Evaluation of indoor environment and energy performance of dwellings in heritage buildings. The case of hot summers in historic cities in Mediterranean Europe

he potential benefits for making the historic buildings of heritage cities non-polluting and energy efficient have only recently stirred the interest of researchers and policy makers in facing the necessary challenges. In southern Europe, most of these buildings are residential and are mainly listed...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Caro Martínez, Rosa Ana, Sendra, Juan J.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/150693
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/150693
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2019.101798
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Mediterranean city
City decarbonisation
Historic city
Architectural heritage
Residential heritage
Historic buildings
Thermal comfort
Occupant behaviour
Energy efficiency
Energy retrofit
Descripción
Sumario:he potential benefits for making the historic buildings of heritage cities non-polluting and energy efficient have only recently stirred the interest of researchers and policy makers in facing the necessary challenges. In southern Europe, most of these buildings are residential and are mainly listed at low grades of protection, allowing for significant transformation. This article quantitatively evaluates the indoor environment and energy performance of the residential heritage building stock under the severe summer conditions characteristic of the Mediterranean climate zone. The historic centre of Seville (Andalusia, Spain) is used as a case study. Three dwellings located in representative listed buildings within its conservation area were monitored and analysed taking occupant behaviour into account. The findings show that many dwellings may lack thermal comfort conditions, which cannot always be guaranteed by passive strategies alone. In addition, these buildings are more polluting than recently constructed ones because they depend entirely for their energy supply on the public electricity grid. Interestingly, in most cases reducing the mechanical cooling demand would not require intrusive physical interventions, but would largely rely on suitable window shading and nightly natural ventilation when outdoor conditions allow.