Peru Elguezabal

• PhD Engineering
• Professor (Assistant) at University of the Basque Country

Industrial buildings are a key element in the industrial fabric, and their maintenance is essential to ensure their proper functioning and avoid disruptions and costly economic losses. Continuous maintenance based on an accurate diagnosis makes it possible to meet the challenges of aging infrastructures, which demands a reliable data-based assessme...

To assist the sustainable development of the building sector, designers require tools illustrating the most viable design options. This paper, starting by presenting the opportunities and limitations of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology and Digital Product Passport (DPP) instrument when applied to Custom Modules for Curtain Walls, propose...

A key barrier in building-facade renovation processes is that, contrary to new designs, an initial building model where the design process is based rarely exists, and the technologies usually employed to create it (e.g., based on point cloud scanning) are costly or require modeling skills. This situation is a clear limitation, especially in early d...

The current research presents the design and development of a prefabricated modular façade solution for renovating residential buildings. The system is conceived as an industrialised solution that incorporates solar harvesting technologies, contributing to reducing energy consumption by employing an “active façade” concept. One of the main challeng...

This Special Issue compiles results of EU H2020 funded projects working on the development of multi-functional envelope solutions for deep renovation of buildings. The projects have a common and aligned objective to develop and demonstrate plug & build smart components, including insulation materials, heating and cooling elements, ventilation, smar...

Process digitalisation and automation is unstoppable in all industries, including construction. However, its widespread adoption, even for non-experts, demands easy-to-use tools that reduce technical requirements. BIM to BEM (Building Energy Models) workflows are a clear example, where ad-hoc prepared models are needed. This paper describes a metho...

The European building industry is facing a strong increase in renovation processes, which are still non-cost-effective, involve unproperly coordinated stakeholders, are disturbing for the occupants, and cause important inefficiencies in the overall renovation process. In this context, digitalization and Building Information Modelling (BIM), as an e...

Although construction is one of the largest industries in the world, it is one of the least digitised and its productivity is still very low. Excesses of time and cost are common and are even more accentuated for building renovation. Recently, the building information modeling (BIM) methodology has strongly entered in the construction sector and ap...

The European building industry is facing a strong increase of renovation processes, which are still non-cost-effective, involve unproperly coordinated stakeholders, are disturbing for the occupants, and imply important inefficiencies of the overall renovation process. In this context, digitalization and Building Information Modeling (BIM), as an en...

The building sector presents poor performance in terms of energy efficiency and is looking for effective alternatives aimed at reducing the use of fossil fuels. The facade is a key element able to harness renewable energy as an Active Solar Thermal Facade (ASTF). The main purpose of this study is the assessment of a novel design concept based on a...

The use of renewable energy sources is a clear commitment in the process of developing alternatives to reduce the high energy consumption in buildings. Although with intermittent production, renewable energies are unlimited and have a demonstrated potential to be integrated within buildings. The facade is a key element in a strategic position for h...

This paper describes the development of an innovative optimizer component as part of a calculation tool for evaluating and comparing a set of retrofitting options for domestic heating and cooling systems. At the initial stage of the process, a filtering sub-module has been developed to pre-process the information introduced by the user and generate...

Ventilated façade systems have become an interesting solution in the field of energy efficiency for buildings thanks to their associated improvement in thermal insulation properties. However, differences exist between real and theoretical thermal performance, resulting in an increase of actual energy consumption above predicted values. Part of this...

The present document includes a state-of-the-art review of solar envelope systems that are already on the market or that can potentially reach that stage in a short-medium timeframe (Technology Readiness Level ≥ 4). The analysis focuses on the technological integration of such solutions in the envelope and building, but non-technical issues such as...

As a part of BIM4REN (Building Information Modelling based tools & technologies for fast and efficient RENovation of residential buildings) H2020 project, an analysis of the barriers of the renovation process, the potential of digitalization to overcome those barriers, and the requirements to ensure a successful digital workflow. This paper focuses...

As a part of BIM4REN (Building Information Modelling based tools & technologies for fast and efficient RENovation of residential buildings) H2020 project, the analysis of the barriers to the use of BIM tools in renovation processes, as well as the necessary requirements to ensure a successful digital workflow is presented. This paper focuses on the...

