Using an Urban Building Energy Modelling Towards a Carbon-Neutral Neighbourhood: A case study of Dublin Ireland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niall Buckley ◽  
Gerald Mill s ◽  
Christoph Reinhart
Keyword(s):  
Energy Use ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Level Energy ◽  
Energy Policies ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Urban Energy ◽  
Energy Use Intensity

<p>The EU’s Green Deal has a goal of a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. Achieving this goal will require a comprehensive set of actions across all economic sectors, especially the building sector, which currently accounts for 40% of the energy consumed.  Residential energy use is a significant contributor, much of it due to the poorly insulated building stock. Making a ‘just transition’ to more energy-efficient cities requires a spatial approach that can address the correspondence of poor housing and people and the potential for energy innovation at a neighbourhood-scale. In this study, a geographic database of building archetypes is developed for use by the Urban Modelling Interface (Umi) to perform simulations of urban energy use intensity and test the efficacy of energy policies. Umi is applied to a neighbourhood of residential buildings in Dublin (Ireland), many of which perform poorly. Simulated annual energy use intensity is evaluated favourably using energy performance certificate data. Umi is used subsequently to design and test the efficacy of district-level energy policies; the results indicate that the most cost-effective mix of envelope retrofit and onsite energy production to achieve the Green Deal’s target of 60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and 100% by 2050. The methodology shown here employs data and software that is publicly available for many EU countries.</p>

scholarly journals Evaluación de la demanda energética de edificios no residenciales en Escocia = Energy demand benchmarking of non-domestic buildings in Scotland

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Julien Chetboula ◽  
Céline Garnier ◽  
Julio Bros-Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Occupancy Patterns ◽  
Energy Use Intensity ◽  
End Use ◽  
The Uk

ResumenCon los años el rendimiento energético del edificio se ha convertido en una preocupación predominante para los propietarios y administradores de bienes raíces. La atención se centra generalmente en edificios de viviendas, pero en los últimos veinte años un interés en edificios no residenciales ha surgido en el Reino Unido. Los puntos de referencia general se pueden encontrar a escala del Reino Unido, aunque a menudo está restringido a Inglaterra y Gales. Este documento tiene como objetivo proporcionar puntos de referencia para el parque inmobiliario no doméstico escocés como parte del Ayuntamiento de Edimburgo. En esta investigación, la muestra seleccionada incluye datos de energía y las emisiones de carbono calculadas de 199 edificios.Los parámetros decisivos fueron la intensidad de uso de la energía (kWh/m2) y el uso y la edad de los edificios. Esto permitió la creación de seis tipos de edificios, aunque siguiendo patrones de ocupación se dividió en cuatro categorías desde el s. XVI hasta el s. XXI. Los principales resultados revelan el predominio de un clúster de edificios educativos en términos de superficie (72%), el número de edificios (70%), las emisiones de carbono (68% de los cerca de 42.000 toneladas de CO2) y el consumo de energía (61% de la 38,4 MWh de electricidad consumida, y el 73% del 117,4 MWh de gas natural que se consume). Entre estos niveles de consumo destacan el potencial de ahorro de energía para las escuelas: 186 kWh / m2 / año en promedio, en comparación con la media europea de 100 kWh / m2 / año de energía térmica de uso final. AbstractOver the years building energy performance has become a predominant concern for owners and real estate managers. The focus is usually on residential buildings but in the last twenty years an interest in non-domestic buildings has emerged in the UK. Benchmarks can generally be found at UK scale, although often restricted to England and Wales. This paper aims to provide benchmarks for the Scottish non-domestic building stock as part of the City of Edinburgh Council estate. In this research, the selected sample includes energy data and calculated carbon emissions of 199 buildings. The deciding parameters were the energy use intensity (kWh/m2) and the use and age of buildings. The last two allowed the creation of six clusters in which to group buildings of similar occupancy patterns in four age categories from the 16th to the 21st century. The main findings reveal the predominance of an educational buildings cluster in terms of floor area (72%), number of buildings (70%), carbon emissions (68% of about 42,000 tons of CO2), and energy consumption (61% of the 38.4 MWh of electricity consumed, and 73% of the 117.4 MWh of natural gas consumed). These levels of consumption highlight the energy saving potential for schools: 186 kWh/m2/year on average, in comparison with the European average of 100 kWh/m2/year for thermal end-use energy.

scholarly journals The importance of understanding occupant behaviour in buildings: exploring the nexus of design, management, behaviour, and energy use in green, high-rise residential buildings

