scholarly journals Improving competences of engineers and workers in the AEC industry for delivering NZEBs

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 2256-2274
Author(s):  
Sanjin Gumbarević ◽  
Bojan Milovanović ◽  
Marina Bagarić ◽  
Mergim Gaši ◽  
Ivana Burcar Dunović
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Integrated Design ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Energy Retrofit ◽  
Building Information ◽  
Integrated Design Process ◽  
Building Life Cycle ◽  
New Buildings

AbstractThe energy performance of buildings directive requires from the European Union Member States to ensure that by 31 December 2020 all new buildings are nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEBs) and after 31 December 2018, new buildings occupied/owned by the public authorities should also have the NZEB performance. The large-scale deployment of NZEBs represents a challenge for all the stakeholders involved in the construction sector, where the lack of adequate competences is identified as one of the main obstacles. This article aims to provide a solution to overcome the deficient competences related to NZEB to increase them by using roadmaps derived from Horizon projects – Fit-to-NZEB and Net-UBIEP. Fit-to-NZEB aims to increase the knowledge of architecture, engineering and construction engineers and workers in deep energy retrofit through the education in European qualifications framework levels 3–7, while Net-UBIEP seeks to develop the schemes for using building information modelling (BIM) throughout the whole building life cycle to increase energy performance. The results from both projects show that it is inevitable to act soon to make the energy efficiency targets possible to fulfil. The integrated design process and strengthen control on the construction site should be carried out perfectly as they are the most critical parts in delivering NZEBs and all this managed by BIM to minimise information loss and to improve the design of details. To achieve this, professional competences of all the stakeholders in delivering NZEBs must be improved which could be done by implementing the knowledge from these projects.

scholarly journals Decision-Making Processes in Controlling Exposure to Sunlight Supported by Simulation Tools: A Case Study in Warm Weather

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 4100
Author(s):  
Mariana Huskinson ◽  
Antonio Galiano-Garrigós ◽  
Ángel Benigno González-Avilés ◽  
M. Isabel Pérez-Millán
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Global Analysis ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Information Modeling ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Evaluation Tool ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
Building Information ◽  
The Impact

Improving the energy performance of existing buildings is one of the main strategies defined by the European Union to reduce global energy costs. Amongst the actions to be carried out in buildings to achieve this objective is working with passive measures adapted to each type of climate. To assist designers in the process of finding appropriate solutions for each building and location, different tools have been developed and since the implementation of building information modeling (BIM), it has been possible to perform an analysis of a building’s life cycle from an energy perspective and other types of analysis such as a comfort analysis. In the case of Spain, the first BIM environment tool has been implemented that deals with the global analysis of a building’s behavior and serves as an alternative to previous methods characterized by their lack of both flexibility and information offered to designers. This paper evaluates and compares the official Spanish energy performance evaluation tool (Cypetherm) released in 2018 using a case study involving the installation of sunlight control devices as part of a building refurbishment. It is intended to determine how databases and simplifications affect the designer’s decision-making. Additionally, the yielded energy results are complemented by a comfort analysis to explore the impact of these improvements from a users’ wellbeing viewpoint. At the end of the process the yielded results still confirm that the simulation remains far from reality and that simulation tools can indeed influence the decision-making process.

scholarly journals Importance of building services in ecological building assessments

2019 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 03061 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Lambertz ◽  
Sebastian Theißen ◽  
Jannick Höper ◽  
Reinhard Wimmer
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Simplified Approach ◽  
Ecological Requirements ◽  
Building Information ◽  
Building Life Cycle

The new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) 2018 and the GebäudeEnergieGesetz (GEG) tightened the requirements for energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources in buildings at EU and national levels. Environmental impacts from manufacturing, dismantling and recycling of buildings are not taken into account. Green Building Certification Systems, such as the DGNB or BNB systems, are therefore the only ones that (voluntarily) set holistic, ecological requirements for buildings. Based on a Whole-Building Life Cycle Assessment, the entire building life cycle and its environmental effects are evaluated. While building services in this context are usually only included in such a simplified approach, the full scope of the produced environmental impacts are underestimated and misjudged for the reduction of emissions and other environmental impacts. This publication uses the results of a life cycle assessment of a typical office building (in Germany) to show the amount of influence building services have on environmental impacts of buildings. Furthermore the study shows an approach how the very high pro-curement and calculation effort of LCA can be reduced by linking the Building Information Modelling (BIM) Method and LCA models to enable a significantly more efficient and easier calculation process, es-pecially for building services.

