scholarly journals Improving energy use in schools: from IEQ towards energy-efficient planning—method and in-field application to two case studies

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1253-1277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luísa Dias Pereira ◽  
Francisco Bispo Lamas ◽  
Manuel Gameiro da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Field Application ◽  
Planning Method ◽  
Efficient Planning

scholarly journals A thermo-bio-architectural framework (ThBA) for finding inspiration in nature: Biomimetic energy efficient building design

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Marzieh Imani
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Thermal Adaptation ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Efficient Design ◽  
Wide Range

<p>Design inspired by nature has been known as biomimicry or biomimetic design that is believed to transform human technologies into a sustainable status through translation of biological models, systems, and processes. Considering energy efficiency as one of the aspects of sustainability in the concept of bio-inspired building design, the problem was how to access the solutions best matched to the design problem. Various tools for finding existing knowledge from a different domain are described but as yet there appears to be no tool for allowing building designers to access the efficient ways found in nature of producing energy, using energy, and recycling resources. What the research investigated was to find if it is possible to develop a generalised thermo-bio-architectural (ThBA) framework by use of which architects would be able to improve the energy performance of buildings in a wide range of climates, by following a systematic process that methodically connects design thermal challenges to thermal adaptation principles used in nature.  The ThBA was developed by studying biology to find how thermal regulation strategies used by living organisms can be classified and generalised. The proposed ThBA was confirmed and evaluated before it was used for the rest of the research. The biological part of the ThBA was assessed by biological experts within a focus group session. Having the ThBA confirmed, the research also investigated how the heat transfer principles in buildings can be articulated to be linked to the generalised thermal adaptation strategies in nature. For this, a series of case studies were selected and for each an energy simulation was run to analyse its thermal performance and identify its thermal challenges.  Then, the ThBA was used to introduce innovative solutions for improving the thermal performance of the case studies with big energy use to reveal unexpected techniques or technologies. This, however, necessitated its reconfiguration so as to be useful for architects.  Testing the ThBA for two extreme climates in New Zealand, highlighted the fact that the simple translation of the majority of biological thermal adaptation principles are being used by architects, although for some, the architectural equivalents did not function in exactly in the same way as biological thermoregulation strategies. The differences were seen either in the central thermoregulatory principles or the broader properties within which the key principles fitted. Apart from that, for both architectural and biological thermoregulatory strategies the heat transfer parameter and methods were the same. Given that, in a context where biomimicry is understood as the imitation of complicated thermoregulatory solutions in nature for which innovation is evolutionary achieved, the term biomimetics seems to not have a place in the context of bio-inspired energy efficient design considering the current state of technology. The ThBA, however, suggested a few strategies that might address opportunities for designing a new generation of buildings in the future. This implies that the ThBA is more useful for researchers than architects.</p>

scholarly journals A thermo-bio-architectural framework (ThBA) for finding inspiration in nature: Biomimetic energy efficient building design

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Marzieh Imani
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Thermal Adaptation ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Efficient Design ◽  
Wide Range

<p>Design inspired by nature has been known as biomimicry or biomimetic design that is believed to transform human technologies into a sustainable status through translation of biological models, systems, and processes. Considering energy efficiency as one of the aspects of sustainability in the concept of bio-inspired building design, the problem was how to access the solutions best matched to the design problem. Various tools for finding existing knowledge from a different domain are described but as yet there appears to be no tool for allowing building designers to access the efficient ways found in nature of producing energy, using energy, and recycling resources. What the research investigated was to find if it is possible to develop a generalised thermo-bio-architectural (ThBA) framework by use of which architects would be able to improve the energy performance of buildings in a wide range of climates, by following a systematic process that methodically connects design thermal challenges to thermal adaptation principles used in nature.  The ThBA was developed by studying biology to find how thermal regulation strategies used by living organisms can be classified and generalised. The proposed ThBA was confirmed and evaluated before it was used for the rest of the research. The biological part of the ThBA was assessed by biological experts within a focus group session. Having the ThBA confirmed, the research also investigated how the heat transfer principles in buildings can be articulated to be linked to the generalised thermal adaptation strategies in nature. For this, a series of case studies were selected and for each an energy simulation was run to analyse its thermal performance and identify its thermal challenges.  Then, the ThBA was used to introduce innovative solutions for improving the thermal performance of the case studies with big energy use to reveal unexpected techniques or technologies. This, however, necessitated its reconfiguration so as to be useful for architects.  Testing the ThBA for two extreme climates in New Zealand, highlighted the fact that the simple translation of the majority of biological thermal adaptation principles are being used by architects, although for some, the architectural equivalents did not function in exactly in the same way as biological thermoregulation strategies. The differences were seen either in the central thermoregulatory principles or the broader properties within which the key principles fitted. Apart from that, for both architectural and biological thermoregulatory strategies the heat transfer parameter and methods were the same. Given that, in a context where biomimicry is understood as the imitation of complicated thermoregulatory solutions in nature for which innovation is evolutionary achieved, the term biomimetics seems to not have a place in the context of bio-inspired energy efficient design considering the current state of technology. The ThBA, however, suggested a few strategies that might address opportunities for designing a new generation of buildings in the future. This implies that the ThBA is more useful for researchers than architects.</p>

Buildings

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Rez
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Pump ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
The Difference ◽  
As If

