The building sector is heavily dependent on non-renewable energy sources and is responsible for a large share of climate-damaging CO₂ emissions in Switzerland. The environmental air temperature over the lifetime of a building designed, planned and constructed today is foreseen to increase significantly. This implies the necessity of energy efficient buildings in terms of heating energy as well as protection against overheating.
Building energy simulations enable predictions on several aspects of a building’s performance. Single parameters and measures can be analyzed and the fulfillment of requirements for interior room climate and thermal comfort can be proven.
A building park with 10 buildings holding 70 residential units is currently being planned in Ennetbürgen, canton of Nidwalden. The client of this project, the association BIZUN, emphasizes the thermal comfort in summer without active cooling as well as the implementation of environmentally friendly building materials.
This Bachelor Thesis analyzes the impact of several parameters on the thermal comfort of a residential building unit in this building complex. The most critical measures identified with a parametric building energy simulation are solar protection and nighttime ventilation. This Bachelor Thesis demonstrates the importance of these measures to eliminate overheating of a building unit. The feasibility of a lightweight construction without critical overheating in summer could be proven with the implementation of appropriate measures and parameters. Furthermore, this report holds several recommendations to provide high thermal comfort for the association BIZUN.

Preisträger: ABB Power Grids Switzerland Ltd., für eine sehr gute Bachelor-Thesis im internationalen Studiengang Energy Systems Engineering