Performance based regulations: the viability of the modelling approach as a methodology for building energy compliance demonstration

摘要

With the increasing international shift from prescriptive to performance-based regulations, a legislativeudcall for the integration of predictive assessment tools in the design process has emerged. In relation to this,udthe requirements of Article 3 of the Directive on Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) were transposedudinto UK legislation with the introduction of the Building and Approved Inspectors (Amendment)udRegulations 2006 (England and Wales) in April 2006. These introduced the ‘National CalculationudMethodology’ (NCM), a unified compliance demonstration route for energy performance criteria specified inudApproved Document Part L (Conservation of Fuel and Power), supported through the use of modelling-basedudbuilding energy performance prediction (BEPP) tools accredited for the purposes of implementingudassociated calculations.udThis thesis presents an assessment of adopting the methodology, utilising a mixed-method research design toudinvestigate key parameters identified as measures by which to quantify the success of this approach. Firstly,udthe adaptive capability of the UK construction industry is assessed through the analysis of primary dataudcollected from a longitudinal survey. Secondly the applicability of the methodology is analysed through in-depthudinterviews examining the role of key actors and the varying dynamics of implementation andudenforcement. Finally, a comparative evaluation is carried out to assess the adequacy of accredited BEPPudtools.udThe main findings outline the shortcomings of the adaptation strategy adopted by industry and theudinconsistent implementation and enforcement strategies employed. The results of the comparative tool studyudin particular highlight three important issues; a large degree of predictive variability between keyudcompliance benchmarks, the lack of consistency in granting approval (a pass/fail result) between tools andudlimitations in the scope of their applicability. The research concludes that although a number of positiveudaspects can be associated with the introduction of a modelling-based approach for compliance demonstration,uddue to the aforementioned issues, considerable efforts are still required to extend its usefulness as a credibleudlegislative support tool for performance-based regulations.