Abstract Currently, feasible construction practices are not enough to reach zero energy buildings, therefore, European Union (EU) legislation states that new buildings and renovations should be designed as “nearly zero energy buildings (nZEB)”; however, design alternatives need to be carefully considered and selected before implementation. This study aims to investigate the effect of building facade elements and energy-efficient building systems on reaching nZEB with two different design approaches (DAs). These approaches are investigated through the case of a selected office building's facade retrofit options in terms of energy efficiency and thermal comfort. In the first DA, different design variables of a double skin facade (DSF) are investigated and optimized in order to decrease the total amount of consumed energy, and the best parameters are used in the design of the south facade. In the second DA, the building retrofit aims to meet nZEB criteria by redesigning the south building facade via genetic algorithm optimization, while providing thermal comfort in all months and reducing the number of discomfort hours. The investigation is carried out via building energy simulation (BES) of a selected office building, validated by indoor and outdoor measurements. The results show that the parameters of the building facade can play a significant role in decreasing the energy consumption of the building, and both DAs decrease total energy consumption while utilizing currently feasible and common building technologies. Yet, in the second DA not only is the energy consumption lower but, it also significantly decreases discomfort hours.

中文翻译：

---

改造办公室以达到接近零能耗的设计方法：地中海气候的案例研究

摘要 目前，可行的建筑实践还不足以实现零能耗建筑，因此，欧盟（EU）立法规定新建和改造建筑应设计为“近零能耗建筑（nZEB）”；然而，在实施之前需要仔细考虑和选择设计备选方案。本研究旨在研究建筑立面元素和节能建筑系统对使用两种不同设计方法 (DA) 达到 nZEB 的影响。通过在能源效率和热舒适性方面选定办公楼的立面改造选项的案例来研究这些方法。在第一个 DA 中，研究并优化了双层表皮立面 (DSF) 的不同设计变量，以减少消耗的能源总量，并且在南立面的设计中使用了最好的参数。在第二个 DA 中，建筑改造旨在通过遗传算法优化重新设计南建筑立面来满足 nZEB 标准，同时在所有月份提供热舒适度并减少不适时间。调查是通过选定办公楼的建筑能源模拟 (BES) 进行的，并通过室内和室外测量进行验证。结果表明，建筑立面的参数可以在降低建筑能耗方面发挥重要作用，并且在利用当前可行和通用的建筑技术的同时，这两种DA都降低了总能耗。然而，在第二个 DA 中，不仅能耗更低，而且还显着减少了不适时间。