scholarly journals Identification of Energy Efficiency Improvement Measures of an Existing Residential Building Using Audit-Assisted Energy Simulation and Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Farrukh Arif ◽  
Rabia Khalid ◽  
Nida Azhar

Depleting energy sources are forcing humans to preserve energy and utilize it wisely. Globally, researchers are working to find ways to manage the energy crisis. Residential buildings are considered to be in the most energy demanding sector. Therefore, efforts are being made to reduce the increasing energy consumption and make the buildings energy efficient. The paper focuses on finding ways to retrofit the existing residential buildings into energy efficient buildings. This study evaluated the energy performance of a G+2 residential building with a total of 3 floors covering an area of 991.68 sq. meters, to identify relevant potential improvement measures. An energy analysis of the building was performed using information modeling assisted with energy audit data for accurate and realistic analysis. It was found that there is potential for the reduction of the annual energy usage and annual energy cost up to 2.33% and 4.54% respectively, by making improvements in the window to wall ratio. Another potential energy cost saving of 14.8% can be achieved by changing Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning (HVAC) type, and 7.62% of a reduction in cost can be achieved through modification in lighting fixtures. Moreover, installing solar photovoltaic panels can save up to PKR 1 million, and natural ventilation could result in saving more than PKR 0.2 million annually.

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 477-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick X.W. Zou ◽  
Rebecca J. Yang

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate residential occupants’ motivations and behaviour on energy savings. Energy consumption in residential buildings is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Design/methodology/approach – By using an online survey questionnaire instrument, this research collected 504 sets of responses from households in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Findings – Through statistical analysis of the data collected, this research found that construction cost and government incentive were considered as the major influencing factors on achieving energy-efficient residential building development, and the lower bills resulted from the reduced energy and water consumption were considered as the most important benefits. The research also found that many households exhibited a high level of awareness and had implemented some sustainability improvement measures. It is suggested, based on these research findings, that governments should articulate, by means of education, the rationale and benefits of sustainable home development that are identified in this research and reduce material costs and increase government incentives. Originality/value – A framework on improving residential sustainability was proposed in this paper. Stakeholders in the sustainable home supply chain could use this framework as a reference to pave the way for energy efficient home development from their perspective


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (7) ◽  
pp. 357
Author(s):  
Lobna Hassan Ali Hassan Elgheriani ◽  
Parid Wardi ◽  
AbdulBasit Ali Ali Ahmed

Natural ventilation is an effectual passive design approach to create a better indoor thermal condition as well as energy efficiency. The primary goal of building design is providing a healthy and comfortable indoor environment titled as sustainable architecture. Literature suggests that the significant feature that alteration has to take place on for better energy performance is the envelope design. This paper aims to augment the Window to Wall Ratio (WWR), orientation and courtyard corridor size for improving the design of naturally ventilated courtyard high-rise residential buildings. Briefly, the findings indicate that contending with WWR, orientation and courtyard corridor size could increase the potential of improving its natural ventilation and thus, thermal performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 312 ◽  
pp. 06002
Author(s):  
Silvia Di Turi ◽  
Ilaria Falcone ◽  
Iole Nardi ◽  
Laura Ronchetti ◽  
Nicolandrea Calabrese

Due to its energy and environmental impact, the building sector has become a challenging field in order to fulfil the need for energy renovation and obtain low-consumption buildings. The main issue, for those who approach the feasible design of a Zero Energy Building (ZEB), is to assess, in the most realistic way possible, the thermal and energy needs and the energy production of the building, properly considering all the possible variables. Through the analysis of a newly built residential building case study, this work aims at showing the complexity of the ZEB design, analysing the energy performance as the design choices vary. After characterizing envelope and systems components, potential variations in the model are highlighted by applying a set of updated climatic data, varying occupancy, shading systems and natural ventilation functioning, often neglected. It leads to a wide and differentiated range of results, consequently influenced by the design phase. The work aims at providing, in the definition of the energy performance of the building, an evaluation of the variations obtained from the variables analysed that in the modelling phase are normally considered as a boundary but which instead play a key role for achieving the ZEB objective.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 679
Author(s):  
Roya Aeinehvand ◽  
Amiraslan Darvish ◽  
Abdollah Baghaei Daemei ◽  
Shima Barati ◽  
Asma Jamali ◽  
...  

