Benchmarking for realistic nZEB hotel buildings

The hotel sector is one of the most energy- and resource-intensive branches of the tourism business. Improving the performance of the hotel building stock, especially in the 4- and 5-star segment, is critical in order to reach the nearly zero energy building (nZEB) status imposed by the European Union's 2020 and 2030 targets, and also to meet the long-term objectives set by the Portuguese low carbon economy roadmap 2050. A typical 4-star hotel in operation in Portugal was used as a case study in order to establish realistic energy performance values for nZEB hotels, taking into account the feasibility and cost effectiveness of different intervention packages. The study started with a hotel energy audit, to assess the current energy situation, measuring detailed consumptions. A building model was developed using DesignBuilder/EnergyPlus software, which was validated using the measured data. The validated model was then used to assess the effect of different structured intervention packages (single and integrated measures), combining passive strategies and active technical solutions, also including renewable energy systems, in order to establish minimum energy performance requirements for the hotel stock (4- and 5-star category), taking into account optimal cost levels. The novel indicators may be used in the quantification of realistic nZEB levels for Portuguese hotels.