scholarly journals Analysis of the Methodologic Assumptions of the NOM-020-ENER-2011—Mexican Residential Building Standard

Environments ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. 118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio Martin-Dominguez ◽  
Norma Rodriguez-Muñoz ◽  
Claudia Romero-Perez ◽  
Mario Najera-Trejo ◽  
Naghelli Ortega-Avila
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Cooling Systems ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
The Many ◽  
Air Conditioning Systems

In Mexico, residents of low income housing mainly achieve thermal comfort through mechanical ventilation and electrical air conditioning systems. Though government and private efforts have risen to meet an increasing demand for social housing, the average construction quality and thermal comfort of new housing stock has decreased over the years. Various programs and regulations have been implemented to address these concerns, including the 2011 residential building standard NOM-020-ENER-2011. This standard attempts to limit heat gains in residential buildings, in order to reduce the energy consumption required from cooling systems, and was intended to be applied throughout Mexico. NOM-020-ENER-2011, however, divides the country into just four climatic zones and only considers the energy use of cooling systems, disregarding heating costs. The recommendations of this policy are thus inadequate for the many regions in Mexico that have mild to moderate winters. This study discusses the assumptions and calculations that underlie NOM-020-ENER-2011, identifying several problems and recommending specific changes to the standard that would lead to greater comfort and lower energy use throughout Mexico.

scholarly journals Effects of glazing design and infiltration rate on energy consumption and thermal comfort in residential buildings

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (5 Part B) ◽  
pp. 2951-2960 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Almarzouq ◽  
Ahmad Sakhrieh
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Infiltration Rate ◽  
Building Envelope ◽  
Design Alternatives ◽  
Energy Modelling ◽  
Proper Design

The building envelope is the most affecting part in the energy interaction between the buildings and the surrounding. Proper design of the envelope components not only can save the required energy for the building but also can improve the thermal comfort of its occupants. In this research, energy modelling and simulation for a residential building in Amman, Jordan is performed to investigate the effects of glazing design and infiltration rate on energy consumption and thermal comfort. Different design alternatives have been investigated to find the best alternative design to reduce energy use and improve indoor environment. The results showed that replacing single glazing window with double glazing window argon-filled with low emissivity coating can save the consumed energy by 24.7% while degrade the thermal comfort by 1%. Reducing the infiltration rate by 50% can save 19.4% of the energy consumed and improves the thermal comfort by 10%.

scholarly journals Optimal Control Strategies for Switchable Transparent Insulation Systems Applied to Smart Windows for US Residential Buildings

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 2917
Author(s):  
Mohammad Dabbagh ◽  
Moncef Krarti
Keyword(s):  
Energy Use ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Optimization Approach ◽  
Optimal Controls ◽  
Peak Demand ◽  
Smart Windows ◽  
Insulation Systems ◽  
Rule Set

This paper evaluates the potential energy use and peak demand savings associated with optimal controls of switchable transparent insulation systems (STIS) applied to smart windows for US residential buildings. The optimal controls are developed based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) to identify the automatic settings of the dynamic shades. First, switchable insulation systems and their operation mechanisms are briefly described when combined with smart windows. Then, the GA-based optimization approach is outlined to operate switchable insulation systems applied to windows for a prototypical US residential building. The optimized controls are implemented to reduce heating and cooling energy end-uses for a house located four US locations, during three representative days of swing, summer, and winter seasons. The performance of optimal controller is compared to that obtained using simplified rule-based control sets to operate the dynamic insulation systems. The analysis results indicate that optimized controls of STISs can save up to 81.8% in daily thermal loads compared to the simplified rule-set especially when dwellings are located in hot climates such as that of Phoenix, AZ. Moreover, optimally controlled STISs can reduce electrical peak demand by up to 49.8% compared to the simplified rule-set, indicating significant energy efficiency and demand response potentials of the SIS technology when applied to US residential buildings.

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.

scholarly journals Humidity-Sensitive Demand-Controlled Ventilation Applied to Multi-Unit Residential Building – Performance and Energy Consumption in Dfb Continental Climate

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerzy Sowa ◽  
Maciej Mijakowski
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Ventilation System ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Controlled Ventilation ◽  
Demand Controlled Ventilation ◽  
Continental Climate

A humidity-sensitive demand-controlled ventilation system is known for many years. It has been developed and commonly applied in regions with an oceanic climate. Some attempts were made to introduce this solution in Poland in a much severe continental climate. The article evaluates this system's performance and energy consumption applied in an 8-floor multi-unit residential building, virtual reference building described by the National Energy Conservation Agency NAPE, Poland. The simulations using the computer program CONTAM were performed for the whole hating season for Warsaw's climate. Besides passive stack ventilation that worked as a reference, two versions of humidity-sensitive demand-controlled ventilation were checked. The difference between them lies in applying the additional roof fans that convert the system to hybrid. The study confirmed that the application of demand-controlled ventilation in multi-unit residential buildings in a continental climate with warm summer (Dfb) leads to significant energy savings. However, the efforts to ensure acceptable indoor air quality require hybrid ventilation, which reduces the energy benefits. It is especially visible when primary energy use is analyzed.

