The Profitability Analysis Of Enhancement Of Parameters Of The Thermal Insulation Of Building Partitions

Abstract The energy saving tendencies, in reference to residential buildings, can be recently seen in Europe and in the world. Therefore, there are a lot of studies being conducted aiming to find technical solutions in order to improve the energy efficiency of existing, modernized, and also new buildings. However, there are obligatory solutions and requirements, which must be implemented during designing stage of the building envelope and its heating/cooling system. They are gathered in the national regulations. The paper describes the process of raising the energy standard of buildings between 1974–2021 in Poland. Therefore, the objective of this study is to show energy savings, which can be generated by modernization of thermal insulation of partitions of existing buildings and by the use of different ways of heat supply. The calculations are made on the selected multi-family buildings located in Poland, with the assumption of a 15 years payback time. It is shown that it is not possible to cover the costs of the modernization works by the projected savings with the compliance to the assumption of 15 years payback time.

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Improvement of energy performances of existing buildings by application of solar thermal systems

Spatium ◽

10.2298/spat0920019k ◽

2009 ◽

pp. 19-22 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Aleksandra Krstic-Furundzic ◽

Vesna Kosoric

Keyword(s):

Energy Savings ◽

Residential Buildings ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Building Envelope ◽

Solar Thermal ◽

Existing Buildings ◽

Thermal Systems ◽

Climate Conditions ◽

Solar Thermal Collectors ◽

Reduction Of Co2

Improvement of energy performances of the existing buildings in the suburban settlement Konjarnik in Belgrade, by the application of solar thermal systems is the topic presented in this paper. Hypothetical models of building improvements are created to allow the benefits of applying solar thermal collectors to residential buildings in Belgrade climate conditions to be estimated. This case study presents different design variants of solar thermal collectors integrated into a multifamily building envelope. The following aspects of solar thermal systems integration are analyzed in the paper: energy, architectural, ecological and economic. The results show that in Belgrade climatic conditions significant energy savings and reduction of CO2 emissions can be obtained with the application of solar thermal collectors.

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Determination of Optimum Envelope of Religious Buildings in Terms of Thermal Comfort and Energy Consumption: Mosque Cases

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14206597 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (20) ◽

pp. 6597

Author(s):

Ahmet Bircan Atmaca ◽

Gülay Zorer Gedik ◽

Andreas Wagner

Keyword(s):

Thermal Properties ◽

Energy Consumption ◽

Thermal Comfort ◽

Thermal Insulation ◽

Energy Savings ◽

Gain Factor ◽

Building Envelope ◽

Comfort Level ◽

Humid Climate ◽

Savings Rate

Mosques are quite different from other building types in terms of occupant type and usage schedule. For this reason, they should be evaluated differently from other building types in terms of thermal comfort and energy consumption. It is difficult and probably not even necessary to create homogeneous thermal comfort in mosques’ entire usage area, which has large volumes and various areas for different activities. Nevertheless, energy consumption should be at a minimum level. In order to ensure that mosques are minimally affected by outdoor climatic changes, the improvement of the properties of the building envelope should have the highest priority. These optimal properties of the building envelope have to be in line with thermal comfort in mosques. The proposed method will be a guide for designers and occupants in the design process of new mosques or the use of existing mosques. The effect of the thermal properties of the building envelope on energy consumption was investigated to ensure optimum energy consumption together with an acceptable thermal comfort level. For this purpose, a parametric simulation study of the mosques was conducted by varying optical and thermal properties of the building envelope for a temperature humid climate zone. The simulation results were analyzed and evaluated according to current standards, and an appropriate envelope was determined. The results show that thermal insulation improvements in the roof dome of buildings with a large volume contributed more to energy savings than in walls and foundations. The use of double or triple glazing in transparent areas is an issue that should be considered together with the solar energy gain factor. Additionally, an increasing thickness of thermal insulation in the building envelope contributed positively to energy savings. However, the energy savings rate decreased after a certain thickness. The proposed building envelope achieved a 33% energy savings compared to the base scenario.

