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Ecuador is a country with several climate zones. The zones’ characteristics are very different; however, there are social housing prototypes used in all the territories. This study constitutes the second part of the analysis of a social housing prototype in four zones (Cfb, Af, Aw, and BSh) in both the current climate situation (2020) and its projection to 2050. Improvement measures from the original dwelling block have been proposed according to the initial diagnosis, considering seven passive performance variants. A total of 56 dynamic simulations have been performed for both the current and 2050 climate scenario. The results have shown that, depending on the climate zone, improvement measures differently influence comfort ranges. In addition, the behaviour of the dwellings on the upper floor is different from those on the ground floor. This study is a starting point to show that prototype solutions of social housing should be adapted with various improvement measures and should be based on specific requirements according to their location to achieve acceptable comfort levels. © 2022 by the authors.

Today, identifying energy poverty is one of the scientific community's challenges. In this sense, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) assumes getting to know which areas are the most vulnerable. This study considers the development of a new territory energy poverty evaluation indicator, called Poverty Adaptive Degree Hourly Index (PADHI). The novelty of this indicator is that it combines the number of inhabitants in poverty with the hourly heating and cooling degrees of each climate, determined using adaptive thermal comfort limits based on ASHRAE 55-2017. The area studied focuses on Chile and its 346 municipalities. The application of the adaptive comfort model can exceed 90% in the north of the country and be below 20% in the most meridional areas. The results also outlined that the municipalities defined as PADHI's 10th decile are those which have a higher risk of energy poverty in their population, a higher percentage of income poverty and climatic severity. A cluster analysis was also run for this decile, identifying two risk groups with the aim of identifying the critical areas. This methodology applied to Chile, but international in nature, allows identifying priority areas on which the measures needed to reduce energy poverty can be focused. © 2020 International Energy Initiative

The use of setpoint temperatures based on adaptive thermal comfort models has been identified as an efficient energy saving measure in the latest years. The recent studies applying adaptive setpoint temper atures consider ASHRAE and EN16798-1 international models. However, this study has considered a local Japanese adaptive comfort model instead. Therefore, this study analyses the energy demand resulting from the application of a local Japanese comfort model and compares it with the energy demand resulting from the use of the worldwide ASHRAE Standard 55 adaptive model and other fixed setpoint tempera tures. Building energy simulations have been performed considering all different climate zones in the ter ritory of Japan, and also considering full air-conditioning and mixed-mode building operation modes, as well as present and future scenarios under the influence of climate change, namely Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5 for years 2050 and 2100. Results show that energy savings ranging between 29 and 52% and 33 and 78% could be achieved by using setpoint temperatures based on the Japanese local adaptive comfort model respectively in full air-conditioning mode and mixed-mode. These results were obtained using the adaptive model for free running buildings, therefore assuming high levels of adaptation. In the context of climate change, the total energy demand decreases in cold climates between 14 and 65% and 18 and 91% for full air-conditioning mode and mixed mode respectively, while in warm climates, it increases between 8 and 36% and 17 and 51%, again respectively for full air conditioning mode and mixed-mode. Therefore, the use of setpoint temperatures based on the Japanese local adaptive comfort model is identified as a very efficient energy saving strategy, Urban Innovative Actions initia- tive (European Commission) UIA04- 212, Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain (MICINN) Spanish Government PID2021- 122437OA-I00, Positive Energy Buildings Potential for Climate Change Adaptation and Energy Poverty Mitigation, Andalusian Ministry of Development, Articulation of the Territory and Housing, under the research project, Thematic Network US.22-02, Thematic Networks of the CYTED Program for 2021 722RT0135

Internationalizing university studies can be something of a challenge for courses related to engineering and architecture because their content is mainly focused on the standards of the country. In this regard, the content of the degree programmes in building engineering in Spain is based on the Spanish Building Technical Code. For this reason, this paper analyses experimentation conducted in a postgraduate course in building engineering of the University of Seville. The goal of the study was to internationalize the course content of that course appropriately. For this purpose, a combined approach was developed based on using ISO standards and including appropriately the modifications through a project management methodology to reduce risks. Experimentation was conducted for three academic years: 2018/2019–2020/2021. The results showed that ISO standards were appropriately implemented in the teaching course content and accepted by students. Likewise, the use of a project management methodology could be an opportunity to improve teaching course content, thus reducing the risk related to the modifications of this process. © 2022 by the authors.

