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Air infiltration through the building envelope has already been proven to have a significant energy impact in dwellings. Different studies have been carried out in Europe, but there is still a lack of knowledge in this field regarding mild climates. An experimental field study has been carried out in the Mediterranean climate area of Spain and the Canary Islands in order to assess the air permeability of the building envelope and its energy impact. A wide characterization and Blower Door tests have been performed in 225 cases in Alicante, Barcelona, Málaga, Sevilla and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for this purpose. The obtained mean air permeability rate for the 225 studied cases was 6.56 m3/(h·m2). The influence of several variables on airtightness was statistically analysed, although only location, climate zone and window material were found to be significant. Air infiltration has an energy impact between 2.43 and 16.44 kWh/m2·year on the heating demand and between 0.54 and 3.06 kWh/m2·year on the cooling demand. This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BIA2015-64321-R) under the research project INFILES: Repercusión energética de la permeabilidad al aire de los edificios residenciales en España: estudio y caracterización de sus infiltraciones.

La experiencia docente descrita en esta comunicación se centra en el I concurso de fotografía de ventilación y climatización. El contexto fue la asignatura Instalaciones I y las I jornadas de puertas abiertas de la ETS de Arquitectura de Málaga. Sus objetivos fueron la motivación de los estudiantes y el fomento del trabajo en equipo, y por otra parte, difundir los contenidos de la asignatura entre los seguidores del perfil de la Escuela en la red social Instagram. El alcance fue el contenido teórico explicado en el aula. Se realizó en tres fases. Catorce fueron las imágenes presentadas. Todas ellas reflejaron elementos de una instalación. Los resultados mostraron el compromiso del alumnado con la creatividad en relación a la integración de las instalaciones en la arquitectura. Además, se verificó el potencial de Instagram como herramienta de comunicación. Las imágenes recibieron 2274 votos en forma de “like” en cuatro días. The teaching experience shown in this paper focuses on the I photography contest of ventilation and climatization. The context of the constest was the subject called Installations I and the first open day of the School of Architecture of Malaga. Their goals were the student motivation and promoting teamwork, and on the other hand, the dissemination of the subject among the followers of the School on the social network Instagram. The scope was the theorical content explained in the classroom. It was structurated into three phases. Fourteen pictures were assessed. All of them introduced elements of a instalallation. The results depict the compromise of the students with the creativity in relation to the integration of the systems and the architecture. Moreover, the potential of Instagram as comunication tool was tested. The pictures get 2274 votes in the form of “like” in four days. En esta comunicación se quiere agradecer a la Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de la Universidad de Málaga la apertura del perfil de Instagram para la realización del concurso. Igualmente se quiere reconocer la cesión de la imagen ganadora para su divulgación científica a su autor, Alejandro Ortiz Ayala.

This article belongs to the Section Sustainable Energy., Air leakage and its impact on the energy performance of dwellings has been broadly studied in countries with cold climates in Europe, US, and Canada. However, there is a lack of knowledge in this field in Mediterranean countries. Current Spanish building regulations establish ventilation rates based on ideal airtight envelopes, causing problems of over-ventilation and substantial energy losses. The aim of this paper is to develop a methodology that allows the characterization of the envelope of the housing stock in Spain in order to adjust ventilation rates taking into consideration air leakage. A methodology that is easily applicable to other countries that consider studying the airtightness of the envelope and its energetic behaviour improvement is proposed. A statistical sampling method has been established to determine the dwellings to be tested, considering relevant variables concerning airtightness: climate zone, year of construction, and typology. The air leakage rate is determined using a standardized building pressurization technique according to European Standard EN 13829. A representative case study has been presented as an example of the implementation of the designed methodology and results are compared to preliminary values obtained from the database., This paper presented the methodology under the research project INFILES: Repercusión energética de la permeabilidad al aire de los edificios residenciales en España: estudio y caracterización de sus infiltraciones, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (ref. BIA2015-64321-R). The work of one of the researchers has been possible thanks to the Strategy of Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment, Sistema Nacional de Garantía Juvenil, an initiative of the Ministry of Employment and Social Security, Government of Spain, and the European Social Fund of the European Union.

