Damien Gatt

University of Malta

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i-10 index

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Co-Authors

Charles Yousif

University of Malta

Liberato Camilleri

University of Malta

Maurizio Cellura

University of Palermo

Aaron Cutajar

Francesco Guarino

University of Palermo

Francisco Javier Rey Martı́nez

Universidad de Valladolid

Cedric Caruana

University of Malta

Robert Vella

Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology

Diego Granados-López

Universidad de Burgos

Maurizio Schembri

Cooperative Institutions

University of Malta

Universidad de Valladolid

Universidad de Burgos

University of Palermo

Regional Government of Castile-La Mancha

Paul Scherrer Institute

University of Palermo

Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China

American Petroleum Institute

University of Nottingham

Author Statistics

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A study of thermal comfort in naturally ventilated churches in a Mediterranean climate

Energy and Buildings (2020)

Robert Vella Francisco Javier Rey Martı́nez Charles Yousif Damien Gatt

Baroque

Thermal inertia

Thermal mass

10.1016/j.enbuild.2020.109843

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Citations (31)

Exploitation of indoor illumination for typical flat dwellings in the Mediterranean area

Energy Reports (2023)

Diego Granados-López Damien Gatt Charles Yousif M. Díez-Mediavilla Cristina Alonso‐Tristán

The 2018/844 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU) has widened the scope of appropriate design of buildings from a pure energy performance and carbon emissions perspective to a wider scope that includes indoor comfort, and indoor air quality among others. To this effect, external parameters, especially solar energy, have a strong impact on the energy performance of buildings in Mediterranean regions, which requires careful consideration when it comes to benefiting from natural lighting while avoiding solar overheating. This paper addresses the considerations of natural lighting in the deep renovation of a housing block in the Mediterranean climate of the Republic of Malta, comparing some of the usual illuminance ranges to achieve optimal conditions based on international recommendations. DesignBuilder v7.0.0.102 has been the selected software to model the building that has been calibrated through experimental measurements. The model enabled the natural lighting conditions in the building evaluated and the effectiveness of suggested improvements to be determined. Results pointed out that the building under study satisfies the international standards about the prevention of visual discomfort only. Increasing the size of windows in identified zones, especially the first floor, was found to help improve other natural lighting characteristics. One of the proposed designs (Model 6) that replaces single-glazed with double-glazed windows that include an external spectrally-selective coating would significantly improve access to natural light bringing the building closer to the recommended levels of Annual Sunlight Exposure and reducing artificial lighting usage by up to five times. The relocation of room spaces could also reduce the use of artificial lighting.

Overheating (electricity)

Facade

Scope (computer science)

10.1016/j.egyr.2022.12.085

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Citations (4)

AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO MANAGE UNCERTAINTIES AND STOCK DIVERSITY IN THE EPBD COST-OPTIMAL METHODOLOGY

European Journal of Technic (2018)

Damien Gatt Charles Yousif Maurizio Cellura Liberato Camilleri

The EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) 2010/31/EU is a step in the right direction to promote near zero energy buildings (NZEB) in a step-wise manner, starting with minimum energy performance and cost optimal thresholds for “reference buildings” (RBs) for each category. Nevertheless, a standard method for defining RBs does not exist, which led to a great divergence between MS in the level of detail used to define RBs for the EPBD cost-optimal analysis. Such lack of harmonisation between MS is further evident given the resulting large discrepancies in energy performance indicators even between countries having similar climate. Furthermore, discrepancies of 30% or higher between measured energy performance and that derived from the EPBD software induces uncertainty in the actual operational savings of measures leading to cost-optimality or NZEB in the simulated environment. This research proposes a robust and innovative framework to better handle uncertainties in the EPBD cost-optimal method both in the building software input parameters and in the global Life Cycle Costings (LCC), making the EPBD more useful for policy makers and ensuring a more harmonised approach among MS. The concept behind the proposed framework is the combination of a stochastic EPBD cost-optimal approach with Bayesian bottom-up calibrated stock-modelling. A new concept of “reference zoning” versus the “reference buildings” approach is also introduced in this research, which aims at providing a simpler and more flexible aggregation of energy performance for the more complex commercial building stock.

Stock (firearms)

Directive

10.36222/ejt.467910

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Citations (2)

Assessment of building energy modelling studies to meet the requirements of the new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (2020)

Damien Gatt Charles Yousif Maurizio Cellura Liberato Camilleri Francesco Guarino

Benchmarking

Building envelope

Envelope (radar)

10.1016/j.rser.2020.109886

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Citations (33)

A Novel Approach to Determine Multi-Tiered Nearly Zero-Energy Performance Benchmarks Using Probabilistic Reference Buildings and Risk Analysis Approaches

Sustainability (2024)