Over time, whether through traditional knowledge or the constructive implementation, the relationship of the built environment with the climate conditions of a certain place has been developed. The control of these symbiotic solutions based on the climate-conscious design and their strategic approach have been improved to keep better welfare levels. Due to climate change, however, design strategies could be modified in a context of global warming. This research considers the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP 2.6, 4.5 and RCP 8.5) to analyse the effectiveness of the design strategies throughout the 21 st century. A total of 6 countries (France, Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile) were selected to assess both thermal comfort levels and the need for using HVAC systems in each climate zone and in all future scenarios, so 1,450 cases were studied. The results showed that the less conservative climate change scenarios will affect thermal comfort, thus significantly reducing comfort hours in warm climates. In addition, passive design strategies could be less effective in the future, predominating the use of cooling systems. As a result of this research, future design strategies should be dynamic and permeable for possible scenarios. © 2021 The Author(s)

The characterization of building thermal behaviour is crucial to achieve the low-carbon objectives of the European Union by 2050. In this way, the knowledge of the thermal transmittance is being developed as a significant factor of the thermophysical properties of the envelope. In the existing building, the theoretical calculation has several limitations with non-destructive techniques typical of the deterioration of the elements. Many experimental methods obtain therefore more representative results. The experimental method developed in ISO 9869–1 is the most standardized, although it presents limitations in the heat flux measurement. However, the thermometric method obtains the thermal transmittance with the surface temperature. This research is focused on the evaluation of the thermal transmittance based on ISO 9869–1 (average method and average method with correction for storage effects), but using variables measured with the thermometric method. For this purpose, multilayer perceptrons were used as post-processing techniques. The models were trained by using a dataset of 22,820 simulated tests of representative walls of the building stock in Spain. The determination coefficient was greater than 98% in both analysis approaches. Individual models were also generated for each building period because they significantly influenced the input variables. The results showed that thermal transmittance values can be obtained without measuring the heat flux, and the error associated with the use of tabulated values for the total internal heat transfer can be removed. This research would guarantee a high assessment tax of buildings establishing adequate energy conservation measures to improve their energy performance.

Many studies are focused on the diagnosis of fuel poverty. However, its prediction before occupying households is a developing research area. This research studies the feasibility of implementing the Fuel Poverty Potential Risk Index (FPPRI) in different climate zones of Chile by means of regression models based on artificial neural networks (ANNs). A total of 116,640 representative case studies were carried out in the three cities with the largest population in Chile: Santiago, Concepcion, and Valparaiso. Apart from energy price (EP) and income (IN), 9 variables related to the morphology of the building were considered in approach 1. Furthermore, approach 2 was developed by including comfort hours (NCH). A total of 84 datasets were combined considering both approaches and the 5 most unfavourable deciles according to the income level of Chilean families. The results of both approaches showed a better performance in the use of individual models for each climate (MLPC, MLPS, and MLPV), and the dataset with all deciles (Full) could be used. Regarding the influence of the input variables on the models, IN was the most determinant, and NCH becomes important in approach 2. The potential of using this methodology to allocate social housing would guarantee the main objective of the country: the reduction of fuel poverty in the roadmap for 2050.

In Spain, the current Building Technical Code (referred to as CTE in Spanish) establishes restrictive setpoint temperatures that ensure high levels of thermal comfort but at the expense of high energy demands. However, the strategy to achieve thermal comfort in offices tends towards the adaptive approach, since users manually open windows, control the operation of the air-conditioning systems, and perform adaptation actions in order to achieve adequate levels of well-being. This research develops the adaptive comfort control implemented model (ACCIM), which dynamically handles the setpoint temperatures based on the limits of adaptive comfort, in three representative climatic zones of the Spanish territory, in both the present scenario and future scenarios. This is carried out by following a methodology based on the phases of (i) analysis of climatic zones, (ii) model construction, (iii) data collection, (iv) simulations in the present scenario, (v) simulations in future scenarios, and (vi) analysis of the results of a theoretical model and of a real-life model. Not only do the results indicate that it is possible to reduce the energy demand, by using adaptive setpoint temperatures, up to 69.91% for the least restrictive category and of 31.34% in the category that has the highest level of expectation of the users, but they also show the variations in demand that would occur in possible future climatic scenarios. The application of the study in a real-life case achieves minimum differences of between 3% and 10%, thereby validating the prediction model.