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The Analysis of Modifications in Cooling Systems for High-Performance Data Centers. A Case Study

Proccedings of 10th International Conference "Environmental Engineering" ◽

10.3846/enviro.2017.273 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Artur Rusowicz ◽

Adam Ruciński ◽

Rafał Laskowski

Keyword(s):

Air Conditioning ◽

High Performance ◽

Energy Savings ◽

Cooling System ◽

Capital Expenditure ◽

Cooling Power ◽

Power Demand ◽

Excessive Heat ◽

Refrigeration Equipment ◽

Payback Time

One of main issues concerning server room operation is appropriate cooling of electronic modules to prevent excessive heat generation resulting in their damage. Since high cooling powers are required, precision air conditioning systems are used that are specially designed for cooling server and equipment rooms, server cabinets, etc. These devices require very large energy supplies. The paper proposes an upgrade of a cooling system for three server rooms in which refrigeration equipment with a cooling power of 1.873 MW is installed. The average actual cooling power demand is 890 kW, and some units work as a standby. Thir-eight direct-evaporation air-conditioning cabinets are installed. The refrigerant is R407C. The devices have been operated for 14 years; therefore, the refrigeration equipment should be replaced with modern units. The paper compares three approaches: replacing the units with similar ones based on newer technology, introducing contained aisle configurations of rack cabinets and units based on newer technology with additional EconoPhase modules. The application of free cooling was not analyzed since mounting additional heat exchangers was impossible (due to the lack of space and limited roof loading capacity). The paper provides capital and operating costs of the solutions. The introduction of up-to-date units and replacing condensers resulted in lowering the electric power demand by 16%. The simple payback time (SPBT) of this solution is 18.8 years. The energy savings achieved through the second solution (contained aisle configurations of rack cabinets) amount to 37.8%, with SPBT equal to 8.38 years. Variant III, consisting in using modern units with additional EconoPhase modules, significantly improves energy savings (48.3%) but it requires large capital expenditure, with simple payback time of 12.1 years.

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Life Cycle Assessment of a Reflective Foil Material and Comparison With Other Solutions for Thermal Insulation of Buildings

ASME 2011 5th International Conference on Energy Sustainability, Parts A, B, and C ◽

10.1115/es2011-54786 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

U. Desideri ◽

S. Proietti ◽

F. Zepparelli ◽

P. Sdringola ◽

E. Cenci

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Thermal Insulation ◽

Energy Savings ◽

Planning Process ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Building Envelope ◽

Life Cycle Assessment Methodology ◽

Production Phase ◽

Reflective Foil

In the last twenty years, the exploitation of non-renewable resources and the effects of their applications on environment and human health were considered central topics in political and scientific debate on European and worldwide scale. This kind of resources have been used in different sectors, as energy systems, technological research, but also in private/public buildings and production of consumer goods, involving significantly domestic and ordinary life of every human being. Studies about the effect of this exploitation carried out discouraging results, in terms of climate changes and energy sustenance; this determined a progressive approach process to a new concept of development, able to couple the qualitative standard of modern life with the respect of planet and its inhabitants. Starting from this reflection, scientific community moved towards research on alternative resources and developed a new way to conceive planning process and technical innovations, in order to exploit renewable energies and recycled materials, promote energy savings and reduce environmental pollution. In this context the present paper aims at evaluating benefits relating to different solutions of thermal insulation in building envelope. In fact a high grade of insulation ensures better comfort conditions in inner spaces, reducing energy consumptions due to heating and cooling conditioning. The paper presents the results of a detailed Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the reflective foil ISOLIVING, conceived and produced by an Italian company. The Life Cycle Assessment methodology allows to consider all stages of the life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials to the product’s disposal, in an optics “from cradle to grave.” In particular, the study takes into account the production phase of the reflective foil ISOLIVING, the installation phase, the transport of all components to the production site and also the end of life scenario of the material. The possibility to collect many detailed information about the production phase adds value to the study. The analysis is carried out according to UNI EN ISO 14040 and UNI EN ISO 14044, which regulate the LCA procedure. The LCA modeling was performed using SimaPro software application. The results of the analysis allow to make an important comparison concerning the environmental performances, between the reflective foil ISOLIVING and other types of insulating materials.

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Sustainability and cost assessment of coastal vacation homes for energy retrofits

Built Environment Project and Asset Management ◽

10.1108/bepam-08-2016-0034 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 185-198 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kamalesh Panthi ◽

Kanchan Das ◽

Tarek Abdel-Salam

Keyword(s):

