AbstractsEngineering

This thesis is part of the major EU project EE-Highrise. The main objective of the EU project is to investigate high-rise buildings in different climates considering energy use, sustainability and cultural and economic differences in different countries. A demo high-rise building has been built in the capital of Slovenia. The purpose of this thesis was to build a model of the demo building in the simulation program IDA Indoor Climate and Environment. The model’s energy performance was then to be simulated in three different regions: Scandinavia, Central Europe and in the Mediterranean. Improvements to the climate shell and the ventilation system were to be examined and the results were then to be compared to European and Swedish Passive House certification schemes. A model was built in the simulation program IDA Indoor Climate and Environment according to the provided drawings of the demo building in Slovenia. Most of the building’s parameters were provided by the project group in Slovenia. When specific parameters were missing or difficult to motivate, standardized values were assumed. The model was modified into five cases: the base case, increased insulation of the external walls, improved glazing and frames for the windows, increased effective heat recovery efficiency and a combination of the energy saving measures. The model’s energy performance was then simulated at five different locations: Naples in Italy, Ljubljana in Slovenia, Malmo in southern Sweden, Karlstad in the middle of Sweden and Kiruna in the northern Sweden. When comparing the results to the requirements for the European Passive House certification, none of the investigated cases met the requirements due to a too large primary energy demand. However, if the requirement regarding the primary energy demand were to be disregarded, then the building in Slovenia would pass the requirements with an increased effective heat recovery efficiency for the ventilation system. Also the building in southern Sweden would pass the requirements with a combination of increased insulation for the external walls, improved windows and increased effective heat recovery efficiency. The Swedish Passive House certification would be fulfilled for the models in Malmo and Karlstad with an increased effective heat recovery efficiency, while the model in Kiruna did not pass the requirements. However, with a combination of the energy saving measures the model in Kiruna came very close to meeting the requirements.   The conclusion was that an increased effective heat recovery efficiency had the largest impact on the building’s space heating demand and that improving the windows increased the cooling demand in Naples by a large amount.