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European Union (EU) policy and initiatives are driving both building renovation and the uptake of low-embodied carbon and circular design in the construction sector. The European Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) recast (2021) introduces global warming potential (GWP) methodology, and the future state will likely be embodied carbon targets for which life cycle assessment (LCA) of buildings will be required. External wall insulation (EWI) will have an important role to play in meeting targets. In this context, this paper compares the carbon emission payoff of three alternative EWI strategies that address conventional, low-carbon and circular solutions to EWI respectively, in the retrofit of an existing dwelling. The circular strategy is based on design for disassembly (DfD). Whereas standard LCA is based on a single building life cycle, the literature reviewed shows that the environmental impact assessment of DfD requires a multi-life cycle approach. In the absence of standardised methods for assessment, four multi-cycle LCA methods are selected and applied holistically in a case study investigation. Three allocation methods, 100:0, linear degressive (LD) and enhanced linear degressive (CELD), provide a range of emissions from 'conservative' to 'best case' over three building life cycles and the fourth method, the Van Gulck method, assesses the benefits of circularity through the concept of 'multi-cycling' based on one building life cycle. As each method of assessment will deliver different results, carbon emission payoff is not a fixed value. Findings show that with multiple use, the circular strategy pays off due to avoided production emissions and benefits from end-of-life (EoL) processes that DfD facilitates, that the upfront carbon cost of the circular strategy is minor relative to the carbon emission savings that reuse brings, and that the margin of improvement relative to the alternative strategies increases with each subsequent reuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the requirements of the EU EPBD (Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) for counting the carbon footprint (especially in Scope 3) and including it in construction projects from 2030. The obligation to count the carbon footprint will burden mainly designers, who are increasingly using BIM (Building Information Modelling) in the design process. Performing analysis and calculation of the carbon footprint in BIM models is hampered by the lack of non-graphical information on the subject in library components. The paper explains the concept of CO2 in 3 scope, also discusses currently available tools for counting the carbon footprint, and examines how many components available on the Internet already contain non-graphical information on emissions, as well as ideas for implementing this directive. The advantages and disadvantages of these approaches were presented from the perspective of various stakeholders in the planning and investment and construction processes. The aim of the paper was to present possible solutions, ensuring compliance with the EU directive by proposing specific techniques, enabling the calculation of the Scope 3 carbon footprint, using BIM. In addition to a review of existing ideas, an authorial proposal for a national repository of carbon footprint information taking into account all stakeholders was presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract We report the first case of pancreatic stent (PS) migration placed early into the main pancreatic duct (MPD) during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) due to subsequent endoscopic papillary balloon dilation. A 74‐year‐old woman who complained of fever and abdominal pain was diagnosed with acute calculous cholangitis. On ERCP, a needle‐knife precut papillotomy was performed from the orifice because of difficult cannulation. Because of unintentional guidewire insertion into the MPD from the orifice, a PS with bilateral flaps was promptly placed to prevent post‐ERCP pancreatitis. After successful biliary cannulation from the orifice alongside the PS, endoscopic papillary balloon dialtion was performed, leading to PS migration into the MPD during the dilation. Two days after the first ERCP, the migrated PS was successfully removed on the second ERCP. The strategy of early PS placement in the ERCP session appears theoretically promising for preventing post‐ERCP pancreatitis. However, early PS placement during the ERCP session should be noted to pose the risk of migration into the MPD, especially when pushing the device into the bile duct.

The energy renovation of buildings is one of the main keys to achieve the decarbonisation objectives of the European Union (EU). In response, the Commission Recommendation (EU) 2019/786 proposed an assessment framework based on Measurable Progress Indicators (MPIs) to assess the decarbonisation. The objective of the study is to analyse the applicability of the MPIs in Spain; for this, the study analyses the viability of the MPIs and carries on the prioritization of the MPIs. Thus, the methodology is developed in three stages: (1) analysis of data availability the viability of each MPI; (2) prioritization of the MPIs by and expert round table (ERT); (3) applicability analysis of the prioritizing MPIs. Firstly, the analysis of viability shows that the data availability and the quality is limited, with many data source entities and big diversity of data features and quality. Secondly, the expert round table prioritized 8 MPIs regarding the EU’s targets in building renovation. Thirdly, the applicability evaluation finds out many barriers but also identifies the key points to launch the MPIs base assessment framework. The study identifies the entities that could likely carry on the data collection and other challenges like the digital building logbook (DBL) or the monitorization towards the efficient assessment of the renovation of the building.

