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RENEWABLE ENERGIES AND ENERGY CONSERVATION

TECHNOLOGIES FOR BUILDINGS IN SOUTHERN EUROPE
a a
MAT SANTAMOURIS & A. ARGIRIOU
a
Department Applied Physics, Laboratory of Meteorology , University of Athens , Ippokratous
33, Athens , 106 80 , Greece
Published online: 10 Jun 2010.

To cite this article: MAT SANTAMOURIS & A. ARGIRIOU (1994) RENEWABLE ENERGIES AND ENERGY CONSERVATION
TECHNOLOGIES FOR BUILDINGS IN SOUTHERN EUROPE, International Journal of Solar Energy, 15:1-4, 69-79, DOI:
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 In!. J . Solar Energy. 1994, Vol. 15, pp. 69-79 O 1994 Hanvood Academic Publishers GmbH
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RENEWABLE ENERGIES AND ENERGY

CONSERVATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR
BUILDINGS IN SOUTHERN EUROPE
MAT SANTAMOURIS and A. ARGIRIOU
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Laborarory of Meteorology, Departmenr Applied Physics, University of Athens

Ippokrarous 33,106 80, Athens, Greece
(Received 5 July 1993)

The characteristics of the building's energy consumption in Southern Europe are. analysed. The energy
potential of solar energy for heating and lighting purposes as well as the potential of passive cooling
techniques are investigated. The ecological impact of the energy saving technologies as well as the
market opportunities of the alternative technologies are discussed.

KEY WORDS: Passive heating and cooling, PASCOOL, Energy conservation in buildings.

1 INTRODUCTION
Primary energy consumption of buildings, all over the world, is close to 17 millions of oil
per day and represents almost the entire daily production of OPEC, (1). In E.E.C.
countries primary energy consumption in buildings represents a percentage of the total
energy consumption between 29.1% for Belgium to 44.9 per cent for Ireland, (2).
Climatic conditions in southern European Countries impose to consume energy for
cooligg as well as for heating purposes. Recent monitoring campaigns have shown that
office buildings in Greece requires between 250 to 350 kWh of primary per square meter.
Almost 95 k w h are consumed for heating purposes while close to 100 kWh/year are
spend for cooling purposes. The total primary energy consumption of office buildings in
Northern Europe fall between 270 and 350 kWh per year and square meter, (3).
High energy consumption in Southern Europe mainly results from the use of
conventional air conditioning systems. The increase of family income in Europe has made
the use of these systems highly popular. Sales of air conditioning equipment in Southern
European countries have been considerably increased and have reached values close to
1,7 billion ECU's per year, (4). Important growth rates are also registered in Southern
Europe. Especially in Greece, while the sales of packaged air conditioning was close to
2000 in 1986, the market leapt to over 100000 units in 1988, (5). The breakdown of the
A/C sales by value for all Southern European Countries are given in the following Table 1.
The impact of air conditioners usage on electricity demand is a serious problem for
almost all Southern European countries, except France. Peak electricity loads oblige
utilities to build additional plants in order to satisfy the demand, thus increasing the
average cost of electricity. The extreme situation of USA should not be forgonen. In this
country the total electric peak load induced by air conditioning is estimated at 175 MW
or 38% of non coincident peak load demand, (6).
 70 M. SANTAMOURIS AND A. ARGWOU

Table 1. Sales of air conditioning equipment in Southern European countries

Country AIC Sales % of total Annual Growth Annual Growth

Million of EEC Sales. (1985-1990) Sales, (1985-1990)
ECU's Central Plant. (%) Packaged Plant, (%)

Italy 609 19.0 15.0 25.0

Spain 544 17.0 10.0 15.0
France 375 12.0 15.0 . 7.0
Greece 107 3.0 > 150 > 300
Portugal 55 2.0 30.0 15.0
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Total Southern Eumpe 1690 53.0 - 23.0 - 35.0

Environmental problems associated with the use of ozone depleting CFC refrigerants,
used on conventional air conditioners, are an additional impulse for the definition of an
alternative cooling policy. Also, recent comparative studies regarding indoor air quality
in air conditioned and naturally ventilated office buildings, have shown that health
problems are exhibited more often in air conditioned buildings, [7].
Alternative passive heating and cooling techniques based on the optimised use of
solar resources combined with cooling strategies based on improved thermal protection
of the building envelope, and on the dissipation of building's thermal load to a lower
temperature heat sink, appear to be very effective. These strategies and techniques have
already reached a certain level of architectural and industrial acceptance. Where passive
techniques are being considered as alternatives to air conditioning the following are
some of the primary benefits, (8):
- Environmental benefits : There are important indirect environmental benefits
associated with the reduction of the CFC's, and the reduction of pollution caused by
the production electricity.
- Indoor environmental quality and occupant health.
- Cost savings : These will include savings in capital, maintenance and running costs.
-Energy savings : The resulting savings in primary energy can be considerable.
- Reduced strain on national grids by reducing the peak electric demand.
- Simplicity, ease of operation : These are common characteristics but may vary
between different processes and techniques.
The aim of this paper is to present the state of the art on Passive andHybrid.
applications in Southern Europe with emphasis on Passive Cooling. The main activities
of the European research project, PASCOOL, aiming to cover the existing scientific gaps
and to increase our knowledge on passive cooling topics is presented.

