COMPARACIÓN ENTRE LA NORMATIVA DE EFICIENCIA ENERGÉTICA EN LA EDIFICACIÓN AUSTRALIANA Y ESPAÑOLA. UN CASO DE ESTUDIO

Abstract

The main aim of this study is to compare the requirements established by Spanish and Australian Building Codes in terms of energy efficiency through a case study. In the first place, the BCA (Building Code of Australia) is analyzed in detail, studying its structure and finding the correlation of the sections with the CTE (Código Técnico de la Edificación) in Spain. Then, the contents in both regulations are identified, as well as the building classification, usages and the climatic zones, through climate severity defined for summer and winter using accumulated global radiation and degree per day average. Some other factors, such as solar heat gain coefficient, allow developing and facilitating the understanding of the comparison between both Building Codes. To illustrate the comparison, a detached house has been analyzed through the implementation of energy requirements for both Building Codes, providing constructive solutions using natural insulation. This enabled identifying the main points which present the most notable differences and which regulation is more restrictive in each aspect. Finally, a programmed software able to determine this data automatically has been developed, in order to facilitate the comparison for any other case study. Keywords: Building Code; energy efficiency requirements; climatic zone; case study