Study on building energy efficiency using numerical simulations and in situ measurements

Abstract

In the context of achieving the European Union climate targets, investigations on highly energy efficient buildings through measurements and numerical simulations can lead to the validation and improvement of technical solutions for nealy zero-energy buildings. Moreover, life cycle cost analyses, based on global cost calculations, are crucial towards the identification of cost optimal solutions. The studies performed in this thesis are based on an existing highly energy efficient building, which is continuously monitored in terms of energy consumption and environmental parameters. A full year monitoring data is used to create a building energy model that reflects real operation conditions, for hourly dynamic simulations. The simulations results show very small differences between measured and simulated energy consumption and interior air temperature. The study is extended on investigating, in terms of global cost and primary energy consumption, several energy efficiency scenarios applied to the case study building. The proposed energy efficiency scenarios are either upgrades that can be implemented in the existing building or different other configurations of thermal envelope and technical systems, including on-site renewable energy production. This last study is in compliance with the current requirements at European Union level, with respect to the cost-optimal levels of energy performance for nearly zero-energy buildings.