Renovation of Public Buildings towards nZEB: A Case Study of a Nursing Home

Abstract

Recently, the European Union set new rules for the Energy Performance of Buildings emphasizing the need to facilitate the cost-effective renovation of existing buildings into nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEB). Within this framework, the aim of this paper is to investigate and evaluate the energy performance of existing public buildings before and after renovation into nearly zero-energy buildings. Since the general quality of existing buildings in Croatia has changed over different periods of construction, the presented research was conducted on a representative nursing home designed corresponding to different Croatian national building stock construction periods, based on a public sector buildings database obtained from the Croatian Energy Management Information System (EMIS). The thermal performance of the building envelope was designed to correspond to the periods of buildings built up to 1940, between 1941 and 1970, and between 1971 and 1980, taking into account characteristic building construction technology and service life. In terms of adopted energy efficiency measures, for all nearly zero-energy building renovation solutions, an energy and cost analysis was performed. The results showed that construction technology applied in different construction periods has the greatest impact on the energy performance of a building and thus on the economic and financial viability of investment in nZEB.

Development and Performance Assessment of Prefabricated Insulation Elements for Deep Energy Renovation of Apartment Buildings

“…Due to the reduction of energy use during the lifetime of buildings, renovation resulted in a reduction of global warming potential [4]. Case studies have shown the viability of the nZEB renovation measures to improve the condition of residential building stock in Croatia [5], Spain [6,7], Poland [8], and the Mediterranean climate [9]. The outcomes show huge potential energy and economic savings and support deep energy renovation needs [10,11].…”

Operating Principles, Performance and Technology Readiness Level of Reversible Solid Oxide Cells

“…During the day, when the photovoltaic system is sufficient to satisfy the request, the energy surplus is stored as hydrogen through electrolysis, while the fuel cell operation guarantees the energy demand at night or concurrently the renewable sources if there is a low solar radiation [17]. Here, this strategy supports the target achievement of near-zero energy buildings following the Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings 2010/31/EU [18]. The proposed solution would economically favour household consumers too, since the energy export prices are usually lower than the import ones, making the direct sale of renewable energy surplus disadvantageous.…”

Plan for the Sustainability of Public Buildings through the Energy Efficiency Certification System: Case Study of Public Sports Facilities, Korea

“…In Europe, ZEB is a building with high energy performance architecturally and equipmentally for heating, cooling, hot water supply, lighting, and ventilation, and includes renewable energy produced at the site or nearby areas. In the United States, it is a building in which the energy used per year and the energy produced are the same; similarly, in Japan, ZEB is defined as a building in which the total annual energy consumption is zero [38][39][40][41]. Although ZEB is a simple concept, there is no internationally agreed definition [42].…”