scholarly journals DETERMINING THE EFFECT OF BUILDING GEOMETRY ON ENERGY USE PATTERNS OF OFFICE BUILDINGS IN TORONTO

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tonima Ferdous ◽  
Mark Gorgolewski
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Office Buildings ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Aspect Ratios ◽  
Building Geometry ◽  
Shading Devices ◽  
Saving Measure

The project investigated the potential of building geometry to minimize energy consumption in office buildings. Five distinct geometries were modeled as mid-size office occupancies in the context of Toronto, Ontario, and examined with varied design parameters: window to wall ratio (WWR) and external static shading devices. IES VE software was used to predict the annual energy consumption of the five archetypes for 40 permutations. The outcome of this research showed that the variation of the total energy use from one shape to another was relatively small. WWR appeared to have a stronger impact on the energy pattern of a building than its shape. Overall, the energy performance of the archetypes were observed to conform to their individual building aspect ratios. The findings are thus expected to provide useful guidelines for architects on utilizing building geometry as an energy saving measure in the design of office buildings.

scholarly journals Determining The Effect Of Building Geometry On Energy Use Patterns Of Office Developments

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tonima Ferdous
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Aspect Ratios ◽  
Building Geometry ◽  
Use Values ◽  
Solar Control

The project investigates potentials of building geometry to minimize energy consumption in office developments. Five distinct building geometries are developed to represent mid-size office occupancies in the context of Toronto (located at southern Ontario, Canada). A square, a rectangle elongated on eastwest, a rectangle elongated on north- south, an H-shape, and a cruciform are examined with varied design parameters; such as: window to wall ratio and external static solar control devices (horizontal overhangs and vertical fins). The IES VE software is applied to predict the yearly energy consumption results for 40 analysis permutations. The outcome of this research shows that, the deviation of energy use values from one shape to another is relatively small. In addition to that, window to wall ratio appears slightly overpowering on the energy use pattern of a building than its shape. Shading design is found particularly helpful in reducing cooling energy demand in offices spaces. Overall, the energy performance of five archetypes is observed to comply with individual building aspect ratios (i.e. compactness). Thus, the findings of this project are expected to provide useful guidelines to the architects to utilize building geometry as an energy saving measure when designing office buildings.

scholarly journals Determining The Effect Of Building Geometry On Energy Use Patterns Of Office Developments

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tonima Ferdous
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Aspect Ratios ◽  
Building Geometry ◽  
Use Values ◽  
Solar Control

The project investigates potentials of building geometry to minimize energy consumption in office developments. Five distinct building geometries are developed to represent mid-size office occupancies in the context of Toronto (located at southern Ontario, Canada). A square, a rectangle elongated on eastwest, a rectangle elongated on north- south, an H-shape, and a cruciform are examined with varied design parameters; such as: window to wall ratio and external static solar control devices (horizontal overhangs and vertical fins). The IES VE software is applied to predict the yearly energy consumption results for 40 analysis permutations. The outcome of this research shows that, the deviation of energy use values from one shape to another is relatively small. In addition to that, window to wall ratio appears slightly overpowering on the energy use pattern of a building than its shape. Shading design is found particularly helpful in reducing cooling energy demand in offices spaces. Overall, the energy performance of five archetypes is observed to comply with individual building aspect ratios (i.e. compactness). Thus, the findings of this project are expected to provide useful guidelines to the architects to utilize building geometry as an energy saving measure when designing office buildings.

Parametric Analysis of Building Elements on Building Energy Use

2015 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Atefeh Mohammadpour ◽  
Mohammad Mottahedi ◽  
Shideh Shams Amiri ◽  
Somayeh Asadi ◽  
David Riley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Simulation Software ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Building Energy Consumption ◽  
Commercial Building ◽  
Building Shape

Building energy modeling is essential to estimate energy consumption of buildings. Predicting building energy consumption benefits the owners, designers, and facility managers by enabling them to have an overview of building energy consumption and can help them to determine building energy performance during the design phase. This paper focuses on two different shapes of commercial building, H and rectangle to estimate energy consumption in buildings in three different climate zones, cold, hot-humid, and mixed-humid. To address this, DOE-2 building simulation software was used to build and simulate individual commercial building configurations that were generated using Monte Carlo simulation techniques. Ten thousand simulations for each building shape and climate zone were conducted to develop a comprehensive dataset covering the full range of design parameters. 

