There are various architectural features of a residential building that can influence its indoor climate and electricity consumption, such as thermal insulation, window size, glazing material, albedo of building façade and orientation. In addition to these architectural features, shading...

Transforming the housing stock to a low energy performance is a key priority in the context of sustainable development and a post-carbon transition. However, in terms of its practical implementation it, firstly, faces a number of complex institutional barriers, while, secondly, involves a risk...

The energy demand in building sectors for summer air-conditioning is growing exponentially due to global warming, increased living standards and occupant comfort demands throughout the last decades. Concerns over these environmental changes have begun shifting the emphasis from current cooling...

The landlord/tenant dilemma arises when the interests of landlords and tenants misalign and is one of the greatest barriers hindering the development of sustainable renovation of residential buildings in Europe. The aim of this research is to investigate how regulatory changes and contractual...

During the past 5 years, the Chinese government has organized and implemented a large-scale energy-efficiency retrofit program for existing residential buildings in China׳s northern heating region. However, many obstacles, especially lack of successful financing arrangements, have limited the...

Projections of energy demand are important for energy security supply and low carbon futures, and usually rely on final energy consumption trends methods, limiting the opportunity for future options. Methods supported by energy services are much preferred to estimate future energy demand, since...

The built environment contributes around half of total greenhouse gas emissions and with 87% of residential buildings that we will have by 2050 already built, it is vital to adopt sustainable retrofitting practices. The question is: what are the viable solutions? One answer may be green roof...

The integration of different energy sources to cover with the maximum efficiency the building energy demand is one of the principles for achieving the target of the nearly net Zero Energy Buildings (nNZEBs), as defined by the EPBD recast (2010/31/EU). Following this principle, there has been a...

For countries pursuing sustainable development and energy efficiency, the use of smart meters is considered a first step in allowing residential consumers to remotely control their energy consumption, and a promising technology for conserving limited energy resources. However, despite the...

Rooftop photovoltaic (PV) power generation stands as a promising technology for the transition towards a low-carbon power and buildings sector. However, in the past deployment has been strongly dependent on policy support. With the recent rapid decrease in module costs, rooftop PV is exhibiting...