Buildings have to be energy efficient, durable, and have a good indoor climate to meet the users’ demand for functionality and economy and society’s demand for energy conservation and environmental improvements. A holistic approach to the building envelope and installations is the basis for creating buildings with a good indoor climate and low energy consumption. This subject area deals with interaction between the building envelope and installations, and intelligent methods of controlling them. The area is central both in connection with design and operation of buildings and in connection with the development of construction products and system solutions.The Sections main research topics are:
The subject area deals with the technical, social and environmental problems that require a development towards sustainable building design based on energy conservation and sustainable energy systems.
The subject area deals with building envelope design including windows and solar shading devices plus building services including solar heating systems.
The subject area combines research into and development of buildings with:
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a good indoor climate (basic needs for humans)
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good functionality (users’ wishes)
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low energy consumption (society’s needs, with regard to environment and resources)
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high durability (of common interest to individuals and society)
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good life cycle cost (of common interest to individuals and society).
The subject area is of relevance to new building as well as to renovation and maintenance of existing buildings. In the light of the great value that buildings and infrastructure represent, the maintenance of knowledge and research in the field is of great economic importance.