Review and State of the Art on Methodologies of Buildings’ Energy-Efficiency Classification

The aim of this chapter is the analysis and the evaluation of the relevant research in the field of building energy classification. The literature review comprises studies of the last 40 years (post 1970). The review begins with the studies of building energy benchmarking methods and their categories according to the energy performance indicator they use, the statistical analysis and the distribution they are based on, the parameters that have to be taken into account and their final purpose. The review continues with the researches dealing with energy and environmental rating and labeling methods, focusing on the methods proposed by the CEN Standards. In the last part of the literature review, some significant researches that investigate the integrated classification methods including the building energy database, the benchmarking method, the building energy performance evaluation, and the energy boundaries (classes) definition are presented and analyzed. By summarizing the research work performed so far in the buildings’ classification sector, the authors reveal the crucial points and analyze the statement of the problem of this book research.