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Brown
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
Design Management ◽  
Level Energy ◽  
Occupant Behaviour ◽  
High Rise ◽  
Energy Use Intensity ◽  
Occupant Satisfaction

The quest to ‘green’ the built environment has been ongoing since the early 1970s and has intensified as the threat of exceeding 450 ppm of atmospheric carbon dioxide has become more real. As a result of this, many contemporary residential high-rise buildings are designed with hopes of achieving carbon emission reductions, while not sacrificing occupant satisfaction, or property value. Little is known about how the occupants of these buildings contribute to the energy and water consumed therein, nor the effects that these design aspirations have on occupant satisfaction. The present study relies on data collected in four recently built, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design [LEED] certified, high-rise, residential buildings in Ontario, Canada. Using various sources of data (i.e., from energy and water submeters, questionnaire responses, interviews, and physical data relating to each suite) the extent to which physical, behavioural, and demographic variables explain suite-level energy and water consumption was explored. Energy use intensity differed by a factor of 7 between similar suites, electricity by a factor of 5, hot water by a factor of 13, cooling by a factor of 47, and heating by a factor of 67. Results show that physical building characteristics explain 43% of the heating variability, 16% of the cooling variability, and 40% of electricity variability, suggesting that the remainders could be a result of occupant behaviour and demographics. It was also discovered that 52% of respondents were not using their energy recovery ventilators [ERV] for the following reasons: acoustic dissatisfaction, difficulty with accessibility of filters, occupant knowledge and preferences, and a lack of engagement with training materials. Results suggest that abandoning mechanical ventilation in favour of passive ventilation could actually lead to greater satisfaction with indoor air quality and to decreased energy consumption. Using content analysis of questionnaire comments, the utility of contextual factors in understanding energy use and satisfaction in the study buildings, as well as their value in producing feedback for designers and managers, was explored. Combining quantitative and qualitative datasets was an effective approach to understanding energy use in this understudied building type.

scholarly journals The importance of understanding occupant behaviour in buildings: exploring the nexus of design, management, behaviour, and energy use in green, high-rise residential buildings

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Brown
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
Design Management ◽  
Level Energy ◽  
Occupant Behaviour ◽  
High Rise ◽  
Energy Use Intensity ◽  
Occupant Satisfaction

The quest to ‘green’ the built environment has been ongoing since the early 1970s and has intensified as the threat of exceeding 450 ppm of atmospheric carbon dioxide has become more real. As a result of this, many contemporary residential high-rise buildings are designed with hopes of achieving carbon emission reductions, while not sacrificing occupant satisfaction, or property value. Little is known about how the occupants of these buildings contribute to the energy and water consumed therein, nor the effects that these design aspirations have on occupant satisfaction. The present study relies on data collected in four recently built, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design [LEED] certified, high-rise, residential buildings in Ontario, Canada. Using various sources of data (i.e., from energy and water submeters, questionnaire responses, interviews, and physical data relating to each suite) the extent to which physical, behavioural, and demographic variables explain suite-level energy and water consumption was explored. Energy use intensity differed by a factor of 7 between similar suites, electricity by a factor of 5, hot water by a factor of 13, cooling by a factor of 47, and heating by a factor of 67. Results show that physical building characteristics explain 43% of the heating variability, 16% of the cooling variability, and 40% of electricity variability, suggesting that the remainders could be a result of occupant behaviour and demographics. It was also discovered that 52% of respondents were not using their energy recovery ventilators [ERV] for the following reasons: acoustic dissatisfaction, difficulty with accessibility of filters, occupant knowledge and preferences, and a lack of engagement with training materials. Results suggest that abandoning mechanical ventilation in favour of passive ventilation could actually lead to greater satisfaction with indoor air quality and to decreased energy consumption. Using content analysis of questionnaire comments, the utility of contextual factors in understanding energy use and satisfaction in the study buildings, as well as their value in producing feedback for designers and managers, was explored. Combining quantitative and qualitative datasets was an effective approach to understanding energy use in this understudied building type.

scholarly journals Albanian Building Stock Typology and Energy Building Code in Progress Towards National Calculation Methodology of Performance on Heating and Cooling.

