The European research project “EULEB – European high quality Low Energy Buildings” intends to provide information about good examples of energy efficient buildings in use, in order to reduce prejudices and lack of knowledge of many key actors of the build

The construction of a building with an optimized thermal and energy performance and anaccordingly low energy demand does not necessarily require higher investment costs. Thedecisive factor is an interdisciplinary and foresighted an Integrated Energy Design.Although this integrated approach prolongs the design process and increases the planningbudget, in return the construction time and the subsequent costs such as energy and operatingcosts are significantly reduced.

The energy consumption and indoor temperature of 9 housing units sited in the northern region of Honshu Island, Japan were investigated for a full two years from Dec. 2002 to Nov. 2004. Three of the houses were installed with all-electric equipment. The annual and daily energy consumption profiles of two typical houses were analyzed, and the annual energy consumption per house was found to range from 40GJ/year to 120GJ/year. In some houses, energy consumption during the second year decreased due to a rise in energy saving awareness.

HVAC load weighs a large portion of overall building energy consumption. A low storeybuilding of 20,000m2 floor area adopted a task ambient conditioning system (TAC) to reduceHVAC load while maintaining work environment. Other design techniques such as doubleskinfacade and structural thermal storage system, were also applied and the TAC systemachieved comfortable personal work-environment with reduced demand.

The paper presents a comparative study among six different solutions regarding the energysupply of a high-tech building. All the solutions take into account the coupling of the sourcesof energy and the energy storage, considering equipments like: boilers, compression andabsorption refrigeration machines, thermal motors, fuel cells, storage tanks and the use of theunderground water and an artificial lake. The functioning of the different solutions wassimulated using Simulink - Matlab.

The climate in southern Brazil is characterised by mild winters and hot-humid summerswhich requires the design to be adaptable to the often conflicting summer and winterrequirements. In the residential sector, air conditioning consumption is still low, but it hasbeen growing significantly along with an increase in peoples purchasing power whichemphasizes the importance of encouraging a change in construction practices [1].

The energy utilization of a country can be evaluated using exergy analysis, which is a way to asustainable development, to gain insights into its efficiency. The authors have conducted variousstudies on analyzing the energy utilization efficiencies of Turkey and extended here these studiesby dealing with the investigation of the thermodynamic parameters in the Turkish residentialcommercialsector (TRCS).

In this paper insight is given in the potentials for energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, specifically when applied to the built environment in the Netherlands. To this end, an analysis is presented of the building stock development from now to 2050 and building concepts and scenarios for a mid-century energy-neutral built environment in the Netherlands. Special attention is given to the potential of energy management systems in buildings.

This study investigated the impacts of lifestyle in terms of family patterns, life schedules and climate factors upon household energy consumption, as well as to unfold the main causes of household energy consumption under various climatic lifestyles. Based on the findings of the previous studies, it was assumed that space heating, cooling, lighting and entertainment/media equipments usages are the major lifestyle and climate related sources of household energy consumption.

The discussions around the implementation of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) [1] – not only in national legislation but also in real practice – have revealed open questions and caused different interpretations. This paper deals with o