Energy performance analysis of typical buildings

The study reported in this chapter addresses the assessment of the thermal behaviour of typical buildings within the Italian context, taken as representative of the countries in southern Europe. Five representative case-studies are reported for three principal construction ages (newly built, 1960/80, very old), the two more recent periods having seen the use of more glazed and lighter walls as an alternative to more conventional solutions. The performances of the buildings are predicted, through detailed dynamic simulations, with reference to the resulting indoor operative temperatures in order to consider the actual overall thermal comfort sensation provided by the different envelope solutions. Considering that southern Europe is mostly characterized by warm climates, the study also analyses the effectiveness of two basic passive cooling strategies (i.e. shading and night ventilation) in relation to the different building characteristics. Moreover, the implications in the seasonal cooling need assessment when considering the adoption of climate-related set-point temperatures (i.e. adaptive comfort approach), beyond the assumed common standard, are also evaluated.