## 1 Introduction  
One of the strategies of the European Union (EU) is to establish a common framework for the promotion of energy efficiency in all sectors. The general regulatory framework is defined in Directive 2023/1791 [1], which includes the establishment of the minimum requirements which need to be met by the member states. For the building sector in particular, the EU aims to achieve a zero-emission building stock by 2050 at the latest. To this end, through Directive 2024/1275 [2], it promotes the improvement of the energy efficiency of buildings, highlighting, in this regard, the importance of energy consumption of cooling. According to Anne I of this document, energy efficiency should be assessed by means of a numerical indicator of primary energy use per unit of floor area and year (kWh/m\({}^{2}\)-year). The Directive also refers to the integrated national energy and climate plans to be developed by the member states, indicating that they should include specific policies and measures to achieve the goal of climate neutrality by 2050 [3]. In the particular case of Spain, the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC by its initials in Spanish) [4] proposes active and passive actions in the energy rehabilitation of residential buildings as a priority to achieve two of its main objectives established for 2030: (i) a 23% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990; and (ii) a 39.5% improvement in energy efficiency. With regard to the latter of these two objectives, the PNIEC Prioritises actions on the thermal envelope of buildings, including facades, rooves, external joinery, glazing, and solar protection, with the aim of reducing the final energy consumption of the services which have the greatest weight in their energy consumption, one of which is cooling. In this sense, another of the strategies employed by the Spanish Government has been the establishment of a basic procedure to quantify the energy efficiency of buildings, with the ultimate aim of minimising their energy needs [5]. This procedure includes the technical and administrative conditions for the energy certification process of the buildings. Improving thermal comfort may lead to increases in energy use [6]. Obtaining thermal comfort and a good energy performance at the same time is therefore a major challenge. Achieving the energy-thermal comfort binomial is even more complex when considering the nearly zero-energy building (nZEB) concept. Various assessments of both the energy and comfort levels of nZEBs can be found in the literature, many of which include the effects of climate change on both parameters. For example, in a long-term assessment developed for an nZEB in a Mediterranean climate, increases of cooling energy consumption were detected, as well as reductions in the hours of adaptive comfort [7]. The growing energy demand for cooling in the building sector is one of the most critical energy-related issues [8]. Currently, cooling appliances account for nearly 20% of global electricity use by buildings [8; 9]. The International Energy Agency [8] estimates a more than three-fold increase in residential energy use for cooling by 2050. In this sense, the establishment of strategies to promote energy savings in regions with hot climates is a pressing priority [10]. At the European level, the purchase and use of air conditioning is increasing rapidly in Spain, Italy, Greece, and southern France [8]. This space-cooling technology dominates the market for residential and commercial buildings [11]. The increase in peak electricity demand, associated with cooling needs in particular, affects the stability of electricity systems [12], a factor which must be taken into account, especially in regions with weak electricity systems. This has already been identified by the PNIEC as a climate change-related threat to the Spanish energy system [4]. Various studies highlight the importance of studying the factors that influence cooling demand [13; 14] and propose different solutions to reduce it. [PERSON] et al.