Aspects and implementation of low-energy buildings design

Energy saving is a high-priority for civil engineering in developed countries. The improvement of energy efficiency and environmental performance of buildings is considered a matter of high priority worldwide. For this reason, energy-efficient technologies are being increasingly implemented in all sectors. This article provides an overview of integrated building design process that is crucial in order to better integrate the activities required to accomplish the design of low-energy buildings. Design of energy efficient buildings is a process that requires a wide knowledge of the principles of energy efficient building design, material selection and installation, the application of building automation, analysis of the building physics and analysis of indoor comfort.
This article shows the importance of an integrated design of energy-efficient buildings in light of the new requirements that will need to be met by the architects and engineers specializing in this area. It also presents the difference in designing energy efficient buildings in different technologies, by performing various analysis on two examples of a single family house. In both cases preliminary architectural concept enables the calculation of the energy efficiency of the building, along with a detailed analysis of the different energy demands, thermal comfort and overheating. This results at the stage of conceptual design allow the use of more economical materials and HVAC systems solutions, maintaining established energy