The Evaluation of Non-Renewable Primary Energy as Part of Energy Performance Certificates

2014 ◽  
Vol 1041 ◽  
pp. 222-225
Author(s):  
Michal Kraus ◽  
Kateřina Kubenková ◽  
Darja Kubečková
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Existing Buildings ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
New Buildings

The evaluation of non-renewable primary energy expressing the impact of the environment is part of the energy performance certificate. The evaluation is based on factors of primary energy. New buildings or larger modifications of existing buildings must meet the legislative requirements in the Czech Republic, which are consistent with the requirements of the European Union. On the basis of modeling of different energy sources and different number of energy sources for the selected building are set values of non-renewable primary energy.

scholarly journals DIGITAL MODELS FOR DECISION SUPPORT IN THE FIELD OF ENERGY IMPROVEMENT OF UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS

Rivista Tema ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (N.2 (2021)) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Building Information ◽  
Efficient Information ◽  
University Buildings ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The University

According to the most recent provisions of the European Union, public buildings should play an exemplary role in sustainable development, adopting accelerated renovation rates aimed at improving their energy performance. Within this category, university buildings are a case study of great interest to experiment with new approaches for energy refurbishment and sustain-able management of architectural assets. The research presents a work-flow that originates from easily available input data, to reach the definition of a multi-scale spatial database, founded on the synergy between GIS (Geographic Information System) and BIM (Building Information Mod-eling) and defined according to standard and shared data models. Tools of this kind are crucial for promoting efficient information management building assets, by organizing data into navigable three-dimensional mod-els. In addition to the clear benefits associated with structured archiving, the provision of a relational database makes it possible to capitalize on the already available knowledge and to activate decision support tools for comparative assessment of transformation scenarios. In particular, the use of the cost-optimal methodology is proposed: it is a multi-criteria assess-ment aimed at identifying a set of optimal energy refurbishment solutions concerning energy consumption and management costs. The paper pres-ents the methodological framework and examines its application at differ-ent scales, from the case of the University of Pavia real estate asset to the application to a single building complex.

scholarly journals Settlement scale analysis approach to reach nearly zero energy communities

2019 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 06026
Author(s):  
Ece Kalaycıoğlu ◽  
Ayşe Zerrin Yılmaz
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Energy Levels ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
High Energy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
District Energy ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages

Looking at the recent developments, the European Union (EU) aims to become a zero carbon community. For the building sector, Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) was recast in 2010 introducing the definition of the nearly zero energy building (NZEB) levels to construct all new buildings at this level by the end of 2020. The last revision of the directive in 2018 also promotes the renovation of the building stock to the NZEB levels. In the paper, it was proposed to define the nearly zero energy levels for settlements. This way, it was aimed to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of reaching the nearly zero energy levels at larger scales than single buildings. Settlement level studies, including the district energy systems, intended to reveal the energy efficiency measures which lead to optimal cost levels for more than one building. Key parameters were examined for a new settlement design which may be beneficial for the large-scale renewable energy system implementation and district energy system (DES) usage with high energy performance buildings.

scholarly journals Development of a Weight Factor Method for Sustainability Decisions in Building Renovation. Case Study Using Renobuild

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 7194
Author(s):  
Alaa Khadra ◽  
Mårten Hugosson ◽  
Jan Akander ◽  
Jonn Are Myhren
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Integrated Design ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
Ecological Aspects ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Integrated Design Process

Energy efficiency investments have become strategically important for the European Union. In particular, energy efficient renovation and investment in the existing building stock have become major challenges. Renovation of a building should involve a holistic and integrated design process, which considers all aspects of sustainability. The aim of this work is to suggest a mathematical model that weighs economic, social and ecological aspects into a measure that supports housing owners/decision makers to find the optimal renovation alternative from their perspective, taking factors such as budget, energy consumption, etc. into consideration. Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) concerns structuring and solving multiple-criteria decision problems. MCDM has become popular in energy planning as it enables the decision maker to pay attention to all the criteria available and make the appropriate decision as per the priority of the criteria. In this study, the concept is introduced based on economic, social and ecological aspects assessed during a renovation project. A pedagogical example illustrates the suggested numerical system for comparing different renovation alternatives. The suggested method will facilitate decision-making processes in renovation projects and will allow decision makers to choose the best renovation alternatives that are in line with their business ideas and principles.

scholarly journals Comparison of Different Solutions for a Seismic and Energy Retrofit of an Auditorium

