Urban Planning Planning Phase Construction Operation Phase
   
Please enter the beginning of the phase. Please note that the maximum duration of the phase is limited to 24 months Start of Phase
                                                   
    1) Deselect nZEB  actions not to be included in the process
 
Operations and Maintenance Plan
User Information on  Energy Expenditure                                
 
Documentation  and Recommendations report
System Test Procedures                                
 
Occupant and operator Training
Building Automation                                          
 
Problem Dedection and Optimisation
Hydraulic Balancing                                          
 
Advanced Energy Metering                                              
                                                                   
                                                                   
    2) Define main drivers, targets, dates and track the status of the actions throughout the life cycle phase
  Actions
(Task Description) 		Main driver
(Lead) 		Specification
(Quantitative / Qualitative Targets) 		Start Date Deadline Status    
2,1
   
   
O01
❶Description of the Action
An operation and maintenance plan ensures that the building performs as intened in the planning phase.
It usually relates to energy and indoor quality but may also include other performances.

The operation and maintenance plan should include:
- Life expectancy of different building elements and installations
- A plan for recurring operation and maintenance meetings and regular necessary routines like changing filters of ventilation units
- Routines to follow when tenats/users are complaining (e.g. about indoor temperature)
- Important set points and key performance indicators (energy use, water comsumption, indoor temperature, supply air temperature etc.)
- A plan for recurring controls of the set points and performance indicators 		❷ Importance:
A building that is not operated as intended may drasticaly reduce the life/service time for different elements and components. It may also increase the energy use and reduce the indoor air quality. 		❸ Difficulty:
The plan needs regular adjustments and documentation - responsibilities are to be defined clearly. 		  ❹Standards and Regulations:
- EN 13306 Maintenance terminology
- EN ISO 41001 Facility management - Management systems - Requirements with guidance for use
- EN 13460 Maintenance - Documentation for maintenance
    
2,2
   
   
O02
❶Description of the Action
A change of perspective over the entire life cycle of the building is regarded as mandatory prerequisite for sustainable development. Since buildings become complexly equipped, the challenges of planning and design are met. In order to be able to control the building technology at all and to exclude damages due to incorrect use, care and maintenance, a complete and always up-to-date documentation of the building, services and the plant technology is absolutely necessary.

In practice, incomplete and poorly structured documentation often leads to additional costs in building operation. Necessary documents are usually missing and lead to costly rework. Usage-oriented building documentation is not only an essential success factor for the efficient management, it is only possible through the transparent consolidation of all necessary data and plans of a building. For example, if the service life of a component is noted in the documentation, maintenance and spare parts procurement can be better planned as a result to be. Impairment due to maintenance arrears is avoided, which ensures the value of the building. Operators can download the information as a basis for working in their own processes and in communication among each other. An integrated information management is therefore an important tool throughout the entire lifecycle of the planning process. 		❷ Importance:
- Knowledge about building components / obscured materials
- Quality documentation 		❸ Difficulty:
Additional costs for quality checks and documentation should be recognised. 		  ❹Standards and Regulations:
EN ISO 16739
    
2,3
   
   
O03
❶Description of the Action
User behaviour has a decisive influence on building energy consumption and a good indoor climate. Convincing building concepts are characterised by the fact that the user is enabled to have a large degree of influence without losing sight of the fact that up to 15% of energy costs can be saved by changes in the behaviour of the user. These changes can only be achieved through targeted information and motivation and through building technology tailored to individual needs.

The expected behaviour of users should therefore be taken into account right at the start of planning. A user profile has to be created in advance; it could, for example, include the behaviour at the workplace in non-residential buildings and in handling the electrical lighting or a switchable sun protection, as well as information on draughts or natural ventilation. Whether the building concept is ultimately successful depends crucially on the active participation of the users.