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gjergji Simaku
Keyword(s):  
Energy Savings ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Building Code ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Minimum Requirement ◽  
Building Type ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Calculation Methodology

The expertise on building stock typology used openly available data from the Albanian statistical office. As the CENSUS was not especially designed for gathering data for the energetic evaluation of the building stock, some data were not available on the required level of detail. Estimations were necessary to extrapolate data to the existing stock. Technically, the study selected and described twenty representative categories of residential buildings typology for Albania. Were identified the level and the structure of final energy consumption at present and in the future by building age category, building type, climate zone, and energy end-use. Using an original template excel data sheet, were conducted the calculations of their thermal energy performance in three climate zones, designed standardized retrofit packages, calculated possible energy savings, and investment required by building type. The engineering principle of the Regulation in force, regarding to the legislative act of Energy Building Code in Albania, is beyond any doubt correct and carefully studied. The act is a rule book or the Regulation (energy building code - here The Code) which contains information that is sufficient to perform calculations of the different insulating layers for new construction after the year 2003. Also, the Regulation’s algorithms are still relevant in terms of calculation to provide Energy for heating demands in Albania. After 12 years, the Code remains the same and could provide either an optimal potential energy savings to the existing buildings, or an optimal cost-effective of building’s insulation without imposing a burden of high financial housing builders to multifamily prospective buyers. Based today Europe’s developments on Energy Performance of Buildings, the study is found relevant to provide a methodology for calculation of the energy performance in buildings (kWh/ m2a) based on volumetric coefficient heat losses (Gvt) for heating only, the existing indicator of the existing Code. The following study deals with the possibility of transposing the methodology used to the Code into an energy Performance based on minimum requirement for a new Regulation and/or EP Calculation Methodology based on efficient use of energy for heating and cooling purposes.

scholarly journals Baselines for Energy Use and Carbon Emission Intensities in Hellenic Nonresidential Buildings

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 2100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalliopi G. Droutsa ◽  
Constantinos A. Balaras ◽  
Spyridon Lykoudis ◽  
Simon Kontoyiannidis ◽  
Elena G. Dascalaki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Use ◽  
Average Energy ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Domestic Hot Water ◽  
Energy Consuming ◽  
Energy Use Intensity ◽  
Cram Schools

This work exploits data from 30,000 energy performance certificates of whole nonresidential (NR) buildings in Greece. The available information is analyzed for 30 different NR building uses (e.g., hotels, schools, sports facilities, hospitals, retails, offices) and four main services (space heating, space cooling, domestic hot water and lighting). Data are screened in order to exclude outliers and checked for consistency with the Hellenic NR building stock. The average energy use and CO2 emission intensities for all building uses are calculated, as well as the respective energy ratings in order to gain a better understanding of the NR sector. Finally, in an attempt to determine whether these values are representative for the various Hellenic NR building uses, their temporal evolution is investigated. The average primary energy use intensity is 448.0 kWh/m2 for all NR buildings, while the CO2 emissions reach 147.5 kgCO2/m2. The derived energy baselines reveal that indoor sports halls/swimming pools have the highest energy use, while private cram schools/conservatories have the lowest, due to their operational patterns. Generally, from the four services taken into account, lighting is the most energy consuming, followed by cooling, heating and finally domestic hot water. For a total of 11 building uses, more data from the certificates will be necessary for deriving representative baselines, but, when it comes to buildings categories, more data are required.

scholarly journals Energy and economical evaluation of residential buildings in Slovakia

2019 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 03011
Author(s):  
Jana Bartošová Kmeťková ◽  
Dušan Petráš
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Modeling ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Life Cycle Costs ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Apartment Buildings ◽  
Economical Evaluation ◽  
Before And After

The main objective of the research is to make evaluation of energy and economic by the retrofitting of the residential buildings. If this methodology can be an appropriate tool to guide decisions related with the building energy performances and to identify the most cost-effective variants of the renovation, that could be applied to the building stock in Slovakia by the analysis of the life-cycle costs of the representative apartment buildings. The specific objectives of this study were the following: • Theoretical analysis of the residential buildings stock in Slovakia • Analysis of the studied residential buildings and their energy parameters before and after renovation • Simulation of the energy performance of the apartment buildings • Mathematical modeling of the technical and economic parameters

scholarly journals Climate Change Scenarios and Their Implications on the Energy Performance of Hellenic Non-Residential Buildings

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13005
Author(s):  
Kalliopi G. Droutsa ◽  
Simon Kontoyiannidis ◽  
Constantinos A. Balaras ◽  
Athanassios A. Argiriou ◽  
Elena G. Dascalaki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Baseline Scenario ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
The Future