A 58-year-old male with acute cholangitis due to a common bile duct stone underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography for stone removal with endoscopic papillary balloon dilation (EPBD) due to his high bleeding risk owing to maintenance dialysis and antiplatelet and anticoagulant medications. He had a history of stone removal using an EPBD. The stone was removed; however, the patient subsequently developed spurting bleeding and underwent endoscopic hemostasis. Despite the subsequent mild pancreatitis, he recovered with conservative management. While EPBD is considered a low-risk procedure for bleeding, caution should still be exercised due to the possibility of massive postprocedural bleeding.

The construction sector plays a pivotal role in reducing carbon emissions, facilitating the transition to renewable energy and promoting sustainable development. In the European Union, where decarbonization strategies are currently proving most incisive, legislative measures such as the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) have catalyzed a marked increase in the prevalence of energy-efficient buildings. In terms of decarbonization, such efforts can be achieved by massively applying Renewable Energy Sources (RES) both in new buildings as well as in existing ones, which represent the majority of the EU building stock. For such reasons, Building-Integrated/Applied Photovoltaic (BIPV/BAPV) systems offer a promising avenue for providing clean energy to the building sector. Nonetheless, despite their potential, the practical implementation of these systems on buildings faces feasibility constraints, mainly due to the limitation of the available installation surface. In such a framework, this study conducts a comprehensive evaluation of BIPV/BAPV installations potential to fulfill the electricity needs of residential buildings (i.e. achieve the net zero energy target), with a particular focus on multi-family structures within the European contest. A reference high-performance building, already assessed by the authors and therefore very well documented, was used as a test bed through detailed dynamic energy simulations. According to obtained results, the net zero energy target can be achieved for energy-efficient buildings with up to 3 and 5 storeys, in Nordic and Mediterranean climatic conditions, respectively. Assuming instead reference maximum consumption thresholds (resulting in higher energy consumption), achievable results are more restrictive, since zero-energy buildings are limited to a maximum of less than 2 storeys in Nordic climates and 3 in Mediterranean climates. In this particular historical period, the outlined results take on considerable relevance, as the highlighted feasibility limitations could jeopardise the implementation of zero emission targets, but they can also be used to properly orient energy policies under development. • An assessment of BIPV/BAPV potential of residential buildings is presented. • Net zero energy target can be achieved for buildings with up to 5 storeys. • Assuming thresholds proposed by the EPBD draft, achievable results allow less flexibility. • In some limited cases, it is required to turn to neighborhood- or city-scale solutions. • Our findings contribute to properly define supportive regulatory framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This data article includes a dataset developed between 2020 and 2022 to characterize and analyze the state of energy efficiency of nearly zero energy buildings in ten Eastern European countries. The data article refers to the paper' Overview and future challenges of nearly zero-energy building (nZEB) design in Eastern Europe' (Attia and Kosinski et al., 2022). The data provides an overview of the status of building energy use, energy savings, and regulations for the newly constructed building stock, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. The importance of the dataset lies in its unique approach of data collection that provides detailed information on electricity, gas, oil, coal, and wood used in the investigated countries between 2015 and 2020. The methodology involves compiling and fusing data from national registries and depositories written in ten different national languages. Thus, the data is not available in Eurostat or any EU platform. The methodology followed to produce the data is mainly a literature review of restricted national publications and an extensive questionnaire with 14 national experts involved with the nZEB implementation plans and policies. The data include several parameters, including building energy efficiency thresholds expressed in the form of primary energy use intensity; primary energy conversion factors; renewable energy shares; building envelope performance requirements; mechanical ventilation performance requirements; thermal comfort requirements; construction rates of residential buildings; and heat pumps market penetration expressed as heat pump units per 100 households. The data paper is valuable for scientists to conduct future research to implement energy efficiency measures and renewables towards energy-neutral buildings.

