Air leakage and its impact on the energy performance of dwellings has been broadly studied
in countries with cold climates in Europe, US, and Canada. However, there is a lack of knowledge in
this field in Mediterranean countries. Current Spanish building regulations establish ventilation rates
based on ideal airtight envelopes, causing problems of over-ventilation and substantial energy losses.
The aim of this paper is to develop a methodology that allows the characterization of the envelope of
the housing stock in Spain in order to adjust ventilation rates taking into consideration air leakage.
A methodology that is easily applicable to other countries that consider studying the airtightness of
the envelope and its energetic behaviour improvement is proposed. A statistical sampling method has
been established to determine the dwellings to be tested, considering relevant variables concerning
airtightness: climate zone, year of construction, and typology. The air leakage rate is determined
using a standardized building pressurization technique according to European Standard EN 13829.
A representative case study has been presented as an example of the implementation of the designed
methodology and results are compared to preliminary values obtained from the database.
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