The spread of nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEB) currently reflects the European Commission’s first policy step in fighting climate change through the construction sector. This paper analyses the design criteria and thermodynamic behaviour of an nZEB building in a Mediterranean climate and how its various properties affect its final energy consumption. The case study is a single-family dwelling of 309 m² located in Mesagne, a small city in South Italy (Apulia, BR). Using DesignBuilder software, a dynamic simulation of the overall building-plant system performance estimated the building’s hygrothermal comfort and the energy consumption of air conditioning. Monitoring of in-field energy consumption and production validated the building performance simulation model and evaluated its performance gap. Subsequently, a parametric analysis of various scenarios assessed the impact on total energy consumption of different plant system configurations and a bioclimatic criterion adopted in the building: one without earth-to-air heat exchanger, one without heat recovery and recirculation and one without sunscreens. This research shows how a passive building design combined with the use of an efficient plant system can easily meet the nZEB requirements with high performance in terms of energy consumption and indoor thermal comfort.

当前，几乎零能耗的建筑（nZEB）的普及反映了欧盟委员会在建筑领域应对气候变化的第一步。本文分析了地中海气候中nZEB建筑物的设计标准和热力学行为，以及其各种特性如何影响其最终能耗。案例研究是一个309 m ²的单户住宅位于意大利南部一个小城市梅萨涅（BR，普利亚）。使用DesignBuilder软件，对整个建筑系统性能进行动态仿真，可以估算建筑物的湿热舒适度和空调的能耗。现场能耗和生产的监控验证了建筑性能模拟模型并评估了其性能差距。随后，对各种情况进行了参数分析，评估了对不同工厂系统配置和建筑物中采用的生物气候标准对总能耗的影响：一个没有地对空热交换器，一个没有热回收和再循环，一个没有防晒霜。