Good indoor comfort and air quality are essential for correct educational development. Most reports in this field focus on primary and secondary school buildings, with numerous projects conducted in the Mediterranean Zone. However, little has been done in the context of university buildings. Data on indoor temperature and relative humidity data acquired trough field surveys of a seminar room located in the Architecture Faculty in San Sebastian (Spain) is provided in this paper. The seminar room was monitored during a typical spring week. The data presented in the article are related to the research article entitled Retrofit strategies towards Net Zero Energy Educational Buildings: a case study at the University of the Basque Country (Ref. 0378-7788).

En este artículo se analiza la eficiencia energética de una Fachada Ventilada Activa –FVA– aplicada a edificios de oficinas en España para reducir la demanda de calefacción. El sistema de fachada consiste en una hoja exterior de 2 mm de acero galvanizado y una cavidad de 3 cm donde el aire de ventilación es precalentado en invierno y extraído en verano. Tras definir 8 tipologías típicas, se han obtenido 192 casos de estudio en los que se consideran diferentes parámetros: la superficie acristalada, la orientación y la zona climática. El cálculo de la demanda energética de los casos de estudio ha sido llevado a cabo mediante el programa LIDER, el método general del Código Técnico de la Edificación – CTE. Los resultados obtenidos en términos de reducción de la demanda de calefacción, se muestran comparados con los mínimos requerimientos exigidos en el CTE.

Night ventilation has been applied successfully to many passively-cooled or low-energy office buildings. This paper analyses the thermal comfort achievable in office buildings in Spain according to European standard EN 15251:2007. Furthermore, the comfort level is evaluated using the Degree Hours (DH) criteria and the maximum indoor temperature. Considering the high interest of architects and engineers in the evaluation of optimal comfort condition as a function of building typology (8 typologies), glazing ratio (30% and 60%) and climate (12 different Climate Zones), a total of 192 different study cases were simulated. For every case, an optimal air change per hour (ac/h) that can range from 1 to 50 ac/h was then determined. The research shows that passive night ventilation should be considered as an effective strategy for all Spanish Climates to reduce cooling demand in buildings with high daily internal gains (i.e. office buildings), improving comfort conditions and flattening peak temperatures.

This paper analyses the energy efficiency of a Ventilated Active Façade (VAF) applied to office buildings in Spain in comparison with conventional façades that comply with the minimum energy requirements of the Spanish Technical Building Regulation (Código Técnico de la Edificación – CTE). The analysis considers the climatic diversity of the 12 climatic zones of Spain. The studied VAF consists of an outer layer element of 2 mm galvanized steel panels and a 3 cm air cavity through which the ventilation air is preheated in winter and exhausted in summer. After defining 8 typical office typologies in Spain, 192 study cases are obtained where different parameters including the percentage of glass in the façade, and the orientation and the climatic zone of the buildings were considered. The energy demand of all these study cases was obtained using the official simulation tool of the CTE called LIDER.