The term energy poverty (EP), mostly used to capture problems related to an inadequate access to energy suppliers in developing countries, and that of fuel poverty (FP), commonly employed when households suffer from insufficient monetary resources to pay for their basic energy needs, are used interchangeably by many researchers. Energy poverty and/or fuel poverty are considered to be an indication of domestic energy deprivation or energy vulnerability and remain a global problem that has been accentuated in Europe due to the economic crisis. This work has made a comprehensive review of the current concepts and indicators of FP, and of current initiatives to tackle this issue, across Europe, thereby raising the discussion of how energy vulnerability factors fit FP situations: available infrastructure, energy efficiency, social and economic poverty, and wellbeing and health. In this context, the first weak spot of the FP indicators and initiatives analyzed is that most factors that influence the everyday activities of a household are not considered (comfort, health, and wellbeing), resulting in an incomplete analysis if these are used in an isolated way. This paper provides a multiple-indicator approach to understand an FP situation beyond its traditional definition, thereby establishing a starting point for the reflection of vulnerability in policy decisions and methodological implications.

The poor maintenance of social dwellings causes the possible building deficiencies to be significantly increased, especially when most of these dwellings have been built before any thermal standard...

Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems represent one of the highest energy consumptions for office buildings. They are traditionally based on fixed setpoint temperatures during working hours and disregard outdoor conditions. The use of natural ventilation coupled with HVAC systems is frequently proposed when considering the global tendency towards reducing energy consumption in buildings. Buildings working under mixed mode instead of full air-conditioned mode, are a climate adaption development and usually lead to a decrease in energy consumption. However, there is no consensus on comfort thresholds and it is difficult to predict energy demand and consumption when considering global warming. This research focuses on quantifying the application of an adaptive comfort control mode in mixed mode office buildings. It consists of using daily setpoint temperatures based on the adaptive thermal comfort approach, in both present and future scenarios. The results show a 74.6% reduction in energy demand and a 59.7% drop in energy consumption when the adaptive comfort control implemented model (ACCIM) is applied in the current scenario. Results also establish that the ACCIM is more resilient to climate change, despite the fact that an increase in energy demand and consumption can be expected. The reduction of the energy demand ranges, with respect to the baseline model, from 31.0% currently to 39.1% in 2080, while energy consumption changes from 40.2% to 62.0% in 2080.

Heritage preservation presents uncertainties in the global warming context. Both predicting the performance of environmental variables within the built environment and assessing the preservation conditions of heritage elements are today something of a challenge. Based on current monitorings, this study uses artificial intelligence to predict environmental performance in future scenarios. In addition, heritage elements are assessed according to threshold preservation values. The Chapel of the University of Seville was chosen as case study, applying both the threshold values from UNI 10829 and the performance index (PI) to assess the indoor environmental conditions. A total of 9 environmental treatment zones were identified according to temperature and humidity. To estimate the variables, the multilayer perceptron (MLP) was monitored and applied considering the time series of A2 future scenarios in each decade of the 21st century. The current MLP performances were analysed, thus showing a progressive reduction of the PI inside the church: at the end of the century, PI values oscillated between 6.6 and 6.8% in wooden objects, and between 1.8 and 2.3% in paintings. The results also showed a progressive increase in the number of hours and distance with respect to the optimal preservation values in the zones with a greater temperature and relative humidity, with cooling and dehumidification being the most effective strategies. This study represents a progress towards the most appropriate heritage preservation strategies by using an extrapolated methodology considering the climate change effect. Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad (Junta de Andalucía)

