scholarly journals Study of the Improvement on Energy Efficiency for a Building in the Mediterranean Area by the Installation of a Green Roof System

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Peñalvo-López ◽  
Javier Cárcel-Carrasco ◽  
David Alfonso-Solar ◽  
Iván Valencia-Salazar ◽  
Elias Hurtado-Pérez

Rooftop gardens ona building have proved to be a good way to improve its storm water management, but many other benefits can be obtained from the installation of these systems, such as reduction of energy consumption, decrease of the heat stress, abatement on CO2 emissions, etc. In this paper, the effect from the presence of these rooftop gardens on abuilding’s energy consumption has been investigated by experimental campaigns using a green roof ona public building in a Mediterranean location in Spain. The obtained results demonstrate a substantial improvement by the installation of the green roof onthe building’s cooling energy demand for a standard summer day, in the order of 30%, and a reduction, about 15%, in the heating energy demand for a winter day. Thus, given the longer duration of the summer conditions along the year, a noticeable reduction on energy demand could be obtained. Simulation analysis, using commercial software TRNSYS code, previously calibrated using experimental data for typical summer and winter days, allows for the extrapolation to the entire year of these results deducing noticeable improvement in energy efficiency, in the order of 19%, but with an increase of 6% in the peak power during the winter period.

Author(s):  
Maryam Mohsenzadeh ◽  
Massoomeh Hedayati Marzbali ◽  
Mohammad Javad Maghsoodi Tilaki ◽  
Aldrin Abdullah

Abstract Malaysia is a nation that has undergone a massive development based on its abundance of fuel supply. The imbalance ratio between gross domestic products and energy demand clearly indicates the need to promote energy-efficiency strategies in the country. This study investigates the relationship between building shape and energy consumption by considering the control of excessive solar radiation in a tropical climate. In the first step, four basic plan geometries, namely, square, rectangle, triangle and circle shapes, are studied to determine the optimal building shape in terms of energy consumption in Penang, Malaysia. Results of simulation analysis using DesignBuilder software (Version 5.4.0) reveal that the circle is the most suitable form in terms of energy performance. In the second step, all buildings with extended shapes based on the optimal shape obtained from the first step are simulated under the same condition to analyse the thermal behaviour of different building forms. Amongst four alternative extended cases, Case 3 with 90 cm depth and without vertical offset from the top of the window has superior energy performance and sufficient natural daylight. This study contributes to enhance energy efficiency of new buildings by incorporating design strategies in the design process.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isiaka Ajewale Alimi ◽  
Romilkumar K. Patel ◽  
Akeem O. Mufutau ◽  
Nelson J. Muga ◽  
Armando N. Pinto ◽  
...  

Abstract The evolution in the Information and Communications Technologies industry results in excessive energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission in the wireless networks. In this context, energy efficiency in mobile networks has been attracting considerable attention as green communications and operational expenditures reduction depend on it. Although the Internet of Things is to be supported by devices that are low-energy consuming, the power consumption of the huge number to be connected for several applications and services demand significant attention. To offer insights into green communications, this paper reviews various energy efficiency improvement techniques. Also, we consider a hybrid model in which the main grid power and dynamically harvested green energy from renewable energy sources can be leveraged to support the energy demand of the radio access network. In this regard, we reformulate the energy consumption model and consider an energy-efficient power allocation algorithm for green energy optimization. Numerical results show that with resource allocation algorithm exploitation, the energy efficiency can be enhanced. Besides, the amount of the grid energy consumption can be considerably minimized, resulting in the greenhouse gas emissions reduction in the wireless networks.


Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier ◽  
Jesús ◽  
Julio ◽  
Paulo

The requirements concerning the energy certification of buildings established in Directive 2002/91/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2002, which was in turn modified by Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 19 May 2010, regarding the energy efficiency of buildings, were transposed into Spanish legislation through Royal Decree 47/2007, dated January 19, through which a Basic Procedure for certification was approved of energy efficiency of new buildings, which was consolidated by Royal Decree 235/2013, of April 5, which approves the basic procedure for the certification of the energy efficiency of buildings. In said Royal Decree, it is established that existing buildings or units of buildings occupied by a public authority, must obtain an energy efficiency certificate and will have the obligation to display their energy efficiency label, when their total useful area exceeds 250 m2, and are usually frequented by the public. The Basic Procedure is established that must comply with the methodology for calculating the energy efficiency rating, considering those factors that have the greatest impact on their energy consumption, as well as the technical and administrative conditions for the energy efficiency certifications of the buildings. For this purpose, three software programs were promoted from the competent Ministry, one corresponding to the general option (LIDER-CALENER “HULC” unified tool) and two others corresponding to the simplified option (simplified procedures CE3 and CE3X), which allow the energy qualification to be carried out of buildings according to three types of buildings (residential, small and medium-sized tertiary, and large tertiary) that are increasing the requirements of the energy certification of the building depending on the type of the same. This study identifies the possible alternatives for improving energy efficiency over the initial qualification of the building, within a context of technical and economic feasibility, optimizing energy demand, reducing CO2 emissions and building energy consumption, being The study also compares the results obtained in the energy rating, between the general option and the simplified procedures, on an Andalusian health center in 1957, which corresponds to the typology of the Grand Tertiary building (GT).


