scholarly journals Low-Energy Architecture for Sustainable Neighborhoods

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-92
Author(s):  
Valeria Todeschi ◽  
Simone Beltramino ◽  
Bernadette El Jamous ◽  
Guglielmina Mutani
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Space Heating ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Olympic Village

Nowadays, energy consumption in buildings is one of the fundamental drivers to control greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impact. In fact, the air quality of urban environments can cause two main phenomena in metropolitan areas: urban heat island and climate changes. The aim of this work is to showcase how different building variables can impact the residential building’s space heating and cooling energy consumption. Buildings energy-related variables can be fundamental viewpoints to improve the energy performance of neighborhoods, especially in future urban planning. This work examines four neighborhoods in the city of Turin (IT): Arquata, Crocetta, Sacchi, and Olympic Village characterized by different morphologies and building typologies. In each neighborhood, residential building was grouped according to orientations and construction periods. A sensitivity analysis was applied by analysing six building variables: infiltration rate, window-to-wall ratio, and windows, walls, roofs, and floor thermal transmittances. The energy consumption for space heating and cooling of residential buildings and local climate conditions were investigated using CitySim Pro tool and ENVI-met. The challenge of this work is to identify the building variables that most influence energy consumption and to understand how to promote high-energy efficiency neighborhoods: the goal is to identify the “ideal” urban form with low consumption and good comfort conditions in outdoor urban environments. The results of this work show a significant connection between the energy consumption and the six analyzed building variables; however, this relationship also depends on the shape and orientation of the neighborhood.

scholarly journals Effects of the geometry of residential buildings with a sunspace on their energy performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-118
Author(s):  
Ana Vukadinovic ◽  
Jasmina Radosavljevic ◽  
Amelija Djordjevic ◽  
Nemanja Petrovic
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
Shape Factor ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Dynamic Modelling ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Total Consumption ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Heating Energy Consumption

The increase in energy consumption in building design and construction and the issues related to environmental protection have steered many current researchers toward examining the ways to reduce total CO2 emissions, which resulted in the development of various measures to increase energy efficiency. One measure for more cost-efficient and rational use of energy resources in individual residential buildings is the application of passive solar systems with a sunspace. This paper presents the effects of the shape factor of a residential building with a passive sunspace on the total consumption of heating and cooling energy. The total amount of energy required for building heating and cooling was calculated by means of dynamic modelling using EnergyPlus software. The simulations were run according to the meteorological parameters for the city of Nis. For simulation purposes, models of residential buildings with a passive sunspace and square- and rectangle-shaped floors were designed. The variations between the models include different building shape factor, floor geometry, surface area of the southern fa?ade, and glazing percentage, i.e. window-to-wall ratio (WWR). Examination of the models with WWR=20%, WWR=40%, and WWR=60% revealed that the elongated shape of a building with the aspect ratio of 2.25:1, with the longer side of the fa?ade facing south, is the most favourable in terms of heating energy consumption. For the same WWRs, the elongated shape of a building with the aspect ratio of 1.56:1, with the longer side of the fa?ade facing south, is the most favourable in terms of cooling energy consumption. As WWR increases, so does the amount of energy required to cool the building. The biggest increase in heating energy consumption was observed in buildings with the aspect ratio 1:2.25, with the shorter side facing south.

scholarly journals Energy Monitoring in a Heating and Cooling System in a Building Based on the Example of the Turówka Hotel

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marek Borowski ◽  
Piotr Mazur ◽  
Sławosz Kleszcz ◽  
Klaudia Zwolińska
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Management ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Building Envelope ◽  
Large Variability ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
And Control

