Energy efficiency has become a very topical issue that has been discussed throughout the European Union for preventing negative environmental impacts that have been associated with the consumption of energy. In the residential sector have mainly municipalities set strict requirements for the reduction of energy consumption while the renewable energy has been asked. Different concepts of low-energy buildings have been developed to reduce the cost of operation and maintenance in existing buildings such as in new ones.This thesis has aimed to minimize the energy cost of a large building which has had low energy consumption features originally. Energy reviews has been initiated in order to be able for showing how the house electricity could be carried out even more efficiently.The work was initiated through a literature study to clearly increase the reliability on the energy subject. Different concepts of low-energy buildings have been treated in connection with its specifications, afterward those have been compared with the obtained results.

Norconsult AB has developed a solarhousing concept, a house designed for the warm climate in the Middle East andwith large quantities of solar panels installed. The cooling system for the house was designed in an earlier report, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate the possibility of short and long term storage of thermal energy via an underground energy storage volume.Two different designs of the storage and three different filling materials have been integrated into a model to simulate different cases. The first design consisted of pipes installed in the ground, without insulation. The second design consisted of an insulated concrete box installed to prevent thermal energy from the surrounding soil to flow towards the lower temperature regions within the storage. The three different filling materials were dry saudi sand, water saturated saudi sand and the filling material used by the client for energy storage in Sweden.The results from the simulations show that neither of the designs, regardless of the filling material, managed to extract enough thermal energy from the house to the ground to uphold the demands of indoor climate.

The aim of this report was to investigate the economy of passive houses. The work was focused on economy in total and on the economy of different components such as windows, insulation, heat exchanger and the air tightness of the climate shell. No attention was paid on the comfort factor or to the impacts on the environment.Two houses, aspiring to be passive were chosen; A big one and a small one. Hence, comparisons considering the size of the building have been possible to do as well.The comparisons were made by calculating ?break even? between two concepts; passive and BBR- concept.

An energy calculation model for Swedish houses   that is fast, flexible and user-friendly has been developed within the   framework of this thesis.  The model   also provides a set of actions which may be investigated in the model based   on savings and payback period. Energy use in a house depends on the technical   conditions, such as building envelope and heating systems, which outdoor   climate the house is exposed to and who lives in the house. Energy use for a   house can be divided into heating, hot water and household electricity. There   are several methods to calculate the energy use of a house. This report   summarizes the methods that may be suitable for a fast and user-friendly   calculation model.

 Ett passivhus är ett hus som i stort sett enbart värms upp av människorna och elapparaterna som finns i huset. Särskilda krav för att få kalla huset för passivhus måste uppfyllas.Vi har gjort en enkätundersökning på tre olika passivhusprojekt för att utreda vad de boende tycker om inomhusklimatet. De utvalda projekten finns i Värnamo, Frillesås och Glumslöv. Enkätsvaren visar att de boende i Frillesås är mycket nöjda, medan mer än 50 % av dem som bor i Glumslöv tycker att det är för varmt på sommaren och för kallt på vintern. För att utreda om de olika konstruktionerna har någon inverkan på inomhusklimatet har beräkningar och simuleringar i datorprogrammen VIP+ och IDA gjorts.

Glass has sophisticated front properties and are used as facades in high buildings. During cold periods, these glass facades could cause thermal discomfort, due to cold downdraught. Cold downdraught can be countered by placing heaters under glass surfaces. Nowadays technology offers highly insulating windows, which is why there is an interest to investigate the indoor climate with only underfloor heating. The research in this area is limited, and few empirical methods are available.

Syftet med en integrerad projekteringsprocess är att information tidigt skall tas fram och att projektörer skall kunna arbeta parallellt, exempelvis genom en gemensam BIM-modell. Revit och IDA Indoor climate an energy, även kallat IDA ICE, har i denna rapport visat sig vara två mycket effektiva verktyg som tillåter att information både kan tas fram, i form av energianalyser, men även kommuniceras digitalt med hjälp av så kallade IFC-exporter. Då projektörer får möjlighet att jobba i en gemensam modell kan de arbeta parallellt vilket innebär att information kan tillföras både tidigare och snabbare i projekteringsprocessen. I Revit kan arkitekten enkelt skapa olika utformningsförslag och jämföra dessa med avseende på energianvändning. Analyser från denna studie har visat att energisimuleringar i Revit kan användas för att utforska olika utformningsalternativ och därmed finna optimeringsmöjligheter med avseende på energi och inomhusmiljö.

High-performance equine athletes have an energy requirement that often reaches twice the maintenance requirement. Horses are grazers and adapted to a grass diet, and diets high in grains and concentrates are associated with digestive upsets and behavioural disorders. It could therefore be of interest if the energy requirement of a high-performing horse could be met by forage. It is important that the forage have a high concentration of energy so that the horse is able to consume the whole amount of energy needed from the forage without exceeding the maximum voluntary intake. The purpose of this literature study was to investigate if the energy demand of a high-performance horse can be covered by forage produced under Northern Swedish climate conditions.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the possible effects of an unstable ventilation system and its influence on energy use and thermal comfort. The report also explores how qualified personal working with HVAC view and handles system control.In order to meet the requirements in energy efficiency and a comfortable indoor climate control regulation is a prerequisite. With optimized increased complexity of the climate systems, it becomes more challenging to control the system and the risk of unstable control increases. No previous studies about what affect an unstable system can have on energy use and thermal comfort have been found.The report is based on several tests were the controlling variable has been increased until the system becomes unstable. Two different types of unstable systems have been investigated.