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomasz Szul ◽  
Stanisław Kokoszka

In many regions, the heat used for space heating is a basic item in the energy balance of a building and significantly affects its operating costs. The accuracy of the assessment of heat consumption in an existing building and the determination of the main components of heat loss depends to a large extent on whether the energy efficiency improvement targets set in the thermal upgrading project are achieved. A frequent problem in the case of energy calculations is the lack of complete architectural and construction documentation of the analyzed objects. Therefore, there is a need to search for methods that will be suitable for a quick technical analysis of measures taken to improve energy efficiency in existing buildings. These methods should have satisfactory results in predicting energy consumption where the input is limited, inaccurate, or uncertain. Therefore, the aim of this work was to test the usefulness of a model based on Rough Set Theory (RST) for estimating the thermal energy consumption of buildings undergoing an energy renovation. The research was carried out on a group of 109 thermally improved residential buildings, for which energy performance was based on actual energy consumption before and after thermal modernization. Specific sets of important variables characterizing the examined buildings were distinguished. The groups of variables were used to estimate energy consumption in such a way as to obtain a compromise between the effort of obtaining them and the quality of the forecast. This has allowed the construction of a prediction model that allows the use of a fast, relatively simple procedure to estimate the final energy demand rate for heating buildings.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 3804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia-Nan Wang ◽  
Thi-Duong Nguyen ◽  
Min-Chun Yu

Despite the many benefits that energy consumption brings to the economy, consuming energy also leads nations to expend more resources on environmental pollution. Therefore, energy efficiency has been proposed as a solution to improve national economic competitiveness and sustainability. However, the growth in energy demand is accelerating while policy efforts to boost energy efficiency are slowing. To solve this problem, the efficiency gains in countries where energy consumption efficiency is of the greatest concern such as China, India, the United States, and Europe, especially, emerging economies, is central. Additionally, governments must take greater policy actions. Therefore, this paper studied 25 countries from Asia, the Americas, and Europe to develop a method combining the grey method (GM) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) slack-based measure model (SMB) to measure and forecast the energy efficiency, so that detailed energy efficiency evaluation can be made from the past to the future; moreover, this method can be extended to more countries around the world. The results of this study reveal that European countries have a higher energy efficiency than countries in Americas (except the United States) and Asian countries. Our findings also show that an excess of total energy consumption is the main reason causing the energy inefficiency in most countries. This study contributes to policymaking and strategy makers by sharing the understanding of the status of energy efficiency and providing insights for the future.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weronika Kruszelnicka ◽  
Robert Kasner ◽  
Patrycja Bałdowska-Witos ◽  
Józef Flizikowski ◽  
Andrzej Tomporowski

The assessment of engineering objects in terms of energy consumption is an important part of sustainable development. Many materials, including those from the energy sector, need to undergo earlier processing, e.g., grinding. Grinding processes still demand a significant amount of energy, whereas current energy assessment methods do not take into account important parameters of the process, which makes it difficult to choose their optimal values. The study presents the analysis, testing, and assessment of mechanical engineering systems in terms of the energy consumption involved in the grinding of biomass intended for energy production purposes. A testing methodology was developed to improve the parameters of multi-disc grinding, including the reduction of energy consumption, power input, product quality improvement, and process efficiency. An original model of integrated energy consumption was developed. Tests were carried out on a five-disc grinder for five programs to assess the programmable angular speeds of the grinder discs. Output values, including specific energy demand, fragmentation degree, and integrated energy consumption, were assigned to each testing program. The test results were subjected to statistical analysis. Based on the authors’ own research, it was found that the angular speed of the discs and, consequently, the linear speed of the grinding blades, have a significant influence on the values of the integrated energy consumption of the preliminary process.


