Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
• the presence of electrical energy generation systems based on Renewable
Energy Sources (RES);
• the electrical energy produced by Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems;
• the presence of Building Automation Control Systems (BACS) and Technical
Building Management (TBM) systems.
All EU Member States have defined methodologies for the calculation of the
energy performance of buildings on the basis of a general framework provided by
the European Performance in Building Directive (EPBD)
2010
/31/EU.
It is important to stress, how the new EPBD recast, differently from the old
Directive
2002
/91/EC, puts greater importance on automation, control as well as
monitoring systems. As a matter of fact, the new EPBD suggests the use of these
systems as well as of intelligent metering systems for energy saving if a new edifice
is built or of it undergoes major renovation in line with Directive
2009
/72/EC.
Moreover, the already cited ''Climate and energy package'' enacted by the
European Union (EU) in June 2009 sets a series of demanding climate and energy
goals to be attained by 2020, also known as the ''20-20-20'' package (reduction in
EU greenhouse gas emissions of at least 20 %, 20 % of renewable energy in EU
final energy consumption, 20 % reduction in primary energy use to be achieved by
improving Energy Efficiency).
A recently issued directive of this group is the Directive
2012
/27/EU on energy
efficiency. This Directive establishes a common framework of measures for the
promotion of energy efficiency within the Union in order to ensure the achieve-
ment of the Union's 2020 20 % headline target on energy efficiency and to prepare
for further energy efficiency improvements beyond that date. It lays down rules
designed to remove barriers in the energy market and to overcome market failures
that create an obstacle to efficiency in the supply and use of energy, it also provides
for the definition of indicative national energy efficiency goals to be attained by
2020. The directive explicitly refers to automation as a tool to attain the cited
objectives through the implementation of Demand Response
1
policies (Balijepalli
and Pradhan
2011
), while the wide spread application of smart meters and regu-
lation systems is considered a cost-saving measure for energy gains and savings.
Following this direction, since 2007, the European Standard EN 15232 devises
terminology, rules and methods for the estimation of the impact of BAC and TBM
systems on energy performance and energy use in buildings.
The technical standard EN 15232, today in its second edition, gives a list of
BAC and TBM systems functions that can affect the energy performance of
buildings and defines two methodologies to evaluate the impact of these functions.
Besides, the standard EN 15232 introduces four different efficiency classes for
buildings according to BACS and TBM systems installation:
1
According to the definition provided by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Demand
Response (DR) is defined as ''Changes in electric usage by end-use customers from their normal
consumption patterns in response to changes in the price of electricity over time, or to incentive
payments designed to induce lower electricity use at times of high wholesale market prices or
when system reliability is jeopardized''.
