Case Study: Using Sealants and Spray-Foam Insulation to Create a Continuous Air Barrier from the Interior of Existing Buildings

Author(s):  
David M. VanDommelen
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
D.K. Serghides ◽  
N. Saboohi ◽  
T. Koutra ◽  
M.C. Katafygiotou ◽  
M. Markides

2014 ◽  
Vol 584-586 ◽  
pp. 1858-1862
Author(s):  
Wei Dong Ji ◽  
Yan Wie Wang ◽  
Zhe Tang

This paper is based on the contest of renovation of Qingdao Hiser Hospital. It first analyzes the current problems existing in Qingdao Hiser Hospital, then, pinpointing to the problems, applies the concept of priority of passive technology to the design of renovation scheme, and finally, adopts passive technology to do the renovation design, to resolve problems like noises, natural lighting and natural ventilation, etc.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahmoud Mawed ◽  
Vinay Tilani ◽  
Karima Hamani

Purpose Green retrofitting is acknowledged as an essential strategy toward achieving long-term sustainability in the built environment. To implement this strategy successfully, the role of facility managers cannot be ignored. The purpose of this paper is to investigate present practices that are used in managing the existing facilities, to highlight the elements that govern the process of green retrofitting, and discuss the efforts and contribution of facility managers in enhancing the environmental performance of the existing facilities stock in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Design/methodology/approach This study suggests that an adequate level of awareness of the benefits of green retrofit amongst owners and decision-makers is mostly dependent on facilities management (FM) professionals, who must establish effective communication channel with senior management. FM professionals in the UAE are well equipped and competent in greening existing buildings and can simultaneously lead a building to the path of achieving green building certification. Findings To examine the role of FM in a green retrofit and its current status in the UAE built environment, a two-step qualitative method was adopted. The study started by conducting semi-structured interviews with FM professionals and then assessing the insights obtained from the interviews against an actual case study of a LEED Existing Building certified facility. Research limitations/implications Interviews were limited to FM professionals in the private sector and the results from one case study should be considered cautiously. Originality/value This paper emphasizes the primordial role of FM professionals in promoting green retrofit in the UAE.


2019 ◽  
Vol 887 ◽  
pp. 401-407
Author(s):  
Samira Aien ◽  
Mahnameh Taheri ◽  
Sarin Pinich ◽  
Matthias Schuss ◽  
Ardeshir Mahdavi

In recent years, many researchers have focused on the energy efficiency and performance of existing buildings. In order to predict the hygrothermal performance and minimize the risk of moisture damage in retrofit cases, user-friendly moisture calculation tools have been developed. However, concerns have been raised as to how to increase the reliability of such tools. In this context, the present study uses simulation to investigate the retrofit potential of the historical building façades via application of silica aerogels on the external walls. Monitored data provided the basis for generation of a more accurate initial simulation model, as well as the evaluation of the predictive performance of the model.


Entropy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Nocera ◽  
Salvatore Giuffrida ◽  
Maria Rosa Trovato ◽  
Antonio Gagliano

The paper addresses an important long-standing question in regards to the energy efficiency renovation of existing buildings, in this case hotels, towards nearly zero-energy (nZEBs) status. The renovation of existing hotels to achieve a nearly zero-energy (nZEBs) performance is one of the forefront goals of EU’s energy policy for 2050. The achievement of nZEBs target for hotels is necessary not only to comply with changing regulations and legislations, but also to foster competitiveness to secure new funding. Indeed, the nZEB hotel status allows for the reduction of operating costs and the increase of energy security, meeting the market and guests’ expectations. Actually, there is not a set national value of nZEBs for hotels to be attained, despite the fact that hotels are among the most energy-intensive buildings. This paper presents the case study of the energy retrofit of an existing historical hotel located in southern Italy (Syracuse) in order to achieve nZEBs status. Starting from the energy audit, the paper proposes a step-by-step approach to nZEBs performance, with a perspective on the costs, in order to identify the most effective energy solutions. Such an approach allows useful insights regarding energy and economic–financial strategies for achieving nZEBs standards to highlighted. Moreover, the results of this paper provide, to stakeholders, useful information for quantifying the technical convenience and economic profitability to reach an nZEBs target in order to prevent the expenses necessary by future energy retrofit programs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 266 ◽  
pp. 01016 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.F.F. Fasna ◽  
Sachie Gunatilake

