The requirement system of the Hungarian directive on the energy performance of buildings

Abstract

The Energy Performance Building Directive 2002/91/EC (EPBD), issued by the European Commission, gave a general framework for the calculation of the integrated energy performance of buildings. The Directive was adapted and implemented by the EU´s Member States in 2006. The Hungarian regulation was worked out in the Department of Building Energetics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics and the author was a member of the team. In the regulation, the requirements have three levels: requirements are set for the maximum allowable thermal transmittance of the building elements, the specific heat loss coefficient of the building and the integrated energy performance of the building service systems. This paper describes the background calculations and diagrams. When formulating the requirements, the aim was that compact buildings with good orientation and appropriate glazing ratio should fulfil the requirements on the specific heat loss coefficient once the requirement on the thermal transmittance of the elements was fulfilled. The requirements were verified on a large, randomly generated building sample for 2,600 technically feasible geometries. The role of glazing - the window ratio, orientation, thermal properties and solar energy transmittance - in the energy bala nce of the heating season was analysed in more detail. The calculations showed that South facing walls with a large window ratio and good insulation (U_wall < 0.45 W/m²K ; U_window < 1.6 W/m²K) resulted in a heat gain over the heating season in Hungary.