Smart Cities and Municipal Building Regulation for Energy Efficiency

2019 ◽  
pp. 1281-1305
Author(s):  
Eleonora Riva Sanseverino ◽  
Gianluca Scaccianoce ◽  
Valentina Vaccaro ◽  
Maurizio Carta ◽  
Raffaella Riva Sanseverino
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Building Regulations ◽  
Territorial Planning ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Minimum Requirements

The “Smart Cities & Communities Initiative” of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan is the strategic European response to lead cities and regions to a carbon free future. In this contest energy efficiency in buildings has a crucial role and must be considered in a holistic approach to the urban planning. In order to implement the minimum requirements stated by the European Directive about the Energy Performance of Buildings, and in order to consider different planning layers with the view to a smart city planning, local regulations are a key factor aiming at sustainable territorial planning. This paper investigates the possibility to draft a basic structure of Municipal Building Regulations in order to guide local administrators and technicians and to limit discretionary power of bureaucracy. The paper is organized as follows. First, a review of the most common practices for building regulations in Europe is proposed, then the basic structure of a municipal building regulation for the city of Palermo (Southern Italy) accounting for sustainability is discussed.

Smart Cities and Municipal Building Regulation for Energy Efficiency

2019 ◽  
pp. 509-535
Author(s):  
Eleonora Riva Sanseverino ◽  
Gianluca Scaccianoce ◽  
Valentina Vaccaro ◽  
Maurizio Carta ◽  
Raffaella Riva Sanseverino
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Building Regulations ◽  
Territorial Planning ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Minimum Requirements

The “Smart Cities & Communities Initiative” of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan is the strategic European response to lead cities and regions to a carbon free future. In this contest energy efficiency in buildings has a crucial role and must be considered in a holistic approach to the urban planning. In order to implement the minimum requirements stated by the European Directive about the Energy Performance of Buildings, and in order to consider different planning layers with the view to a smart city planning, local regulations are a key factor aiming at sustainable territorial planning. This paper investigates the possibility to draft a basic structure of Municipal Building Regulations in order to guide local administrators and technicians and to limit discretionary power of bureaucracy. The paper is organized as follows. First, a review of the most common practices for building regulations in Europe is proposed, then the basic structure of a municipal building regulation for the city of Palermo (Southern Italy) accounting for sustainability is discussed.

Smart Cities and Municipal Building Regulation for Energy Efficiency

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 56-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleonora Riva Sanseverino ◽  
Gianluca Scaccianoce ◽  
Valentina Vaccaro ◽  
Maurizio Carta ◽  
Raffaella Riva Sanseverino
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Discretionary Power ◽  
Building Regulations ◽  
Territorial Planning ◽  
Minimum Requirements

The “Smart Cities & Communities Initiative” of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan is the strategic European response to lead cities and regions to a carbon free future. In this contest energy efficiency in buildings has a crucial role and must be considered in a holistic approach to the urban planning. In order to implement the minimum requirements stated by the European Directive about the Energy Performance of Buildings, and in order to consider different planning layers with the view to a smart city planning, local regulations are a key factor aiming at sustainable territorial planning. This paper investigates the possibility to draft a basic structure of Municipal Building Regulations in order to guide local administrators and technicians and to limit discretionary power of bureaucracy. The paper is organized as follows. First, a review of the most common practices for building regulations in Europe is proposed, then the basic structure of a municipal building regulation for the city of Palermo (Southern Italy) accounting for sustainability is discussed.

Semantic Data-Driven Models to Improve Energy Efficiency in Buildings and Cities

2021 ◽  
pp. 515-539
Author(s):  
Álvaro Sicilia ◽  
Gonçal Costa ◽  
Leandro Madrazo
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Semantic Web Technologies ◽  
Improve Energy Efficiency ◽  
Semantic Data ◽  
Multiple Data ◽  
Efficiency Measures ◽  
Multiple Domains

The assessment of building energy performance requires data from multiple domains (energy, architecture, planning, economy) and scales (building, district, city) to be processed with a diversity of applications used by experts from various fields. In order to properly assess the performance of the building stock, and to develop and apply the most effective energy efficiency measures, it is necessary to adopt a comprehensive, holistic approach. In this chapter, three research projects are presented which apply Semantic Web technologies to create energy data models from multiple data sources and domains in order to support decision making in energy efficient building renovation projects: SEMANCO, OptEEmAL, and OPTIMUS. A final reflection on the results achieved in these projects and their links to ongoing research on digital twins is presented.

scholarly journals Sustainability and Resilience in Smart City Planning: A Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 181
Author(s):  
Leonardo Juan Ramirez Lopez ◽  
Angela Ivette Grijalba Castro
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Carrying Capacity ◽  
Environmental Planning ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Meta Analyses

