Achieving sustainability through energy efficiency while assuring indoor environmental quality

Abstract

Sustainability in the Building sector is nowadays a major concern. Taking in consideration that in the EU buildings account for about 40% of the total energy consumption (35% in Portugal), the EU Directive 2002/91/EU on Energy Efficiency in Buildings (EPBD), recently reinforced with the "EPBD-recast", imposes an increasingly stronger control of the energy consumption in this sector while maintaining, or even improving, their indoor environmental quality (IEQ). But, as buildings are complex systems, where all aspects are interconnected and influence each other, not always in a favourable way, an integrated and comprehensive approach to the buildings design, that enhance indoor health and comfort besides the energy savings, should be followed. In this work it is presented a multi-criteria analysis, suitable for the design phase that balances all these aspects, with the potential of becoming a valuable tool to assist the designer in the most appropriate selection of design alternatives, construction solutions and materials.