Energy in buildings and districts

Abstract Buildings play a key role in modern society as most human activities take place indoors, with direct consequences for both occupant health and energy consumption and related greenhouse gas emissions. Thus legislation in the last decades has strengthened the requirements on thermal comfort and energy performance in new buildings and has boosted renovation measures to improve the performance of the existing building stock. In addition, the rapid process of urbanization and the digitization of everyday life is multiplying opportunities for users, turning buildings into active players in the energy system due to their ability to produce renewable energy and shift consumption over time. This chapter provides a global overview of the different theoretical and practical aspects of the energy performance of buildings, focusing on the latest trends in research and technology and the parallel evolution of the corresponding standards. After a general introduction, the second and third sections of this chapter deal with theory and research applied to thermal comfort and user behavior. Then the chapter outlines how global phenomena such as climate change and increasing urbanization are affecting the energy demand of buildings and thermal comfort. Subsequently, the recent evolution of building design practice up to nearly zero-energy buildings is analyzed. Finally, this chapter examines the role of intelligent buildings in the context of a strongly distributed energy system. It looks at the energy flexibility services that buildings could provide to the electricity system, the different models of energy communities, and some aspects of energy planning at the urban level.