The energy consumption of buildings is very important for both economic and environmental reasons. Newly built buildings are characterized by higher insulation and airtightness of the building envelope, and are additionally equipped with technologies that minimize energy consumption in order to meet legal requirements. In existing buildings, the modernization process should be properly planned, taking into account available technologies and implementation possibilities. Hotel buildings are characterized by a large variability of energy demand, both on a daily and a yearly basis. Monitoring systems, therefore, provide the necessary information needed for proper energy management in the building. This article presents an energy analysis of the Turówka hotel located in Wieliczka (southern Poland). The historical hotel facility is being modernized as part of the project to adapt the building to the requirements of a sustainable building. The modernization proposal includes a trigeneration system with a multifunctional reverse regenerator and control module using neural algorithms. The main purpose is to improve the energy efficiency of the building and adapt it to the requirements of low-energy buildings. The implementation of a monitoring system enables energy consumption to be reduced and improves the energy performance of the building, especially through using energy management systems and control modules. The proposed retrofit solution considers the high energy consumption, structure of the energy demand, and limits of retrofit intervention on façades.

scholarly journals Evaluating the potential energy savings of residential buildings and utilizing solar energy in the middle region of Saudi Arabia – Case study

2020 ◽  
pp. 014459872097514
Author(s):  
AbdulRahman S Almushaikah ◽  
Radwan A Almasri
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Solar Energy ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Building Envelope ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Middle Region

Lately, with the growth in energy consumption worldwide to support global efforts to improve the climate, developing nations have to take significant measures. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) implemented meaningful policy actions towards promoting energy efficiency (EE) in several sectors, especially in the building sector, to be more sustainable. In this paper, various EE measures and solar energy prospects are investigated for the residential sector, in two locations in the middle region of the KSA. An energy performance analysis of pre-existing residential buildings with an overall design is performed using simulation programs. However, installing EE measures in the building envelope is important to achieve an efficient sector regarding its energy consumption. The findings showed that applying EE measures for the building envelope, walls, roof, and windows should be considered first that makes the energy conservation possible. In Riyadh, EE measures are responsible for reducing energy consumption by 27% for walls, 14% for roof, and 6% for window, and by 29%, 13%, and 6% for walls, roof, and windows, respectively, for Qassim. However, the most impactful EE solution was selecting a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system with a high energy efficiency rate (EER), which can minimize the energy consumption by 33% and 32% for Riyadh and Qassim, respectively. The study's feasibility showed that the number of years needed to offset the initial investment for a proposed roof PV system exceeds the project's life, if the energy produced is exported to the grid at the official export tariff of 0.019 $/kWh. However, the simple payback time was 13.42 years if the energy produced is exported to the grid at a rate of 0.048 $/kWh, reflecting the project's economic feasibility.

scholarly journals Modeling and Simulation Performance Evaluation of a Proposed Calorimeter for Testing a Heat Pump System

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 4589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amoabeng ◽  
Lee ◽  
Choi
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Modeling And Simulation ◽  
Heat Pump ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Test Chamber ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Heat Pumps ◽  
Pump System ◽  
Heating And Cooling

The energy consumption for heating and cooling in the building sector accounts for more than one-third of total energy used worldwide. In view of that, it is important to develop energy efficient cooling and heating systems in order to conserve energy in buildings as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In both commercial and residential buildings, the heat pump has been adopted as an energy efficient technology for space heating and cooling purposes as compared to conventional air conditioning systems. However, heat pumps undergo standard testing, rating, and certification procedures to ascertain their system performance. Essentially, the calorimeter for testing heat pumps has two test chambers to serve as a heat source and heat sink to control and maintain the test conditions required to simulate the heat pump indoor and outdoor units, simultaneously. In air-to-air heat pump units, the conventional calorimeter controls the air temperature and humidity conditions in each test chamber with separate air handling units consisting of a refrigerator, heater, humidifier, and supply fan, which results in high energy consumption. In this study, using dynamic modeling and simulation, a new calorimeter for controlling air conditions in each test chamber is proposed. The performance analysis based on simulation results showed that the newly proposed calorimeter predicted at least 43% energy savings with the use of a heat recovery unit and small refrigerator capacity as compared to the conventional calorimeter that utilized a large refrigerator capacity for all the weather conditions and load capacities that we investigated.

scholarly journals Analysis of Windows Element for Energy Saving in a Tropical Residential Buildings in Order to Reduce the Negative Environmental Impacts

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Saving ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Gain Coefficient ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Information Modeling ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Building Information ◽  
Key Factor

