Case Study: nZEC - Energy refurbishment of 28 dwellings in Calle de Fontanares, Valencia, Spain

Short Description

The building is a single volume with a rectangular shape. The 28 dwellings are distributed on 7 floors, with a distribution of 4 apartments per floor. The dwellings size range goes from 107 m2 to 126 m2. The building has a total area of 2.623 m2.

The volume has two courtyards; these spaces are used to ventilate the different rooms of the dwelling. The dwellings have being designed focussing on medium size families including four bedrooms per dwelling. The porches are reinforced concrete beams and pillars of varying dimensions. The floors are made up of prestressed concrete beams concrete “T” and cankerworm. The facades combine face brick finishes and plasters, all insulated chamber, and the dividing with sate system.

The main objective of the project is to improve the quality of life of residents. Through the improvement of the energy efficiency in the building, the residents could keep a comfortable temperature inside their homes investing less money and with the improvement of the image of the building we will create a better environment for better living, improving their quality of life. Through the actions of awareness and smartmetering we will achieve significant financial savings in the energy bills and carbon emissions will be avoided.

Key Elements

Certification

The energy rating has been improved from G to E. An strategy is proposed to achieve the rating A in a next future. This high rating was achieved by reducing the energy demand and using highly efficient systems.

Work with Residents

The retrofitting of this building is framed within ELIHMED project which aims to help the users to save energy in their homes, changing their habits in first place  without any economic investment. Throughout the project development process users will be accompanied by people who will advise them in energy savings. Monthly reports on energy consumption will be delivered to each home along with tips on how to improve their behavior and save energy and money.

Thermal Insulation

To reduce the energy demand, the building has a higher insulation , with a minimization of thermal bridges, thereby achieving a thermal transmittance of walls less than 0.3 W/m2K. Blind boxes have been also insulated.

Windows and Shading

All the windows were replaced by frames with thermal break and double glass.

Heating and Hot Water

Installation of two biomass boilers for domestic hot water and heating. The production is centralized. The meters will be individual fir each dwelling, increased system efficiency.

Cooling

A compression multizone direct expansion system will be installed. There will be 2 devices per household.

Main Results

Lessons learned

Additional Information

Ms Begoña Serrano Lanzarote
IVE - Instituto Valenciano de la Edificación
Email: bserranol@five.es
Web: www.five.es