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AtzeBoerstraPhD,
Fellow REHVAManaging
director bba indoor environmental consultancy and
REHVA vice-presidentemail: ab-bba@binnenmilieu.nl |
The EPBD
recast will lead to the introduction of and ameliorations in energy efficiency
requirements in national building codes. EU countries have until 10 March 2020
to write the new and revised provisions into national law.
In the
context of this CEN/CENELEC has developed a set of new EPBD standards (see also
the article ‘The 2nd recast
of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD)’ by Jaap Hogeling
and Anita Derjanecz (REHVA journal, issue 2, 2018).
Most of these standards focus on aspects directly related to energy performance
like methods to calculate energy use, inspection protocols or definition of
e.g. climatic (outdoor) conditions.
What many
don’t know is that the Commission also asked CEN/CENELEC to (re)develop a
standard that describes health and comfort related performance criteria that
should be used in the context of energy calculations and assessments. The final
version of this ‘EPBD-IEQ’ standard (IEQ stands for ‘Indoor Environmental
Quality’) was officially published this spring (01-05-2019) under the name ‘EN 16798-1:2019’,
full title: ‘Energy performance of buildings – Ventilation
for buildings – Part 1: Indoor environmental input parameters for design
and assessment of energy performance of buildings addressing indoor air
quality, thermal environment, lighting and acoustics – Module M1-6’.
EN 16798-1:2019
replaces EN 15251 and it focusses on parameters at category I, II, III
level – sometimes also level IV (level I is best, III / IV is worst) for
thermal environment, indoor air quality, lighting and acoustics. The standard explains
how to use these parameters for building system design and energy performance
calculations. It is part of a general series, EN 16798, that addresses
overall aspects of building ventilation from the point of view of energy
performance.
Besides the
standard, a Technical Report, 16789-2, is also being developed to support and
explain the background of EN 16798-1.
Table 1 describes some of the aspects and
criteria used in EN 16798-1. The criteria are meant to be used in standard
energy calculations for offices, schools, dwellings and other indoor
environments that are primarily meant for human occupancy. The standard does so
not by specifying design methods - leaving manufacturers free to provide their
own - but instead it gives parameters that needs to be respected in the design and
operation of heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting systems.
Table 1.
Example criteria from EN 16798-1:2019.
IEQ aspect | Building/space type | Category | Remark | ||
I | II | III | |||
Temperature
range winter | Residential
buildings (bedrooms) | 21-25 °C | 20-25 °C | 18-25 °C | These are
operative temperatures, assuming clo value of 0.5
in summer and 1.0 in winter, with activity level of 1.2 met |
Offices
(landscape layout) | 21-23 °C | 20-24 °C | 19-25 °C | ||
Schools (classrooms) | 21-23 °C | 20-24 °C | 19-25 °C | ||
Temperature
range summer | Residential
buildings (bedrooms) | 23,5-25,5 °C | 23-26 °C | 22-27 °C | Additionally,
also adaptive (less strict) upper temperature limits are defined |
Offices
(landscape layout) | 23,5-25,5 °C | 23-26 °C | 22-27 °C | ||
Schools
(classrooms) | 23,5-25,5 °C | 23-26 °C | 22-27 °C | ||
Maximum
CO2 level (delta CO2 conc.) | Residential
buildings (bedrooms) | 380 | 550 | 950 | These are
allowable ppm levels above outdoor levels |
Offices
(landscape layout) | 550 | 800 | 1 350 | ||
Schools
(classrooms) | 550 | 800 | 1 350 | ||
Minimum
lighting level Em | Residential
buildings (living room) | - | |||
Offices
(landscape layout) | 500 lux | Values
are in line with EN 12464-1 | |||
Schools
(classrooms) | 500 lux | ||||
Maximum
system noise level LAeQ | Residential
buildings (bedrooms) | 25 dB | 30 dB | 35 dB | |
Offices
(landscape layout) | 35 dB | 40 dB | 45 dB | ||
Schools
(classrooms) | 30 dB | 34 dB | 38 dB |
EN 16798-1
is a non-obligatory standard in the EPB standard series but EU member states
can use elements from the standard to improve their national building codes.
The standard gives guideline values that can be included in case e.g. a local
building code does not have requirements meant to avoid that new or renovated
buildings will be under-ventilated or have overheating problems or e.g.
installation noise issues.
The overall
objective in the long run is not just to make the EU building stock
energy-neutral, the end goal should be to realize buildings that score well
both in terms of energy performance and health performance. This new standard
was developed to do just that: to guarantee that wellbeing and comfort of
building occupants is systematically taken into account when new and existing
buildings are (re)designed to improve their energy efficiency.
EN 16798-1:2019
‘Energy performance of buildings – Ventilation for buildings, Part 1:
Indoor environmental input parameters for design and assessment of energy
performance of buildings addressing indoor air quality, thermal environment,
lighting and acoustics’ can be ordered via your National Standardization Body.
This
article is partly based upon a news item entitled ‘New CEN standard:
EN 16798-1:2019 on how to assess the energy performance of buildings’ on www.cen.eu and an article by Bjarne Olesen
entitled ‘Indoor environmental input parameters for the design and assessment of
energy performance of buildings’ published in issue 6, 2017 of the REHVA
journal.
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