Learnings Networks and Professional Development in Building Energy Management Systems Industry

The energy management systems industry in the built environment is currently an important topic. Buildings use about 40% of the total global energy worldwide. Therefore, the energy management system’s sector is one of the most influential sectors to realize changes and transformation of energy use. New data science technologies used in building...

A structured approach to online education of future HVAC and energy professionals

The HVAC sector is essential to realize the energy transition and is facing numerous challenges like educating enough HVAC engineers to carry out the task and being able to integrate knowledge from the construction, energy, IT and health sectors and to cope with rapid technological changes. The availability of structured and easy-to-follow...

Simulated thermal comfort in renovated houses with low temperature heating

Low Temperature Heating (LTH) of buildings is a key feature when switching to renewable energy. Even when the capacity of LTH is high enough, LTH may adversely affect indoor thermal comfort in case buildings are not suitably insulated. This paper goes deeper into methodological issues when conducting a thermal comfort assessment. Thermal comfort...

Improving the Calibration on Building Stock Level method by Comparing Objective Functions and Optimization Algorithms

Many researchers have indicated the energy performance gap (difference between actual and predicted energy used in buildings), not only on an individual building level, but also on a building stock level. For policy makers it is important that predictions are correct on an building stock level to make them a useful tool to predict the effect of...

Learning and Knowledge Transfer of Professionals within the Building Services Sector

Buildings need to be carefully operated and maintained for optimum health, comfort, energy performance, and utility costs. The increasing use of Machine Learning combined with Big Data in the building services sector has shown the potential to bring energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Therefore, upskilling and reskilling the current...

Impacts of on-board monitored data on estimated thermal characteristics of a dwelling

After the thermal renovation of a dwelling, there exists a gap between the actual and predicted energy performance. One of the reasons contributing to this gap is the poor assumptions of building thermal characteristics during the prediction stage. Nowadays, smart meters for gas and electricity, and home automation systems are becoming...

The energy performance of dwellings with heat pumps of Dutch non-profit housing associations

Achieving energy efficiency in the built environment requires extensive efforts in the renovation and adaptation of housing stock. A promising design solution is the heat pump. While gas boiler systems are commonly used in Dutch non-profit housing stock, the share of dwellings with a heat pump grew from 1.6% in 2017 to 3.2% in 2021. However,...

The energy performance of dwellings of Dutch non-profit housing associations: Modelling actual energy consumption

In Europe, the energy performance of dwellings is measured using theoretical building energy models based on the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), which estimates the energy consumption of dwellings. However, literature shows large performance gaps between the theoretically predicted energy consumption and the actual energy...

Energy in Dwellings: A comparison between Theory and Practice

Reduction of energy consumption is currently high on the political agenda of many<br/>countries. Because buildings consume a significant amount of the total energy<br/>consumption they form a big energy saving potential. For this reason the EPBD was<br/>introduced. This directive introduced a mandatory energy performance certificate for all...

Actual energy saving effects of thermal renovations in dwellings—longitudinal data analysis including building and occupant characteristics

Energy renovations often result in lower energy savings than expected. Therefore, in this study we investigate nearly 90,000 renovated dwellings in the Netherlands with pre and post renovation data of actual and calculated energy consumption. One of the main additions of this paper, compared to previous studies on thermal renovation, is that...

Variances in residential heating consumption – Importance of building characteristics and occupants analysed by movers and stayers

It is commonly accepted that occupants have a significant influence on the variation in residential heating consumption. However, the scale of that influence lacks empirical investigation. The aim of this study was to distinguish which part of the variance in actual residential heating consumption can be attributed to the occupants, and which...

Analysing the energy efficiency renovation rates in the Dutch residential sector

The housing stock has a major share in energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the Netherlands. CO2 emissions increased 2.5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018. Higher CO2 emissions were principally due to raised gas consumption for heating in the residential and service sector¹. Energy efficiency renovations can contribute...

Parameters that influence the probability on lower-than-expected energy savings - A pre- And post renovation energy consumption analysis of 90,000 renovated houses in the Netherlands

Thermal renovations are considered to be an effective measure to reduce residential energy consumption. However, they often result in lower-than-expected energy savings. In this paper, we investigate some parameters that influence the probability on lower-than-expected energy savings. We do this by comparing actual pre- and post-renovation...

Building Market Brief The Netherlands

The Building Market Briefs reports profile a single country building sector condensed into 50 pages. The content addresses the opportunities, the interests of stakeholders, costs and benefits of action to mitigate emissions — the primary driver of climate change. Also, the content is amplified with recommendations from local experts. As the...

Performance gaps in energy consumption: household groups and building characteristics

The difference between actual and calculated energy is called the ‘energy-performance gap’. Possible explanations for this gap are construction mistakes, improper adjusting of equipment, excessive simplification in simulation models and occupant behaviour. Many researchers and governmental institutions think the occupant is the main cause of...

Reducing the Performance Gap by Analysing Specific Combiantions of Occupant and Building Characteristics

The energy saving policies of governments are not resulting in the energy saving they were aiming for[1]. Theoretical energy saving predictions are an important and frequently used tool for policy makers to develop energy saving policies and to set energy saving targets. Majcen et al. [2] showed a discrepancy between actual and theoretical...

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Koelen door middel van (nacht)ventilatie: Een rekentool voor de architect

Onderzocht is hoe een architect op eenvoudige manier de invloed van koelen door middel van (nacht)ventilatie kan simuleren en daarmee de ontwerp beslissingen kan toetsen of laten beïnvloeden door de uitkomsten van de gemaakte rekentool.