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The need for (nearly) Zero Energy Buildings (nZEBs) becomes increasingly important due to climate change and increasing energy prices. Considering that, on average the existing hospitals use 3.5 times more energy than the nZEB requirement, reaching zero energy a very challenging task. However, monitoring hospitals’ energy flows together with a holistic view on building functions and occupancy can contribute to achieving potential energy savings, which is lacking in the current hospital buildings. Therefore, in this study, the energy saving potentials of a polyclinic building of a hospital in the Netherlands was investigated through a holistic inspection of the building and its occupancy. The analysis is performed in order to investigate the building characteristics, energy supply and demand. It was found that the number of people present was considerably lower than the full capacity, with 30% average occupancy in the medical facilities and 70% for the administrative areas. The air supply of the current ventilation system was found to be constant irrespective of the number of people present in these rooms. Furthermore, a discrepancy of 30- 50% was found between designed and installed lighting systems. The analysis of the polyclinic showed possible energy-saving measures with controlled ventilation rates and lighting according to the occupancy.

The need for (nearly) Zero Energy Buildings (nZEBs) in the Netherlands becomes increasingly important due to climate change, increasing energy prices, scarcity of fossil fuels and increasing geopolitical conflicts. In line with the EU EPBD, from 2020 new buildings, including hospital and university buildings, have to fulfil more strict energy requirements. Besides that, also the energy requirements for existing buildings will become stricter to realize an energy neutral built environment in 2050. On request of the Dutch Universities (WO) and the Dutch Academic Medical Centre’s (UMC), the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) assigned Royal HaskoningDHV to study the effect of the preliminary nZEB requirements on the real estate of the sector [1]. The feasibility of the nZEB requirements has been assessed for several representative, recently designed or realized buildings. For the selected hospital and university buildings, the results show that the preliminary nZEB requirements are not yet fulfilled. The requirement that 50% of building related energy should be of a local renewable energy source seems not to be feasible for both hospital and university buildings. Based on the results and recommendations of the study, a letter to the Dutch minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations was sent and included a strong request to incorporate these in the definitive nZEB requirements, which will be set at the end of 2018.