Double-skin facade technology for energy-efficient commercial building refurbishment in Norway

This work is part of the project “Low Energy Commercial Buildings” (leco) run by SINTEF Building and Infrastructure. The project’s principal objectives are to develop more energy-efficient buildings The project includes analyses of building envelopes applied in different kinds of climates, different uses, and different construction methods. Energy-efficient building refurbishment in Norway is becoming a main focus. With the help of dynamic computer simulations of energy and indoor environment for a case building in Norway the impact of an additional ventilated glass facade on energy use and indoor environment was analyzed. A focus was put on a comparison of energy use and thermal comfort levels of various cases. Here, it became obvious that airflow in the double skin façade needs to be integrated into the existing ventilation system.