Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing today’s society. Savings, energy efficiency and renewable energies are important points that the construction sector must address in order to stop or reduce the effects of this problem. In that sense, the world of energy, which is undergoing a process of constant regulatory change, must also adapt and do its bit to help achieve that goal.
Meeting the requirements established in European Directives, which are under constant review, and their transposition into Spanish legislation – Ecodesign Regulation, Building Energy Efficiency Certification, Self-Consumption Regulation, Regulation on Thermal Installations in Buildings (RITE) and, above all, the recent Technical Building Code (CTE) – is no mean feat. Consequently, Nedgia asked the Thermotechnical Group of the University of Seville which would be the most efficient solutions to fulfil the new CTE, achieving maximum efficiency at the lowest possible cost.
The fruit of this labour is NORBA, a tool able to guide the designers of thermal installations in new build properties to ensure any decisions they make regarding energy solutions are optimal. NORBA is a computer application that allows users to identify options that meet all the requirements associated with nearly zero-energy buildings, from a wide range of climates, buildings, construction characteristic and heating and cooling installations (46 options).
The aim of NORBA is to compare and rank conventionally used solutions for the various thermal applications in the most common types of buildings in our country.