One of the greatest challenges facing the European Union is the conversion of the existing residential building stock into nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEBs) by 2050 through energy renovation, ...given that the residential sector is one of the largest consumers of final energy and that approximately two-thirds of existing dwellings were built before 1980. The objective of this study is to assess the energy, environmental, and economic impacts of the energy renovation of thermal envelopes of existing multi-family buildings in the hot and temperate climate zones of Spain by using life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) to determine the optimal thicknesses of insulation to be added to the walls, roof, and first floor framework of the buildings and replacing existing building openings to achieve NZEBs. Four thermal insulation materials are considered with four different heating and cooling systems and ten different models. With the methodology developed, the best energy renovation solutions are estimated and then thermally simulated. In total, 67 of the 576 proposed energy renovation solutions achieve NZEBs. This study fills in the gap between LCCA estimates and reality.
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•Implementation of the EPBD in Southern European countries is analysed.•Italy widely leads the way in scientific production in the field.•Optional application of the standard impedes ...homogeneous progress.•France leads the transposition of European Directives into its national regulation.•A greater number of common objectives with mandatory compliance should be implemented.
The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive covers a broad range of policies and supportive measures designed to help European Union national governments boost energy performance of buildings and improve existing building stock. This review is a comparative study of Southern European countries with respect to their transposition of successive European Directives developed by each Member State through their own regulations and implementations of specific energy performance requirements. The article presents, on the one hand, a complete study of the literature, showing that Italy, Spain and Portugal are the countries that have developed a greater number of articles with content strongly focused on the scope of this work, with Energy and Buildings by far being the reference journal on this topic. On the other hand, conclusions about the applications carried out by each Member State are shown, such as the Directives that were implemented in a reasonable time, although not all countries have done so at the same pace or with the same degree of development. Many of the Southern European countries are not adequately prepared for the correct and effective implementation of nearly zero-energy buildings, and there are still many improvements that should be addressed in the coming years. For these reasons and to increase the effectiveness of the framework Directive, a greater number of common objectives subject to mandatory compliance should be considered. Establishing basic formulas and methodologies while ensuring flexibility for Member States to account for their own unique characteristics is necessary to achieve these common objectives.
The regulations regarding energy savings in buildings in Spain have evolved in parallel with the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). In addition to the requirements that must be met by ...both new and renovated buildings, the Basic Document on Energy Saving of the Technical Building Code (CTE-DB-HE) compiles the requirements necessary to achieve nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEBs). The objective of this work is to analyse the evolution of the CTE-DB-HE in detail for both the residential and non-residential sectors, highlighting the major novel aspects and changes introduced during the last 15 years. To illustrate these changes, several case studies are examined to verify the implications of applying the CTE-DB-HE to the building sector. This work then explores the direction of this sector in the near future, given that NZEBs are already a reality in Spain, and it discusses how progress is being made towards achieving the 2030–2050 objectives for the European building stock. The most recent CTE-DB-HE presents both challenges and opportunities to carry out ambitious energy renovation in the Spanish building sector.
•A comprehensive study of the evolution of the EPBD for residential and non-residential buildings is conducted.•The major novel aspects and changes introduced in the CTE-DB-HE during the last 15 years are analysed.•Indicators for evaluating all types of buildings are presented and compared.•The main changes are illustrated using several case studies.•Scenarios for the building sector in 2030 and 2050 are established.
In Spain, the regulation of energy savings in buildings has evolved in parallel with the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). With the upcoming Basic Document on Energy Saving of the ...Technical Building Code (CTE-DB-HE 2018), nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEBs) are addressed for the first time, including both new buildings and renovated buildings. The goal of the present work is to present the innovations of the forthcoming modifications introduced by the implementation of the EPBD 2010 in Spain, highlighting the energy rehabilitation possibilities offered, with a goal of achieving the classification of all buildings as NZEBs by 2020. To illustrate these modifications, a complete case study is analyzed, in which the improvements introduced with respect to the previous regulation are checked against the new renewable energy contribution requirements for the production of domestic hot water, energy demand limits and energy consumption limits of the upcoming CTE-DB-HE 2018. In this way, we clarify how the energy consumption of the residential building stock is expected to be reduced and how policies that favor building energy rehabilitation can be encouraged to achieve the European goals for 2020 and 2030.
•The new energy saving requirements of building are analyzed.•The main changes introduced are illustrated using a case study.•Indicators to evaluate the residential sector buildings are compared.•This work is useful for drafting energy rehabilitation scenarios.
The residential sector in the European Union accounts for 25.4% of the final energy consumption and 20.8% of the CO2 emissions. Greater savings and efficiency in the sector are expected through the ...Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). In the case of Spain, this directive is implemented through the Basic Energy-Saving Document of the Technical Building Code (CTE-DB-HE). This study presents an energy and environmental analysis of the EPBD implementation and evolution toward nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEBs) in a multi-family housing block. The locations of the studied building span 24 cities representative of the hot and temperate climate zones in Spain. This study complements a similar study conducted for the cold climate zones in Spain. The evolution of the regulation is studied through 5 cases and 3 proposals that seek to achieve NZEBs. The results reveal that reductions of more than 50% in energy demand, more than 68% in non-renewable primary energy consumption and more than 65% in CO2 emissions are achieved with the current regulation. In addition, this article shows how the CTE-DB-HE can evolve to achieve NZEBs.
•Compliance with EPBD in Spain (CTE-DB-HE) ensures major energy savings in buildings.•The total energy demand of the building can be reduced by up to 99.73 kWh/m2·year.•Non-renewable primary energy consumption rating can be changed from E to C at least.•An increase from a rating of E to C or higher in terms of CO2 emissions can be achieved.•The possibility of an A rating was studied as a primary requirement of NZEBs.
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