Urban planning is recognized as an interaction between the state and society, which aims to articulate public policies in the territory, facilitating their administration in favor of greater development and well-being of society. However, this interaction becomes complex because consumption demands increase, and the carrying capacity of the urban ecosystem to supply them is exceeded, hindering its sustainable functionality. With this overview, it becomes relevant to study urban planning from a sustainable environmental planning perspective, based on four topics: urban planning, sustainability, resilience, and smart cities, which are developed throughout the document by means of a chronological study. A bibliometric study was used through a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) adjustment to 87 articles, supported by VOSviewer®, which allowed for the construction and visualization of the co-occurrence networks of key words extracted from the selected articles. Likewise, 16 documents more were used for the co-occurrence analysis. The main result is to consider cities with a complex systems approach that works like a gear; the relationship between inter-urban and intra-urban processes is the key factor that allows for an understanding of their synchronization; therefore, deepening of each of these topics is crucial to the ideal of a territorial administration involving time scales and adaptive cycles, allowing for the provision of new tools for concepts such as carrying capacity and the measurement of the ecological footprint.

scholarly journals A Comparative Study of PSO-ANN, GA-ANN, ICA-ANN, and ABC-ANN in Estimating the Heating Load of Buildings’ Energy Efficiency for Smart City Planning

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (13) ◽  
pp. 2630 ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Thi Le ◽  
Hoang Nguyen ◽  
Jie Dou ◽  
Jian Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Mean Squared Error ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Imperialist Competitive Algorithm ◽  
Absolute Error ◽  
Ann Model ◽  
Wall Area ◽  
Bee Colony ◽  
Heating Load

Energy-efficiency is one of the critical issues in smart cities. It is an essential basis for optimizing smart cities planning. This study proposed four new artificial intelligence (AI) techniques for forecasting the heating load of buildings’ energy efficiency based on the potential of artificial neural network (ANN) and meta-heuristics algorithms, including artificial bee colony (ABC) optimization, particle swarm optimization (PSO), imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA), and genetic algorithm (GA). They were abbreviated as ABC-ANN, PSO-ANN, ICA-ANN, and GA-ANN models; 837 buildings were considered and analyzed based on the influential parameters, such as glazing area distribution (GLAD), glazing area (GLA), orientation (O), overall height (OH), roof area (RA), wall area (WA), surface area (SA), relative compactness (RC), for estimating heating load (HL). Three statistical criteria, such as root-mean-squared error (RMSE), coefficient determination (R2), and mean absolute error (MAE), were used to assess the potential of the aforementioned models. The results indicated that the GA-ANN model provided the highest performance in estimating the heating load of buildings’ energy efficiency, with an RMSE of 1.625, R2 of 0.980, and MAE of 0.798. The remaining models (i.e., PSO-ANN, ICA-ANN, ABC-ANN) yielded lower performance with RMSE of 1.932, 1.982, 1.878; R2 of 0.972, 0.970, 0.973; MAE of 1.027, 0.980, 0.957, respectively.

Cost Optimality and/or Sustainability in our Building's Life

2014 ◽  
Vol 899 ◽  
pp. 87-92
Author(s):  
Krisztina Severnyak
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Minimum Energy ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Construction Technology ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Optimum Energy ◽  
Minimum Requirements ◽  
Optimum Cost ◽  
Traditional Natural

As energy efficiency is becoming an increasingly important feature, buildings are expected to comply with several criteria and requirements and these criteria are changed and extended with time. The Directive 2002/91/EC of the European Parliament and Commission on the energy performance of buildings and the Directive 2010/31/EU request Member States to apply minimum energy performance requirements. These minimum requirements are indeed applied all over the European Union and should be regularly reviewed. Our research aimed at clarifying whether optimum cost and/or energy efficiency represents the next step towards actual energy efficiency. The Directive brought forth an aspect that should have been prioritized long ago already: Are the construction and refurbishment of buildings in Europe economically feasible? The methodology prescribed by the Directive leaves several questions open and provokes further research. The methodology uses costs only as the basis for examining energy consumption and emissions related to already existing, newly constructed or refurbished buildings or refurbishment options. Optimum cost does not necessarily correspond to optimum energy or environmental performance. The price of materials and equipment built in does not always reflect the energy built in or environmental advantages. Subsidies to promote energy efficiency may bias optimum costs. Viewing optimums from the broader aspect of energy consumption, proper results are only yielded by analyses completed for the entire life cycle of buildings. This way, we may decide which characteristics attribute more to a low energy and emission status, i.e. state-of-the-art construction technology or traditional, natural constructing methods such as those used for „conservative eco buildings.” [1]

scholarly journals Linking Energy Poverty with Thermal Building Regulations and Energy Efficiency Policies in Portugal