This thesis has been carried out on behalf of IV Produkt AB and intends to set an average ratio of thermal energy losses in apartment buildings that were built during the 1960-1990. This shall be derived by analyzing the total district energy consumption that has been divided into three parts: heat energy losses (the actual heating requirements), the heating of domestic hot water and heating energy consumption for the controlled ventilation.Three different residential areas that were built during the years 1962-1966 and one that was built in 1993 has been analyzed. All residential areas are located in Växjö urban and contains between four and six apartment buildings.The analyzed objects have a mechanical exhaust ventilation systems and district heating as the heating method. No own laboratory work or experiments have been done in this thesis, the calculations have been done on the basis of parameters from VEAB, interviews with property managers, and literature studies. By calculations, we have got a result that is reported in Chapter 6.

Uppvärmningen av ett småbostadshus står vanligen för kring hälften av dess energianvändning. Enligt energimyndigheten drar det svenska standardhuset 22,7 MWh per år varav 12,2 MWh går till uppvärmning. Att ge värmesystemet så bra förutsättningar som möjligt bör alltså vara av intresse för varje husägare, kanske främst ur ett ekonomiskt perspektiv men även ur ett ekologiskt perspektiv.I detta arbete har olika energieffektiviseringsåtgärder studerats som kan implementeras i en tvåplansvillas värmesystem bestående av en värmepump, golvvärme på nedervåningen och olika värmedistributionssystem på övervåningen. Åtgärderna har innefattat både praktiska såsom val av isolering i golvvärmesammanhang och mer teoretiska såsom reglerstrategier. Relevant teori för de ingående systemen har presenterats och utgjort grunden för implementeringar av systemen i simuleringsprogrammet IDA Indoor Climate and Energy.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the possible effects of an unstable ventilation system and its influence on energy use and thermal comfort. The report also explores how qualified personal working with HVAC view and handles system control.In order to meet the requirements in energy efficiency and a comfortable indoor climate control regulation is a prerequisite. With optimized increased complexity of the climate systems, it becomes more challenging to control the system and the risk of unstable control increases. No previous studies about what affect an unstable system can have on energy use and thermal comfort have been found.The report is based on several tests were the controlling variable has been increased until the system becomes unstable. Two different types of unstable systems have been investigated.

På uppdrag av Sweco Systems i Umeå har detta examensarbete utförts under våren 2013. Syftet var att undersöka huruvida något av de energiberäknings-program som används på företaget kan anses vara lämpligt vid energikartläggningar av befintliga fastigheter.Inledningsvis utfördes en energikartläggning av fastigheten Odin 12 i Umeå, som i huvudsak utgörs av gallerian MVG. Med resultaten från denna energikartläggning som grund beräknades därefter fastighetens energianvändning i två olika program ? VIP-Energy och IDA Indoor Climate and Energy.Resultaten från den inledande kartläggningen visar att fastigheten har ett lågt behov av fjärrvärme, vilket förklaras av fastighetens höga elförbrukning. Den stora användningen av el genererar stora mängder internvärme som, förutom att sänka fjärrvärmebehovet, även medför att fastigheten under hela året har ett kylbehov.Utvärderingen av de två beräkningsprogrammen visar att VIP-Energy är ett lämpligt program att använda vid energikartläggningar.

The European Council agreed in 2008 on a climate and energy package to combat global warming. This package is valid for each EU member country and means that greenhouse gas emissions must fall by at least 20% and the EU's energy use to 20%, consisting of Renewable Energy in 2020. The Swedish Government has set stringent climate and energy with the intention to set an example for the rest of Europe. For example, renewable energy sources account for at least 50% of energy use and our climate emissions to fall by 40% by 2020. A combination of these goals and a steadily rising oil price has led to an increased demand for wood fuel in the form of such branches and tops.

This study examines the use of building modeling and energy simulations in the design process  of  a  building.  The  take-off  point  is  the  notion  of  energy  simulations  being needed early and throughout the building design process, and that the lack of energy simulations may be explained by the fact that they are time consuming and therefore often too expensive. A greater interoperability between software tools used by relevant disciplines,  such  as  the  architect  and  the  energy  specialist,  would  create  smoother workflows, which would reduce this cost and open up for more frequent and iterative energy  simulation  processes.  The  study  is  an  assessment  of  the  modeling  tool  Revit and  the  simulation  tool  Virtual  Environment  and  whether  they  can  create  smoother workflows, and make leeway for a more frequent use of energy simulations throughout the  design  process.  It  also  investigates  the  limitations  of  what  can  be  examined  by simulations in Virtual Environment. This will hopefully help clarify the future role of energy  simulations  in  design  processes.  The  method  is  a  trial  by  error  approach  of testing the two software tools by building and simulating a model. The results of these tests  show  that  the  workflow  is  not  optimal  (and  therefore  time  consuming)  for frequent  and  iterative simulations  throughout the  design  process,  but  it  also  reveals some  great  possibilities  of  what  can  be  performed  with  these  two  powerful  tools  at hand.  Further  development  with  regards  on  platform  independency  of  the  building information  model,  including  seamless  exporting  and  importing,  seems  necessary  to strengthen the future role of energy simulations..