scholarly journals A State of the Art of the Overall Energy Efficiency of Wood Buildings—An Overview and Future Possibilities

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 1848
Author(s):  
Matheus Roberto Cabral ◽  
Pierre Blanchet

The main goal of this study was to review current studies on the state of the art of wood constructions with a particular focus on energy efficiency, which could serve as a valuable source of information for both industry and scholars. This review begins with an overview of the role of materials in wood buildings to improve energy performance, covering structural and insulation materials that have already been successfully used in the market for general applications over the years. Subsequently, studies of different wood building systems (i.e., wood-frame, post-and-beam, mass timber and hybrid constructions) and energy efficiency are discussed. This is followed by a brief introduction to strategies to increase the energy efficiency of constructions. Finally, remarks and future research opportunities for wood buildings are highlighted. Some general recommendations for developing more energy-efficient wood buildings are identified in the literature and discussed. There is a lack of emerging construction concepts for wood-frame and post-and-beam buildings and a lack of design codes and specifications for mass timber and hybrid buildings. From the perspective of the potential environmental benefits of these systems as a whole, and their effects on energy efficiency and embodied energy in constructions, there are barriers that need to be considered in the future.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7359
Author(s):  
Sadaf Alam ◽  
Miimu Airaksinen ◽  
Risto Lahdelma

Key stakeholders in industry are highly responsible for achieving energy performance targets. Particularly, this paper assesses the attitudes, approaches, and experiences of Finnish construction professionals regarding energy-efficient buildings, or nZEBs. A three-tier investigation was conducted including surveys and expert interviews with several stakeholders. The structure of this approach was informed by preliminary data and information available on the Finnish construction sector. The questionnaire showed that the stakeholders ranked energy efficiency and embodied energy/carbon as very important. The survey highlighted that the importance of the embodied carbon CO2 in the materials is less important than the energy efficiency from many of the stakeholders’ points of view. “Energy efficiency” is very important for ESCOs, contractors, and facility managers followed by architects, HVAC engineers, and construction design engineers. Nevertheless, the opinions of architects ranked “embodied energy CO2” as the most important regarding nZEB. When it comes to the importance of “running time emissions” toward nZEB, contractors and ESCO companies ranked it as 1 for importance followed by property owners (78%) and tenants (75%). It is very fascinating to see from the survey that “running time carbon emissions” has been ranked 1 (very important) by all stakeholders. This study will enable construction industry stakeholders to make provisions for overcoming the barriers, gaps, and challenges identified in the practices of the nZEB projects. It will also inform the formulation of policies that drive retrofit uptake.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4171
Author(s):  
Rabia Ikram ◽  
Badrul Mohamed Jan ◽  
Akhmal Sidek ◽  
George Kenanakis

An important aspect of hydrocarbon drilling is the usage of drilling fluids, which remove drill cuttings and stabilize the wellbore to provide better filtration. To stabilize these properties, several additives are used in drilling fluids that provide satisfactory rheological and filtration properties. However, commonly used additives are environmentally hazardous; when drilling fluids are disposed after drilling operations, they are discarded with the drill cuttings and additives into water sources and causes unwanted pollution. Therefore, these additives should be substituted with additives that are environmental friendly and provide superior performance. In this regard, biodegradable additives are required for future research. This review investigates the role of various bio-wastes as potential additives to be used in water-based drilling fluids. Furthermore, utilization of these waste-derived nanomaterials is summarized for rheology and lubricity tests. Finally, sufficient rheological and filtration examinations were carried out on water-based drilling fluids to evaluate the effect of wastes as additives on the performance of drilling fluids.


Buildings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia MIRABELLA ◽  
Martin RÖCK ◽  
Marcella Ruschi Mendes SAADE ◽  
Carolin SPIRINCKX ◽  
Marc BOSMANS ◽  
...  

Globally, the building sector is responsible for more than 40% of energy use and it contributes approximately 30% of the global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. This high contribution stimulates research and policies to reduce the operational energy use and related GHG emissions of buildings. However, the environmental impacts of buildings can extend wide beyond the operational phase, and the portion of impacts related to the embodied energy of the building becomes relatively more important in low energy buildings. Therefore, the goal of the research is gaining insights into the environmental impacts of various building strategies for energy efficiency requirements compared to the life cycle environmental impacts of the whole building. The goal is to detect and investigate existing trade-offs in current approaches and solutions proposed by the research community. A literature review is driven by six fundamental and specific research questions (RQs), and performed based on two main tasks: (i) selection of literature studies, and (ii) critical analysis of the selected studies in line with the RQs. A final sample of 59 papers and 178 case studies has been collected, and key criteria are systematically analysed in a matrix. The study reveals that the high heterogeneity of the case studies makes it difficult to compare these in a straightforward way, but it allows to provide an overview of current methodological challenges and research gaps. Furthermore, the most complete studies provide valuable insights in the environmental benefits of the identified energy performance strategies over the building life cycle, but also shows the risk of burden shifting if only operational energy use is focused on, or when a limited number of environmental impact categories are assessed.