Today, renewable resources and the crucial role of passive strategies in energy efficiency in the building sector toward the sustainable development goals are more indispensable than ever. Natural ventilation has traditionally been considered as one of the most fundamental techniques to decrease energy usage by building dwellers and designers. The main purpose of the present study is to enhance the natural ventilation rates in an existing six-story residential building situated in the humid climate of Rasht during the summertime. On this basis, two types of ventilation systems, the Double-Skin Facade Twin Face System (DSF-TFS) and Single-Sided Wind Tower (SSWT), were simulated through DesignBuilder version 4.5. Then, two types of additional ventilation systems were proposed in order to accelerate the airflow, including four-sided as well as multi-opening wind towers. The wind foldable directions were at about 45 degrees (northwest to southeast). The simulation results show that SSWT could have a better performance than the aforementioned systems by about 38%. Therefore, the multi-opening system was able to enhance the ventilation rate by approximately 10% during the summertime.


2019 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 03040
Author(s):  
Touraj Ashrafian ◽  
Zerrin Yilmaz ◽  
Nazanin Moazzen

Recast version of Energy Performance of Building Directive (EPBD-Recast) obligate member states to keep the cost analysis in parallel with the energy analysis during the renovation actions for the existing building by taking the cost-optimal level of minimum energy performance requirement to the account. Although this cost-optimal level is indicating the minimum cost level for a period, it can provide buildings’ owners with an enormous initial cost. One of the most challenging barriers to energy efficient and cost-optimal renovation of existing buildings is the reluctance of owners to involve in their project as an investor due to the high cost of application. Particularly in developing countries, such reluctance is more tangible as the governments are not capable of providing enough financial incentives for owners due to a large number of buildings that should be renovated and small available budget. A proper solution for the problem is to divide necessary actions for each building to certain sub-actions and apply them as a step-by-step renovation project. On the other hand, the progressive application of renovation activities has some restrictions. It is necessary to define the due amount for households and keep the cost of each step within the payable range. Moreover, the low rate of building renovation which affects the EU goals can be improved remarkably by application of step-by-step actions not only by increasing the number of owners’ contributions but also by improving the time of implementation, proper distribution of skilled labours and directed economic resources. This paper aims to assess the step-by-step application of the energy efficient renovation actions through energy and cost analysis under Turkey’s climatic, economic and sociological conditions. One of 26 reference residential buildings in Turkey is analysed in this paper. The due amount for each step is defined, and some renovation actions and their combinations applied to the case building and the results compared with the base condition. Then a proper combination of measures established based on the cost-optimal analyses. These appropriately combined actions are then divided into some sub-actions; following this, cost and energy studies are conducted again to determine the appropriate arrangement of sub-actions.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 237 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Soutullo ◽  
E. Giancola ◽  
M. J. Jiménez ◽  
J. A. Ferrer ◽  
M. N. Sánchez

Based on the European energy directives, the building sector has to provide comfortable levels for occupants with minimum energy consumption as well as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This paper aims to compare the impact of climate change on the energy performance of residential buildings in order to derive potential design strategies. Different climate file inputs of Madrid have been used to quantify comparatively the thermal needs of two reference residential buildings located in this city. One of them represents buildings older than 40 years built according to the applicable Spanish regulations prior to 1979. The other refers to buildings erected in the last decade under more energy-restrictive constructive regulations. Three different climate databases of Madrid have been used to assess the impact of the evolution of the climate in recent years on the thermal demands of these two reference buildings. Two of them are typical meteorological years (TMY) derived from weather data measured before 2000. On the contrary, the third one is an experimental file representing the average values of the meteorological variables registered in Madrid during the last decade. Annual and monthly comparisons are done between the three climate databases assessing the climate changes. Compared to the TMYs databases, the experimental one records an average air temperature of 1.8 °C higher and an average value of relative humidity that is 9% lower.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 3038 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Sánchez Ramos ◽  
MCarmen Guerrero Delgado ◽  
Servando Álvarez Domínguez ◽  
José Luis Molina Félix ◽  
Francisco José Sánchez de la Flor ◽  
...  