In the contemporary milieu of today, sustainability and environmental concerns have become a great subject of debate. Matters related to sustainability are often linked to other crucial concerns like energy consumption. Energy is a key factor in ensuring continuous economic growth and development. One of the highest energy consuming systems in buildings – specifically residential homes in tropical regions – is the air conditioning system. Windows have been identified as the weakest link in the fabric of a building as they serve as thermal holes. Thus, the selection of proper window materials is crucial to reduce energy usage by minimizing the cooling and heating requirements of the building. The aims of this paper are analysis of energy performance for diverse types of window’s glazing with different frames in order to find the most optimized window materials for the tropical residential buildings. The selected case study in this paper is modeled and then simulated by Building Information Modeling (BIM) application, which is appropriate for energy analysis. For simulation, some factors of the window materials were taken into consideration including, four physical properties of the U-factor, solar heat gain coefficient, visible transmittance, and emissivity. The result was shown windows types 02 and 03 were the most optimized of window materials and led to 10% energy saving into the base model and the windows type 05 was high U-factor, results in a greater transfer in internal zones and led to high energy consumption.

scholarly journals Exploring the distribution of energy consumption in a northeast Chinese city based on local climate zone scheme: Shenyang city as a case study

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 2079-2094
Author(s):  
Guang Yang ◽  
Yanpeng Fu ◽  
Minghui Yan ◽  
Jing Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Cumulative Energy ◽  
Climate Zone ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
High Rise ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
Local Climate Zone

The local climate zone (LCZ) scheme is now used to investigate urban heat islands, which provides additional reference for energy consumption simulation. Based on the LCZ scheme, a LCZ mapping of Shenyang, a city in northeast China, was first constructed using the World Urban Database and Access Portal Tools (WUDAPT) Level 0 method. Subsequently, DeST-h was considered to simulate the energy consumption of urban buildings with concentration areas. The results show that with Shenyang being a severely cold area, the annual energy consumption of heating is approximately twice that of refrigeration for an individual building. The total energy consumption of open-distributed single buildings is higher than that of compact-distributed single buildings. Consequently, the unit cumulative energy consumption in compact-distributed buildings is higher than that in openly distributed building areas. The compact high-rise buildings (LCZ 1) have the highest energy consumption, with a unit annual energy consumption of 123,771.150 MW·h, which is equivalent to 41,257 tons of standard coal combustion power generation. Considering the energy consumption of residential buildings, the central high-rise buildings group and the compact centralized middle-rise buildings in the downtown area are high energy consumption areas. For future urban planning, design strategies such as energy-saving transformation and energy planning should be considered. The research results can provide a scientific basis and theoretical support for reducing building energy consumption, alleviating the urban heat island effect, and the development of modern urban planning.

scholarly journals Gender and Energy for Space Heating and Cooling

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 368-374
Author(s):  
Prerana Tuladhar
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Energy Sector ◽  
Space Heating ◽  
Consumption Pattern ◽  
Gender Relation ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Energy Consumption Pattern

Energy is one of the crucial aspects now-a-days to be considered from the household chores to the educational, transportation, industrial and many other sectors. Apart from cooking, space heating and cooling also have greater impact as buildings consume about 40% of world’s energy use and major part of energy is used for space heating and cooling [1]. Gender is another aspect that should be taken in to consideration in the energy sector. Discrimination between men and women, either it may be in the knowledge regarding energy sector, profession, application and practices etc. is seen in our society. Therefore, this paper seeks to investigate the impacts of space heating and cooling in the energy consumption pattern of Residential buildings. This paper explores how the gender issues in the energy sector can be addressed and how can it lead towards the sustainable development of the society and then nation. At the same time, paper highlights the changes and improvements in the energy consumption pattern with the enrollment of women in the energy sector. The conclusions are derived from the several literature studies and explorative data analysis with the concern of gender relation with the energy efficiency in the space heating and cooling of residential buildings.

scholarly journals Ambition Levels of Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB) Definitions: An Approach for Cross-Country Comparison

Buildings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Garcia ◽  
Lukas Kranzl
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Building Codes ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Country Comparison ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Zero Energy Buildings