Energy poverty is a social problem that is accentuated in a climate change future scenario where families become increasingly vulnerable. This problem has been studied in cold weather, but it also takes place in warm climates such as those of Mediterranean countries, and it has not been widely targeted. In these countries, approximately 70% of its building stock was built during 1960"“1980, its renovation being an opportunity to reduce its energy demand, improve tenants' quality of life, and make it more resilient to climate change. In the retrofitting process, it is also important to consider tenants' adaptability and regional scenarios. In this sense, the present work proposes an assessment model of retrofitting projects that takes into consideration energy consumption, comfort, tenants' health, and monetary poverty. For this, the Index of Vulnerable Homes was implemented in this research to consider adaptive comfort in the energy calculation as well as the adaptability to climate change. A case study of 40 social housings in Seville, Spain, was analyzed in 2050 and 2080 future scenarios, defining the impact in energy poverty of the building retrofitting projects. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

In recent times, studies about the accuracy of algorithms to predict different aspects of energy use in the building sector have flourished, being energy poverty one of the issues that has received considerable critical attention. Previous studies in this field have characterized it using different indicators, but they have failed to develop instruments to predict the risk of low-income households falling into energy poverty. This research explores the way in which six regression algorithms can accurately forecast the risk of energy poverty by means of the fuel poverty potential risk index. Using data from the national survey of socioeconomic conditions of Chilean households and generating data for different typologies of social dwellings (e.g., form ratio or roof surface area), this study simulated 38,880 cases and compared the accuracy of six algorithms. Multilayer perceptron, M5P and support vector regression delivered the best accuracy, with correlation coefficients over 99.5%. In terms of computing time, M5P outperforms the rest. Although these results suggest that energy poverty can be accurately predicted using simulated data, it remains necessary to test the algorithms against real data. These results can be useful in devising policies to tackle energy poverty in advance. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Fuel poverty is a pressing issue in several European countries, and Spain is no exception. Traditionally, it has been associated with cold conditions, but recent studies in the field have stressed its prevalence in warm countries too, during summer. Further, forecasts of climate change for these territories predict more severe summers. This envisages a scenario where low-income families might suffer from fuel poverty due to their inability to afford the energy bill to cool their homes, for tackling which the European Union and its member states are devising strategies. Adaptive comfort models have emerged as a sustainable and resilient approach in this regard. This study aims at clarifying how a change in the behavioural patterns of users, following the adaptive model might reduce the incidence of fuel poverty, compared to the static model based solely on active cooling. For this purpose, a common typology of social dwelling has been simulated in 10 cities representative of the diverse climates of Spain; both the current and future climate change scenarios have been considered. Results indicate that the mixed-mode is effective in alleviating fuel poverty not only in the present scenario, but also in 2050 and 2100, except for the most underprivileged households earning less than 500 € per month. The outcomes of this study will be of use to policy makers, designers, and stakeholders in targeting families in need for specific subsidies to afford a comfortable environment during summer. Fuel poverty is a pressing issue in several European countries, and Spain is no exception. Traditionally, it has been associated with cold conditions, but recent studies in the field have stressed its prevalence in warm countries too, during summer. Further, forecasts of climate change for these territories predict more severe summers. This envisages a scenario where low-income families might suffer from fuel poverty due to their inability to afford the energy bill to cool their homes, for tackling which the European Union and its member states are devising strategies. Adaptive comfort models have emerged as a sustainable and resilient approach in this regard. This study aims at clarifying how a change in the behavioural patterns of users, following the adaptive model might reduce the incidence of fuel poverty, compared to the static model based solely on active cooling. For this purpose, a common typology of social dwelling has been simulated in 10 cities representative of the diverse climates of Spain; both the current and future climate change scenarios have been considered. Results indicate that the mixed-mode is effective in alleviating fuel poverty not only in the present scenario, but also in 2050 and 2100, except for the most underprivileged households earning less than 500 € per month. The outcomes of this study will be of use to policy makers, designers, and stakeholders in targeting families in need for specific subsidies to afford a comfortable environment during summer.

