The relationship between quality defects and the thermal performance of buildings

João Alencastro, Alba Fuertes and Pieter de Wilde

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2018, vol. 81, issue P1, 883-894

Abstract: The construction sector accounts for a significant portion of the total final energy use and carbon emissions worldwide. Despite efforts to reduce energy consumption through energy efficiency improvements in buildings, the measures proposed by the construction sector are falling short. Among several causes which lead buildings to perform differently to what was defined in the design stage, commonly referred to as the ‘energy performance gap’, the occurrence of quality defects has been acknowledged. This paper aims to identify through an in-depth literature review, quality defects which undermine the thermal performance of buildings by comparing the studies’ findings with regard to defect characteristics and attributes; major causes and influencing factors; and their impact on the energy performance of construction projects. This review also aims to highlight areas where more research is needed if the expected thermal performance of buildings is to be achieved. Understanding the generation process and effects of defects on the energy efficiency of buildings can support the implementation of appropriate quality management systems in construction projects and thus contribute to the achievement of the intended energy performance targets.

Keywords: Thermal performance; Building fabric, quality defects; Construction defects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032117311735
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:81:y:2018:i:p1:p:883-894

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2017.08.029

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().