After the realization of the building, the users should be informed in detail how they should or can behave, because the energy savings and optimizations achievable through structural or technical aspects of a building are difficult to achieve without sufficient instruction and are often strongly minimized due to ignorance. An understandable preparation of the information for the following user generations in the form of an attractively designed user manual would be ideal. 		❷ Importance:
The user has a very large influence on the energy efficiency of the building due to his behaviour. If the user behaves "correctly" and operates the technical systems like planned for, energy can be saved.  		❸ Difficulty:
- Technologies are usually very well coordinated and require specialist knowledge for optimum operation
- Monitoring for automated error detection leads to more costs 		  ❹Standards and Regulations:
Formulations must be created that require the processing of data and technologies that enable the user to make optimum use of the building.
Some first drafts for user and operator training where implementet in green building certificates and European projects like from the Passive House Institute Germany.
    
2,4
   
   
O04
❶Description of the Action
When building a new NZEB or renovating existing buildings to NZEB standard, a very important action to check the operation is the monitoring of different functionalities and so check all functions of the building services important to reach NZEB standard in operation. Continuous comparison between planned consumption (adjusted with the real weather data) and real consumption should be made. Automatic alerts should be sent by advanced control and integrated problem detection, when the energy consumption of a particular system is not like planned (too high), or to detect leaks, system problems etc.
The documentation and alert management is very important also to run the system on an optimised level. 		❷ Importance:
HVAC systems account for almost 50% of the energy consumed in buildings. With low investment costs, it is possible to reach energy savings and so cost savings by optimizing energy performances of the HVAC systems.
 ❸ Difficulty:
Problem detection and optimization procedures can be costly looking at the investment only. 		  ❹Standards and Regulations:
- For specific technologies like EN12097: Cleanliness criteria for ventilation systems
- Monitoring: M&V (Measurement and verification) or IPMVP (International performance and verification) protocols
    
2,5
   
   
O05
❶Description of the Action
'LEED v4' green building certification introduces the concept of Advanced Energy Metering, which requires, in addition to monitoring energy consumption and on-site production from renewable sources, to perform separate monitoring of energy consuming devices, which represent more than 10% of the total energy consumption.
In relation to electricity, it is necessary to monitor both consumption and demand. The installed sensors will have to monitor the consumption with an interval of one hour and be connected to a Business Management System, BMS, able of storing all metered data for at least 36 months.
The data must be remotely accessible. All meters in the system should be capable of reporting hourly, daily, monthly, and annual energy use. The data collection system must use a local area network, building automation system, wireless  network, or comparable  communication infrastructure. 		❷ Importance:
As indicated by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC): "The intent is to support energy management and identify opportunities for additional energy savings by tracking building-level and system-level energy use." 		❷ Importance:
As indicated by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC): "The intent is to support energy management and identify opportunities for additional energy savings by tracking building-level and system-level energy use." 		  ❸ Difficulty:
Lack of ICT infrastructure and monitoring sensors, which to install in retrospect could be cost intensive. 		   
2,6
   
   
O06
❶Description of the Action
User behavior has a decisive influence on the building's energy consumption and operational costs. The users should be informed in detail how they should behave or can, because the energy savings and optimizations achievable through structural or technical aspects of a building are difficult to achieve without adequate instruction and are often greatly minimized due to ignorance.
Optimal would be an understandable preparation of the information for the subsequent user generations in the form of an appealingly designed user manual. 		❷ Importance:
Up to 15% of the energy costs can be saved by behavioural changes of the users. 		❸ Difficulty:
To activate the energy saving potential time and effort on communication is necessary. 		  ❹Standards and Regulations:
- EN ISO 52003 Energy performance of buildings – Indicators, requirements, ratings and certifcates
- LEED CS-v4 SSc7: Tenant Design and Construction Guidelines
- BREEAM NC 2017, 5.0 Management (Commissioning, handover and aftercare) 		   
2,7
   
