Summary of PhD Thesis 

One of the commitments taken on by Spain, together with the European Union about the Kyoto Protocol is the reduction of fossil CO2 emissions released into the environment. One of the main sources of CO2 emissions comes from the need for air conditioned buildings (due to the heating, cooling and domestic hot water). Spain published a Royal Decree RD 47 / 2007 on energy certification of buildings regulating CO2 emissions and determining the energy class of new buildings. To determine the energy label the reference methods are implemented in the official programs: CALENER VYP and CALENER GT. These programs perform a simulation of the buildings, determining the energy demand and consumption and from CO2 conversion factors the energy rating of the building is obtained.

This thesis proposes an alternative to the official program CALENER VYP (energy certification of the residential and small tertiary buildings). The proposed method is not time-consuming and the simulation results are similar to the CALENER VYP. Among its practical advantages and features are that the input of data is user-friendly and the results show the impact of different saving alternatives which help the professional to improve the designed building.

The simulation method proposed uses the response factors to determine the conduction heat transfer phenomena. To get to the energy transfer rate to the inside air the method "Radiant Time Series" (RTS) has been employed as an approach. The validity of the approximation has been tested against the EnergyPlus which uses an energy balance method.

The EPDB (Energy Perfomance in Buildings Directive EU) -recast (2010) points out the need to move onto Near Zero Energy Buildings. Therefore the thesis also tries to get an estimation of the impact of unconventional renewable energy systems on the certification. The system considered unconventional, is a single effect absorption chiller H2O-LiBr, that is directly connected to solar panels that generate both cooling (at the absorption unit) and heat (at the solar collectors).

As a result of an extensive comparison, it is concluded that the proposed software has no significant deviations compared to the official program. These tests have taken into account the different climatic zones of Spain and different types of buildings.

At the time of writting, in a private communication, the Ministry Industry, Turism and Commerce has said that the software has passed all the controls and that it will become. It is currently recognized document, valid for Spain.