J. Heras*, A. Bosqued, R. Enriquez, J. A. Ferrer, J. Guzman, M. J. Jimenez, C. San Juan,

S. Soutullo, R. Bosqued and M. R. Heras.

Energy Efficiency of Building R&D Unit — CIEMAT.

Avda. Complutense, 22. 28040 Madrid (Spain)

Tl: 34-91-3466053, Fax: 34-91-3466037; e-mail:jesus. heras@ciemat. es

Introduction

Between 2005 until 2010 the Spanish Minister of Innovation and Science (MICINN) is promoting a Singular Strategic Project called Bioclimatic Architecture and Solar Cooling, PSE — ARFRISOL (ARquitectura bioclimatica y FRIo SOLar, in Spanish), which plans to save up to 60% of the energy demand of an office building by means of passive techniques of construction. Reduce the conventional energy consumption to only the 10-20% of the usual consumption with active and passives solar techicals: solar thermal collectors and photovoltaic panels. Five office buildings are to be analized from energetic point of view: new buildings (four) and rehabilitated (one) in different climatic zones of Spain, thus the solutions for every building will be different, depending on the each climates.

Method

All the components of the bioclimatic buildings and the technology for the active solar systems will be manufactured and optimised in Spain. Ventilated facades, solar chimneys, wide roofs and absorption pumps for solar collectors are some of the strategies to develop, depending on the climate. Almeria has the first building constructed: CIESOL (Centre of Research about solar application technologies), where the objective is to reduce the heat in summer with solar cooling. PSE-ARFRISOL has two edifications recently inaugurated: PSA (“Plataforma Solar de Almeria), and the ED-70 of CIEMAT in Madrid. The first stage of energetic strategies are concluded to confront a desert climate from Tabernas desert of Almeria and continental climate of Madrid.

ARFRISOL has another building in Spanish north geographical zone “Principado de Asturias” with an oceanic climate, at the Barredo Foundation, and, finally, in Soria, where a building of the CEDER will be rehabilitated in a extreme continental climate. After four years of investigation, the project will provide useful quantitative information about saving energy and passive and active solar energy use in buildings.

Results

Finally, ARFRISOL will be pretended to influent in the society to change the mentality about energy consumption in the Spanish edifications and probe that it is possible to save 80 percent of conventional energy in office buildings with the incorporation of solar energy aplications (passive and active). With this objective the Ninth Subprojects has been planed to spread this idea between Spanish users.

Conference Topic: Sustainable Solar Buildings

Keywords: Solar energy in buildings, Low energy buildings, Bioclimatic Architecture, Energetic efficiency.

1. INTRODUCTION

PSE-ARFRISOL aims to increase society’s awareness of Bioclimatic Architecture advantages. For this purpose, a journalist has been hired by the research group to be in charge of the diffusion plan, to publish and spread news about the project in mass media. This strategy intends to attract the attention and broaden the mind of society regarding energy efficiency in buildings. Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Science wants to introduce this formula in R&D national diffusion plan.

The advantage of Spain and the rest of Europe is that, nowadays, bioclimatic architecture is being promoted by their respectives governments. Often, people relate energy efficiency with solar collectors and photovoltatics panels. The objective of PSE-ARFRISOL Group is to prove how an architect can make Bioclimatics Buildings with equivalent costs. Ventilated facades, walls with high thermal inertia, cross ventilation and specials windows with shadowings are only same ways for the design of this kind of buildings, but the most effective way is to take into account the climate, the environment and the orientation of the building.

This ideas intend to change the current situation: the consumption of energy has increased by 5% since year 2000, approaching the energetic level of Northern European countries, in spite of the warmer climate in Spain. Nowadays more than 30% of the total consumed energy in Spain is used in buildings in order to achieve the thermal comfort. The newspapers are worried about it because they published these news. Also the 25% of the pollution is for the same reason. Besides according to the spanish energy efficiency plan elaborated by IDAE, (Spanish Institute for Saving and Diversification of the Energy), in the construction area the profesionals implicated have to analyse the way of reducing the levels of energy consumption of HVAC systems.

These five buildings, (from now on, called Research and Demostration and Building Prototypes-RDBP) will be used to obtain data about the saved energy and then, to show them to the Society. This Project is supported by the Spanish Government, the materials used and the companies involved must be Spanish and have certain guarantees of quality. Recently Spain has approved a Technical Code of Edification (CTE) about security and Efficency Energy in buildings. A hard work that includes changing the ideas of the builders and architects.

The PSE-ARFRISOL involves the most important building enterprises, (DRAGADOS, OHL, ACCIONA, FCC) and the best Spanish technology companies (UNISOLAR GROUP, ATERSA, GAMESA SOLAR, ISOFOTON and CLIMATEWELL) with some prestigious research centres, (CIEMAT, OVIEDO UNIVERSITY, ALMERIA UNIVERSITY and BARREDO FOUNDATION). All them have signed an implementing agreement to carry out the project.

The tasks of this project are divided in 9 subprojects (SP’s), 5 of which are the office buildings constructions. PSE-ARFRISOL will provide every RDBP with different strategies for each location of the Spanish geography and climate conditions. From SP2 to SP6 the subprojects are the contraction of CIESOL-office RDBP at Almeria University, (Almeria); ED-70 RDBP — office enlargement of an existing building at CIEMAT (Madrid), PSA — new technical office RDBP at the PSA (Tabernas Desert, Almeria), a new office RDBP at Barredo Foundation (Siero, Oviedo) and the rehabilitation of an office RDBP at CEDER (Cubo de la Solana, Soria). SP 1 includes all the previous studies, SP 7 consists in the RDBP’s monitoring for thermal analyse and air quality study, SP 8 is R&D in HVAC systems and, finally, SP9 will spread the results and transfer the information extracted from RDBP’s to the society.