The reduction of energy consumption in the residential sector presents substantial potential through the implementation of energy efficiency improvement measures. Current trends involve the use of simulation tools which obtain the buildings’ energy performance to support the development of possible solutions to help reduce energy consumption. However, simulation tools demand considerable amounts of data regarding the buildings’ geometry, construction, and frequency of use. Additionally, the measured values tend to be different from the estimated values obtained with the use of energy simulation programs, an issue known as the ‘performance gap’. The proposed methodology provides a solution for both of the aforementioned problems, since the amount of data needed is considerably reduced and the results are calibrated using measured values. This new approach allows to find an optimal retrofitting project by life cycle energy assessment, in terms of cost and energy savings, for individual buildings as well as several blocks of buildings. Furthermore, the potential for implementation of the methodology is proven by obtaining a comprehensive energy rehabilitation plan for a residential building. The developed methodology provides highly accurate estimates of energy savings, directly linked to the buildings’ real energy needs, reducing the difference between the consumption measured and the predictions.


Author(s):  
Hua Chen ◽  
Qianqian Di

To improve the applicability of water-cooled air-conditioners in the domestic sector, the development of a prediction model for energy performance analysis is needed. This paper addressed the development of an empirical model for predicting the operation performance and the annual energy consumption for the use of water-cooled air-conditioners. An experimental prototype was set up and tested in an environmental chamber in validating the empirical model. The predictions compared well with the experimental results. Furthermore, a high-rise residential building whole-year energy consumption simulation on applications of water-cooled air conditioners in South china was also analyzed. The results show 20.4% energy savings over air-cooled units while the increase in water-side consumption is 31.1%. The overall energy savings were estimated at 16.2% when including the additional water costs.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 587 ◽  
Author(s):  
İdil Ayçam ◽  
Sevilay Akalp ◽  
Leyla Senem Görgülü

Conventional energy use has brought environmental problems such as global warming and accelerated efforts to reduce energy consumption in many areas, particularly in the housing sector. For this purpose, bioclimatic design principles and vernacular architecture parameters have started to be examined in residential buildings nowadays. Thus, the demand for less energy-consuming houses has started to increase. In this study, we aimed to specify the significance of traditional architectural parameters for houses in the hot-dry climatic region of Diyarbakır, Turkey. Within the scope of the study, a case was based on the urban fabric of the traditional houses in Historical Diyarbakir Suriçi-Old Town settlement and the Şilbe Mass Housing Area was discussed. The courtyard types, settlement patterns, and street texture of traditional Diyarbakır houses were modeled by using DesignBuilder energy simulation program for the case study. Annual heating, cooling, and total energy loads were calculated, and their thermal performances were compared. The aim is to create a less energy-consuming and sustainable environment with the adaptation of traditional building form-street texture to today’s housing sector. Development of a settlement model, which is based on traditional houses’ bioclimatic design for hot-dry region, was intended to be applied in the modern housing sector of Turkey. Moreover, adapting local forms, urban texture, and settlement patterns to today has significant potential for sustainable architecture and energy-efficient buildings. According to this study, the optimum form and layout of traditional houses, which are one of the climate balanced building designs, provide annual energy savings if integrated and designed in today’s building construction. As a result of this study, if the passive design alternatives such as building shape, layout, and orientation were developed in the first stage of the design, energy efficient building design would be possible. The study is important for the continuation of traditional sustainable design.


Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Jean Rouleau ◽  
Louis Gosselin

Exhaust fans in residential buildings generate energy consumption first by the electricity that they require when operating, but also by extracting heat outside of the building. Nonetheless, these appliances are essential to ensure good indoor air quality. It is thus important to study how occupants in residential buildings use exhaust fans and to assess their impact on the energy performance of buildings. In this paper, a preliminary analysis on these two topics is made based on measured data recorded from a multi-residential building located in Quebec City, Canada. Data show that the use of exhaust fans is variable from a household to another. It was estimated that exhaust devices accounted for approximately 14% of the energy demand of the monitored building.


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