Design and energy consumption assessment for a modular hospital in Romania

Abstract

The European Commission has set the goal of making Europe CO2-neutral by 2050, which requires decarbonising the building sector. Clear steps in this direction were made with the 2010 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), when the concept of nearly zeroenergy building (NZEB) was introduced. Currently, NZEB is a mandatory requirement for all new building in the European Union. In Romania, the authorities have established maximum values of total primary energy consumption for NZEB’s, out of which at least 30% must be covered form renewable energy sources. Achieving these requirements can be a great challenge, especially in certain building categories such as hospitals. This paper presents a study regarding the NZEB design and the energy performance assessment of a hospital building in Romania. The building in discussion is an infectious diseases hospital, whose aim is supporting potential sanitary system crisis generated by situations such as COVID-19 pandemic. The energy conservation design aimed the minimization of energy need through high thermal insulation, energy efficient windows, ventilation with heat recovery and LED lighting. Also, a renewable energy system consisting in PV panels was proposed. The energy consumption and on-site energy production was assessed
by means of monthly method. The aim is to verify if the proposed design solutions assure the achievement of the NZEB standard as it is defined in Romania.