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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.

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]

In Europe, buildings are responsible for more than one third of the total final energy demands and greenhouse gas emissions. In the last twenty years, the European Union has published a succession of energy performance of building directives to define and ensure the fulfilment of a series of objectives regarding greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, energy efficiency and energy generation from renewable sources in buildings. For its part, Spain is adapting its legal framework, transposing these directives with the aim of achieving greater energy efficiency and sustainability for buildings. Under this context, an energy, economic and environmental assessment is performed to analyze the impact of these regulatory changes on a single-family home including a photovoltaic installation for self-consumption with surpluses and/or a solar thermal installation for domestic hot water supply, located in each one of the eight thousand one hundred thirty-one municipalities that make up Spain. The energy behavior of the original house is compared with that obtained after it is updated with these new facilities. The transient system simulation tool is used for the energy study. The results show that the European objectives are far exceeded. The energy savings achieved range from 67% to 126%, carbon dioxide emissions decrease by 42% to 100% and energy bills are reduced in cost by 32% to 81%. The findings of this work can be used by policymakers as guidelines for the development of national strategic plans and financial incentives for the promotion of small-scale residential photovoltaic and solar thermal applications, as well as by designers, supervisors, managers and developers to include them in their projects.

"Efficient Solutions and Cost-Optimal Analysis for Existing School Buildings" (Paolo Maria Congedo, Delia D’Agostino, Cristina Baglivo, Giuliano Tornese, Ilaria Zacà) [1] is the paper that refers to this article. It reports the data related to the establishment of several variants of energy efficient retrofit measures selected for two existing school buildings located in the Mediterranean area. In compliance with the cost-optimal analysis described in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and its guidelines (EU, Directive, EU 244,) [2,3], these data are useful for the integration of renewable energy sources and high performance technical systems for school renovation. The data of cost-efficient high performance solutions are provided in tables that are explained within the following sections. The data focus on the describe school refurbishment sector to which European policies and investments are directed. A methodological approach already used in previous studies about new buildings is followed (Baglivo Cristina, Congedo Paolo Maria, D׳Agostino Delia, Zacà Ilaria, 2015; IlariaZacà, Delia D’Agostino, Paolo Maria Congedo, Cristina Baglivo; Baglivo Cristina, Congedo Paolo Maria, D’Agostino Delia, Zacà Ilaria, 2015; Ilaria Zacà, Delia D’Agostino, Paolo Maria Congedo, Cristina Baglivo, 2015; Paolo Maria Congedo, Cristina Baglivo, IlariaZacà, Delia D’Agostino,2015) [4–8]. The files give the cost-optimal solutions for a kindergarten (REF1) and a nursery (REF2) school located in Sanarica and Squinzano (province of Lecce Southern Italy). The two reference buildings differ for construction period, materials and systems. The eleven tables provided contain data about the localization of the buildings, geometrical features and thermal properties of the envelope, as well as the energy efficiency measures related to walls, windows, heating, cooling, dhw and renewables. Output values of energy consumption, gas emission and costs are given for a financial and a macro-economic analysis. This data article provides 288 and 96 combinations for REF1 and REF2, respectively. The output values are obtained using the software ProCasaClima 2015v.2.0.

