ENERGY PERFORMANCES OF A PASSIVE HOUSE FOR MEDITERRANEAN CLIMATE: A CASE STUDY

An energetic analysis of an office building located in southern Italy and properly designed to have energy consumption almost zero, has been carried out by means of the Design Builder simulation software. The choices of opaque surfaces, glazed surfaces and appropriate external shading devices have been made to reconcile the different and conflicting needs of the investigated building. Several simulations of different opaque surfaces have allowed the choice of adequate materials for the dispersing walls, to reduce thermal losses and attenuate summer thermal waves. Glazed surfaces have been conveniently selected, to exploit their optical properties both in winter and in summer. Finally, an appropriate sizing of unmovable external shading devices has allowed the optimization of winter solar gain and the reduction of summer solar load. These choices have demonstrated that, in Mediterranean climate conditions, the design process of the building envelope follows a completely different approach compared to the method typically used for the realization of passive houses conceived for continental climates. With reference to the primary energy requirements, simulation results have been used to design a proper generation system coupled with active solar systems in order to obtain a NZEB building.