This paper presents the methodology for conducting a cost-optimal energy performance calculation of a solar hot water system, used for space heating and domestic hot water needs. The calculation is based on dynamic hourly methods, according to the new Energy Performance of Buildings’ (EPB) set of standards EN 15316:2017, and a revision of the standard EN 15316-5:2017 from the year 2021, dealing with storage-tank water temperature calculations. The paper provides proposals for modifications to these newly introduced standards, in order to overcome the observed ambiguities and shortcomings. The calculation of annual energy performance of a building was performed on an hourly basis over a year for the reference of an nZEB multi-apartment building, for a climate area of the city of Zagreb, taking into account water temperature change in the layers of the storage tank connected to solar collectors and hot water boilers. The cost-optimal solution was then determined by varying individual parameters of the building technical system. The influence of these parameters on the energy efficiency of the building was analyzed in detail. Furthermore, the results were compared against those obtained by the Croatian calculation algorithm based on the previous set of EPB standards, EN 15316:2008, currently used EU-wide for the energy performance certification of buildings. The results indicated that the calculation methods of the present algorithm underestimated the consumption of building primary energy by 12%. The energy delivered by solar collectors was underestimated by 18%.

The Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) was introduced by the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) 2018/844/EU, as a voluntary scheme for rating the smart readiness of buildings. The methodology addresses the benefits of smart technologies and their functionalities in buildings to offer low-energy, healthier, and environmentally comfortable buildings that balance the needs of occupants and the energy grid. This is a case study implementation of the SRI calculation to the university campus scale. The SRI methodology is applicable on a building-by-building basis; however, the assessment of large stocks and energy hubs is not addressed and will be the focus of this study. Other studies have proposed a method to extend the calculation to building clusters which, however, involves assessing all the buildings in the cluster in detail. The current case study extends to a much larger number of buildings, therefore, the assessment of each individual building was not considered effective. A critical implementation of the SRI calculation is presented here that leverages publicly available information like Display Energy Certificate (DEC) advisory recommendation reports for a university campus. A complex building is used to verify the proposed method based on the SRI detailed methodology. The proposed method provides a solution to the large-scale processing of building information across multiple complex buildings, hence benefiting decision-makers early on. Furthermore, the method benefits from the inclusion of building-specific recommendations based on DEC surveys. For the 98 buildings examined, a campus SRI score range has been estimated and focus areas have been identified as the foundation of smart energy and net-zero transition pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 58-year-old male with acute cholangitis due to a common bile duct stone underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography for stone removal with endoscopic papillary balloon dilation (EPBD) due to his high bleeding risk owing to maintenance dialysis and antiplatelet and anticoagulant medications. He had a history of stone removal using an EPBD. The stone was removed; however, the patient subsequently developed spurting bleeding and underwent endoscopic hemostasis. Despite the subsequent mild pancreatitis, he recovered with conservative management. While EPBD is considered a low-risk procedure for bleeding, caution should still be exercised due to the possibility of massive postprocedural bleeding., (© 2023 The Authors.)

This study explored which envelope solutions in retail buildings led to cost-optimal levels considering the Energy Performance of Building Directive and Portuguese regulation. For such, energy simulations were run in BIM software based on the analysis of a case study in Portugal. Typical alternative solutions were tested against the original case study, and solutions with considerably lower U-value considering the code for commercial buildings (0,7 W/m2°K for walls and 0,5 W/m2.°K for roofs). To assess the cost-effectiveness of alternative envelope solutions, the Payback Period, the Net Present Value and the Internal Rate of Return at 15 years and 50 years were assessed. Results indicate that solutions with lower U-values are related to 2–5% savings in energy consumption and can be cost-effective at 15 and 50 years, namely vacuum insulation panels of 2.5 cm and sandwich panels of 8–12 cm. This leads to the conclusion that lowering present code U-values can be cost-effective, but it will result in additional initial costs. [Display omitted] • Legal Portuguese U-values for retail buildings could be revised under a 50 y lifecycle perspective. • U-values for walls at 0,29–0,42 W/m2°K and at 0,29–0,35 W/m2°K for roofs can be cost-effective. • 2,5 cm VIP and 8–12 cm sandwich panels are possible solutions to lower U-values of retail buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The refurbishment of buildings is one of the main keys to pursue the targets of the European Green Deal, and to accomplish the European Union has applied two mechanisms among others: the European policy and the European Research and Technological Development (RTD) projects. On the one hand, the EU has published the Commission Recommendation (EU) 2019/786 with an assessment framework composed