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The Renovation Wave for Europe highlighted the role of the public building stock for which Directive 2012/27/EU has set an annual renewal rate of 3%, which should rise to reach the goal of decarbonization by 2050. In this paper, the energy retrofit of an educational building—at the academic level—in Southern Italy was investigated. The aim was to evaluate the incentive share, which could accelerate the energy efficiency process, to achieve a cost-effective nZEB. The results show that the highest incentive rate is required for interventions on the opaque building envelope, which are also those that allow the least energy savings. An incentive rate of about 45% for the energy efficiency of the transparent envelope is necessary to reduce the payback time by about 7 years. The efficiency of the plants and the installation of a PV system are energetically and economically convenient even without forms of economic incentive. Finally, if the building is brought to high energy standards—a primary energy saving of 46% and energy class A3—an incentive rate of 40% is required to repay the intervention in about 10 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces an innovative method for making cement-based composites from corn straw plants, and investigates the strength, thermal conductivity, and hydration characteristics of the composites. Corn straw is a natural, renewable, and breathable thermal insulation composite that contains cellular sealed pores. Corn straw contains a large amount of soluble cellulosic sugar, which hinders the hydration reaction of Portland cement and affects the use of corn straw as a building material. In this study, a 3 wt.% siliceous solution was used for surface treatment of corn straw particles to prevent cellulosic sugar from affecting the hydration performance of Portland cement. The composition of added cement-based composite materials with treated corn straw at the dosage of 11–20 wt.% was investigated. The test results showed that the corn straw cement-based composite (CSCC) had an optimal thermal conductivity of 0.102–0.112 (W/(m·K)) and a minimum compressive strength of above 1 MPa. The hydration performance of four typical CSCCs was examined using XRD, SEM, and EDS. The experimental results of this study may help to increase the comprehensive utilization of corn straw. The manufacturing method of the composite materials is simple, effective, and convenient for popularization and application, and it provides a new important technical measure to solve the problem of high energy consumption in rural houses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential to reduce energy consumption in buildings is high. The design phase of the building is very important. In addition, it is vital to understand how to measure the energy efficiency in the building operation phase in order to encourage the right efficiency efforts. In understanding the building energy efficiency, it is important to comprehend the interplay of building occupancy, space efficiency, and energy efficiency. Recent studies found in the literature concerning energy efficiency in office buildings have concentrated heavily on the technical characteristics of the buildings or technical systems. The most commonly used engineering indicator for building energy efficiency is the specific energy consumption (SEC), commonly measured in kWh/m2 per annum. While the SEC is a sound way to measure the technical properties of a building and to guide its design, it obviously omits the issues of building occupancy and space efficiency. This paper studies existing energy efficiency indicators and introduces a new indicator for building energy efficiency which takes into account both space and occupancy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large amount of the Iranian energy demand is related to the building sector, mainly due to its obsolescence. In this paper, a second-skin system has been implemented as a retrofit action for an office building, evaluating the effect of a tensile material as second-skin in terms of primary energy saving, carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, and simple payback period. The analysis was carried out through numerical simulations across a whole year and for four Iranian cities (Tabriz, Teheran, Yazd, and Bandar Abbas) in four different climates (cold, temperate, hot-dry, and hot-wet), and with the building aligned at either north-south or east-west. Moreover, an economic analysis was carried out suggesting different incentive policies to promote building energy refurbishment. The simulation results highlighted a favorable orientation for buildings in Iran, suggesting a guideline for new constructions. Indeed, the best results were achieved for an east-west orientation of the building (up to a primary energy saving of 13.6% and reduction of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions of 45.5 MgCO2,eq, in Yazd), with a decrease of the annual specific total (cooling and thermal) energy demand of 37.9 kWh/m2/year. The simple payback period values were also lower in the east-west orientation than the north-south one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy used for lighting is one of the major components of total energy consumption in buildings. Nowadays, buildings have a great potential to reduce their energy consumption, but to achieve this purpose additional efforts are indispensable. In this study, the need for energy savings evaluation before the implementation of lighting control algorithms for a specified building is highlighted. Therefore, experimental tests have been carried out in a university building with laboratories and other rooms, equipped with KNX building automation system. A dimmable control strategy has been investigated, dependent on daylight illuminance. Moreover, a relationship between external and internal daylight illuminance levels has been evaluated as well. Based on the experimental results, the authors proposed a method for the rough estimation of electrical energy savings. Since, according to the EN 15232 standard, Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS) play an important role in buildings’ energy efficiency improvements, the BACS efficiency factors from this standard have been used to verify the experimental results presented in the paper. The potential to reduce energy consumption from lighting in non-residential buildings by 28% for offices and 24% for educational buildings has been confirmed, but its dependence on specific building parameters has been discussed as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Korea has become increasingly interested in unused, but possibly useful energy resources, due to the world-wide controversy over nuclear power and limitations in renewable energy production. Among these unused resources, the water that is produced in our surroundings is available as a potential energy source for heating, cooling and domestic hot water. This water is relatively stable on the supply side, available as a high-efficiency source in all seasons, and is continuously replenished without polluting the environment. This paper analyses the energy savings generated based on the actual use of a sustainable heating and cooling system that operates using the water escaping from a nearby building. The results indicate the value of protecting the environment as well as reducing energy consumption and associated costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]