Energy Use ◽

Energy Savings ◽

Residential Buildings ◽

Building Envelope ◽

Energy Usage ◽

Water Heater ◽

Content Type ◽

Modeling Software ◽

Energy Use Intensity

Purpose Vacation rental homes, in general, have different energy usage characteristics than traditional residential homes mainly because of the occupancy pattern that changes on a weekly basis. These homes, predominantly larger in size, offer a greater scope for energy savings also because of the wasteful habits of their seasonal occupants. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the causes of energy inefficiencies prevalent in these homes so that appropriate retrofit choices can be offered to homeowners. Design/methodology/approach This research presents a case study of a vacation rental home whose energy consumption was investigated in depth and energy inefficiencies identified through modeling using energy modeling software, eQUEST. Simulations were performed to identify viable retrofit scenarios. Findings While improvement in the building envelope such as providing shades/overhangs on the windows, reducing infiltration and increasing insulation of the exterior wall did not show promising results for savings on energy cost, other improvements such as use of highly efficient lamps, tank-less water heater system and occupancy sensors showed viable investment options with shorter payback periods. It was also found that energy use intensity of sampled houses was about half of the average of US residential buildings, which could primarily be attributed to the seasonal nature of occupancy of these houses. Originality/value There is a dearth of literature pertaining to energy efficiency-related retrofits of coastal vacation homes. This research fills that gap to some extent by addressing this issue with an ultimate aim of assisting homeowners in retrofit decision-making.

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LOW-COST AND NON-INVASIVE ENERGY RECOVERY TECHNIQUES FOR PUBLIC RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS MADE WITH GREAT PANEL STRUCTURES IN ITALY

Journal of Green Building ◽

10.3992/1943-4618.14.3.23 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 23-46

Author(s):

Frida Bazzocchi ◽

Sara Ticci ◽

Vincenzo Di Naso ◽

Andrea Rocchetti

Keyword(s):

Energy Recovery ◽

Energy Savings ◽

Residential Buildings ◽

Low Cost ◽

Ventilation System ◽

Energy Performance ◽

Residential Units ◽

Technical Solutions ◽

Tunnel System ◽

Indoor Comfort

In Italy, a large stock of public housing was built during the 1970s and 1980s with industrialized/prefabricated techniques. These buildings have envelopes characterized by the presence of many thermal bridges and low transmittance values. In addition, they feature inefficient single heating systems in residential units and no cooling/ventilation systems. As a result, these buildings require urgent energy retrofitting actions, and it is therefore necessary to define procedures that will guarantee effective results. The possible interventions must be compatible with building construction techniques as well as be minimally invasive and inexpensive. There are only a limited number of technical solutions, considering that residents should not have to move out during the renovations. In most Italian climatic zones, current interventions are usually linked to external insulation and window replacement, leading to an improvement in energy performance and comfort only during winter. Internal comfort conditions tend to worsen in summer months because seasonal temperatures tend to increase by a few degrees. Therefore, solutions should be proposed that will improve both summer and winter conditions. This work proposes an energy recovery procedure applied to a representative building from the abovementioned period located in the Florence area and constructed with an industrialized system named the “tunnel system” (great panels structure). The procedure used in this study provides for the redevelopment of the envelope and the application of a simple mechanical ventilation system to achieve substantial energy savings and improved indoor comfort conditions.

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Finnish design ventilation rates for residential buildings

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/201911102016 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 111 ◽

pp. 02016 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jorma Säteri ◽

Olli Seppänen ◽

Mervi Ahola

Keyword(s):

Energy Efficiency ◽

Residential Buildings ◽

Design Guidelines ◽

Building Envelope ◽

Building Regulations ◽

Zero Energy Building ◽

Guideline Values ◽

Ventilation Rates ◽

New Buildings

Implementation of EU directives has forced EU member countries to revise the building regulations related energy efficiency. The 2017 revision of the building codes is due to the requirement set in the EPBD 2010 for all new buildings to be nearly zero buildings by 2020. The Finnish Ministry of the Environment (in charge of building regulations) invited FINVAC Federation of Finnish HVAC Associations to revise the guidelines values of ventilation rates as part of the nearly zero energy building regulations. At the same time, the Finnish Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate updated its voluntary Classification of Indoor Environment. Several methods were used in the study to collect information and develop the new guideline values. European studies, such as HEALTHVENT, and relevant CEN standards were taken into consideration in drafting the design ventilation rates. Existing legislation on housing conditions gave the minimum levels and, finally, the recommended values were defined using expert interviews, workshops and public review process. Earlier studies had indicated that earlier design ventilation rates were too high for small apartments. Ventilation rates were considered too low for homes of elderly people and residential kitchen hoods, and some larger apartments. Furthermore, the balance of outdoor and exhaust air flows needed revision due to the improved tightness of the building envelope. Energy efficiency and avoidance of draught and noise were also taken into account. This paper presents the numeric values of the ventilation rates in the new building regulations and the design guidelines supporting them.

