Abstract

OSSIO, F; DE HERDE, A  and  VEAS, L. European requirements for air infiltration: Lessons for Chile. Revista de la Construcción [online]. 2012, vol.11, n.1, pp. 54-63. ISSN 0718-915X.  doi: 10.4067/S0718-915X2012000100006.

The Member States of the European Union have pledged to reduce by 20% the primary energy consumption to 2020. Since the energy consumption in residential and commercial buildings represents approximately 40% of total energy, it is possible to define a series of energy efficiency policies that allow improving the energy performance of dwellings as way to reach this objective. One of the main differences of these policies with respect to the Chilean Thermal Regulation is that the latter does not consider heat losses by air infiltration, which in practice may reduce or even eliminate the benefits generated in the context of the current building requirements. This study reviews the national standards of 14 European countries with regard to the limitation of heat losses by air infiltration, with the aim of discussing their evaluation system, measure units and extracting future lessons for the Chilean Thermal Regulation.

Keywords : Energy Efficiency; Construction Standards; Air Infiltration.