Adaptive thermal comfort strategies allow to achieve significant savings in the energy consumption of a building. This represents great potential for buildings since it allows to guarantee thermal comfort and reduce energy consumption without the need for economic investments. However, decision-making can make it difficult to implement the most appropriate strategy. For this reason, this chapter analyzes the single criteria and multi-criteria process to determine the most appropriate strategy. For this, fuzzy logic is used. With the fuzzy logic, two expert systems were designed: one for rehabilitation works (affected by the improvement achieved and the investment price) and another for new buildings. These models analyzed four case studies. The results obtained have shown that the systems designed with fuzzy logic have an adequate success rate with respect to the expected decision. Therefore, they constitute an adequate methodology for decision-making with respect to the thermal comfort model. In addition, architects and engineers can make modifications to the structure of the systems to adapt them to different regions.

Thermal comfort has been widely studied from the middle of the twentieth century to the present. From Fanger’s model based on the neutral thermal state and the development of the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied (PPD) indexes to the adaptive approach based on buildings that operate with natural ventilation, several studies set detailed conditions with strengths and limitations. In this chapter, a review from the international to the specific comfort models is established. In this sense, ASHRAE 55-2017 and EN 16798-1:2019 are the two most used models; both are based on international research projects with large databases. The two models present similarities in terms of applicability, however, some differences are analyzed (e.g., categories considered). In an intermediary state, various countries like the Netherlands (ISSO 74) and China (GB/T50785) have developed specific adaptive thermal comfort models, which present sensible differences with the international standards. Moreover, local studies are carried out in Australia, Chile, India, and Romania, regarding specific building types (e.g., social dwellings in Chile) or for certain climate conditions. To sum up, many research studies at different levels of resolution have presented the potential of adaptive thermal comfort models, to better understand the users’ adaptability.

The use of natural ventilation achieves considerable energy consumption savings and reduces overheating risk in summer; however, it is less effective in regions where heating energy is more demanding. In this sense, the use of adaptive thermal comfort models is an opportunity to use natural ventilation optimally coupled with air conditioning systems when necessary. In this chapter, the use of variable setpoint temperatures has been analyzed, for static and adaptive patterns. Results show energy savings using two approaches with low economic investment and without comprising users’ thermal comfort. This chapter also analyzes the barriers and opportunities to improve energy performance in extant buildings. Results set that the potential of the application of the adaptive strategies on the Earth’s surface is high although it depends on the climatic conditions. Moreover, the applicability could be modified by global warming, considering future climate scenarios, but it still maintains significant energy savings. For that reason, architects and engineers are crucial to identify and apply the most appropriate adaptive measures in specific cases.

The reduction of fuel poverty is among the major challenges of countries, policymakers, stakeholders, and researchers. Many contributions have today emerged; however, two aspects should be widely considered. On the one hand, the use of strategies based on the reduction of energy consumption through the adaptive approach, and on the other hand, the impact of climate change on fuel poverty, particularly considering the recent representative concentration pathways (RCP). This paper addresses both issues in Andalusia, which is among the regions with the highest population ratio under poverty risk. For this purpose, 4 zones with possibilities of applying adaptive strategies were distinguished in the Andalusian geography, and 3 climate change scenarios (RCP 2.6, RCP 4.5, and RCP 8.5) were projected in each decade (from 2030 to 2100). A total of 6,528 cases of representative social housing, simulated in all scenarios, were parametrically studied. All data were assessed from the point of view of fuel poverty risk. The results showed that the adaptive strategies influence the reduction of fuel poverty, both in annual and monthly values. Moreover, the increase in fuel poverty cases because of global warming could be reduced by this approach in the four zones detected in Andalusia. © 2021 The Author(s)

Architects and engineers play a key role in the transformation of the building sector toward energy efficiency and climate change mitigation. Buildings are responsible for 40% of the total energy consumption and 11.9% of the CO2 emission. In this sense, various international agreements are focused to decarbonize buildings, and the concept of nearly Zero-Energy Buildings (nZEB) as well as the implementation of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) have been designed. For that reason, building energy efficiency projects could be a driving force to achieve a low-carbon building stock and Energy Poverty (EP) mitigation. This chapter considers energy improvements and comfortable indoor spaces, in which the most appropriate operational guidelines and the users’ training measures are crucial. With this approach, adaptive thermal comfort models could be an opportunity to guarantee sustainable use of Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems without affecting users’ thermal comfort. This paves the way for significant reductions in energy consumption with a more responsible use of HVAC systems considering the adaptive thermal comfort models.