Comfort evaluation of dwellings located in historical buildings in southern Europe

Abstract

The thermal performance evaluation of buildings relies on the European Directives on Energy Performance of Buildings, providing the framework on which all member states should improve their buildings 'energy efficiency'. However, it is established in several literature, there is an important gap between normative calculations and measured consumptions. In Portugal, this is explained by a mild climate and a high fuel poverty phenomena. Thus, for low heating countries, the thermal performance should rely on the discomfort minimization. It was performed the comfort assessment of dwellings located in the typical building with massive walls and wooden pavements and roof, with or without insulation on walls, for different orientations. The numerical model was validated with experimental data. The comfort was assessed considering the adaptive approach of the European Norm 15 251, for free running conditions, or with low heating profiles. Results show the insulation introduction has a very small impact on discomfort minimization, for low heating profiles in mild climates, what shall be considered, bearing in mind it presents many times technical difficulties in historical buildings.