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The new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU) 2018/844 has brought about a new drive to renovate existing buildings, especially for heating and cooling systems, whereby heat recovery techniques have become the order of the day. However, the real energy and financial benefits of applying such techniques have not been studied in Malta, which has a temperate Mediterranean climate. Thus, this study has performed a technical and financial analysis of using different heat recovery options for the most common office type, that is a medium-sized flatted office, using EnergyPlus dynamic simulation tool and multiple linear regressions. Results showed that the coefficient of performance of the air-conditioners, the window to wall ratio and the cooling set-point temperatures, have the greatest impact, while heat recovery has an insignificant contribution to energy efficiency, thus making it rank low in the list of energy efficiency priority measures for medium-sized offices in Malta., peer-reviewed

The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) 2010/31/EU requires EU Member States to calculate the cost-optimal levels of minimum energy performance requirements for new buildings and buildings that undergo major renovation. The European Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 244/2012 and accompanying Guidelines 2012/C 115/01 establish a comparative methodology with regards to number of reference buildings for each building category, number of energy efficiency measures to be implemented in the study and the minimum level of cost analysis that is required. This paper fulfils the above requirements but also introduces an innovative approach that goes beyond the minimum requirements for the cost-optimal study, whereby a two-stage optimisation approach was undertaken. The first stage focuses on choosing a representative set of combined building envelope measures that cover the full range of possible energy performance levels, in such a way that these lie along the line of minimum space conditioning costs, known as the Pareto Front. While the second stage applies combinations of energy systems’ upgrades to the selected iterations of stage 1. The scope is to minimize the time cost of these cost-optimal studies without sacrificing on their effectiveness or creating biased results. Cost optimal and nearly-zero energy levels were found for homes for the elderly, hotels, offices, restaurants, shops and sports complexes. Results showed that cost optimal levels are best achieved through upgrades of energy systems and solar shading rather than building envelope U-value upgrades for all building categories. This is primarily a result of the mild Mediterranean climate of Malta. Solar water heating and solar photovoltaics have shown to be cost optimal for all categories, except where these cannot be installed such as in shops and restaurants. Shading, heat pump water heaters and high efficiency air-conditioning systems have also been identified as cost-optimal measures., peer-reviewed

The 2018 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU) 2018/844, focuses on building energy renovation. With the increase in tourists and working opportunities in Malta, the restaurants’ sector is experiencing a business boom. Despite this sector being a major energy consumer, the energy performance of restaurants in Malta has been given little attention. This paper investigates the energy performance of four representative restaurants in Malta. Refrigeration accounted for the highest share of 40% electricity consumption, followed by kitchen exhaust ventilation, domestic hot water and space cooling, which accounted for about 50%, while lighting consumed only 6%. Energy saving potential was primarily identified for refrigeration, water heating and air-conditioning. Although, the fuel sources used for cooking equipment accounted for more than 50% of the overall energy used in these restaurants, electricity is the fuel of primary concern as on average it contributes to 70% of total carbon emissions and results in the highest operational cost. The total potential of carbon emission savings was found to be 17%, when the recommended energy efficiency measures are applied. A benchmark of 14.51 kWh primary energy per person served was established for energy-efficient restaurants. This paper provides evidence-based results that are useful for policy makers to introduce fiscal incentives to support the transition of Maltese restaurants to nearly-zero energy status., peer-reviewed

Buildings are responsible for 36 % of CO2 emissions in the EU. The Interreg Europe project entitled ZEROCO2 ‘‘Promotion of Near Zero CO2 emission buildings due to energy use” aims at addressing policies, actions and investments to facilitate the transition of buildings to nearly Zero CO2 emission buildings due to energy use (NZCO2EB). The project is made up of eight partners from eight different regions and has a duration of 4 years. Project phase 1 (2016-2018), dedicated to interregional learning, has been completed. This paper summarises the deliverables of project phase 1, with a special emphasis on Malta’s market needs and policy action plans required to ease its transition to NZCO2EB. It is envisaged that in project phase 2 (2018-2020), the priority policy action plans identified in this paper will be implemented. This will enable Malta to reduce its operating CO2 emissions from buildings, while assisting the country to reach its 2020 energy efficiency (EE), renewable energy (RE) and nearly zero energy in building (NZEB) targets., peer-reviewed

This study has shown that a new typical hotel building in Malta can reduce its CO2 emissions by more than 75 % over a chosen reference scenario with a relatively reasonable payback period of approximately 8 years. Such a reduction in CO2 emissions is possible by tackling the main energy consumer for hotels i.e. energy consumption for hot water. Various Energy efficiency and renewable energy combination of measures were considered in this study, however air to water heat pumps combined with roof and facade mounted photovoltaic's produced the lowest CO2 emissions. Policy to achieve near zero energy/CO2 emissions hotels should therefore focus on implementing renewable energy solutions for generating hot water and facilitating the transition of integrating renewable energy with the facade., peer-reviewed