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 8761
Author(s):  
Alessandra De Angelis ◽  
Francesco Tariello ◽  
Rosa Francesca De Masi ◽  
Maria Rosaria Pecce
Keyword(s):  
Structural Damage ◽  
Integrated Design ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Technical Solution ◽  
Reinforced Concrete Structure ◽  
Energy Retrofit ◽  
The Cost

The increasing attention paid to climate change has boosted scientific research in the matter of energy refurbishment of existing public buildings. However, the design of the intervention must be integrated with structural upgrading when the constructions are located in seismic zones. Indeed, in Italy, as in other seismically active countries, the structural damage, observed after earthquakes, underlines the increase in economic losses for buildings retrofitted only for energy saving. In this framework, the paper introduces an integrated approach for selecting retrofit actions aimed at improving both the seismic and energy performance, starting from a detailed in situ analysis with which dynamic energy and structural simulation models are constructed. The case study is an auditorium erected in 1982 with a reinforced concrete structure inside a masonry ring wall of an ancient building. A step-by-step analysis of each component role in the structural and energy performance of the building is proposed. The results indicate that the proposed approach can help to determine the best technical solution, and the integrated design leads to saving 10% of the cost of the works.

scholarly journals Lessons Learned from the First Passivhaus Building in Qatar

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
May Khalfan
Keyword(s):  
Developed Countries ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Comfort Levels ◽  
New Public ◽  
The Standard Model ◽  
Operational Energy ◽  
High Standards ◽  
New Buildings

Energy efficient models have become the path to reduce energy consumption and Greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment in many developed countries. According to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), new buildings constructed within the European Union (EU) countries are expected to be nearly zero energy buildings (nZEBs) by 2020, while new public buildings are expected to adhere to this target by 2018. The Passivhaus approach has been identified by several researchers as a possible roadmap to achieve nZEBs. The meticulous engineering and high standards of the Passivhaus building fabric, in addition to the high comfort levels, are the main reasons behind the success and widespread of the standard. Recently, in 2013 the Passivhaus principles have been applied to an experimental residential project in the hot and arid climate of Qatar. The project is composed of two identical buildings, one built according to the Passivhaus standard and the other according to normal practices in the country. The thermal performance and comfort levels of both buildings were assessed through dynamic simulation and on-site measurements. Results indicated that at least 50% reduction in annual operational energy, water consumption, and CO2 emissions were achieved in the Passivhaus model in comparison to the standard model. This paper aims to highlight the lessons learned through the Passivhaus project; first by exhibiting the Passivhaus criteria that have been met, second by showcasing the outcomes of the project, and third by displaying the barriers and difficulties that have been associated with building according to the standard in Qatar. Finally, recommendations and general guidelines are suggested towards a possible adoption of the Passivhaus standard in Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries

scholarly journals A Standard Process for Sustainable Design

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Architectural Design ◽  
Sustainable Design ◽  
Integrated Design ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Building Information ◽  
Integrated Design Process ◽  
High Performance Buildings

This exploratory research examined the degree of adoption and impact of the concepts of Building Information Model (BIM), Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), Integrated Design Process (IDP) and Building Energy Simulation (BES) on the design processes of advanced architectural firms when executing sustainable design. Six offices identified by the press and peers’ recognition for a strong commitment to sustainable design and influence in the design of high performance buildings were selected. In semi-standardized interviews, these firms presented their perceptions of the influence of BIM, BES, and IPD/IDP. The results show that a generalization of sustainable design processes is possible. A design process for sustainability (DEPROSU) model was created by collecting best practices from data gathered from the interviews and the critical literature review. This research provides evidence of commonalities found in the design processes of the selected firms. These commonalities represented in the DEPROSU model can potentially be validated as protocols or standards for sustainable design, providing architectural design practices with concrete patterns for improvement and or validation of their design methods.

Energy Simulations as a Tool in Integrated Design Process

2018 ◽  
pp. 141-164
Author(s):  
Joanna Rucińska
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Integrated Design ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Process Selection ◽  
Integrated Design Process ◽  
Energy Simulations ◽  
Effective Design

In the integrated building modelling, all aspects have the same importance. It means that the architect, construction, and HVAC engineers create a building with interactions. BIM guarantees permanent information about important indicators generated parallel during the whole design process. Sophisticated simulation gives opportunity to observe important factors, for example, thermal comfort, ventilation quality, energy performance of building, operating and investments costs. For effective design process, selection of the appropriate team of people should be done carefully. It is particularly important to have a proper approach to modernisation of buildings. Without careful analysis of the concept and cooperation at various stages, it is not possible to complex retrofit of the building, which is aimed not only at reducing the energy use but also at maintain the desired thermal comfort.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document