Featured Application: The results of this paper can support the design of nearly zero-energy single-family houses in the Italian context. The provided methodological framework can support the design of nearly zero-energy buildings and be replicated in different contexts. The effective design of nearly zero-energy buildings depends on a large set of interdependent variables, which affect both energy demand and supply. Considering them simultaneously is fundamental when searching for optimal design of nearly zero-energy buildings, as encouraged by the EU in the second recast of the Energy Performance of Building Directive (EPBD). This paper presents the application of the new energy demand and supply simultaneous optimization (EDeSSOpt) methodology to optimize the design of a single-family house in the Italian context. Both primary energy optimization and financial optimization are carried out in the context of European regulations. Robustness of the resulting optimal solution is studied through analysis of optimum neighborhoods. The resulting cost-optimized solution relies on a moderately insulated envelope, a highly efficient system, and 34% of coverage from renewables. The energy-optimized solution requires a higher level of insulation and a higher coverage from renewables, demonstrating that there is still a gap between energy and cost optimums. Beyond the results, integrated optimization by means of EDeSSOpt is demonstrated to better minimize cost functions while improving the robustness of results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This data article contains eleven tables supporting the research article entitled: Cost-Optimal Design For Nearly Zero Energy Office Buildings Located In Warm Climates [1]. The data explain the procedure of minimum energy performance requirements presented by the European Directive (EPBD) [2] to establish several variants of energy efficiency measures with the integration of renewable energy sources in order to reach nZEBs (nearly zero energy buildings) by 2020. This files include the application of comparative methodological framework and give the cost-optimal solutions for non-residential building located in Southern Italy. The data describe office sector in which direct the current European policies and investments [3,4]. In particular, the localization of the building, geometrical features, thermal properties of the envelope and technical systems for HVAC are reported in the first sections. Energy efficiency measures related to orientation, walls, windows, heating, cooling, dhw and RES are given in the second part of the group; this data article provides 256 combinations for a financial and macroeconomic analysis.

The EU adopted the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive in 2003 to help to measure, manage and reduce energy consumption and consequential carbon emissions related to buildings. It introduced the concept of energy certificates for buildings on construction, sale or rent. It required energy certificates for display in many public buildings across Europe and introduced regular inspections of heating and air conditioning systems. The Directive was recast in 2010, to include a number of amendments aimed at improving the effectiveness of the legislation. The Directive is now being reviewed again and the European Commission, the Parliament and the Council of Ministers are now engaged in a three-way process of negotiation to finalise the text. This paper looks at the history of the implementation of the EPBD and considers how the recast might affect buildings in both Ireland and the UK. It also seeks to offer a wider perspective on how the Directive may be able to help address the energy challenges we face in both Ireland and the UK.

The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) is the European Union's main legislative instrument aiming to promote the improvement of the energy performance of buildings within Community. It was inspired by the Kyoto Protocol which commits the EU and all its parties by setting binding emission reduction. The first version of the EPBD (Directive 2002/91/EC), was approved on 16 December 2012 and entered into force on 4 January 2003. The Directive required the MS strengthen the building regulations and introduce Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). Directive 2002/91/EC was later on replaced by the so-called "EPBD recast", which was approved on 19 May 2010. This version of the EPBD broadened its focus on nearly Zero-Energy Buildings (nZEB), cost optimal levels of minimum energy performance requirements as well as improved policies. 2016 is an important year for energy efficiency legislation at EU level, with the upcoming revisions of the EPBD and Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). On 30 November 2016 published its "Clean Energy for All Europeans" package, also known as the "Winter Package". With an appropriate framework, buildings could play a central role in transforming the EU energy system. Buildings are entering a transition phase, transforming into highly efficient micro energy-hubs consuming, producing, storing and supplying energy, making the system more flexible and efficient enabling a rapid uptake of renewable energy and electric vehicles. The Paris Agreement provides a common framework within which individual countries are invited to define nationally determined contributions (NDCs) taking account the overall goal of the UN Framework Convention on Climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

