RE2020 Thermal Study
Annecy, AURA

In Annecy, thermal studies contend with the altitude and an Alpine basin climate that keeps heating demand at the top of the balance sheet, while summer discomfort rises on heavily glazed developments. The scarcity and cost of land drive compact forms, which serves performance but reduces the room for manoeuvre on orientation and solar shading. Tourism adds a difficulty of its own: buildings whose occupancy varies strongly across the year are penalised by systems sized on peak demand alone, hence the value of a dynamic simulation based on realistic scenarios.

Summer comfort is the sticking point of the RE2020 in Annecy: on exposed façades, the degree-hours (DH) threshold is quickly exceeded, all the more so in the south of France. Dynamic thermal simulation arbitrates between thermal inertia, solar shading and natural ventilation before the building envelope is fixed.