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Predicting the Effects of Changes in Thermal Envelope Characteristics on Energy Consumption: Application and Verification of a Simple Model for Australian and Canadian Climates

Energy & Environment ◽

10.1177/0958305x9600700101 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 1-28

Author(s):

S. M. Cornick ◽

P.C. Thomas ◽

D.K. Prasad

Keyword(s):

Cooling System ◽

Thermal Characteristics ◽

Building Envelope ◽

Hvac System ◽

Paper Briefly ◽

Heating And Cooling ◽

Wide Range ◽

Similarities And Differences ◽

System Configurations ◽

New Buildings

A simple energy model was used for determining thermal envelope characteristics and building envelope trade-off procedures for the new Canadian and Australian energy efficiency codes for new buildings. The model relates heating and cooling system loads to envelope thermal characteristics. It was developed from thousands of DOE2.1E simulation runs. Two separate databases, one containing 25 Canadian locations and the other containing 9 Australian locations were created. The heating and cooling models were developed from these databases. The model is shown to give consistent results although there are significant differences in climate, construction of the building envelope, building operational schedules and HVAC system configurations. This paper briefly describes the DOE2.1E models used for the study in each country, highlighting similarities and differences. The consistency of results predicted by the model is discussed for typical climatic locations in both countries. The methods for predicting heating and cooling system loads are shown to produce good results over a wide range of climates and for different system configurations. The paper also discusses the development of climate correlations to extend the range of the models to include locations not in the original databases.

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Upgrading the Smartness of Retrofitting Packages towards Energy-Efficient Residential Buildings in Cold Climate Countries: Two Case Studies

Buildings ◽

10.3390/buildings10110200 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 200 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Laurina C. Felius ◽

Mohamed Hamdy ◽

Fredrik Dessen ◽

Bozena Dorota Hrynyszyn

Keyword(s):

Thermal Comfort ◽

Life Cycle Cost ◽

Energy Savings ◽

Residential Buildings ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Energy Performance ◽

Building Envelope ◽

Heat Losses ◽

Cold Climate ◽

The Impact

Improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings by implementing building automation control strategies (BACS) besides building envelope and energy system retrofitting has been recommended by the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) 2018. This paper investigated this recommendation by conducting a simulation-based optimization to explore cost-effective retrofitting combinations of building envelope, energy systems and BACS measures in-line with automation standard EN 15232. Two cases (i.e., a typical single-family house and apartment block) were modeled and simulated using IDA Indoor Climate and Energy (IDA-ICE). The built-in optimization tool, GenOpt, was used to minimize energy consumption as the single objective function. The associated difference in life cycle cost, compared to the reference design, was calculated for each optimization iteration. Thermal comfort of the optimized solutions was assessed to verify the thermal comfort acceptability. Installing an air source heat pump had a greater energy-saving potential than reducing heat losses through the building envelope. Implementing BACS achieved cost-effective energy savings up to 24%. Energy savings up to 57% were estimated when BACS was combined with the other retrofitting measures. Particularly for compact buildings, where the potential of reducing heat losses through the envelope is limited, the impact of BACS increased. BACS also improved the thermal comfort.

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Combination of Diagnostic Tools for the Proper Identification of Moisture Pathologies in Modern Residential Buildings

Infrastructures ◽

10.3390/infrastructures3030037 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 37

Author(s):

Juan Hidalgo-Betanzos ◽

César Escudero-Revilla ◽

Eider Iribar-Solaberrieta ◽

Iván Flores-Abascal ◽

José Sala-Lizarraga

Keyword(s):

Thermal Insulation ◽

Natural Ventilation ◽

Residential Buildings ◽

Thermal Capacity ◽

Accurate Diagnosis ◽

Diagnostic Tools ◽

Northern Spain ◽

Thermal Bridge ◽

Technical Solutions ◽

Indoor Conditions

A study of moisture pathologies in a modern residential multifamily building is presented. The housing block was designed under the regulation NBE-CT of 1979 in northern Spain. After the appearance of some moisture problems in the façades, three complementary studies were conducted to analyze the situation of the envelope and diagnose the best improvement possibilities. First, indoor conditions of temperature and humidity of the apartments with moisture pathologies were monitored. During 40 winter days, the occupancy, heating operation, and natural ventilation were analyzed. Second, the inner and outer surface temperatures of the studied façades were measured. Thermal insulation degree, thermal capacity, and thermal bridge effects were measured to assess the risk of interstitial condensation under the real conditions of use. Third, an infrared thermographic survey was carried out, which allowed the detection of irregularities and the assessment of moisture problems. The wrong interpretations, which would have been made if the complementary studies had not been done, are exposed. The key towards the accurate diagnosis was the combination of tools. Finally, some technical solutions based on ventilation or thermal insulation enhancement are proposed as different ways to reduce the high levels of relative humidity indoors and minimize the risk of condensation in the future.

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