Author(s):  
Meliha Honic ◽  
Iva Kovacic

AbstractThe increasing population growth and urbanization rises the worldwide consumption of material resources and energy demand. The challenges of the future will be to provide sufficient resources and to minimize the continual amount of waste and energy demand. For the achievement of sustainability, increasing recycling rates and reuse of materials, next to the reduction of energy consumption has the highest priority.This article presents the results of the multidisciplinary research project SCI_BIM, which is conducted on an occupied existing building. Within SCI_BIM, a workflow for coupling digital technologies for scanning and modeling of buildings is developed. Laser scanning is used for capturing the geometry, and ground-penetrating radar is used for assessing material composition. For the semi-automated generation of an as-built BIM, algorithms are developed, wherefore the Point-Cloud serves as a basis. The BIM-model is used for energy modeling and analysis as well as for the automated compilation of Material Passports. Further, a gamification concept will be developed to motivate the buildings’ users to collect data. By applying the gamification concept, the reduction of energy consumption together with an automated update of the as-built BIM will be tested. This article aims to analyze the complex interdisciplinary interactions, data, and model exchange processes of various disciplines collaborating within SCI_BIM.Results show that the developed methodology is confronted with many challenges. Nevertheless, it has the potential to serve as a basis for the creation of secondary raw materials cadaster and for the optimization of energy consumption in existing buildings.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 124
Author(s):  
Kawar T. Salih

The power shortage is one of the major problems in developing countries. Kurdistan Region of Iraq suffers from this issue, like other developing countries. Especially, after the economy crises that has started in 2014. However, all its efforts for tackling this challenge has been in providing more energy supply stations and more fuel provision. Few studies have been found in the region that seek the relation between the quality of buildings and energy consumption. It is questioned if the building sector in Kurdistan is well managed and environmentally sufficient to consume minimum amount of energy since it is the largest energy consuming sector. This research will seek an alternative to decrease the energy demand in buildings instead of expanding the energy sector. This could be achieved by evaluating the quality of building sector environmentally and improving it. Providing guidelines for building’s thermal regulations, passive building design and increasing the energy efficiency of buildings by renewal means could be alternative strategies for lowering the energy consumption. Theoretical and numerical research approach have been taken in to account for finding the answer through a case study and comparative analysis. A variation of 21-29% of power consumption can be observed between buildings that have not considered energy efficiency criteria in their design and those who reflected them more in the design.


Author(s):  
Samuel Guimaraes Ferreira ◽  
Livia Da Silva Oliveira ◽  
David Barbosa de Alencar

Energy consumption is a major factor in relation to an organization's costs and expenses, determining the need to apply methods that can minimize or reduce these expenses as much as possible. Having these factors in context, the present work aims to present the technical feasibility of implementing a project that uses solar energy through the on-grid solar system to supply the energy demand of a company. The methodology used was the descriptive, in which several data were collected and documentations were analyzed that supported and justified the elaboration of a photovoltaic project and development of the budget and analysis of the costs of a solar energy system. Through the results obtained, it was possible to arrive at a solar project that would be able to establish the necessary power for the company for a cost of R $ 20,916.96 and a payback of 5 years and 5 months. Thus, it is possible to conclude that the photovoltaic system is viable in its use and application, not only because of the advantages associated with the environment, but taking into account its self-sustainability over time and with a useful life of up to 25 years.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayman Ragab ◽  
Ahmed Abdelrady

Energy consumption for cooling purposes has increased significantly in recent years, mainly due to population growth, urbanization, and climate change consequences. The situation can be mitigated by passive climate solutions to reduce energy consumption in buildings. This study investigated the effectiveness of the green roof concept in reducing energy demand for cooling in different climatic regions. The impact of several types of green roofing of varying thermal conductivity and soil depth on energy consumption for cooling school buildings in Egypt was examined. In a co-simulation approach, the efficiency of the proposed green roof types was evaluated using the Design-Builder software, and a cost analysis was performed for the best options. The results showed that the proposed green roof types saved between 31.61 and 39.74% of energy, on average. A green roof featuring a roof soil depth of 0.1 m and 0.9 W/m-K thermal conductivity exhibited higher efficiency in reducing energy than the other options tested. The decrease in air temperature due to green roofs in hot arid areas, which exceeded an average of 4 °C, was greater than that in other regions that were not as hot. In conclusion, green roofs were shown to be efficient in reducing energy consumption as compared with traditional roofs, especially in hot arid climates.


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