Energy evaluation methods for  residential buildings in Nordic countries

• To meet the goals of the directive 2010/31/EU on the energy performance of buildings, the building sector in Europe now faces a transition towards more energy efficient buildings. Research and development of new energy solutions and technology will be necessary for the transition and the importance of measuring and evaluating building energy performance increases. This paper attempts to review and evaluate different methods that are commonly used to analyze energy performance in residential buildings in Nordic countries, primarily in Sweden, Norway and Finland. A short international review of regulations is also included. Some advantages and disadvantages of each method are discussed, as well as commonly used methods in the three countries. Although the three Nordic countries have similar climate conditions and building traditions, the study shows that there exist relatively large variations in defining parameters related to energy performance in residential buildings, such as energy use, heated area, and climate zones. The outcome of the regulations could be investigated by adapting the codes on a selected set of buildings. Common analyzing methods, or parts of methods, are found to be used in several countries. These aspects may be considered in further work to develop more accurate and easily comparable methods to evaluate energy performance for residential buildings in cold climate.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Samhällsbyggnadsteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Civil Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

sustainable buildings

energy in buildings

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)