scholarly journals Energy and Greenhouse Gas Savings for LEED-Certified U.S. Office Buildings

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 749
Author(s):  
John H. Scofield ◽  
Susannah Brodnitz ◽  
Jakob Cornell ◽  
Tian Liang ◽  
Thomas Scofield
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Electric Energy ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Office Buildings ◽  
Ghg Emission ◽  
Site Energy ◽  
New Construction

In this work, we present results from the largest study of measured, whole-building energy performance for commercial LEED-certified buildings, using 2016 energy use data that were obtained for 4417 commercial office buildings (114 million m2) from municipal energy benchmarking disclosures for 10 major U.S. cities. The properties included 551 buildings (31 million m2) that we identified as LEED-certified. Annual energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission were compared between LEED and non-LEED offices on a city-by-city basis and in aggregate. In aggregate, LEED offices demonstrated 11% site energy savings but only 7% savings in source energy and GHG emission. LEED offices saved 26% in non-electric energy but demonstrated no significant savings in electric energy. LEED savings in GHG and source energy increased to 10% when compared with newer, non-LEED offices. We also compared the measured energy savings for individual buildings with their projected savings, as determined by LEED points awarded for energy optimization. This analysis uncovered minimal correlation, i.e., an R2 < 1% for New Construction (NC) and Core and Shell (CS), and 8% for Existing Euildings (EB). The total measured site energy savings for LEED-NC and LEED-CS was 11% lower than projected while the total measured source energy savings for LEED-EB was 81% lower than projected. Only LEED offices certified at the gold level demonstrated statistically significant savings in source energy and greenhouse gas emissions as compared with non-LEED offices.

scholarly journals A Fundamental Study on the Development of New Energy Performance Index in Office Buildings

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2064
Author(s):  
Jin-Hee Kim ◽  
Seong-Koo Son ◽  
Gyeong-Seok Choi ◽  
Young-Tag Kim ◽  
Sung-Bum Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Requirement ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Office Buildings ◽  
Light Transmittance ◽  
Wall Structure ◽  
Fundamental Study ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
U Value ◽  
The Impact

Recently, there have been significant concerns regarding excessive energy use in office buildings with a large window-to-wall ratio (WWR) because of the curtain wall structure. However, prior research has confirmed that the impact of the window area on energy consumption varies depending on building size. A newly proposed window-to-floor ratio (WFR) correlates better with energy consumption in the building. In this paper, we derived the correlation by analyzing a simulation using EnergyPlus, and the results are as follows. In the case of small buildings, the results of this study showed that the WWR and energy requirement increase proportionally, and the smaller the size is, the higher the energy sensitivity will be. However, results also confirmed that this correlation was not established for buildings approximately 3600 m2 or larger. Nevertheless, from analyzing the correlation between the WFR and the energy requirements, it could be deduced that energy required increased proportionally when the WFR was 0.1 or higher. On the other hand, the correlation between WWR, U-value, solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC), and material property values of windows had little effect on energy when the WWR was 20%, and the highest effect was seen at a WWR of 100%. Further, with an SHGC below 0.3, the energy requirement decreased with an increasing WWR, regardless of U-value. In addition, we confirmed the need for in-depth research on the impact of the windows’ U-value, SHGC, and WWR, and this will be verified through future studies. In future studies on window performance, U-value, SHGC, visible light transmittance (VLT), wall U-value as sensitivity variables, and correlation between WFR and building size will be examined.

Closed-Form Correlation of Buildings Energy Use With Key Design Parameters Calibrated Using a Genetic Algorithm

2011 ◽  
Vol 133 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Raed I. Bourisli ◽  
Adnan A. AlAnzi
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Algorithm ◽  
Closed Form ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Office Buildings ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Variable Function ◽  
Real Coded Genetic Algorithm ◽  
The Difference