2 BREAKDOWN OF ENERGY CONSUMPTION O F BUILDINGS IN

SOUTHERN EUROPE

In order to reduce high energy consumption levels and evaluate possible scenarios for
interventions it is necessary to have data on the actual energy characteristics of the
buildings. These informations, along with other related guidelines, can prove very useful
 RENEWABLE ENERGIES AND ENERGY CONSERVATION 71

for efficient energy planning and building design.

For this reason, a ,short monitoring campaign of over 1000 public and commercial
buildings in Greece has been under way since 1987, (9). including air conditioned and
naturally ventilated office, commercial, school, hospital and hotel buildings.
Based on the analysis of the collected data, the average final annual energy
consumption for all five types of buildings is shown in Table 2. As shown, over half of
the total final energy consumption is consumed for heating purposes, while over 10 and
12 percent is consumed for lighting and cooling purposes respectively, (10). However, it
should be pointed out that fuel is used for heating purposes while electricity is used for
all other uses. Therefore, in primary energy terms the energy consumption for cooling
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purposes is very important.

Table 2. Average annual energy consumption in Greek buildings

Building Type Cooling Heoting Lighting Equipment Total
(kWhlm'.yr) (kWhlrn2.yr) (kWhlm2.yr) (kWhlm'.yr) (kWhlm'.yr)

Offices 24 95 20 48 187
Commercial 18 74 19 41 152
Schools 2 66 16 8 92
. Hospitals 3 299 52 53 407
Hotels 11 198 24 40 273

TOTAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION

OFFICE BUILDINGS

+ GREECE
OFFICE BLDGS

Figure 1 Cumulative distribution of the total energy consumption for oftice buildings.
 M. SANTAMOURIS AND A. ARGIRIOU

TOTAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION

COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
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0 100 200 300 4 0 0 500 600 700 800 900 1000

kwh1 SOM.

0 GREECE
COMRCIAL '

Figure 2 Cumulative distribution of the total energy consumption for commercial buildings.

TOTAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION

SCHOOL BUILDINGS

0 GREECE
S m L BLDGS
Figure 3 Cumulative distribution of the total energy consumption for school buildings.
 RENEWABLE ENERGIES AND ENERGY CONSERVATION

TOTAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION

HOSPITAL BUILDINGS
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GREECE
HOSPITALS
Figure 4 Cumulative distribution of the total energy consumption for hospitals.

TOTAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION

HOTELS BUILDINGS

+ GREECE
HOTELS
Figure 5 Cumulative distribution of the total energy consumption for hotels.
 74 M. SANTAMOURIS AND A. ARGIRIOU

The cumulative distribution of the total energy consumption in each category of

buildings is shown in Figures 1 to 5.
The impact of air conditioning on the overall energy consumption of a building can be
significant. In the same 'time the type of the used equipment as well as the used energy
systems play a very important role on the overall energy consumption of the buildings. In
the following Tables 3 and 4 the breakdown of the final energy consumption of office,
(1 l), and school buildings, (12). in k w h per square meter and year, equipped with
various energy systems is given.

Table 3. Energy consumption of office buildings

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Building Type Lighting Cooling Heating Office Total

(kWhlm'.yr) (kWhlm'.yr) (kWhlm2.yr) Equipment (kWhlm'.yr)
(kWhlm'.yr)

All Types 20 24 95 48 187

Air Conditioned 25 ' 36 99 66 226
Electrical Heating 21 36 90 78 225
Electrical Heating +
A/c 23 44 94 89 250
Heating with fuel 22 15 101 . 50 188

Table 4. Energy consumption of school buildings

Building Type Lighting Cooling Heating Ofice Total
(kWhlm2.yr) (kWhlmJ.yr) (kWhlm'.yr) Equipment (kWhlm'gr)
(kWhlm'.yr)

All Types 16 2 67 8 93
Air Conditioned 30 42 99 9 180
Electrical Heating 20 1 70 7 98
Heating with fuel 16 2 70 8 96

As it is deduced from the above figures the use of air conditioners increases the annual
energy consumption by an average value close to 40 k w h per square meter and year.

