‘Nearly Zero Energy Building’. Design Strategies and BEATs Influence on Architectural Design

The current ‘Nearly Zero Energy Building’ (NZEB) target requires a new building design approach. With reference to the above mentioned fact, selecting strategies and solutions aimed at obtaining reductions in energy consumptions and integrating renewable energy systems in the building envelope, e.g., solar thermal and photovoltaic panels, are essential. In this view, various aspects, e.g., defining system boundary conditions in building energy balance calculation, are open issues. In designing a NZEB, some key points can be fixed a-priori. With reference to national and international Building Environmental Certifications currently in use, criteria listed in the Building Environmental Assessment Tools (BEATs) are strictly related to the above facts. These aspects impact on the architectural design at various levels. The paper introduces strategies aimed at pursuing NZEB goals. Not all the introduced strategies are listed in the analysed BEATs. Analyses carried out introduce to the Reader the impact such strategies have on the reference architectural design.