Design strategies in facades for the reduction of housing energy consumption

This article analyzes the energy-saving potential of various facade design strategies from a life cycle perspective, including the energy needed in the use stage and the embodied energy of materials. The results provide reference data on the behaviour of these systems in Spain and make it possible to identify the best strategies for reducing energy consumption in a wide variety of potential situations that may arise in both new construction and in the rehabilitation of existing facades. The impact categories studied are fossil fuel depletion and climate change, and design strategies are linked to climate data, orientation, air change rate, facade materials and wall composition. Exchanges between the interior and exterior environments take place through the building envelope, some of whose key design parameters include lighting, ventilation and heat flux. Improving this envelope can greatly reduce environmental impact, ensuring indoor environmental quality. This analysis confirms the need to consider the interactions among the parameters studied, as it shows that there are several design solutions with similar impacts, which can be adapted to project requirements. In both new construction and rehabilitation, some of these parameters may be determined by other design decisions not necessarily aimed at reducing environmental impact, so it can be very useful to be aware of a variety of design alternatives that can be implemented in specific projects

La industria de materiales básicos de construcción ante las ingentes necesidades actuales de edificación

El trabajo aborda en forma documentada, algunos aspectos del mayor de los retos que tiene planteado a nivel cosmopolita el sector de la edificación: las ingentes necesidades de habitabilidad básica que padece la humanidad, centrándose en forma monográfica en lo que ello supone para la industria de materiales básicos de edificación. Necesidades que se traducen en la mayor demanda histórica de soluciones ex-novo y en el aumento exponencial de rehabilitación y mejora de tugurios, que los autores traducen en necesidades de materiales de construcción, y de forma más concreta, de cemento, como material emblemático de la edificación. El trabajo, mediante el análisis de casos, muestra la muy diferente repercusión que tienen los materiales sobre los presupuestos finales de lo ejecutado, según se trate del mundo desarrollado (MD) o de países en vías de desarrollo (PVD). Por otra parte, estudia la incidencia general del sector 'informal' de la construcción, concluyendo que éste, en muchos países, es el consumidor mayoritario de materiales -specialmente cemento-y que a nivel mundial los PVD lo son tanto en producción como en consumo. - This paper documents some of the aspects of the major challenge facing world-wide building: humanity's daunting shortage of basic housing, monographically focusing on what this means for the basic building materials industry. These needs have created the greatest demand ever for ex-novo solutions and an exponential increase in slum rehabilitation and improvement, translated here into the need for construction materials and more specifically, cement, as the emblematic component of buildings. Based on case studies, the article explores the differential impact of materials on final building costs in the developed world (DW) and developing countries (DC). It also studies the general consequences of “informal” construction, concluding that in many countries this sector consumes a major share of materials, particularly cement, and that globally speaking DCs are both the largest producers and consumers of that product

Tecnología y participación del usuario en la vivienda

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