by Measurable Progress Indicators (MPI) that can be considered the main legal instrument to measure the progress of the decarbonisation together with health & wellness, social and economic related targets of the Directive 2018/844, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). On the other hand, the RTD projects also pursue the targets of the EU but following their own assessment methodology composed by Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Considering the parallelism of these two mechanisms, the objective of this study is to analyse the applicability of the EU's assessment framework by the RTD projects, establishing a critical point of view of the viability of the MPIs and identifying the barriers and challenges of the evaluation system proposed by the EU. Regarding the methodology, the applicability of MPIs by RTD projects has been analysed in five stages: (1) Identification and listing of the MPIs of EU Recommendation; (2) selection of European RTD projects; (3) identification of the KPIs applied by the projects; (4) study of the concordance of the MPIs of the Commission Recommendation's assessment framework and the KPIs of the RTD projects; (5) evaluation of the barriers and challenges of the applicability of the EU's MPIs based on the level of agreement with the projects' KPIs. This investigation shows that although some evaluation scopes of the Commission Recommendation (EU) 2019/786 do agree with high degree with RTD projects, many MPIs present barriers related to the low reliability, the absence of standardised calculation methods, and the lack of data. Besides, the assessment framework of the Commission Recommendation (EU) 2019/786 also presents challenges to improve the evaluation of the building renovation like calibration techniques, standardised input data and the shortlisting of the MPIs to improve the effectiveness of the method. The main conclusion is that the readjustment of the assessment framework proposed in the Recommendation (EU) 2019/786 is needed. This readjustment is proposed to be done by shortlisting the MPIs and defining standardised measurement methods in order to build a common roadmap that could be followed and assessed homogenously towards the decarbonisation of the European building stock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • nZEBs in Eastern Europe lack carbon neutrality metrics and targets. • Performance requirements for nZEBs in Eastern Europe are presented. • Eastern Europe needs strategy and local governance for nZEB market penetration. • EPCs require major reform, and effective monitoring of nZEB performance is needed. • The cost-optimality calculation method must be adopted to ensure cost-effective market uptake. The European Unions' ambition for the construction sector is to be carbon neutral by 2030 for new construction. Since 2021, all new buildings in the EU should have been constructed as nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEB). However, Eastern European countries struggle to implement the 2018 Energy Performance of Building Directive recast requirements. Next to the economic challenges, equally essential factors hinder renovating the existing residential building stock and adding newly constructed high-performance buildings sourced primarily from renewable energy sources. Therefore, this study provides a cross-study to identify the barriers to nZEB implementation in ten Eastern European countries, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. The study was conducted between 2019 and 2021 and provides an overview of prospects for nZEB in Eastern Europe. The study examines the challenges of nZEB plans faced in those countries and provides constructive recommendations. The regulations and definitions regarding nZEB energy performance, cooling and heating energy demand, thermal comfort, onsite renewables, and construction quality were analyzed. Results show that most Eastern European countries are unprepared to comply with the EPBD guidelines and cost-optimality approach. The paper ranks each country and recommends specific measures to refine the nZEB definitions. The paper provides a thorough comparative assessment and benchmarking of select EU geography that can help shift the identified gaps into opportunities for the future development of climate-neutral high-performance buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Building regulation has become key element in low-carbon transition of building sector. • Calculation of building performance opens new spaces for politics. • Policy actors create specific transition pathways of the building sector through specific performance calculations. • New building code in Sweden facilitates a lenient version of low energy buildings with limited climate mitigation impact. New building codes and stricter regulation of energy consumption and CO 2 emissions have become key strategies to support the low-carbon transition of the housing sector. Such regulations rest heavily on setting performance targets for buildings and developing standardized calculation procedures for determining the compliance of new buildings with the building code. While developing such targets, standards and calculation tools are largely presented as a technocratic and expert-driven process; our argument is that these calculations are actually heavily imbued with politics. Empirically, the article analyses the implementation of the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), which makes nearly zero-energy buildings mandatory, into Swedish law. Studying the negotiations and controversies taking place in adapting the Swedish building code reveals how the power play of resourceful actors, the negotiation of interests and the different visions and valuations of what is regarded important for the future of the housing sector shape calculation procedures and how these are included in the new building code. Unpacking the political