3 THE USE O F SOLAR ENERGY FOR HEATING PURPOSES

The potential of passive solar design for energy savings related to heating, in Southern
Europe, is very high. Solar gains up to 90% per cent are reported, (13), however serious
cooling and daylighting problems should be solved in such designs. Energy savings of the
order of 50 per cent are easily achieved avoiding in the same time discomfort problems
during the summer period.
However, the use of passive solar systems in urban environments has to face several
problems related to the overall built environment and the micro climate of the place.
 RENEWABLE ENERGIES AND ENERGY CONSERVATION 75

Monitoring of 186 office buildings in highly dense urban environment, (1 I), has given
that the mean solar gains of the buildings are close to 12 k w h per square meter and year
and cover 8 to 9 per cent of the heating load of the buildings. '
Reduction of the energy consumed for heating purposes can be achieved by various
ways. Insulation of the non-insulated office buildings, constructed previously to 1978,
can reduce the total energy consumption for heating to about 10 per cent. Also,
appropriate maintenance and control of the combustion systems can easily reduce the
heating load to about 9 per cent. Passive solar heating is a well researched and developed
area. Important research programs inside the European Communities like PASSYS, (14),
have established test facilities in every EEC country, and have developed test
methodologies and user friendly design tools, like PASSPORT which assist architects
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and designers to optimise the performance of the buildings during the winter period.

4 PASSIVE COOLING OF BUILDINGS

Proper design of buildings requires a balance of heating, cooling and daylighting

performance. Achievement of thermal comfort during summer and reduction of cooling
loads by natural means, is considered now as a first priority for electric utilities and
consumers.
As with passive solar heating and passive solar design, the study and application of
passive cooling is a multilayered and multidisciplinary process. It is especially important .
to treat the subject in conjunction with other aspects of architectural design and in the
context of an overall environmental design strategy. From such a view point, passive
cooling processes should not be considered as isolated phenomena but in close
relationship to building types, occupancy patterns and the sources of heat gain to
buildings in the various climatic conditions. A useful framework for considering passive
and hybrid cooling in the context of environmental design is under the following three
steps: Prevention of heat gains, Modulation of heat gains and heat dissipation.
Protection from heat gains may involve the following design measures:
Landscaping and the use of outdoor and semi-outdoor spaces.
Building form, layout and external fmishing
Solar Control and shading of building surface
Thermal insulation
Control of internal gains.
Modulation of heat gain has to do with the capacity for heat storage in the building
structure. This delay strategy can provide attenuation of peaks in cooling load and
modulation in internal temperature with heat discharge at a later time. The larger the
swings in outdoor temperature are, the more important the effect of such storage capacity
is. The cycle of heat storage and discharge must be combined with means of heat
dissipation, commonly night time ventilation and/or radiative cooling, so that the
discharge phase does not add to overheating.
Heat dissipation techniques deal with the potential for disposal of excess heat by
natural means. Dissipation of the excess heat depends on two main conditions :
a) The availability of an appropriate environmental heat sink for the heat to be
rejected.
 76 M. SANTAMOURIS AND A. ARGIRlOU

b) The appropriate thermal coupling and sufficient temperature differences for the
transfer of heat from jndoor spaces to sink. The main processes of heat dissipation
techniques are :
Radiative cooling, where the heat sink is the sky and the heat transfer take place by
radiation.
Evaporative cooling, where the heat sink is the air and the heat transfer mode is the
evaporation.
Convective cooling, where the heat sink is the air and the heat transfer mode is the
convection, and
Ground cooling, where the heat sink is the ground and conductive heat transfer
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processes dominate the phenomenon.

More information and the state of the art on the above discussed techniques can be
found in (8).

5 THE PASCOOL PROGRAMME

PASCOOL, is a European research programme with emphasis on passive cooling
systems and techniques. PASCOOL, aims to develop techniques, tools and design
guidelines in order to promote passive cooling applications in buildings. It combines an
'
interrelated set of research actions under the following topics:
A. Weather data sets for summer conditions and cooling applications.
B. Thermal comfort criteria for indoor and outdoor spaces.
C. The potential for micro climatic enhancement and the applicability of natural
cooling techniques in Europe.
D. Solar Control Techniques for all year round performance encompassing thermal
and daylighting aspects.
E. The role of thermal mass in free running and air conditioned buildings.
F. Air flow patterns in and around buildings and the role of ventilation as a cooling
resource.
G. The integration of results from Topics A-F into a diagnostic, pre design,
assessment tool and the set of design guidelines on the above topics for different
building types in Europe..
The final products of PASCOOL are the following :
I. High Quality data sets coming from the monitoring actions as well as from the test
cell and laboratory experiments.
2. A validated user friendly version of the simulation tool PASSPORT+ which will
include :
'- A method to calculate the cooling load in the heavy mass buildings traditional to
the Southern European regions.
- An appropriate thermal comfort model
- A method to predict pressure coefficients around buildings.
- A multizone air flow model.
- A method to predict the impact of night cooling techniques as a function of thermal
mass.
 RENEWABLE ENERGIES AND ENERGY CONSERVATION 77

