Case study of a low energy building in Lithuania

Abstract

Nowadays buildings consume more energy than any other sector of the European economy. It is recognized that they account for around 40% of energy consumption. The building sector offers the largest potential for energy savings, which can reduce the negative impact on the environment. Therefore, building designers have to focus on the energy performance of their building designs. This means that they have to consider new buildings constructions, improve energy efficiency of buildings and energy systems, develop low energy (sustainable, passive) building concepts and promote renewable energy sources. The design of the low energy building requires parametric studies via simulation tools in order to optimize the design of the building envelope, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. Therefore, the article’s subject is the tools, which are used for computing the energy performance of the buildings and finding out the optimal solutions to select the best system configuration and energy sources mix. Also, this article shows an example of low energy building project in Lithuania that minimizes the use of energy for heating in cold period and promotes the multi-energy systems, which integrate renewable energy sources.