Primary Energy Demand
The primary energy demand was analysed through the LCA. Thanks to this analysis, it was possible to identify the energy balance, i.e., the energy saved over the building life cycle through the use of the design strategies (Eq. (4)).
(4) LCEb= OEs - (EE+ME+DE) + ELR
where LCEb is the life cycle energy balance (kWh); OEs is the operational energy saved due to the use of the design strategy (kWh); EE is the embodied energy in the design strategy (kWh); ME is the maintenance energy due to the design strategy (kWh); DE is the demolition energy in the design strategy (kWh); ELR is the energy life-cycle of the component in the base case that will be replaced by a design strategy.
The embodied energy of the design strategies was obtained from three different data-base: ICE database [40], Ecoinvent 3 and the EPD certification of building materials. The average value and the standard deviation were used to analyse the design strategies (Fig. 5).