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Technologies and Socio-economic Strategies to nZEB in the Building Stock of the Mediterranean Area

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Energy Performance of Buildings

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Abstract

The greatest potential for energy savings in the EU is in its existing buildings. The concept of “Nearly Zero Energy Building” (nZEB), which represents the main future target for the design of new buildings, is now gaining increasing attention in relation to the renovation of existing buildings as well. This is exceptionally challenging, considering the economic crisis in the EU and, in particular, in the Mediterranean areas, which are currently experiencing high levels of unemployment, poverty, and social exclusion. This chapter presents and discusses some progress in low- and zero-energy research and practice. It contains a brief review of the current policy background and case studies, and a set of demonstration projects containing evaluation and demonstration procedures that consider the technical, economic, and social feasibility of nearly zero energy buildings in the Athens metropolitan area (AMA).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Some significant and alarming figures: the world population has grown from 2 to 6 billion, and soon will reach 7 billion, while the percentage of human beings living in cities has increased from 3 % in 1800 to 14 % in 1900 and is estimated to rise from the current 50 % to 75 % in 2050. The figure for Europe is still higher: 83 % of the population are expected to live in cities by 2050 (EU Report, Brussels, 2010). The average temperature on the Earth's surface has suffered an increase of +0.6 % and is estimated to reach 1.5 % by 2030. The progressive increase of global warming will specifically raise urban temperatures and heat island effect. After the Messina earthquake of 1908 (which caused about 83,000 deaths) the hot summer of 2003 with ~70,000 deaths, mostly in the cities, was the second heaviest natural disaster of the last 100 years in Europe.

  2. 2.

    Green buildings now belong to the “history of architecture”: the first prototype buildings and their attempts to achieve zero-heating in the form of solar houses date back to 1950s (Hernandez and Kenny 2010). Among the recent experiences is the well known urban village BedZED (Beddington Zero Emission Development), winner of the prestigious Energy Awards in Linz, Housing and Building category, Austria, 2002 (Marsh 2002).

  3. 3.

    Bill Dunster, Craig Simmons, Bobby Gilbert, The ZEDbook, solutions for a Shrinking World, Taylor and Francis, 2008 Zed Factory Ltd.

  4. 4.

    A first zero waste-zero carbon emission City is to be constructed in Abu Dhabi, Masdar City, designed by N. Foster. Despite its location (the oil rich and hot part of the world) the development is designed as a huge, positive energy building, resulting in a self-sustaining, car-free city.

  5. 5.

    The climate Plan (City of Copenhagen 2009) demonstrates how to make Copenhagen the world’s first carbon neutral capital by 2025 by means of using biomass in power stations, erecting windmill parks, increasing reliance on geothermal power and renovating the district heating network.

  6. 6.

    In the frame of the legislative plane, recently the European Parliament (Directive 2010/31/EU on the EPB), amending the previous 2002 EPB Directive, has approved a recast, proposing that by 31 December 2020 all new buildings will be nearly zero-energy consumption and will have to produce as much energy as they consume on-site. See also Task 40/Towards Zero Energy Solar Buildings, IEA SHC /ECBCS Project, Annex 52.

  7. 7.

    The treaty issued by several NGOs calls for a doubling of market investments by 2012 and quadrupling by 2020 to attain the proposed carbon emission reduction targets (Meyer et al. 2009). As reported by Guy (2006), according to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) there is still an “urgent need for the incorporation of EE issues to be included in urban planning and construction”.

  8. 8.

    EU (Commission of) Communities 2009, “Design as a driver of user-centerd innovation”, Brussels, 7.4.2009, SEC(2009)501.

  9. 9.

    JWG: Towards assisting EU Member States on developing long-term strategies for mobilising investment in building energy renovation (per EU Energy Efficiency Directive Article 4), Composite Document of the Joint Working Group of CA EED, CA EPBD and CA RES, November 2013 (http://www.ca-eed.eu/reports/art-4-guidance-document/eed-article-4-assistance-document).

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Acknowledgments

This paper is part of the project “URBAN RECREATION: Energy efficient retrofit for carbon zero and socio-oriented urban environments, project n. 326060 FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF,” funded by the European Commission within the framework of the funding scheme of Marie Curie Actions—Intra-European Fellowships (IEF); fellow: Annarita Ferrante. The author also acknowledges the masters students in engineering and architecture in the Department of Architecture of Bologna Lorenza Cavasino, Rachele Iannone e Nicoletta Salvi, for the drawings, tables and data provided in this paper, and the colleague Luca Boiardi for his support in the design builder simulations. The author also acknowledges the Municipality of Peristeri and, in particular, Dimitris Lagaris and Nikos Venetas, for their invaluable help in the production of data, and Prof. Mat Santamouris and the researchers of the Group Building Environmental Research UOA, National University of Athens, Physics Department, for their support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Architecture, School of Engineering and Architecture, UNIBO, Viale Risorgimento 2, 40126, Bologna, Italy

    Annarita Ferrante

  2. Physics Department, Group Building Environmental Research, UOA, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimioupolis, 15784, Athens, Greece

    Annarita Ferrante

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  1. Annarita Ferrante
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Correspondence to Annarita Ferrante .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Process Equipment Design Laboratory, Aristotle University Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Sofia-Natalia Boemi

  2. University of the Basque Country, San Sebastián, Spain

    Olatz Irulegi

  3. Group Building Environmental Research Athens, Physics Department, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Mattheos Santamouris

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Ferrante, A. (2016). Technologies and Socio-economic Strategies to nZEB in the Building Stock of the Mediterranean Area. In: Boemi, SN., Irulegi, O., Santamouris, M. (eds) Energy Performance of Buildings. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20831-2_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20831-2_8

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