with the European standard EN15251:2007. The application of the Dwelling Environmental Quality Index in single dwellings and in building blocks is demonstrated. The usability of the index as a communication and management tool for individual households and property managers is also demonstrated. © International Society of the Built Environment.

Occupants of residential buildings are not always fully aware of the potential to save energy or water in their homes since they do not know much about their consumption profiles neither do they know all the measures they could apply and behaviours they could adopt for this purpose. Numerous behaviour change programmes have been developed in the past years, that help occupants exploit their home's saving potential by providing feedback, information and advice. Many of these programmes rely on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as an enabling technology for energy and water efficiency. This paper presents an energy and water advice programme designed specifically for social housing. Advice is provided as part of an ICT service providing feedback and information to social housing occupants aiming to improve behaviour-based energy and water efficiency. Provision of advice supplements direct feedback with the aim of achieving the maximum savings possible. The service was developed based on a commonly followed methodology that included collection of requirements for the service design and user evaluation of the service after it had been used. Utilities were monitored along with indoor environmental parameters to ensure that health and comfort of the occupants is not compromised in favour of saving. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Energy efficiency through change of energy-related behavior represents a significant promise in terms of energy savings. Building occupants' behavior has a great influence on final energy consumption, and although behavioral savings potentials were usually omitted, there is, currently, a revitalized research interest in applying social and behavioral science to energy efficiency research. The research focuses mainly on the residential sector, attempting to explore the relationships between energy use, behavioral determinants, and effective strategies to promote more efficient behaviors. While the promise is significant, it is also clear that not only the complexity of behaviors but also our interpretation and elaboration of existing volume of behavior change theory, create a set of challenges that research should overcome, if it is to move towards a more integrated approach. This paper presents a review of literature on energy behavior as a basis to understand how behavior change occurs, what the main determinants of behavior are, how these are related to applied interventions focusing on altering residential energy use, and finally how all these aspects can be evaluated. Issues for further research are identified. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

In Europe, energy and climate policies started to take shape from the 1990s onwards culminating with the ambitious 20-20-20 climate goals and the Low-Carbon Europe roadmap 2050. The European Commission empower the importance of achieving the objective of the recast Directive on energy performance of buildings (EPBD) that new buildings built from 2021 onwards will have to be nearly zero-energy buildings. The general belief is that the energy performance optimization of buildings requires an integrated design approach and cross-disciplinary teamwork to optimize the building's energy use and quality of indoor environment while satisfying the occupants' needs.In this context, there is a substantial need for professionals such as architects and engineers specifically trained and educated in integrated design approach and trained to work in cross-disciplinary teams. To be able to push forward the development, it is essential that educational institutions foster professionals with such knowledge, skills and competences. An initiative toward this direction is the EU-project of IDES-EDU: "Master and Post-Graduate education and training in multi-disciplinary teams".The paper describes the necessity of more integrated and cross-disciplinary approaches to building design through state-of-the-art of the building sector and educational initiatives in the participating countries in the project, and through theory of design processes. The paper also communicates the results of newly developed cross-disciplinary education established by fifteen different educational institutions in Europe. Finally, the paper explains and discusses the challenges encountered during development and implementation of the education across different professions and countries. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

This research focuses on projecting the energy demand of the building sector in Greece by calculating energy consumption, using output data from regional climate models up to 2100. More specifically, Greece was subdivided into 13 climatic zones after assessing climate model data taking into account climate change estimates for the period 2010-2100. These zones allow a detailed estimation of the effects of climate change in specific regions of the country, thus creating a database which is used to model the energy demand of the building sector in each zone. Through the use of building data from Eurostat and the European Centre for Environment, a set of three building typologies was created in relation to the building envelope, which corresponds to 85% of the building stock in Greece. These typologies were later appended to each of the 13 climatic zones and a simulation for their energy demand was calculated using climatic data from 3 distinct climatic scenarios. Results show that the energy demand for heating the building sector in Greece could decrease by about 50%, while the respective energy demand for cooling could increase by as much as 248% until 2100. These effects are more evident in the Southern part of the country. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We study the geoeffectiveness of a sample of complex events; each includes a coronal type II burst, accompanied by a GOES SXR flare and LASCO CME. The radio bursts were recorded by the ARTEMIS-IV radio spectrograph, in the 100-650 MHz range; the GOES SXR flares and SOHO/LASCO CMEs, were obtained from the Solar Geophysical Data (SGD) and the LASCO catalogue respectively. These are compared with changes of solar wind parameters and geomagnetic indices in order to establish a relationship between solar energetic events and their effects on geomagnetic activity. © 2009 International Astronomical Union.

Measurement and verification (M&amp, V) has become necessary for ensuring intended design performance. Currently, M&amp, V procedures and calculation methods exist for the assessment of Energy Conservation Measures (ECM) for existing buildings, with a focus on reliable baseline model creation and savings estimation, as well as for reducing the computation time, uncertainties, and M&amp, V costs. There is limited application of rigorous M&amp, V procedures in the design, delivery and operation of low/zero energy dwellings and settlements. In the present paper, M&amp, V for four pilot net-zero energy settlements has been designed and implemented. The M&amp, V has been planned, incorporating guidance from existing protocols, linked to the project development phases, and populated with lessons learned through implementation. The resulting framework demonstrates that M&amp, V is not strictly linked to the operational phase of a project but is rather an integral part of the project management and development. Under this scope, M&amp, V is an integrated, iterative process that is accompanied by quality control in every step. Quality control is a significant component of the M&amp, V, and the proposed quality control procedures can support the preparation and implementation of automated M&amp, V. The proposed framework can be useful to project managers for integrating M&amp, V into the project management and development process and explicitly aligning it with the rest of the design and construction procedures.