Since buildings account for 40% of total energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions in the European Union (EU), the directive 2010/31/EU “Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPDB)” among other legal provisions concerning the reduction of energy consumption of buildings has been enforced. According to this legislation, all new buildings must be nearly zero energy buildings “nZEB” by 31 December 2020 (public buildings by 31 December 2018). Nonetheless, the assessment of the “high energy performance” of a building is ambiguous and a cross country comparison seems to be intricate since different national building codes and nZEB definitions employ different energy indicators and methods. This paper delves into the question of how do the ambition levels of “nZEB” definitions and the transposition of the Directive 2010/31/EU into national law differ in four selected EU Countries: Austria, Germany, Spain, and England (as part of UK). The energy performance of some exemplary buildings is assessed by means of a simplified MATLAB model that is based on the norm DIN V-18599. The results drawn from this work show how diverse are building codes scopes and national “nZEB” definitions. Only 9 of the 36 studied cases of residential buildings obtain consistently the “nZEB” compliance status in all four selected countries. The results show that climate conditions, energy requirements, primary energy factors, ambition levels, and calculation methodologies lead to the problem of an uneven cross-country comparison. Moreover, primary energy consumption [kWh/m2a] set as the main quantitative energy indicator by the directive 2010/31/EU might not be the most suitable one for an EU level comparison.

scholarly journals Assessment of Current Energy Consumption in Residential Buildings in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Buildings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Felimban ◽  
Alejandro Prieto ◽  
Ulrich Knaack ◽  
Tillmann Klein ◽  
Yasser Qaffas
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Thermal Properties ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Electricity Consumption ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
User Awareness ◽  
Current Energy

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), residential buildings’ energy consumption accounts for almost 50% of the building stock electricity consumption. The KSA’s economy relies heavily on fossil fuel sources, namely oil reservoirs, whose depletion will negatively affect the future development of the country. The total electricity consumption is growing by approximately 5–8% annually, which would lead to oil production and oil consumption being equal in 2035. Therefore, residential buildings need further assessment as regards their current energy consumption. This research used a survey to explore current user behaviour in residential buildings’ energy performance in the city of Jeddah, KSA. The findings of the survey show that several factors impact the energy performance in residential buildings. First, the buildings’ thermal properties were found to be poorly designed. Second, the cultural aspects (family member role and generous hospitality), and the majority of users within the buildings preferring a room temperature of below 24 °C, requires a massive amount of cooling due to the climate conditions. Third, an increase in user awareness has helped to slightly improve residential buildings’ energy efficiency. Knowing the current high-energy-consumption sources and causes, being able to define opportunities for thermal properties’ enhancement, and increasing user awareness of how to achieve self-sustaining buildings are essential.

scholarly journals Towards Sustainable Energy Retrofitting, a Simulation for Potential Energy Use Reduction in Residential Buildings in Palestine

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 3876
Author(s):  
Sameh Monna ◽  
Adel Juaidi ◽  
Ramez Abdallah ◽  
Aiman Albatayneh ◽  
Patrick Dutournie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Water Heating ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Space Cooling ◽  
Cooling Loads

Since buildings are one of the major contributors to global warming, efforts should be intensified to make them more energy-efficient, particularly existing buildings. This research intends to analyze the energy savings from a suggested retrofitting program using energy simulation for typical existing residential buildings. For the assessment of the energy retrofitting program using computer simulation, the most commonly utilized residential building types were selected. The energy consumption of those selected residential buildings was assessed, and a baseline for evaluating energy retrofitting was established. Three levels of retrofitting programs were implemented. These levels were ordered by cost, with the first level being the least costly and the third level is the most expensive. The simulation models were created for two different types of buildings in three different climatic zones in Palestine. The findings suggest that water heating, space heating, space cooling, and electric lighting are the highest energy consumers in ordinary houses. Level one measures resulted in a 19–24 percent decrease in energy consumption due to reduced heating and cooling loads. The use of a combination of levels one and two resulted in a decrease of energy consumption for heating, cooling, and lighting by 50–57%. The use of the three levels resulted in a decrease of 71–80% in total energy usage for heating, cooling, lighting, water heating, and air conditioning.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document