Climate-related assessment of building energy needs

This chapter reports the analysis of the correlation between the seasonal thermal energy needs of different building solutions and their climatic locations, assuming the variety of the Italian context taken as representative of southern Europe. The case-studies, simulated through a detailed dynamic tool, are representative of common practices from three main construction ages (newly built, 1960/80 and very old), and therefore include both different envelope characteristics and window percentages. Consideration is also given to the implementation of passive cooling strategies, such as shading and night ventilation, and to the adoption of variable set-point temperatures, directed towards climate-related user expectations, i.e. adaptive comfort. The graphic representation, according to the heating and cooling degree days adopted for supporting the climate-related analysis, can also be useful for extending the assessment to other locations within the same climatic area through simple interpolation. The data sheets reporting the detailed results of the case-studies, on the other hand, can be used directly for assessing the building energy needs of similar locations.