This work aims at developing a closed-form correlation between key building design variables and its energy use. The results can be utilized during the initial design stages to assess the different building shapes and designs according to their expected energy use. Prototypical, 20-floor office buildings were used. The relative compactness, footprint area, projection factor, and window-to-wall ratio were changed and the resulting buildings performances were simulated. In total, 729 different office buildings were developed and simulated in order to provide the training cases for optimizing the correlation’s coefficients. Simulations were done using the VisualDOE TM software with a Typical Meteorological Year data file, Kuwait City, Kuwait. A real-coded genetic algorithm (GA) was used to optimize the coefficients of a proposed function that relates the energy use of a building to its four key parameters. The figure of merit was the difference in the ratio of the annual energy use of a building normalized by that of a reference building. The objective was to minimize the difference between the simulated results and the four-variable function trying to predict them. Results show that the real-coded GA was able to come up with a function that estimates the thermal performance of a proposed design with an accuracy of around 96%, based on the number of buildings tested. The goodness of fit, roughly represented by R2, ranged from 0.950 to 0.994. In terms of the effects of the various parameters, the area was found to have the smallest role among the design parameters. It was also found that the accuracy of the function suffers the most when high window-to-wall ratios are combined with low projection factors. In such cases, the energy use develops a potential optimum compactness. The proposed function (and methodology) will be a great tool for designers to inexpensively explore a wide range of alternatives and assess them in terms of their energy use efficiency. It will also be of great use to municipality officials and building codes authors.

scholarly journals The Performance Gap in Energy-Efficient Office Buildings: How the Occupants Can Help?

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qadeer Ali ◽  
Muhammad Jamaluddin Thaheem ◽  
Fahim Ullah ◽  
Samad M. E. Sepasgozar
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Behavioral Interventions ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Office Buildings ◽  
Occupant Behavior ◽  
Energy Usage ◽  
Performance Gap ◽  
Energy Efficient Buildings

Rising demand and limited production of electricity are instrumental in spreading the awareness of cautious energy use, leading to the global demand for energy-efficient buildings. This compels the construction industry to smartly design and effectively construct these buildings to ensure energy performance as per design expectations. However, the research tells a different tale: energy-efficient buildings have performance issues. Among several reasons behind the energy performance gap, occupant behavior is critical. The occupant behavior is dynamic and changes over time under formal and informal influences, but the traditional energy simulation programs assume it as static throughout the occupancy. Effective behavioral interventions can lead to optimized energy use. To find out the energy-saving potential based on simulated modified behavior, this study gathers primary building and occupant data from three energy-efficient office buildings in major cities of Pakistan and categorizes the occupants into high, medium, and low energy consumers. Additionally, agent-based modeling simulates the change in occupant behavior under the direct and indirect interventions over a three-year period. Finally, energy savings are quantified to highlight a 25.4% potential over the simulation period. This is a unique attempt at quantifying the potential impact on energy usage due to behavior modification which will help facility managers to plan and execute necessary interventions and software experts to develop effective tools to model the dynamic usage behavior. This will also help policymakers in devising subtle but effective behavior training strategies to reduce energy usage. Such behavioral retrofitting comes at a much lower cost than the physical or technological retrofit options to achieve the same purpose and this study establishes the foundation for it.

scholarly journals Extracting occupants’ energy-use patterns from Wi-Fi networks in office buildings

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 100864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamed Nabizadeh Rafsanjani ◽  
Ali Ghahramani
Keyword(s):  
Energy Use ◽  
Office Buildings ◽  
Use Patterns

scholarly journals Application of Life Cycle Energy Assessment in Residential Buildings: A Critical Review of Recent Trends

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hossein Omrany ◽  
Veronica Soebarto ◽  
Ehsan Sharifi ◽  
Ali Soltani
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Current Trend ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
System Boundary ◽  
Energy Assessment ◽  
Boundary Definition

Residential buildings are responsible for a considerable portion of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Correspondingly, many attempts have been made across the world to minimize energy consumption in this sector via regulations and building codes. The focus of these regulations has mainly been on reducing operational energy use, whereas the impacts of buildings’ embodied energy are frequently excluded. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in analyzing the energy performance of buildings via a life cycle energy assessment (LCEA) approach. The increasing amount of research has however caused the issue of a variation in results presented by LCEA studies, in which apparently similar case studies exhibited different results. This paper aims to identify the main sources of variation in LCEA studies by critically analyzing 26 studies representing 86 cases in 12 countries. The findings indicate that the current trend of LCEA application in residential buildings suffers from significant inaccuracy accruing from incomplete definitions of the system boundary, in tandem with the lack of consensus on measurements of operational and embodied energies. The findings call for a comprehensive framework through which system boundary definition for calculations of embodied and operational energies can be standardized.

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