scholarly journals Importance of Behavioral Adjustments for Adaptive Thermal Comfort in a Condominium with HEMS System

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 163-170
Author(s):  
Rajan KC ◽  
Hom Bahadur Rijal ◽  
Masanori Shukuya ◽  
Kazui Yoshida
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Outdoor Environment ◽  
Adaptive Behaviors ◽  
Outdoor Air ◽  
Indoor Thermal Environment ◽  
Indoor Thermal Comfort

The energy use in residential dwellings has been increasing due to increasing use of modern electric appliances to make the lifestyle easier, entertaining and better. One of the major purposes of indoor energy use is for improving indoor thermal environment for adjusting thermal comfort. Along with the use of passive means like the use of mechanical devices, the occupants in any dwellings use active means such as the use of natural ventilation, window opening, and clothing adjustment. In fact, the use of active means when the outdoor environment is good enough might be more suitable to improve indoor thermal environment than the use of mechanical air conditioning units, which necessarily require electricity. Therefore, the people in developing countries like Nepal need to understand to what extent the occupants can use active means to manage their own indoor thermal comfort. The use of active means during good outdoor environment might be an effective way to manage increasing energy demand in the future. We have made a field survey on the occupants’ adaptive behaviors for thermal comfort in a Japanese condominium equipped with Home Energy Management System (HEMS). Online questionnaire survey was conducted in a condominium with 356 families from November 2015 to October 2016 to understand the occupants’ behaviors. The number of 17036 votes from 39 families was collected. The indoor air temperature, relative humidity and illuminance were measured at the interval of 2-10 minutes to know indoor thermal environmental conditions. The occupants were found using different active behaviors for thermal comfort adjustments even in rather harsh summer and winter. Around 80% of the occupants surveyed opened windows when the outdoor air temperature was 30⁰C in free running (FR) mode and the clothing insulation was 0.93 clo when the outdoor air temperature was 0⁰C. The result showed that the use of mechanical heating and cooling was not necessarily the first priority to improve indoor thermal environment. Our result along with other results in residential buildings showed that the adaptive behaviors of the occupants are one of the primary ways to adjust indoor thermal comfort. This fact is important in enhancing the energy saving building design.

scholarly journals Development of Thermal Comfort-Based Controller and Potential Reduction of the Cooling Energy Consumption of a Residential Building in Kuwait

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 3348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaesung Park ◽  
Taeyeon Kim ◽  
Chul-sung Lee
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Electric Energy ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Electric Energy Consumption ◽  
Residential Electricity ◽  
The Government

In Kuwait, where the government subsidizes approximately 95% of residential electricity bills, most of the country’s energy consumption is for residential use. In particular, air-conditioning (AC) systems for cooling, which are used throughout the year, are responsible for residential electric energy consumption. This study aimed to reduce the amount of energy consumed for cooling purposes by developing a thermal comfort-based controller. Our study commenced by using a simulation model to investigate the possibility of energy reduction when using the predicted mean vote (PMV) for optimal control. The result showed that control optimization would enable the cooling energy consumption to be reduced by 33.5%. The influence of six variables on cooling energy consumption was then analyzed to develop a thermal comfort-based controller. The analysis results showed that the indoor air temperature was the most influential factor, followed by the mean radiant temperature, the metabolic rate, and indoor air velocity. The thermal comfort-based controller-version 1 (TCC-V1) was developed based on the analysis results and experimentally evaluated to determine the extent to which the use of the controller would affect the energy consumed for cooling. The experiments showed that the implementation of TCC-V1 control made it possible to reduce the electric energy consumption by 39.5% on a summer representative day. The results of this study indicate that it is possible to improve indoor thermal comfort while saving energy by using the thermal comfort-based controller in residential buildings in Kuwait.

scholarly journals A comparison of greenhouse gas emissions in the residential sector of major Canadian cities

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 285-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene A. Mohareb ◽  
Adrian K. Mohareb
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Carbon Intensity ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Residential Sector ◽  
Residential Building Stock

One of the most significant sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada is the buildings sector, with over 30% of national energy end-use occurring in buildings. Energy use must be addressed to reduce emissions from the buildings sector, as nearly 70% of all Canada’s energy used in the residential sector comes from fossil sources. An analysis of GHG emissions from the existing residential building stock for the year 2010 has been conducted for six Canadian cities with different climates and development histories: Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax. Variation across these cities is seen in their 2010 GHG emissions, due to climate, characteristics of the building stock, and energy conversion technologies, with Halifax having the highest per capita emissions at 5.55 tCO2e/capita and Montreal having the lowest at 0.32 tCO2e/capita. The importance of the provincial electricity grid’s carbon intensity is emphasized, along with era of construction, occupancy, floor area, and climate. Approaches to achieving deep emissions reductions include innovative retrofit financing and city level residential energy conservation by-laws; each region should seek location-appropriate measures to reduce energy demand within its residential housing stock, as well as associated GHG emissions.

