Design and Performance of Test Cells as an Energy Evaluation Model of Facades in a Mediterranean Building Area

Ángel Luis León-Rodríguez, Rafael Suárez, Pedro Bustamante, Miguel Ángel Campano and David Moreno-Rangel
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Ángel Luis León-Rodríguez: Instituto Universitario de Arquitectura y Ciencias de la Construcción, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad de Sevilla, Av. de Reina Mercedes 2, Seville 41012, Spain
Rafael Suárez: Instituto Universitario de Arquitectura y Ciencias de la Construcción, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad de Sevilla, Av. de Reina Mercedes 2, Seville 41012, Spain
Pedro Bustamante: Instituto Universitario de Arquitectura y Ciencias de la Construcción, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad de Sevilla, Av. de Reina Mercedes 2, Seville 41012, Spain
Miguel Ángel Campano: Instituto Universitario de Arquitectura y Ciencias de la Construcción, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad de Sevilla, Av. de Reina Mercedes 2, Seville 41012, Spain
David Moreno-Rangel: Instituto Universitario de Arquitectura y Ciencias de la Construcción, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad de Sevilla, Av. de Reina Mercedes 2, Seville 41012, Spain

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-16

Abstract: The current European energy policies have an influence on the need to rehabilitate the housing stock in order to meet the objectives of the European Union. Most of this housing stock was built without any type of energy regulation in adverse technical and economic conditions and thus is now energetically obsolete. The major rehabilitation effort required must be approached through actions based on previous quantitative energy knowledge of the existing buildings in order to guarantee the efficiency of energy-retrofitted solutions. This assessment can be carried out through monitoring dwellings conditioned by use patterns; through simulation programs, which do not usually offer faithful representations of energy conditions; or by using test cells, which allow us to evaluate a controlled indoor environment without the influence of users. The objective of this paper is to present the design and performance of test cells as an experimental method for vertical facade analysis in order to tackle the problem of retrofitting residential buildings in a Mediterranean climate, taking into account energy and environment. With this equipment, efficiency and energy savings, as well as illumination and interior air quality, can be simultaneously and comprehensively evaluated.

Keywords: test cell; experimental test; housing stock; energy performance; Mediterranean climate; diagnosis; monitoring; thermal comfort; energy consumption; social housing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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