PhD Thesis - Energy Systems Research Unit - University of Strathclyde

Section 2.3.3.2, on the other hand, describes a high efficiency building fabricscenario representative of well insulated fabric, satisfying the minimum local legalrequirements set by the Technical Guidance - Conservation of Fuel, Energy andNatural Resources [9], and which applies to all new buildings and buildings with afloor space area in excess of 1,000m 2 undergoing major renovation as required by theEPBD [19].2.3.3.1 Modelling the low efficiency fabric scenarioThe high premium for living space in Malta, the scarcity and cost of natural buildingresources [18] and a perceived mild climate [8] has unfortunately led to a situationwhere for a long period of time the efficient use of energy in space heating andcooling was not a priority compared to providing relatively cheap accommodation. Itis important to stress that when most of the existing building stock was built,enforcement of the minimum building requirements was scarce [18] and it istherefore very difficult to state with certainty what type of fabric was used for mostof the existing housing stock.Nonetheless Buhagiar in [18] and Tejedor et al. in [14] give a reasonably detailedaccount of what were the typical building standards used with regards to buildingmaterials in Malta. Table 2.3 lists the main features of the building fabric used tomodel the low efficiency fabric scenario used in the simulations. The list includesmaterial thickness, thermal conductivity, physical layout description and the totalcalculated U-Value of the construction fabric.External walls are distinguished between south facing and other external exposedwalls on the basis that, although all external walls should have been built with doublewalls, anecdotally only the primary external façade was typically constructed usingdouble walls.The recommended maximum U-Value set by the Technical Guidance - Conservationof Fuel, Energy and Natural Resources [9] are listed for comparison.37