Poor energy performance of existing buildings worldwide has led to a crucial need to retrofit existing buildings to minimise energy consumption. Among the existing buildings, hotels use as much as 50% of their total expenses on energy and offer significant opportunities for energy efficiency improvement. Yet, comparatively the level of implementation of energy retrofits found to be low, which has attributed to, inter alia, the absence of a clearly defined process for ensuring the delivery of energy retrofit projects and lack of proactive guidance for project teams to ensure that they make the right decisions at the right time to achieve the desired outcomes. Since many energy retrofit projects in existing hotels are carried out with the involvement of an external contractor, or an Energy Service Company (ESCO), this study focuses on investigating the decision-making process in implementing energy retrofits when the project is outsourced to an external party. An in-depth case study is used to obtain insights into the critical decisions to be taken and key activities to be performed throughout the decision-making process. The findings are used to propose a step-by-step decision-making process comprising of three key phases: i.e., pre-retrofit, retrofit implementation and post-retrofit. It is hoped that the decision-making process developed in this study will serve as a roadmap for the effective adoption and implementation of energy retrofits in existing hotel buildings when an external contractor is involved.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoraya Roldán Rockow ◽  
Brandon E. Ross

PurposeThis paper aims to describe and demonstrate a quantitative areal openness model (AOM) for measuring the openness of floor plans. Creation of the model was motivated by the widely reported but rarely quantified link between openness and adaptability.Design/methodology/approachThe model calculates values for three indicators: openness score (OS), weighted OS (WOS) and openness potential (OP). OS measures the absence of obstructions (walls, chases, columns) that separate areas in a floor plan. WOS measures the number of obstructions while also accounting for the difficulty of removing them. OP measures the potential of a floor plan to become more open. Indicators were calculated for three demolished case study buildings and for three adapted buildings. The case study buildings were selected because openness – or lack thereof – contributed to the owners' decisions to demolish or adapt.FindingsOpenness indicators were consistent with the real-world outcomes (adaptation or demolition) of the case study buildings. This encouraging result suggests that the proposed model is a reasonable approach for comparing the openness of floor plans and evaluating them for possible adaptation or demolition.Originality/valueThe AOM is presented as a tool for facility managers to evaluate inventories of existing buildings, designers to compare alternative plan layouts and researchers to measure openness of case studies. It is intended to be sufficiently complex as to produce meaningful results, relatively simple to apply and readily modifiable to suit different situations. The model is the first to calculate floor plan openness within the context of adaptability.


2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (6) ◽  
pp. 70-78
Author(s):  
Consolato Gattuso ◽  
Leo O'Loughlinm ◽  
Harry Sim
Keyword(s):  

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (9) ◽  
pp. 705-716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moatassem Abdallah ◽  
Boateng Akyeampong ◽  
Khaled El-Rayes

Existing buildings, especially aging ones, are currently in urgent need of upgrading to improve their performance and potentially achieve green certification. Building owners often need to identify and implement building upgrades that maximize the sustainability of their buildings as well as achieve green certification programs such as the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). This paper presents the development of an optimization model that maximizes the number of earned LEED points for existing buildings within a specified upgrade budget. A case study of an existing building is used to demonstrate the use of the optimization model and illustrate its capabilities. This research presents new methodology for optimizing the selection of building upgrades to maximize the sustainability of existing buildings and achieve green certification within limited budgets. The present model is expected to support decision-makers, building owners and operators, building managers, and contractors to optimize the use of their upgrade budgets and maximize sustainability of their buildings.


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