Energy Saving Regulations
Introduction
The Basic Energy Saving Document (DB-HE) is a Spanish construction regulation that belongs to the Technical Building Code. It is part of the regulations dedicated to habitability.
Since 2006 it has been a mandatory regulation in Spain. Its introduction produced changes in the way of construction, among which the most striking was the mandatory use of solar panels. Prior to the entry into force of the Technical Building Code, the regulation that regulated the energy consumption of buildings was the NBE-CT of 1979. This regulation exclusively regulated the insulation that the building envelope had to provide, in the face of heating loads. The limitation was established on the entire building (through a coefficient called KG) and on each of the enclosures excluding the openings (through coefficients called K). It only applied to new buildings, and was not applicable in the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. There was another regulation called the Regulation of Thermal Installations in Buildings (RITE), approved in 1998, which covered the production of cold and heat.
In 1999, the Building Planning Law was approved, which demanded new requirements for all constructions, making it necessary to draft new regulations. The result of this reworking is the Technical Building Code, made up of several Basic Documents. Among the habitability requirements was, since its first version, the one relating to energy saving, with 4 newly drafted chapters and a chapter, the second, which refers to the RITE for matters relating to thermal installations. This basic document was approved, along with the rest of the initial Basic Documents, on September 29, 2006.
In 2007, a new Regulation on Thermal Installations in Buildings (RITE) was published, adapted to the new European directives and the rest of the DB-HE, which represented a change to the Basic Document by stating that its second chapter is made up of the RITE in force. This RITE was subsequently modified specifically in 2009.
Since its approval, the DB-HE has undergone two important renovations: in 2013, at which time a new section was introduced where the consumption of non-renewable primary energy was limited, and in 2019, with a version that maintained the previous structure, adjusting the calculation methodology to European regulations.[1].
The measurement system of the Technical Building Code is the international system of units, which represents a great change with respect to previous regulations that were governed by the technical system of units.