Active façade systems incorporating solar thermal collectors currently offer very promising energetic solutions. From among the available systems, a simple solution is the unglazed heat collector for potential integration in low-temperature applications. However, when adopting system definitions, the modification of some design parameters and their...

District heating and cooling (DHC), when combined with waste or renewable energy sources, is an environmentally sound alternative to individual heating and cooling systems in buildings. In this work, the theoretical energy and economic performances of a DHC network complemented by compression heat pump and sewage heat exchanger are assessed through...

Energy efficiency aware building owners are facing a massive amount of different retrofitting options. However, a quantitative assessment of the different options requires a high level of technical expertise. In this contribution, a fast and novel simulation platform for the assessment of different residential heating system configurations is prese...

The building sector has a poor performance in terms of energy efficiency and is looking for alternatives to reduce the use of fossil fuels on building use stage. Renewables are unlimited and solar thermal energy is a technology with a demonstrated potential. The façade is a key element able to harness renewable energy coming from the sun becoming i...

De interés especial en la mejora energética de los edificios gracias a la mejora en el aislamiento térmico, existe una diferencia entre el comportamiento térmico real y potencial de las fachadas ventiladas debido a la presencia de puentes térmicos, incidiendo de forma directa en el consumo final. El presente estudio plantea soluciones que reducen l...

There is a clear trend towards the increased contribution of renewable energy at European level, and EU policies are oriented towards that direction. The building sector is no exception and presents an urgent necessity for increasing the share of renewable energy sources (RES) to reduce the impact on the environment. The aim of this paper is to ex...

his study provides a characterization of the existing European stock of residential buildings, with a specific focus on their energy performance. Eight countries with different characteristics and climates have been selected as a representative sample. After identifying relevant parameters, data has been compiled from several sources, including nat...

Thermal storages facilitate an increase of the share of renewable energies in residential heating. Excess heat (e.g. from solar thermal panels) can be stored intermittently to cover the energy demand of the building and to provide domestic hot water. Given appropriate control algorithms, the decoupling of heat provision and consumption can be explo...

In the current context of moving towards more sustainable construction, advanced façade systems that integrate solar collecting devices represent a commitment with future trends that combine renewable technologies with building skins. This paper describes a real experience when combining a novel unglazed solar collector based on sandwich panel tech...

External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems (ETICS) are increasingly used for the energy-efficient retrofit of buildings. This paper evaluates the in-situ thermal performance of a prefabricated composite panel made of PIR and concrete, by full scale testing of a prototype installed at the KUBIK test facility. Experimental results from measurement...

Despite significant development in the performance and efficiency of solar thermal technology, little consideration has been given to its interaction within building envelopes, aside from mechanical fixing systems. The lack of solutions for the architectural integration of solar collectors and the complexity of their assembly process remain importa...

Until very recently, technical systems such as solar thermal systems, and other HVAC elements have been conceptualized based uniquely in their thermal performance levels, and its integration with other architectural elements (envelopes, slabs,…) limited to mechanical fixation. However, with steadily increasing use of technologies for the reduction...

The challenges of achieving the 2020 goals in terms of energy savings and improving efficiency are guiding numerous research initiatives looking for more insulated envelopes, dealing with thermal performance of insulation materials and envelope systems. Nevertheless, the envelope integrates within the building and this improvement on the insulation...

The challenges of achieving the 2020 goals in terms of energy savings and improving efficiency are guiding numerous research initiatives looking for more insulated envelopes, dealing with thermal performance of insulation materials and envelope systems. Nevertheless, the envelope integrates within the building and this improvement on the insulation...

Until very recently, technical systems such as solar thermal systems, and other HVAC elements have been conceptualized based uniquely in their thermal performance levels, and its integration with other architectural elements (envelopes, slabs,…) limited to mechanical fixation. However, with steadily increasing use of technologies for the reduction...

Thermal insulation in buildings is getting more and more performing with modern energy efficiency regulations in developed countries. Not only insulation requirements are imposed to new-built buildings, but also to refurbishment activities of the existing building stock. These requirements lead to increased insulation thicknesses in building envelo...

KUBIK is aimed to the development of new concepts, products and services to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. The main characteristic of KUBIK is the capability to built realistic scenarios to analyse the energy efficiency obtained from the holistic interaction of the constructive solution for the envelope, the intelligent management of t...