Purpose – The Government of UK is committed to reducing Green House Gas emissions by 80 per cent based on the 1990 levels, by 2050. In order to achieve this reduction, the UK Government, along with their European counterparts, have implemented various directives and incentives, which...

Sweden has adopted ambitious energy savings objectives for buildings, but at the current rate of energy efficiency investments the objectives are unlikely to be reached. In this article we report the early findings of how real estate owners reason and act in energy efficiency investment...

Solar reflectance of buildings’ envelope and urban paving represents an important optic-energetic property for the characterization of building energy performance for cooling and to reduce the urban heat island effect. Together with the emissivity, it represents the main feature contributing...

The behavior of building designers is conditioned by the existing legislation and regulations in the national context in which they operate. However, in the Portuguese legislation there are no rules concerning the use of daylight, and therefore, designers are not stimulated to adopt solutions...

Buildings are responsible for almost 40% of energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the EU (EC, 2010). Improving the energy efficiency of buildings is a vital step towards achieving the EU climate and energy objectives. Directive 2010/31/EU outlines measures specifically focused on the energy...

This article reports on the performance of a ground source heat pump system installed in a New Municipality Hall in Northern Greece over an eight-year operation period. The system consists of a vertical ground heat exchanger, 21 boreholes in 80 m depth, 11 water-to-water heat pump units. Basic...

The European Union has unilaterally committed to a 20% reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions and another 20% increase in energy efficiency by 2020. This work presents Ecotax, an economic policy instrument that supports the simultaneous achievement of both objectives, in the building sector.

The use of ground-source heat pumps for heating and domestic hot water in dwellings is common in Sweden. The combination with solar collectors has been introduced to reduce the electricity demand in the system.