Damien Gatt Charles Yousif Maurizio Cellura Francesco Guarino Kenneth Scerri

The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) mandates European Union Member States (MS) to conduct cost-optimal studies using the national calculation methodology (NCM), typically through non-calibrated asset-rating software. Nearly zero-energy building (NZEB) levels must be derived for each chosen Reference Building (RB), which are generally defined using deterministic parameters. Previous research proposed an innovative cost-optimal method that replaces ‘non-calibrated deterministic RBs’ with ‘probabilistically Bayesian calibrated reference building (RB)’ to better handle building stock uncertainties and diversities when deriving benchmarks. This paper aims to develop a framework to address two research gaps necessary for the successful application of the innovative cost optimal method: (1) providing objective criteria for defining NZEB benchmarks and (2) propagating uncertainties and financial risk for each defined benchmark. A robust approach for defining NZEB benchmarks according to four different ambition levels (low, medium, high, and highest) was developed by objectively considering distinct points from multiple cost-optimal plots employing different financial perspectives. Risk analysis is then performed for each defined benchmark by propagating risk from the posterior calibration parameter distributions to visualize and statistically quantify the financial risk, including robust risk, that the private investor could face for reaching each derived benchmark ambition level. The innovative cost-optimal methodology that incorporates the developed framework was applied to a hotel RB case study. The results showed that the developed framework is capable of deriving distinct benchmarks and quantitatively uncovering the full financial risk levels for the four different renovation ambition levels. The current cost-optimal method was also performed for the hotel case study with the RB defined determinitically and using the non-calibrated NCM software, SBEM-mt v4.2c. It was found that the financial feasibility and energy-saving results per benchmark are significantly more realistic and transparent for the proposed innovative cost-optimal method including a better match between the simulated and metered energy consumption with a difference of less than 1% in annual performance. Thus, the performance gap between calculated and actual energy performance that is synonymous with the EPBD methodology, as reported in the literature, is bridged. The case study also showed the importance of the risk analysis. Performing the cost-optimal analysis for a Bayesian calibrated RB using the mean value of the posterior calibrated parameter distributions without propagating uncertainty produced highly optimistic results that obscured the real financial risk for achieving the higher ambition levels of the NZEB benchmarks. Consequently, the developed framework demonstrated a time-bound tightening approach to achieve higher energy performance ambitions, improve risk transparency to private investors, and facilitate more targeted policies towards a net zero-carbon status. Thus, the proposed method considering parameter uncertainty and calibrated RBs is instrumental for devising robust policy measures for the EPBD, to achieve a realistic and long-lasting sustainable energy goal for European buildings.

Benchmark (surveying)

10.3390/su16010456

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Citations (0)

Intelligent retrofitting of a primary school building in Malta

Damien Gatt Charles Yousif Simon Scicluna Alexandra Camilleri Robert Portelli

Retrofitting

Primary (astronomy)

Source

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Citations (1)

Prioritising energy efficiency measures in Maltese restaurants

Felix Noel Barbara Damien Gatt Charles Yousif

Maltese

Source

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Citations (1)

Interreg Europe zeroco2 project - action plan for Malta to promote near zero co2 emission buildings

Damien Gatt Charles Yousif

Action plan

Zero emission

Source

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Citations (1)

ZeroCO2 buildings – how low can we go : a case study of a small hotel in Gozo

Damien Gatt Charles Yousif

Source

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Citations (0)

Building Energy Renovation and Smart Integration of Renewables in a Social Housing Block Toward Nearly-Zero Energy Status

Frontiers in Energy Research (2020)

Damien Gatt Cedric Caruana Charles Yousif

Like other islands, Malta experiences great challenges to secure its energy supply and independence. Deep renovation of buildings to nearly zero energy (NZEB) and addressing "smart-readiness" are widely believed to contribute to solving such challenges, while meeting the exigencies of the 2018 European Union energy performance of buildings directive (EPBD). NZEB benchmarks for residential buildings in Malta have been defined using established EPBD cost-optimal methodologies, however these guidelines detailing a one-step and one benchmark definition approach neglects peak loads, building-grid interaction requirements and energy storage. To counteract these inadequacies, this research proposes an innovative multi-criteria approach adapted from ISO 52000-1:2017 standard, which supports the new EPBD requirements for optimising comfort and addressing energy poverty. This is carried out by first optimising adaptive comfort in "free-running mode", before switching to mechanical space heating and cooling. When implementing this approach on a case study of an existing 40-family social housing block undergoing deep renovation, it was found that the discomfort hours have been reduced drastically, while the peak demand for the remaining discomfort hours requiring mechanical heating and cooling has been halved. Despite such positive impact of passive measures, the research has quantitatively demonstrated that given Malta's temperate climate, such measures have lower impact on the energy rating of the building, when compared to that achieved with active and renewable energy (RE) measures. Thus, the proposed multi-tier benchmarking approach ensures that each energy efficiency measure is appropriately weighted on its own merits, rather than lumping all measures under a single benchmark indicator. With regards to smartness indicators for load matching and grid interaction, a detailed analysis using SAM software demonstrated that battery energy storage systems have the capacity to match the renewable energy supply to the demand, although this approach is still far away from being cost-optimal. The research concluded that RE incentives should therefore move away from feed-in tariffs and subsidise direct energy use, storage, and load matching given their high costs. Furthermore, the cost-optimal analysis should also quantify the costs of thermal discomfort, energy poverty and grid mismatch, to ensure a holistic approach to deep renovation of buildings.

Habitability

Energy Poverty

Benchmarking

Directive

Fuel poverty

10.3389/fenrg.2020.560892

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Citations (16)