English

The IEA, section ECBCS (Energy Conservation in Buildings and Community systems), has launched the project Annex 45 ‘Energy Efficient Electric Lighting for Buildings’, of which subtask B deals with innovative technical solutions. Part of the work is to def

Lighting is a substantial energy consumer, and a major component of the service costs in manybuildings. Lighting renovation was done on the Department of Electrical and CommunicationsEngineering at the Helsinki University of Technology. The lighting in the renovated auditorium wasalmost 40 years old. New lamps with electronic ballast are more energy efficient and the ballast lossesare smaller. Also the optical properties of the new luminiares have been greatly improved. This papershow the results obtained in one auditorium.

This paper describes ongoing energy benchmarking studies of double-skin façade buildings. Benchmarking methodology is discussed. Some preliminary results are presented.

In 2005, the Executive Committee of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Energy Conservation in Buildings and Community Systems (ECBCS) program approved the start of a new four-year research project on building commissioning. Annex 47, on “Cost-Effecti

This paper is part of the “Best Practice for Double Skin Facades” – ‘BESTFACADE’ project (supported by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme of the European Community) and aims to describe the cut back of non-technological barriers to the application of

This paper is based on the first Belgian case study developed in the frame of theIEA-ECBCS annex 48 project.

This paper outlines the applicability of the “exergy” concept to describe the built environment for a better futuristic view of heating and cooling systems to be developed. We briefly review the fundamental laws of thermodynamics aiming at the derivation

Many modern office buildings have highly glazed facades. Their energy efficiency and indoor climateis, however, being questioned. Therefore more and more of these buildings are being built with doubleskin facades, which can provide: a thermal buffer zone, energy savings, wind protection with openwindows, fire protection, aesthetics, solar preheating of ventilation air, sound protection, pollutantprotection with open windows, nocturnal cooling and a site for incorporation of PV cells.

Double skin facades have become a major architectural element in office buildings over the last 15years. A double skin facade can provide a thermal buffer zone, solar preheating of ventilation air,energy savings, sound protection, wind and pollutant protection with open windows and nocturnalcooling. Commercial buildings with integrated double skin facade can be very energy efficientbuildings with all the good qualities listed above.However not all double skin facades built in the last years perform well.

The building sector constitutes approximately the 40% of the total energy consumption in EU. TheDirective 2002/91/EC provides a precise legislative framework for improving the energy performanceof the built environment. [1]It was adopted on December 2002 and entered into force in January 2003. According to the article 15of this Directive all member states have a time period of three years (till January 2006) to implementthe Directive in their own countries.