Contents lists available atScienceDirectSustainable Cities and Societyjournal homepage:www.elsevier.com/locate/scsLife Cycle Assessment of a solar thermal system in Spain, eco-designalternatives and derived climate change scenarios at Spanish and ChineseNational levelsJaume Albertía,¿,1, Juliana Raigosaa,b, Marco Raugeia,c, Rafael Assiegoa,d, Joan Ribas-Tura,e,Núria Garrido-Sorianof, Linghui Zhangg, Guobao Songg, Patxi Hernándezh, Pere Fullana-i-PalmeraaUNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change ESCI-UPF, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Pg. Pujades 1, 08003 Barcelona, SpainbInnovation Center on e-government, Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies, Bogotá, ColombiacFaculty of Technology, Design and Environment, Oxford Brookes University, Wheatley Campus, Oxford OX33 1HX, UKdETS Arquitectura, Energy Group-University of Malaga, Pl. El Ejido s/n, 29071 Málaga, SpaineESCI-UPF Research in International Studies and Economics (RISE), Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Passeig Pujades 1, Barcelona 08003, SpainfSustainability Measurement and Modeling Lab, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), School of Industrial, Aeroespace and Audiovisual Engineering of Terrassa,Colom st., 08222 Barcelona, SpaingKey Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (MOE), School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, No. 2Linggong Road, Ganjingzi District, Dalian 116024, PR ChinahTecnalia, Barrio Lasao, E-20730 Azpeitia, Gipuzkoa, SpainARTICLE INFOKeywords:Renewable energiesBuildingCircular economyNational emissionsNationally determined contributionsABSTRACTSolar thermal energy is considered a‘clean’form of energy; however, environmental impacts occur during itslife-cycle. The present work compares the environmental performance of two scenarios: a solar thermal systemfor providing domestic hot water (DHW) used in conjunction with a traditional natural gas heating system, andthe natural gas heating system on its own. Weak points are found and different eco-design scenarios are eval-uated in order to achieve a more circular economy. In addition, the authors explore what would be the nationalGreenhouse Gas emission reduction potential of a wider use of domestic solar hot water systems (DSHW) inChina’s and Spain’s built environment. In this case,five displacement methods are suggested to show how theemissions reduction vary.Through a review of the state of the art and a Life Cycle Assessment of a solar system the two scenarios areassessed. Some impact categories, such as global warming, suggest a markedly better performance of the solarsystem (-65%). However, weak points in the solar solution have been identified as there is an increase of impactsin cases such as acidification (+6%) and eutrophication (+61%), mostly due to the metals used. The compo-nents with higher environmental impact are the collector, the tank, and the copper tubes.The reduction of national emissions by promoting DSHW depends on the actual displaced technology/ies. Theconsequences on national emissions reduction depending on these choices are assessed. The potential reductionof emissions, if 30% of the DHW were covered with solar sources, would be between 0.38% and 0.50% in thecase of Spain and between 0.12% and 0.63% in China.

This paper is focused on providing information to help in decision-making between five different scenarios for energy refurbishment, evaluating the lifecycle of each and also taking into consideration the level of comfort in dwellings. This work centres on one block built in 1983 in which temperatures have been monitored which show that the optimum temperature conditions are not reached for long periods during the year. The current state of the building is referred to as scenario one. Energy consumption is evaluated considering the lifecycle of the components necessary for the refurbishment, their subsequent operation and disposal. All scenarios address the suitability of passive measures or the implementation of active systems in temperate climates under the assumption that comfort in dwellings is achieved. Scenarios two and three are assessed applying insulation and changing the windows. The fourth and fifth implement an alternative solution, a controlled mechanical ventilation based on a typical mild climate cross ventilation. Evaluation uses two environmental indicators, gross energy requirement (GER) and global warming potential (GWP). It is concluded that scenarios four and five reduce the GER in 4.4 and 9%, respectively, and the GWP in 2.6 and 4.3% compared to the current state.