Responsive Building Elements –
         Responsive Building Elements –
      Responsive Building ElementsActual Development and Trends 
         Actual Development and Trends 
                     Within IEA
                     Within IEA
                      Marco Perino
                      Marco Perino
            Dipartimento di Energetica, Politecnico di Torino
            Dipartimento di Energetica, Politecnico di Torino
                      Torino (Italy)
      Integrating Environmentally Torino (Italy)
                 e_mail: marco.perino@polito.it
                 e_mail: marco.perino@polito.it
      Annex 44 -
               Responsive Building Elements – actual development and 
                           trends within IEA
                            Marco Perino
                                                                     INTRODUCTION -1
                                                                     INTRODUCTION -1
              Research and technological innovation, over the 
              last decade, have determined a significant 
              improvement in the performance of specific 
              building elements like the building envelope -
           Responsive Building Elementsincluding walls, roofs and fenestration 
              components, solar shading devices, lighting 
              systems - and building equipment - such as 
              heating, ventilation, cooling equipment and 
              lighting. 
               While most building elements still offer some opportunities for 
               efficiency improvements, the greatest future potential seems to 
           Integrating Environmentally lie with technologies that promote the integration of 
               “dynamic” building elements with building services. 
           Annex 44 -
               Responsive Building Elements – actual development and 
                           trends within IEA
                            Marco Perino
                                                                     INTRODUCTION -2
                                                                     INTRODUCTION -2
              “dynamic and adaptive” concepts translate into 
              the fact that functions, features and 
              thermophysical behaviour of such building 
              components may change over the time and adapt
              to different building/occupants requirements 
              (heating & cooling, higher/lower ventilation, …) 
           Responsive Building Elementsand to different boundary conditions 
              (meteorological, internal heat/pollution loads, …).
              Key issues:
             ¾Building components are no more thought and designed 
                just for a “single function”, but their scopes are wider. 
                Besides architectural, structural and/or shielding  
                purposes they also exert thermal and/or fluid dynamic 
           Integrating Environmentally actions.
             ¾With these elements the building, like a person, “may 
                change its clothes” and adapt to different external/indoor 
           Annex 44 -actions and various requirement.
               Responsive Building Elements – actual development and 
                           trends within IEA
                             Marco Perino
                                                                      INTRODUCTION -3
                                                                      INTRODUCTION -3
               Advantages achievable by adopting responsive building elements:
                ¾ Substantial improvement in environmental and operating cost performance.
                ¾ Enhancement in the use and exploitation of the quality of energy sources 
           Responsive Building Elements(exergy) and use of renewable and low valued energy sources (like waste 
                   heat, ambient heat, residual heat etc.)
                ¾ Enablement and/or enhancement of the possibilities of passive and active 
                   storage of energy (buffering)
                ¾ Integration of architectural principles into energy efficient 
                   building concepts
                ¾ Better tuning of available technologies in relation to the 
                   building users and their behaviour
           Integrating Environmentally ¾ Better understanding of integrated design principles among 
                   architects and engineers.
           Annex 44 -