2020 ◽  
pp. 40-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelika Anduła ◽  
Dariusz Heim

Photovoltaic systems have become a common solution for, both small residential buildings as well as large service buildings. When buildings are being designed, it is important to focus on the aspect of the object’s energy efficiency as lowering the energy consumption of a given facility is crucial. The article discusses the use of photovoltaic panels such as so-called BAPV (Building Applied Photovoltaics) and BIPV (Building Installed Photovoltaics) installations as well as photovoltaic thermal systems (PV/T), which generate both electricity and heat. The role of PV installation in so-called zero energy buildings and proposals for future research and solutions are also discussed.


Babel ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 484-504
Author(s):  
Eirini Chatzikoumi

Abstract This article addresses the contribution of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to translation and, specifically, the use of Halliday’s metafunctions in translation studies research. The aim is to provide the state of the art of the main findings and proposals of these studies regarding the role of metafunctions in translation and translation teaching, thus evaluating their relevance and applicability in this field. In order to achieve this, six studies were reviewed, three of them dedicated to metafunctional shifts and three to the use of metafunctions in translation teaching and evaluation. This critical bibliographic review allowed for the corroboration of the contribution of SFL to the field of translation, and for the deduction of relevant aspects for future research and teaching proposals. More precisely, the relevance of the incorporation of semantic metafunctions in translator training and evaluation is confirmed, and the possibility of a distinction between obligatory and optional metafunctional translation shifts is suggested.


Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sung Park ◽  
Mi Kim

This study proposes a framework for green remodeling for the elderly that emphasizes the role of designers and the notion of aging in place. Energy efficiency is critical for older persons because many of them spend more time at home and are less likely to heat and cool their homes appropriately. Improving the energy performance of the elderly’s housing by green remodeling could promote energy efficiency and healthy living for the elderly. Based on remodeling components derived from related work, key factors to be considered regarding the remodeling for the elderly were investigated. A framework for green remodeling enabling energy efficiency was developed for home upgrades for the elderly. Identifying the area of application and critical components for energy efficiency helps improve the energy performance for the elderly. This study is significant because it considers the elderly’s characteristics and experiences in the development of a sustainable remodeling process rather than new-building construction.


Author(s):  
Kaan Varnali

Research focusing on consumer behavior in the mobile context is rapidly accumulating. However, the role of personality traits in explaining and predicting users’ perceptions regarding mobile services and behavior within the mobile context is conspicuously under-researched. If consumers are considered as dispositional entities, this lack of researcher interest on the role of personality traits on the value creation processes of mobile consumers should be scrutinized. Striving to provide guidance as to why and how to incorporate personality-based variables within prospective research models attempting to explain and predict consumer behavior in the mobile context, this research critically assesses the-state-of-the-art and presents a conceptual discussion regarding related future research avenues.


2012 ◽  
Vol 588-589 ◽  
pp. 2088-2092
Author(s):  
Ehsan Ahmad ◽  
Yun Wei Dong ◽  
Bin Gu

The main object of this study is to systematically review existing research on energy efficiency of embedded systems in order to identify investigated aspects and needs for future research. We have conducted a systematic mapping study of the state-of-the-art on energy efficiency of embedded systems. 186 papers have been identified as primary studies from year 1994 to 2011 and classified by research focus, research type, and contribution type. 71% of the research papers are solutions proposals; power estimation is the most investigated aspect in terms of research focus (34%) and majority of the studies contributed in terms of methods.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (21) ◽  
pp. 5203
Author(s):  
Katherine Brain ◽  
Tracy L. Burrows ◽  
Laura Bruggink ◽  
Anneleen Malfliet ◽  
Chris Hayes ◽  
...  

Nutrition plays an important role in pain management. Healthy eating patterns are associated with reduced systemic inflammation, as well as lower risk and severity of chronic non-cancer pain and associated comorbidities. The role of nutrition in chronic non-cancer pain management is an emerging field with increasing interest from clinicians and patients. Evidence from a number of recent systematic reviews shows that optimising diet quality and incorporating foods containing anti-inflammatory nutrients such as fruits, vegetables, long chain and monounsaturated fats, antioxidants, and fibre leads to reduction in pain severity and interference. This review describes the current state of the art and highlights why nutrition is critical within a person-centred approach to pain management. Recommendations are made to guide clinicians and highlight areas for future research.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noura Metawa ◽  
Mohamed Elhoseny ◽  
Maha Mutawea

PurposeThis paper aims to provide insights regarding the state of the art of digital transformation for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Egypt and propose avenues for future research.Design/methodology/approachA proposed framework for the digitization process in SMEs is developed by providing three layers of working steps toward full automation. The paper also provides an extensive analysis of the main requirements for improving the existing traditional information systems' performance in these enterprises. The challenges of digital transformation and the future research direction are discussed as well.FindingsThis paper provided an overview of the importance of digital transformation in real-life applications. The role of the information systems in building a digitalized information processing environment is covered as well. Also, a framework for the shifting process from the traditional approaches to the digitalized systems is proposed. Besides, the paper overviewed the future research directions related to digital transformation in SMEs, especially in Egypt. These research directions are related to technical challenges during the digital transformation process, such as cybersecurity, big data analytics and multimodality data.Originality/valueDespite the significant governmental and institutions' steps toward full automation and digital transformation, the traditional information systems, infrastructures, and unequipped employees make the digitizing process on-the-fly an open challenge. A technology shift that is not supported by a similar cultural change threatens digital business initiatives and increases the risk of their failure. This paper aims to provide insights regarding the state of the art of digital transformation for SMEs in Egypt and propose avenues for future research.


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