decisions and valuations underlying the calculative practices and technical details of the building code can be seen as an important step towards a more transparent public debate about the future of sustainable buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This data article includes a dataset developed between 2020 and 2022 to characterize and analyze the state of energy efficiency of nearly zero energy buildings in ten Eastern European countries. The data article refers to the paper' Overview and future challenges of nearly zero-energy building (nZEB) design in Eastern Europe' (Attia and Kosinski et al., 2022). The data provides an overview of the status of building energy use, energy savings, and regulations for the newly constructed building stock, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. The importance of the dataset lies in its unique approach of data collection that provides detailed information on electricity, gas, oil, coal, and wood used in the investigated countries between 2015 and 2020. The methodology involves compiling and fusing data from national registries and depositories written in ten different national languages. Thus, the data is not available in Eurostat or any EU platform. The methodology followed to produce the data is mainly a literature review of restricted national publications and an extensive questionnaire with 14 national experts involved with the nZEB implementation plans and policies. The data include several parameters, including building energy efficiency thresholds expressed in the form of primary energy use intensity; primary energy conversion factors; renewable energy shares; building envelope performance requirements; mechanical ventilation performance requirements; thermal comfort requirements; construction rates of residential buildings; and heat pumps market penetration expressed as heat pump units per 100 households. The data paper is valuable for scientists to conduct future research to implement energy efficiency measures and renewables towards energy-neutral buildings., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 The Author(s).)

This paper presents the methodology for conducting a cost-optimal energy performance calculation of a solar hot water system, used for space heating and domestic hot water needs. The calculation is based on dynamic hourly methods, according to the new Energy Performance of Buildings' (EPB) set of standards EN 15316:2017, and a revision of the standard EN 15316-5:2017 from the year 2021, dealing with storage-tank water temperature calculations. The paper provides proposals for modifications to these newly introduced standards, in order to overcome the observed ambiguities and shortcomings. The calculation of annual energy performance of a building was performed on an hourly basis over a year for the reference of an nZEB multi-apartment building, for a climate area of the city of Zagreb, taking into account water temperature change in the layers of the storage tank connected to solar collectors and hot water boilers. The cost-optimal solution was then determined by varying individual parameters of the building technical system. The influence of these parameters on the energy efficiency of the building was analyzed in detail. Furthermore, the results were compared against those obtained by the Croatian calculation algorithm based on the previous set of EPB standards, EN 15316:2008, currently used EU-wide for the energy performance certification of buildings. The results indicated that the calculation methods of the present algorithm underestimated the consumption of building primary energy by 12%. The energy delivered by solar collectors was underestimated by 18%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A comprehensive review on time-integrated overheating evaluation methods. • The comfort models for air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned buildings are presented. • The time-integrated overheating indices are analyzed based on seven measures. • Short-term and long-term overheating/discomfort criteria are distinguished. • IOD, AWD, and α IOD/AWD indices are proposed for climate-change sensitive evaluations. Overheating exposure over time can lead to discomfort, productivity reduction, and health issues for the occupants in buildings. The time-integrated overheating evaluation methods are introduced to describe, in a synthetic way, the extent of overheating over a span of time and predict the uncomfortable phenomena. This paper reviews the time-integrated overheating evaluation methods that are applicable to residential buildings in temperate climates of Europe. We critically analyze the methods found in (i) 11 international standards, namely, EN 15251 (2006), EN 16798 (2019), ISO 7730 (2004), ISO 17772 (2017–2018), ASHRAE 55 (2017), ASHRAE 55 (2020), CIBSE Guide A (2006), CIBSE TM52 (2013), CIBSE Guide A (2015), CIBSE TM59 (2017), and Passive House (2015), (ii) five national building codes based on the Energy Performance of Building Directive (EPBD) in Belgium, France, Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands, and (iii) two studies in the scientific literature. For each method, we present the thermal comfort models along with the time-integrated overheating indices and criteria. The methods are analyzed according to some key measures in order to identify their scope, strength, and limitations. We found that most standards recommend the static comfort models for air-conditioned buildings and the adaptive comfort models for non-air-conditioned ones. We also found a promising method based on three indices, namely, Indoor Overheating Degree (IOD), Ambient Warmness Degree (AWD), and overheating escalation factor ( α IOD/AWD ) that allows for a multi-zonal and climate change-sensitive overheating assessment. Finally, some guidance is provided for practice and future developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]