## 2 Materials and Methods
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Climatic Zone**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**City**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Envelope Component**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Thermal**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Solar Heat Gain Coefficient**} \\  & & & **Transmittance** & & [**–**] \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{B} & \multirow{4}{*}{Larnaca} & External wall & 0.43 & - \\  & & Slab & 0.44 & - \\  & & Seville & Roof & 0.35 & - \\  & & Window & 3 & 0.35 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{C} & Athens & External wall & 0.34 & - \\  & & Slab & 0.38 & - \\  & & Brindisi & Roof & 0.33 & - \\  & & Santander & Window & 2.2 & 0.35 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{D} & \multirow{4}{*}{Rome} & External wall & 0.29 & - \\  & & Stab & 0.29 & - \\  & & Porto & Roof & 0.26 & - \\  & & Madrid & Window & 1.8 & 0.35 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{E} & \multirow{4}{*}{Plovdiv} & External wall & 0.26 & - \\  & & Milan & 0.26 & - \\  & & Paris & Stab & 0.26 & - \\  & & London & Roof & 0.22 & - \\  & & Timisoara & Brussels & Window & 1.4 & 0.35 \\  & & Geneva & & & \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{F} & \multirow{4}{*}{Ljubljana} & Ankara & External wall & 0.24 & - \\  & & Ljubljana & 0.20 & - \\  & & Copenhagen & 0.21 & - \\  & & Murnich & Window & 1.1 & 0.35 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{G} & \multirow{4}{*}{Bergen} & External wall & 0.17 & - \\  & & Moscow & Slab & 0.10 & - \\ \cline{1-1}  & & Helsinki & Roof & 0.09 & - \\ \cline{1-1}  & & Kiruna & Window & 0.8 & 0.35 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 4: Characteristics of the envelope properties for each climatic zone. strategy case, natural ventilation is activated only when the operative temperature of the thermal zone oversteps the higher boundary of the optimal range and the outdoor dry-bulb air temperature is lower than the indoor dry-bulb air temperature. This choice is due to the behavior of the building users, who generally open windows only for warm thermal discomfort. For both strategies, a linearly dimmable artificial lighting system was implemented, controlled by an illuminance sensor placed in the middle of each thermal zone, with a target illuminance of 300 lux in the apartments, 100 lux in the corridors, and 500 lux in the offices. Internal gains, occupancy, and indoor appliances were left in accordance with the original reference models. According to the ASHRAE Standards [72], indoor appliances consume a maximum of 10.76 W/m\({}^{2}\) in small offices and 5.38 W/m\({}^{2}\) in midrise apartments, with a radiant fraction equal to 0.5. An occupancy density of 0.054 persons/m\({}^{2}\) was considered for the offices, while a maximum number of 2.5 people was assumed for the apartments. In both cases, the metabolic emission rate was considered equal to 120 W/person. Another fundamental step in energy analyses is to properly model the PCM in EnergyPlus. To that end, a commercial PCM-enhanced plaster panel--the Alba Balance by Saint-Gobain Rigips--was considered as a reference. Two phase-transition temperatures, 23 and 26 \({}^{\circ}\)C, are commercially available for these boards. In this study, a 23 \({}^{\circ}\)C phase transition with a latent heat of 300 kJ/m\({}^{2}\) is considered, as shown in Table 5, which reports the producer-declared technical data. In order to suitably model this material in EnergyPlus, an enthalpy table, ranging from \(-\)30 to +100 \({}^{\circ}\)C, was calculated, starting from the areal density, the specific heat, the latent heat, and the following enthalpy equation. \[H=mc\;\Delta T \tag{9}\]  
Once the material reaches the melting point (23 \({}^{\circ}\)C), it stores latent heat (300 kJ/m\({}^{2}\) = 12 kJ/kg). This heat storage is equally distributed as an increase of enthalpy at three temperature steps within the melting range (21, 22, and 23 \({}^{\circ}\)C).