scholarly journals Progressive Development and Challenges Faced by Solar Rotary Desiccant-Based Air-Conditioning Systems: A Review

Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1785
Author(s):  
Ranjan Pratap Singh ◽  
Ranadip K. Das
Keyword(s):  
Solar Energy ◽  
Air Conditioning ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Operating Cost ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Vapor Compression ◽  
Cooling Systems ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Air Conditioning Systems

A rotary desiccant-based air-conditioning system is a heat-driven hybrid system which combines different technologies such as desiccant dehumidification, evaporative cooling, refrigeration, and regeneration. This system has an opportunity to utilize low-grade thermal energy obtained from the sun or other sources. In this paper, the basic principles and recent research developments related to rotary desiccant-based cooling systems are recalled and their applications and importance are summarized. It is shown that with novel system configurations and new desiccant materials, there is great potential for improving the performance and consistency of rotary desiccant systems; at the same time, the use of solar energy for regeneration purposes can minimize the operating cost to a great extent. Some examples are presented to demonstrate how rotary desiccant air conditioning can be a promising solution for replacing traditional vapor-compression air-conditioning systems. Recent advances and ongoing research related to solar-powered hybrid rotary desiccant cooling systems are also summarized. The hybrid systems make use of a vapor-compression system in order to have better operational flexibility. These systems, although they consume electrical energy, use solar energy as the principal source of energy, and hence, significant savings of premium energy can be obtained compared to conventional vapor-compression systems. However, further research and development are required in order to realize the sustainable operation of solar rotary desiccant air-conditioning systems, as solar energy is not steady. Reductions in capital cost and size, along with improvements in efficiency and reliability of the system is still needed for it to become a player in the market of air conditioning.

scholarly journals Assessing building performance in residential buildings using BIM and sensor data

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 176-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kay Rogage ◽  
Adrian Clear ◽  
Zaid Alwan ◽  
Tom Lawrence ◽  
Graham Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Energy Use ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Performance Data ◽  
Sensor Data ◽  
Building Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Building Maintenance ◽  
Building Management ◽  
Building Information

Purpose Buildings and their use is a complex process from design to occupation. Buildings produce huge volumes of data such as building information modelling (BIM), sensor (e.g. from building management systems), occupant and building maintenance data. These data can be spread across multiple disconnected systems in numerous formats, making their combined analysis difficult. The purpose of this paper is to bring these sources of data together, to provide a more complete account of a building and, consequently, a more comprehensive basis for understanding and managing its performance. Design/methodology/approach Building data from a sample of newly constructed housing units were analysed, several properties were identified for the study and sensors deployed. A sensor agnostic platform for visualising real-time building performance data was developed. Findings Data sources from both sensor data and qualitative questionnaire were analysed and a matrix of elements affecting building performance in areas such as energy use, comfort use, integration with technology was presented. In addition, a prototype sensor visualisation platform was designed to connect in-use performance data to BIM. Originality/value This work presents initial findings from a post occupancy evaluation utilising sensor data. The work attempts to address the issues of BIM in-use scenarios for housing sector. A prototype was developed which can be fully developed and replicated to wider housing projects. The findings can better address how indoor thermal comfort parameters can be used to improve housing stock and even address elements such as machine learning for better buildings.

scholarly journals Thermochromic Paints on External Surfaces: Impact Assessment for a Residential Building through Thermal and Energy Simulation

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1912 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasco Granadeiro ◽  
Margarida Almeida ◽  
Tiago Souto ◽  
Vítor Leal ◽  
João Machado ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Use ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Physical Models ◽  
Indoor Temperature ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Step Transition ◽  
Linear Manner

This work addresses the effect of using thermochromic paints in residential buildings. Two different thermochromic paint types were considered: One that changes properties through a step transition at a certain temperature, and another that changes properties in a gradual/linear manner throughout a temperature range. The studied building was a two-floor villa, virtually simulated through a digital model with and without thermal insulation, and considering thermochromic paints applied both on external walls and on the roof. The performance assessment was done through the energy use for heating and cooling (in conditioned mode), as well as in terms of the indoor temperature (in free-floating mode). Three different cities/climates were considered: Porto, Madrid, and Abu Dhabi. Results showed that energy savings up to 50.6% could be reached if the building is operated in conditioned mode. Conversely, when operated in free-floating mode, optimally selected thermochromic paints enable reductions up to 11.0 °C, during summertime, and an increase up to 2.7 °C, during wintertime. These results point out the great benefits of using optimally selected thermochromic paints for obtaining thermal comfort, and also the need to further develop stable and cost-effective thermochromic pigments for outdoor applications, as well as to test physical models in a real environment.

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