General guides to support the refurbishment design indicate separately the solutions to common problems such as thermal loss, interstitial condensation, sound transmission, fire safety etc. This paper deals with combined solutions that take into account simultaneously two of these aspects, aiming both at reducing thermal losses and at avoiding or limiting problems related to moisture transfer and condensation, jointly with an indispensable cost analysis. Improving the energy performance of buildings should start from the evaluation of the building's envelope energy saving options. The subject of the research is oriented to typical buildings, often critical from the energy standpoint, which are represented by social housings. The refurbishment target should be the NZEB model, even if it is very difficult to find suitable general solutions. As the renovation design process depends also on the sustainability of costs, an evaluation procedure, previously proposed, is widened to take into account this aspect, by considering characteristics and constraints, and assuring reasonable costs for the most suitable solutions. The methodology has been applied to a case study represented by a common building unit. The insulation improvement is made through a choice of the most suitable combination of material and thickness, with the aim not only of the energy saving, but also of the reduction of the risk of vapour condensation that depends, among other things, on the position of the insulating materials within the wall's structure. Some combined refurbishment solutions for the building envelope are examined and the corresponding costs are evaluated. Moreover, to show the importance of the problem in mild and continental climates, a comparison of the results in different climatic conditions is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the end of November 2016, the European Commission tabled the Clean Energy for All Europeans package, which represents a large set of proposals for several key directives related to energy. The package included proposed revisions to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) which seek to update and streamline the Directive in several areas, including provisions to ensure buildings operate efficiently by encouraging the uptake of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and smart technologies. Although it can be argued that there is at present no commonly accepted definition of a "smart building", the Commission's proposed revision refers to three key features of a possible indicator of "smartness" in buildings: the technological readiness of a building to (1) interact with its occupants; (2) to interact with the grid; and (3) to manage itself efficiently. Using these three pillars of "smartness" as a methodological starting point, this paper identifies and analyses recent and ongoing Horizon 2020 research, innovation and market uptake projects which are investigating "smart buildings". The research maps and examines the tasks, scope and innovations in areas that include building automation and control systems, demand response, energy management, ICT and user interfaces for energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In times of great transition of the European construction sector to energy efficient and nearly zero energy buildings (nZEB), a market observation containing qualitative and quantitative indications should help to fill out some of the current gaps concerning the EU 2020 carbon targets. Next to the economic challenges, there are equally important factors that hinder renovating the existing residential building stock and adding newly constructed high performance buildings. Under these circumstances this paper summarises the findings of a cross-comparative study of the societal and technical barriers of nZEB implementation in 7 Southern European countries. The study analyses the present situation and provides an overview on future prospects for nZEB in Southern Europe. The result presents an overview of challenges and provides recommendations based on available empirical evidence to further lower those barriers in the European construction sector. The paper finds that the most Southern European countries are poorly prepared for nZEB implementation and especially to the challenge/opportunity of retrofitting existing buildings. Creating a common approach to further develop nZEB targets, concepts and definitions in synergy with the climatic, societal and technical state of progress in Southern Europe is essential. The paper provides recommendations for actions to shift the identified gaps into opportunities for future development of climate adaptive high performance buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BUILD UPON2 project proposes to work with local, national and European stakeholders to create a Multi-Level Renovation Impact Framework that contains a suite of milestones and measurable progress indicators for building renovation strategies. This Framework will serve as tool for Cities in delivering the EPBD and ensure that local initiatives are aligned with national and European policies. The objective of the project’s Italian cluster is to gather together a number of cities and stakeholders aiming at sharing strategies and results of initiatives undertaken at city scale for the renovation of the building stock and testing the Multi-Level Renovation Impact Framework.

The effective design of nearly zero-energy buildings depends on a large set of interdependent variables, which affect both energy demand and supply. Considering them simultaneously is fundamental when searching for optimal design of nearly zero-energy buildings, as encouraged by the EU in the second recast of the Energy Performance of Building Directive (EPBD). This paper presents the application of the new energy demand and supply simultaneous optimization (EDeSSOpt) methodology to optimize the design of a single-family house in the Italian context. Both primary energy optimization and financial optimization are carried out in the context of European regulations. Robustness of the resulting optimal solution is studied through analysis of optimum neighborhoods. The resulting cost-optimized solution relies on a moderately insulated envelope, a highly efficient system, and 34% of coverage from renewables. The energy-optimized solution requires a higher level of insulation and a higher coverage from renewables, demonstrating that there is still a gap between energy and cost optimums. Beyond the results, integrated optimization by means of EDeSSOpt is demonstrated to better minimize cost functions while improving the robustness of results.