Most of the energy used by buildings goes into heating and cooling. For small buildings, such as houses, heat transfer by conduction through the sides is as much as, if not greater than, the heat transfer from air exchanges with the outside. For large buildings, such as offices and factories, the greater volume-to-surface ratio means that air exchanges are more significant. Lights, people and equipment can make significant contributions. Since the energy used depends on the difference in temperature between the inside and the outside, local climate is the most important factor that determines energy use. If heating is required, it is usually more efficient to use a heat pump than to directly burn a fossil fuel. Using diffuse daylight is always more energy efficient than lighting up a room with artificial lights, although this will set a limit on the size of buildings.

scholarly journals Implementation of BIM Modelling and Simulation Tools in Reducing Annual Energy Consumption of Multifamily Dwellings

2020 ◽  
Vol 170 ◽  
pp. 01002
Author(s):  
Subbarao Yarramsetty ◽  
MVN Siva Kumar ◽  
P Anand Raj
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Energy Simulation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Rotational Angle ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
Efficient Option

In current research, building modelling and energy simulation tools were used to analyse and estimate the energy use of dwellings in order to reduce the annual energy use in multifamily dwellings. A three-story residential building located in Kabul city was modelled in Revit and all required parameters for running energy simulation were set. A Total of 126 experiments were conducted to estimate annual energy loads of the building. Different combinations from various components such as walls, roofs, floors, doors, and windows were created and simulated. Ultimately, the most energy efficient option in the context of Afghan dwellings was figured out. The building components consist of different locally available construction materials currently used in buildings in Afghanistan. Furthermore, the best energy efficient option was simulated by varying, building orientation in 15-degree increments and glazing area from 10% to 60% to find the most energy efficient combination. It was found that combination No. 48 was best option from energy conservation point of view and 120-degree rotational angle from north to east, of the existing building was the most energy-efficient option. Also, it was observed that 60% glazing area model consumed 24549 kWh more electricity compared to the one with 10% glazing area.

Deployment case studies of an energy efficient protected LR-PON architecture

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ruffini ◽  
L. Doyle ◽  
D. B. Payne ◽  
D. Mehta ◽  
B. O'Sullivan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Energy Efficient

COMPARISON OF ENERGY USE AND PIGLET PERFORMANCE BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL AND ENERGY-EFFICIENT HEAT LAMPS

1997 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Xin ◽  
H. Zhou ◽  
D. S. Bundy
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Energy Use

scholarly journals Strategies to Improve the Energy Performance of Buildings: A Review of Their Life Cycle Impact

Buildings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia MIRABELLA ◽  
Martin RÖCK ◽  
Marcella Ruschi Mendes SAADE ◽  
Carolin SPIRINCKX ◽  
Marc BOSMANS ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Operational Energy

Globally, the building sector is responsible for more than 40% of energy use and it contributes approximately 30% of the global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. This high contribution stimulates research and policies to reduce the operational energy use and related GHG emissions of buildings. However, the environmental impacts of buildings can extend wide beyond the operational phase, and the portion of impacts related to the embodied energy of the building becomes relatively more important in low energy buildings. Therefore, the goal of the research is gaining insights into the environmental impacts of various building strategies for energy efficiency requirements compared to the life cycle environmental impacts of the whole building. The goal is to detect and investigate existing trade-offs in current approaches and solutions proposed by the research community. A literature review is driven by six fundamental and specific research questions (RQs), and performed based on two main tasks: (i) selection of literature studies, and (ii) critical analysis of the selected studies in line with the RQs. A final sample of 59 papers and 178 case studies has been collected, and key criteria are systematically analysed in a matrix. The study reveals that the high heterogeneity of the case studies makes it difficult to compare these in a straightforward way, but it allows to provide an overview of current methodological challenges and research gaps. Furthermore, the most complete studies provide valuable insights in the environmental benefits of the identified energy performance strategies over the building life cycle, but also shows the risk of burden shifting if only operational energy use is focused on, or when a limited number of environmental impact categories are assessed.

scholarly journals Integrating daylighting and lighting in practice: Lessons learned from international case studies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio ALTOMONTE ◽  
Flávia BUKZEM ◽  
Rafael CAMPAMÀ PIZARRO ◽  
Donatienne CARMON ◽  
Giovanni CIAMPI ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Visual Performance

This report presents lessons learned from twenty-five worldwide real-life case studies implementing the integration of daylighting and electric lighting. The case studies were monitored with respect to energy use for lighting, visual performance, non-visual performance, and users’ satisfaction. The monitoring is largely based on field measurements, but it is also complemented with simulations and calculations where needed.

scholarly journals ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS, LESS STRAIGHT FORWARD THEN PRESUMED

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo Hens
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Low Voltage ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Energy Conserving ◽  
New Construction

Since the 1990s, the successive EU directives and related national or regional legislations require new construction and retrofits to be as much as possible energy-efficient. Several measures that should stepwise minimize the primary energy use for heating and cooling have become mandated as requirement. However, in reality, related predicted savings are not seen in practice. Two effects are responsible for that. The first one refers to dweller habits, which are more energy-conserving than the calculation tools presume. In fact, while in non-energy-efficient ones, habits on average result in up to a 50% lower end energy use for heating than predicted. That percentage drops to zero or it even turns negative in extremely energy-efficient residences. The second effect refers to problems with low-voltage distribution grids not designed to transport the peaks in electricity whensunny in summer. Through that, a part of converters has to be uncoupled now and then, which means less renewable electricity. This is illustrated by examples that in theory should be net-zero buildings due to the measures applied and the presence of enough photovoltaic cells (PV) on each roof. We can conclude that mandating extreme energy efficiency far beyond the present total optimum value for residential buildings looks questionable as a policy. However, despite that, governments and administrations still seem to require even more extreme measurements regarding energy efficiency.

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