It is important to understand how the climate is changing in order to prepare for the future, adapt if necessary, and, most importantly, take proper precautionary measures to alleviate major negative impacts. This work investigates the potential impacts of climate change on the anticipated energy performance of the existing Hellenic building stock until the end of the century. The assessment considers average climatic projections for two future time periods, one for the near and one for the distant future, following two representative concentration pathways (RCPs). The first one is a baseline scenario (RCP8.5) representing the highest greenhouse gas emissions. The second is an intermediate stabilization scenario (RCP4.5), assuming the imposition of conservative emissions mitigation policies. The future climate data are generated for 62 cities throughout Greece. As a case study, the work focuses on Hellenic non-residential (NR) whole buildings, analyzing available data collected during about 2500 energy audits of real NR buildings. The available data are used to assess the buildings’ heating and cooling demand and energy use. The annual average air temperature for Greece in 2050 is projected to increase by 1.5 K for the RCP4.5 scenario and by 1.9 K for the RCP8.5 scenario. In 2090, the increase is estimated to reach 1.7 K and 4.2 K, respectively. Accordingly, if the existing NR buildings are not renovated, the average heating energy use is expected to decrease by 22–26% in 2050 and by 23–52% in 2090. On the other hand, the average cooling energy use is expected to increase by 24–30% in 2050 and by 28–66% in 2090.

scholarly journals Improving the Energy Efficiency of an Existing Building by Dynamic Numerical Simulation

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 12150
Author(s):  
Lelia Letitia Popescu ◽  
Razvan Stefan Popescu ◽  
Tiberiu Catalina
Keyword(s):  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Dynamic Numerical Simulation ◽  
The Relationship

Nowadays, the enhancement of the existing building stock energy performance is a priority. To promote building energy renovation, the European Committee asks Member States to define retrofit strategies, finding cost-effective solutions. This research aims to investigate the relationship between the initial characteristics of an existing residential buildings and different types of retrofit solutions in terms of final/primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions. A multi-objective optimization has been carried out using experimental data in DesignBuilder dynamic simulation tool.

scholarly journals Assessment of the Potential of High-Performance Buildings to Achieve Zero Energy: A Case Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 775 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Wang ◽  
Xiufeng Pang ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Zewei Qi ◽  
Jin Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Photovoltaic System ◽  
Occupant Behavior ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Performance Targets ◽  
Energy Use Intensity ◽  
High Performance Buildings

Buildings that are designed with aggressive energy performance targets are defined broadly in this study as high-performance buildings. As the technology advances, some of these buildings have the potential to become zero-energy ready through the adoption of cost-effective measures, such as retro-commissioning and occupant behavior techniques. This study demonstrated the viability of an office building to achieve the zero-energy goal and intended to engage the owners of similar facilities. The case building was designed as a very low-energy building with an energy use intensity (EUI) goal of 42 kWh/(m2 a), and the actual EUI was 23.9 kWh/(m2 a). The calibrated simulation approach was employed in the study, and the results indicated that the case building can achieve the zero-energy goal by optimizing the controls of the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) system, changing the occupant behavior and improving the performance of the photovoltaic system.

scholarly journals Energy Retrofitting Opportunities Using Renewable Materials—Comparative Analysis of the Current Frameworks in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 603
Author(s):  
Darija Gajić ◽  
Slobodan Peulić ◽  
Tim Mavrič ◽  
Anna Sandak ◽  
Črtomir Tavzes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Resource Exploitation ◽  
Renewable Materials ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Low Carbon Economy ◽  
Eu Member States

Sustainable approaches for retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency are becoming necessary in a time when the building sector is the largest energy consumer. Retrofitting building stock is effective for reducing global energy consumption and decreasing resource exploitation. Less developed EU member states and neighboring developing countries show reluctance towards healthy and renewable materials. Implementation of sustainable materials for energy retrofitting is slowed down due to gaps in legislation and effective strategic programs, availability of bio-based materials, lack of knowledge regarding use and maintenance of renewable products, and marketing lobbies. Use of bio-based materials in refurbishment is important due to their negative or low global warming potential (GWP), low primary energy (PEI) need for production, cost-effective benefits, and recycling/reuse potential. Role of environmentally friendly solutions and low-carbon economy growth is particularly relevant in developing countries, such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, that cannot afford innovative energy recovery systems, yet possess a significant amount of poorly managed building stock. This research aims to analyze frameworks regarding retrofitting of residential buildings in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia. The analysis tackles indirect causes, studies the legal background, and examines strategic frameworks; thus, it indicates potential barriers for implementation of recommended retrofitting solutions based on renewable materials.

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