3. A design handbook including all the developed guidelines.

4. Test Reference Summer climatic files and climatic indices for selected European
locations.
5. An Atlas of the potential of natural cooling techniques in Southern Europe.
The research methodology of the overall programme is based on an extensive
experimental testing programme based on Test Cell experiments, monitoring of
selected buildings and laboratory experiments. It is important to note that the overall
research methodology does not treat passive cooling processes as isolated phenomena,
but in conjunction with other aspects of architectursl design and in the context of an
overall environmental design strategy.
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More information on PASCOOL can be found in (15).

6 POTENTIAL FOR ENERGY CONSERVATION FOR COOLING PURPOSES

A reduction of the cooling load of buildings can be achieved either by improving the
building envelope, or by using alternative cooling techniques, or by using more efficient
air conditioning systems. In a complete study dealing with the potential of passive and
alternative cooling techniques, (I I), sixteen different scenarios, including improvements
of the shading devices, use of high efficacy lighting devices, use of night ventilation
techniques, installation of ceiling fans and use of natural cooling techniques, have been
considered for 186 office buildings.
Appropriate shading of buildings provides a significant reduction of the buildings
cooling load. It is found that although almost all the studied buildings dispose movable
internal shading devices and almost 80 per cent of the buildings dispose fixed shading
devices, it is possible to reduce the total cooling load of the air conditioned buildings by
approximately 7 per cent.
The use of efficient lighting devices can substantially decrease the cooling load of
buildings. It was found that the use of high efficiency fluorescent lamps can reduce the
total cooling load to about 9 per cent.
Night ventilation techniques can satisfy an important part of the buildings cooling
load, while contributing to increase indoor comfort during daytime. Calculations have
shown that the use of night ventilation techniques, when possible, reduce the total
cooling load of the A/C buildings to about 11 kwh per square meter, which corresponds
to the 30 per cent of the building's cooling load.
Use of ceiling fans in buildings permits to extent the comfort zone close to 29.5 C,
(16). The use of this type of fans is considered as one of the best alternatives to reduce
the building cooling load. It is found that using ceililig fans in combination with night
ventilation techniques, the mean annual cooling load of the buildings is reduced to about
3 kWh/m2.
Therefore, the energy conservation is extremely important, (90%).
The use of natural cooling techniques and especially of the indirect evaporative
coolers, can provide under certain conditions an important reduction of the cooling
load. Performance data on indirect evaporative coolers show that, energy savings of up to
60 per cent can be achieved compared to compression refrigeration cycles, (17).
Simulations of the performance of indirect evaporative coolers have shown that due
to climatological constraints, such a system can operate during half of the cooling
period, (18).
 78 M. SANTAMOURIS AND A. ARGWOU

7 MARKET POTENTIALITY AND ECOLOGICAL IMPACT

A survey of European industry has shown that there are more than 200 industrial units
'
producing more than 500 different products related to Passive and Hybrid cooling of
buildings, (19). It is reported that imports of evaporative coolers, only in Greece, reach
values close to 23 milliondollars per year, (19).
In the same time, it has been estimated that passive solar use now constitutes a high
part of brick and masonry material sales. In USA, the corresponding percentage is
between 5 to 15 per cent, (20).
Passive solar energy and passive cooling techniques contributes to the reduction of
atmospheric pollutants. It is estimated that actually passive solar saves 229 millions of
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tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, which corresponds to the 17 per cent of the CO, which
would be' produced in the absence of the solar contribution, (21). Also, passive solar
saves 1.3 million tonnes of SO, and 0.56 million tonnes of NO,. The solar design also
reduces nuclear waste by more than 18 per cent from that which would be produced
without the solar contribution, (21).

8 CONCLUSIONS
Demand for indoor comfort, especially during summer, has increased rapidly over the
past few years, creating important environmental, health, capital and mainly peak
electricity load problems.
Passive and Hybrid cooling and Solar heating techniques and components can
minirnise the use of mechanical energy systems and its impact on the environment and on
occupant health, while they can decrease peak load electricity demand.
Important knowledge on the topic has been produced during the last years and
demonstration buildings designed using passive and hybrid techniques present a
significant energy performance and excellent indoor comfort conditions. However, the
impact on professional building design practice has been modest.
Important future research and dissemination actions are necessary in order to increase
our knowledge base on the topic and to increase the accessibility of the existing and new
information.

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 RENEWABLE ENERGIES AND ENERGY CONSERVATION 79

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