Towards modern options of energy conservation in buildings
Introduction
High energy consumption in the building sector leads to high energy intensity of the whole economy of a country. It is typical, that in most developed countries the building sector is responsible for about 40% of the final energy consumption. It is obvious that reduction of energy use in buildings is essential to make the economy of a country less energy intensive and more environmentally friendly. Nowadays, energy conservation has become one of the main aims of energy policy in many countries.
It is necessary to underline that in order to reduce the energy consumption of a country the following general fundamental rule must be obeyed - energy efficiency first then innovative options of energy supply, including utilization of renewable energy.
In the case of the building sector this firstly requires introduction of traditional options of reduction of energy use in buildings, i.e. to improve thermal quality of a building itself and modernize existing energy systems or replace them by more efficient ones. When the energy load of a building is highly decreased, then implementation of modern options of energy supply, including utilization of renewable energy, is a reasonable and effective solution.
Energy conservation in buildings is the subject of much consideration and many research studies. As a result recently many papers have been published in scientific international journals. They deal with this topic in a general and holistic way (e.g. Refs. [1], [2], [3], [4]), or are focused on selected types of buildings (e.g. Refs. [5], [6]) or just on specific building elements, usually the energy intensive ones (e.g. Refs. [7], [8]). The importance of energy conservation in buildings can be seen at the national energy policy level and through fostering research and demonstration programs developed in many countries.
Section snippets
Reduction of the energy needs of a building
To reduce energy intensity in buildings it is first necessary to reduce energy needs. In the case of an existing building it means improving the thermal quality of the building envelope and its structure through refurbishment and thermal modernization. Thermal modernization is usually done through the introduction of a new building cladding and adding thermal insulation to external walls or making the existing insulation thicker. The thermal quality of a ground floor, ceiling at the top floor
Reduction of the energy needs of a building through its architectural and structural concept
When energy efficiency is introduced then modern options of energy conservation can be applied. It would be very energy intensive and expensive to introduce innovative technologies and ideas when energy efficiency is not assured.
When a building needs a lot of energy then the energy system must be of high installed capacity (over dimensioning comparing a low-energy or even standard building), which means high investment costs and high energy consumption, resulting in high running costs.
The main
Utilization of traditional methods of energy conservation
It is very good to look carefully at traditional, even historical methods of energy conservation in buildings. This should be a fundamental rule to use traditional ideas that have governed architecture and civil engineering in the region of a country in the past. People used to know how to use their environment and how to be friendly to it. They did not have modern technology to reduce the energy needs of a building, but they had already learned how the environment could help them to live in
Acknowledgements
Studies presented in the paper have been done partly in the COST TU1025 Action “Building integrated solar Thermal systems”.
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