Drivers of winter indoor temperatures in Swedish dwellings: Investigating the tails of the distribution

Residential indoor climate is a key factor for occupant comfort, health and wellbeing, while also affecting the buildings\u27 energy demand. A strong focus has been traditionally placed on low winter indoor temperatures in dwellings due to their considerable health impacts. However, there is a trend towards high and stable indoor temperatures, which also have significant implications. This paper investigates the drivers of winter indoor temperatures by analysing the following three metrics of measured temperatures in a sample of 1039 Swedish dwellings: a) level, through the sample dwellings’ standardised indoor temperatures at 5 \ub0C outdoor temperature, b) daily variation, through the standard deviation of the indoor temperature and c) shape, using daily indoor temperature profiles derived from cluster analysis. The study explores the association of these metrics to building-, dwelling- and occupant-related parameters. The analysis shows that 80% of the standardised indoor temperatures were above 21 \ub0C, with one third of the latter being above 23 \ub0C, while 82% of dwellings had constant temperatures throughout the day. High winter indoor temperatures were more evident in middle-placed apartments in multi-family buildings connected to district heating and in better insulated single-family houses. High temperatures were also associated with experiencing draft from windows, too warm conditions in winter and difficulty to control the indoor temperature, but not with the overall thermal comfort assessment which was very positive in both the high and low temperature tails. Long-term adaptation effects, established norms and comfort expectations are discussed as important confounding factors in the development of residential indoor temperatures

Techno-economic projections until 2050 for smaller heating and cooling technologies in the residential and tertiary sector in the EU

This study provides data and projections for smaller heating and cooling technologies including an outlook till 2050. It complements a similar study on large-scale heating and cooling technologies in the EU. The data sets can be downloaded at http://data.jrc.cec.eu.int/dataset/jrc-etri-techno-economics-smaller-heating-cooling-technologies-2017JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Unio

Impact of zoning heating and air conditioning control systems in users comfort and energy efficiency in residential buildings

Nowadays, in the residential sector, a widely used heating, ventilation and air conditioning system is the ducted direct expansion inverter system based on the on/off control of a single zone, which cannot guarantee the thermal comfort in each room of the building. As a solution, the standard EN 15,232 regulates the use of control systems including thermal zoning as a fundamental condition in the energy efficiency in buildings. The zoning system can adapt the equipment working regime to meet the thermal demand in each zone monitoring the air temperature according to users’ preferences ensuring the thermal comfort in each zone. Framed in this goal, in contrast to complex and costly control systems, this paper presents a new zoned control system based on thermostats and motorized dampers in each zone, a control board and a communication gateway which allows the communication between the unit and the control board to set operational parameters as the speed of the fan or the supply air set point temperature. The practical feasibility of this new control system is presented with a thermo-economic comparison analysis with respect the conventional in the context of the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology certification scheme. The model of the zoning system together with implemented control algorithms is developed in TRNSYS17 and the case of study is a residential dwelling in three different Spanish cities. The results show how the thermal zoning control contributes to adapt the thermal energy to each zone in a more efficient way. Moreover, the regulation of the motorized dampers, fan speed and set point temperature of the unit ensures the thermal comfort in all the zones of the building guaranteeing a category B according to the standard regulations. Finally, from the point of view of energy consumption, energy savings from 21 to 42% are obtained, resulting in payback periods of the installation from 3.2 to 4.3 yearsFunding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBU

CONCERTO AL PIANO. SUSTAINABLE URBAN TRANSFORMATIONS

Concerto AL Piano, in Alessandria at the NW of Italy, is one of the 58 integrated energy demonstration sites promoted by the European Commission within the 6th and 7th Framework Programme. Concerto AL Piano is aimed at demonstrating the economic and social benefits in investing in energy saving and renewable energy in urban regeneration. The project includes a mix of interventions: the renovation of existing social housing, the construction of new eco-buildings and the provision of a cogeneration district heating, integrated in the urban environment