Energies ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 329
Author(s):  
Ana Mafalda Matos ◽  
João M. P. Q. Delgado ◽  
Ana Sofia Guimarães
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Winter Season ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Energy Prices ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Energy Poverty ◽  
Building Regulations ◽  
Energy Efficiency Policies

Energy-poverty (EP) must be considered an energy-related issue since buildings are a central part of people’s daily lives. Thus, it has an important role in energy-related policy implementation. Even though the European Union (EU) has endorsed general energy efficiency through the Energy Efficiency Directive and Energy Performance of Buildings Directive recast, it was the Clean Energy Package for all Europeans that clearly highlighted EP. The growing concerns with EP have also been emphasised in subsequent directives and initiatives. Despite some regulatory framework and the milder climate situation, the proportion of the population experiencing thermal discomfort in southern and eastern European countries, namely in the winter season, is relatively high, reflecting the poor thermal performance of building stock, low family incomes and high energy prices, among others. The current work analysed the EP evolution in Portugal in the EU context, and the Thermal Building Regulations and Energy Efficiency Policies developed, aiming to add insight into the effectiveness of those policies concerning EP mitigation in Portugal as an EU Member state. Moreover, a critical debate on the potential to lower the EP Portuguese situation was also an objective to pursue. It is plausible to admit that reducing EP by acting on residential building stock, namely through the increase of energy efficiency and comfort, plays a key role in improving the living conditions, namely of vulnerable households and deprived areas. This will also decrease energy consumption and dependence while further promoting a smarter, sustainable and inclusive society, contributing to economic growth.

scholarly journals Sustainability and Resilience in Smart City Planning: A Review

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo Juan Ramirez Lopez ◽  
Angela Ivette Grijalba Castro
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Environmental Planning ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
State And Society ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Adaptive Cycles

Urban planning is recognized as an interaction between the state and society, which aims to articulate public policies in the territory, facilitating their administration in favor of greater development and well-being of society. However, this interaction becomes complex because consumption demands increase, and the needs of the community exceed the capacity of the urban ecosystem to supply them, hindering its sustainable functionality. With this panorama, it becomes relevant to study urban planning from a sustainable environmental planning perspective, based on four topics: urban planning, sustainability, resilience and smart cities. The methodology used is based on a bibliometric study through a PRISMA adjustment to 87 articles, supported by VOSviewer® to construct and visualize the co-occurrence networks of important terms extracted from a body of scientific literature. The main result is to consider cities with a complex systems approach that works like a gear, that is, there is a connective element between inter- and intra-urban processes. This relationship is the key factor that allows understanding their synchronization, stating that the deepening of each of these topics is crucial to the ideal of a territorial administration through time scales, by means of adaptive cycles, allowing to provide new tools to concepts such as carrying capacity and the measurement of the environmental footprint.

Business Models for Green Retrofitting

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Adrian Tantau ◽  
Maria Alexandra Maassen
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Business Model Canvas ◽  
New Business ◽  
Building Environment ◽  
New Business Models

This chapter is dedicated to business models for green retrofitting on a more holistic approach that enables to think and integrate the economic, social and environmental perspective in a business model. The chapter is a result of research regarding new business models for green retrofitting and presents a framework for developing business models for green retrofitting in the building sector based on the Triple-Layer Business Model Canvas. The business models for green retrofitting could be an important instrument for introducing new green characteristics such as energy efficiency, optimal energy performance, and new comfort standards in the building environment. Green retrofitting is responding to the dynamics of the economic and technological development, and to the new lifestyle of the peoples. The implementation of such a model will be also a catalyst for reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases in the building environment.

scholarly journals Long-term effects of additional insulation of building façades in Sweden

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 374-385
Author(s):  
Martin Tunefalk ◽  
Mattias Legner ◽  
Gustaf Leijonhufvud
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
District Heating ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Home Improvement ◽  
Novel Method

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate long-term effects of previous policies for energy efficiency on energy performance and heritage values. A further ambition is to better understand the relationship between energy and preservation by exploring a quantitative method of combining energy performance data with official heritage designation. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on a quantitative analysis of energy performance, completed additional insulations, and official heritage classification for individual buildings. Data have been collected and analysed for a sample consisting of 289 multi-family buildings heated with district heating and constructed 1940–1949 in an urban area in Stockholm, Sweden. Findings The data exhibit a significant correlation between the studied features. The study further shows that additional insulation has been installed in roughly half of the buildings. The large majority of them were carried out in the national programme for home improvement called ROT. Research limitations/implications The findings indicate that previous policies for energy efficiency had an important effect on energy performance and heritage values in the studied area. They continue to affect urban planning and building permit administration today. Research of the physics of individual buildings would be needed in order to determine the reason for differences in the sample. Originality/value By presenting a novel method, the study provides a useful tool for policy makers to bridge the gap between issues of energy and preservation and adopt a more holistic approach towards a sustainable built environment.

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