In the EU’s revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), a smart readiness indicator (SRI) was introduced as an energy efficiency activity to promote smart ready technologies (SRT) in the building sector. The proposed methodology is based on the evaluation of building services and how they contribute on SRT. The purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of the SRI to cold climate countries in Northern Europe. The Northern European countries are an interesting test environment for the indicator because of their advanced information and communication technology and high building energy consumption profiles. The findings imply that regardless of the SRI’s conceptualization as a system oriented (smart grid) approach, in its current form, it was not able to recognize the specific features of cold climate buildings, specifically those employing advanced district heating (DH) systems. Another, more practical, implication of the study was that due to the subjective nature of the proposed process for selecting SRI relevant building services, the applicability of SRI as a fair rating system across the EU member states is problematic.

The residential sector in the European Union accounts for 27% of final energy consumption and 23% of CO 2 emissions. Due to this situation, the European Union, in order to strive for greater energy efficiency and savings, has established the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which, in the case of Spain, takes the form of a Basic Document outlining Energy Saving in the Technical Building Code (CTE-DB-HE). The aim is to perform an energy and environmental analysis in a multi-family housing block, evaluating improvements that are the result of the implementation of the CTE-DB-HE and comparing them with the previous situation. For this purpose, five representative cases for 26 Spanish cities located in cold climate zones are analyzed. The results reveal that with the current rules, an energy demand reduction of over 60% is achieved. In addition, 65% higher reductions are obtained both in the non-renewable primary energy consumption and CO 2 emissions, thereby achieving class B building status. These remarkable savings show that the right direction is being taken toward nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEBs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gap between the intended and actual energy performance of buildings is increasingly well documented in the non-domestic building sector. Recognition of this issue has led to the availability of a large range of initiatives that seek to ensure energy efficient building operation. This article reviews the practical implementation of three such initiatives in a case study building at the University of Cambridge. The notionally high-performance office/laboratory building implemented two voluntary design frameworks during building planning and construction: the voluntary rating scheme BREEAM and a bespoke Soft Landings framework called the CambridgeWork Plan. The building additionally meets the energy reporting criteria for the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), a legislative requirement for many publicly owned buildings in the UK. The relative impact of these three approaches for optimising building energy performance is reviewed through a mixed methods approach of building occupant and operator interviews, document analysis and energy performance review. The building's core functions were revealed to consume 140% more energy than the building logbook estimate for the same needs. This difference, referred to widely as the energy performance gap, is larger than the majority of reported UK university buildings in the energy reporting database CarbonBuzz. The three implemented initiatives are demonstrated to be inadequate for reducing the energy performance gap in the case study, thus a number of alternative energy efficiency approaches are additionally reviewed. Common to the three approaches used in the case study is a lack of verification of actual building performance despite ambitious sustainability targets, due to a heavy focus on the design-stage and few follow-up mechanisms. The paper demonstrates the potential of energy efficiency initiatives that are focussed on operational performance as a core criterion (such as the Living Building Challenge) together with those that ensure the creation of realistic energy estimates at the design stage (such as the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) Technical Memorandum 54). [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.)

Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB) are a significant part of the energy efficiency strategy of the European Union. As buildings represent approximately 40% of the final energy use in Europe, the reduction of their energy demand is key for a sustainable future. This paper takes a qualitative approach and presents data about professional and market barriers, as well as the educational market in relation to the implementation of nZEB policies for new and retrofit buildings in 11 European countries. Different levels of policy enactments and market penetration are reported and are generally found to be more advanced in western and central European countries. Furthermore, gender equality is examined in the building sector in relation to nZEB and presents significant gaps, with a more balanced situation reported in southern Europe. The accreditation and targeted education of nZEB experts is still almost non-existent in the examined countries, and the need for training of building professionals is highlighted as a critical missing component of current policy. This research aims to be the first step towards the creation of educational material and programmes as a mean to accelerate the transition to nZEB.

