Plus Energy Buildings San Pedro Culture Climate Survey

San Pedro

Practices that conflict with each other 

Heating and comfort needs

What design strategies have you used in your PEB to ensure that residents’ diverse heating needs are fulfilled?

  • There are thermostats in each room
  • There is one thermostat in the living area and another one in the sleeping area
  • There is only one thermostat in the dwelling
  • Residents can change the temperature setpoint(s) on the thermostat(s) themselves
  • There is home automation to adjust to residents’ habits
  • Other: Range of set point temperature is limited

Has your design assumed that occupants would sleep with the windows open in winter?

  • Yes
  • No

If yes, how has your design accounted for this to optimize energy efficiency?

  • Installation of smart controls so when the system detects that a window is open, the heating turns off automatically
  • Having bedroom doors closed is encouraged among the residents via training/user manuals so that only the temperature in the bedroom drops
Cooking, ventilation and window opening

What design strategies have you considered/ implemented in your PEB for residents to be able to get rid of cooking odours?

  • Mechanical ventilation
  • Manually opening windows
  • Active window system – windows that open automatically when programmed
  • Filtered-air recirculation
  • Kitchen recirculation hood
  • Kitchen layout
  • No particular strategies have been used or have been deemed necessary
  • Other: Kitchen hood 100% extraction, no recirculation

How do those chosen design strategies ensure the optimisation of energy efficiency in the building?

  • Smart controls are installed to automatically close windows after a certain amount of time
  • When a window has been left open for a certain amount of time an alarm rings
  • HMS (Home Management System) sends notifications to the residents
  • It was not considered necessary
  • Other: HMI/EMS optimizes a strategy and residents are suggested specific actions
Cleaning, ventilation and window opening

What design strategies have you considered/ implemented in your PEB for residents to be able to get rid of cleaning odours?

  • Mechanical ventilation
  • Manually opening windows
  • Active window system – windows that open automatically when programmed
  • Filtered-air recirculation
  • No particular strategies have been used or have been deemed necessary

How do those design strategies put in place in your PEB ensure the optimisation of energy efficiency in the building?

  • Smart controls are installed to automatically close windows after a certain amount of time
  • When a window has been left open for a certain amount of time an alarm rings
  • HMS (Home Management System) sends notifications to the residents
  • It was not considered necessary
  • Other: HMI/EMS optimizes a strategy and residents are suggested specific actions
Opening windows and contact with the outdoors

How have you traded-off local/cultural ways of ventilating/opening windows with the need to optimise the energy efficiency of the building?

  • Windows are not openable
  • Windows are manually openable
  • Windows are manually openable and close automatically after a certain time
  • No particular strategies have been used or have been deemed necessary
Mechanical ventilation

How have you anticipated and designed for a correct use of the mechanical ventilation (one that optimizes energy efficiency) by the residents in your PEB?

  • Residents receive a user manual with instructions when they move into the building
  • Residents receive training when they move into the building
  • Mechanical ventilation is normalized in the region where the PEB is built and residents, in general, know how to operate the mechanical ventilation correctly
  • No particular strategies have been used or have been deemed necessary
  • Other: Ventilation operates based upon CO2 probe levels
Cooling needs

What design strategies have you used in your PEB to ensure that residents’ diverse cooling needs are fulfilled?

  • Having manually openable windows
  • Installing fans
  • Installing air conditioning
  • Adding mobile shading systems that can be operated by the residents (venetian blinds, vertical blinds, roller shades, etc.)
  • Incorporating fixed solar shading systems (overhangs, horizontal/vertical louvers, egg-crates, etc.) in the design of the building
  • Maintaining the trees/plants/vegetation present in the immediate surroundings of the building
  • Adding trees/plants/vegetation in the immediate surroundings of the building to the design
  • No particular strategies have been used or have been deemed necessary
  • Other: Roller shades are automatically operated with a user override function. Shades are activated based upon temperature, sunlight incidence and season. Rain garden also may help to reduce temperature.
Design features to generate surplus energy

Which design features, that go beyond technological solutions, have you taken into account when designing your PEB, a building that generates more energy than the energy that it consumes?

  • Compactness in order to minimize the amount of surface in contact with external conditions
  • Orientation of the living and the sleeping areas
  • Layout of the dwellings
  • Layout of the dwellings allowing for crossed ventilation
  • External shading systems integrated in the building
  • Use of local construction materials
  • Using the plot topography to increase thermal inertia
  • No particular design strategies have been used or have been deemed necessary
  • Other: Increasing size of windows to allow solar gains in winter, adding cantilever balconies that act as shades in summer. PV panels even in suboptimal orientations.