   
O07
❶Description of the Action
To run a NZEB optimally, specific system test procedures can help for quality assurance measures. Test pocedures may be divided into the following:
- Self controls: Usually carried out by the person who does a specific operation/work. The self control has a limited scope. E.g. control of measured air flow at an air duct.
- Tests: Usually carried out by a third party. The test has a limited scope. E.g. air tightness test of building envelope.
- Coordinated test: Usually conducted to ensure a specific function which requires several different entrepreneurs/actors. The test has a wide scope. E.g. fire saftey functions depends on severel different components, delivered and installed by different entrepreneurs.
- Commissioning: The commissioning includes controlling of self controls, tests and coordinated tests.
After the above is approved, the building is commissioned according to specifications from the planning phase.
This may include operating time schedules for ventilation and lighting, set point temperatures for the heating control, etc. 		❷ Importance:
A building not commissioned in a correct way will not perform as planned in the planning phase - system tests help to understand why. 		❸ Difficulty:
- Identifying important aspects for tests
- Planning for tests - a lot of knowledge needed 		  ❹Standards and Regulations:
E.g. from SQUARE project: http://www.iee-square.eu/default.asp
    
2,8
   
   
O08
❶Description of the Action
By equipping buildings with bus systems, there are numerous possibilities to automatically control and regulate the life processes in the house, as well as to use energy sparingly. For this purpose, in addition to the normal electrical installation, a two-core, shielded 24-volt cable is routed through the building. This bus line connects all devices with each other for decentralized communication and compares data streams via integrated chips in the connected switches and devices. The reported states of the devices can thus be reacted.

This development was driven by advances in electronics and computer technology and the increasing need for comfort (remote control of many functions, intelligent blinds controls, automatic room temperature control, light control), security (presence and motion detectors, wind detectors, burglary, fire and smoke detection systems, etc .) and above all - from an ecological point of view and in view of increased energy prices - energy and cost savings.

Especially for heating, for the lighting and hot water supply, energy can be saved. Although the initial investment is higher than conventional technology, the higher cost of energy saving over the lifetime of the building pays off. Additionally load management and demand response actions can be implemented. 		❷ Importance:
Energy consumption can be optimised, and adjusted to the demand. Significant energy savings can be reached. 		❸ Difficulty:
 Investment cost and maintenance effort. 		  ❹Standards and Regulations:
 - EN 15232:2012 - Energy Performance of Buildings – Impact of Building Automation, Controls, and Building Management
    
2,9
   
   
O09
❶Description of the Action
When centralized heating systems are used in NZEBs, the heating pipe networks have significant line lengths with numerous pressure-reducing branches, bends and fittings. The flow and heat transfer, with increasing distance from the boiler system and pump, are increasingly low. For radiators that are at the end of a heating line, this can lead to a shortage. Because of these comfort problems with sparsely supplied radiators or heating surfaces mainly occurring within long lines, a hydraulic compensation has to be done.

The so got uniform supply of all heating surfaces with heat energy from a central heating system can lower the network temperatures and thus reduce transport losses. The adjustment can be made on strands or directly on the heating surfaces and can be controlled by installing and adjusting control elements.

For heating systems with utilization of condensing technology, the calorific value gain increases due to the lower return temperatures from calibrated systems. The uniform supply of all heating surfaces increases comfort and cosiness without the need for excess temperatures in the heating network. 		❷ Importance:
- About 5-10% energy savings can be achieved by hydraulic balancing.
- The comfort of exposed dwellings, far from the heating unit of a NZEB, increases.
- Further advantages: Noise in the heating system is avoided, and the auxiliary energy consumption for the necessary pumps is lower. 		❸ Difficulty:
- Know how and experience with hydraulic balancing is needed to achieve it properly.
- Coud be costly when neglected in the warranty phase. 		  ❹Standards and Regulations:
- DIN 18380: German construction contract procedures (VOB) - Part C: General technical specifications in construction contracts (ATV) - Installation of central heating systems and hot water supply systems
- EN 14336: Heating systems in buildings - Installation and commissioning of water based heating systems