At the end of November 2016, the European Commission tabled the Clean Energy for All Europeans package, which represents a large set of proposals for several key directives related to energy. The package included proposed revisions to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) which seek to update and streamline the Directive in several areas, including provisions to ensure buildings operate efficiently by encouraging the uptake of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and smart technologies. Although it can be argued that there is at present no commonly accepted definition of a “smart building”, the Commission’s proposed revision refers to three key features of a possible indicator of “smartness” in buildings: the technological readiness of a building to (1) interact with its occupants; (2) to interact with the grid; and (3) to manage itself efficiently. Using these three pillars of “smartness” as a methodological starting point, this paper identifies and analyses recent and ongoing Horizon 2020 research, innovation and market uptake projects which are investigating “smart buildings”. The research maps and examines the tasks, scope and innovations in areas that include building automation and control systems, demand response, energy management, ICT and user interfaces for energy efficiency.

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]

This paper examines the variation of the PEFs for DH networks in Estonia. The Estonian average DH PEF as well as for DH networks with different configurations are calculated based on principles described in EVS-EN 15316-4-5:2007. The initial data for calculation of Estonian DH PEF is from Statistics Estonia. The calculation results are analyzed and compared with the existing DH PEF. The conclusive part consists of the observed compliance of valid PEF value and its determination principles with the definition and nature of PEFs. The main discrepancies are highlighted and analyzed. The possibilities to minimize or avoid them are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) recast sets out for all Member States the establishment of a comparative methodology framework to calculate cost-optimal levels of minimum energy performance requirements for buildings and building elements. In recent studies, the cost-optimal energy performance of buildings has been calculated in line with the EU's Directive, despite the calculation methodology there mentioned being only a framework that provides a general approach for national calculation methods. This paper defines the parameters needed for the EPBD phasing methodology. The results obtained from the thermal rehabilitation of the building envelope of a Portuguese residential reference building, which are conditioned by the reference building characteristics and by Lisbon's climatic conditions, make it possible to identify the best cost-efficient thermal rehabilitation measures. Conclusions on cost-efficient thermal rehabilitation are as follows: (i) the thermal rehabilitation of the roof produces the greatest variation in the primary energy building consumption (and the floor measures the smallest), (ii) the combination of thermal envelope rehabilitation measures creates synergy effects that lead to better results than single measures (regarding global costs and primary energy consumption), and (iii) it is more advantageous to proceed with a thermal rehabilitation package of measures rather than doing nothing. [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]

The European policy framework is focused on reducing energy consumption in the building sector. The recast of Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) Directive establishes that minimum energy performance requirements have to be set to achieve cost-optimal levels. A methodology is developed to assess energy and cost effectiveness in new buildings located in the Mediterranean area. Several energy efficiency technical variants are applied to a multi residential reference building selected as a representative model of the national building stock. Primary energy consumption and global costs are evaluated in a number of configurations to derive the cost-optimal solution. The paper shows how economical high efficient buildings can be obtained at a design stage for a warm climate. The selected configuration decreases primary energy consumption by 90% and CO 2 emissions by 88% with respect to the baseline building. Results appear useful for comparison with other climates and building types. The paper also points out that the methodology is suitable to guide and support the choice of cost effective energy efficiency measures in compliance with EU requirements. [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]

Highlights: [•] An original method for establishment of a national methodology on cost optimality calculations is studied and illustrated. [•] The developed process is an instrument to assess realistic cost calculation periods under national market conditions. [•] Applicability of cost optimal calculations is analyzed under national circumstances and Mediterranean climates of Turkey. [•] This work is a preliminary study to define the frame of the national methodology for Turkey. [•] Main proposals are brought forward in order to adopt a strong cost optimal methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Analyzing EPBD-derived databases provides insights on the EP of the building stock. [•] The EPBD-derived databases enable an estimation of the gaps in energy use. [•] 80% of the Portuguese buildings have reference heating needs>100kWh/m2 year. [•] Actual use in 2009 was only 5% of the reference energy for space heating and 22% for DHW. [•] Possibly an indication of significant lack of indoor comfort and a health problem. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]