Reprint of: On the predicted effectiveness of climate adaptation measures for residential buildings

Abstract

a b s t r a c tIn a changing outdoor climate, new buildings as well as the existing building stock need to adapt in order to keep providing their inhabitants and users a comfortable and healthy indoor environment, with a minimum or -preferably -no increase in energy consumption. In this paper, the effectiveness of six passive climate change adaptation measures applied at the level of building components is assessed using building energy simulations for three generic residential buildings as commonly built in -among others -the Netherlands: (1) detached house; (2) terraced house; (3) apartment. The study involves both residential buildings that are built according to the regulations and common practice in 2012, and residential buildings that were constructed in the 1970s, with a lower thermal resistance of the opaque and transparent parts of the building envelope. The climate change adaptation measures investigated are: (i) increased thermal resistance; (ii) changed thermal capacity; (iii) increased short-wave reflectivity (albedo); (iv) vegetation roofs; (v) solar shading; and (vi) additional natural ventilation. This paper quantifies the effectiveness of these climate change adaptation measures for new residential buildings as well as for renovation of the current building stock. The performance indicator is the number of overheating hours during a year. It is shown that exterior solar shading and additional natural ventilation are most effective for this performance indicator. Furthermore, increasing thermal insulation to reduce energy use for heating demands additional measures to prevent overheating.

The impact of thermal transmittance variation on building design in the Mediterranean region

“…In this context, some authors have already pointed out that the traditional thermal transmittance of building envelope elements may not be the most appropriate [2][3][4][5][6]. Inadequate U -values for opaque and transparent elements may lead to higher heating and/or cooling demands, thus worsening the buildings' performance.…”

Climate change and thermal comfort in Southern Europe housing: A case study from Lisbon

“…In existing buildings, adequate thermal performance is mainly promoted through retrofitting actions, prone to increase thermal insulation and air-tightness, and several authors have already suggested that a heating-reduction driven policy and decision-making regarding measures such as insulation, can have unexpected effects if considered in a climate change context [22,13,20]. These studies also stress the fact that most literature dedicated to adaptation regarding thermal comfort is technically focused and driven to understand adaptation measures to be applied to buildings [12,23,24]. In comparison to building design, attention given to the role of occupants and their behavior while operating naturally ventilated building controls in reviewed studies across Europe, is limited [25,26].…”

Influence of Adaptive Comfort Models on Energy Improvement for Housing in Cold Areas

“…The analysis has clarified that, under the three standards, a social dwelling prototype located in the region of the Bio-Bio will reach it best operation under three complex cases (cases [14][15][16]. Regarding construction, this would mean having low U values for the roof, walls and floors, but not necessarily for openings.…”