A SIMULATION BASED STUDY OF ENERGY CONSERVATION OF RESIDENCES IN LAHORE, PAKISTAN

A house in composite climate of Lahore (Pakistan) needs intensive cooling in summers; energy recovery ventilation to reduce humidity during monsoon and comfortable indoor temperature during winters. All these conditions have to be fulfilled with a reduced load on energy resources. Recent trends in construction and design of residential buildings in Pakistan symbolize uncontrolled use of energy resources. There is no data available with planning and developing authorities of housing sector that shows an account of energy loads of built houses. The potential of conservation of energy will be analyzed by actually studying the cooling and heating loads of recently constructed houses Key Words: Energy Conservation Potential, Module Study, Simulations

Affordable housing in urban India: a review of critical success factors (CSFs) addressing housing adequacy with affordability for the urban poor

Purpose This paper aims to focus on the housing situation in Indian cities and the various stakeholders involved in the housing sector. This study addresses the conflict in expectations of the supply and demand side of the housing and establishes the factors crucial to making housing successful for all the stakeholders, essential for sustainable urban development. Design/methodology/approach This paper is developed using the content analysis of preceding independent reviews on housing sustainability by authors across the globe, a review of the current housing situation in Indian cities and a Pilot study of the desired qualitative aspects of housing by the consumer group. Findings This paper identifies the challenges and constraints of the various stakeholders involved in the housing sector. A comprehensive list of all the parameters, both qualitative and quantitative, essential for successful housing implementation, focused on the preferences of the demand side, also referred to as the “Critical Success Factors (CSFs)” is generated. The results advocate a strict consideration and integration of these CSFs with the housing policies for all future housing projects. Research limitations/implications Most of the studies conducted in the past have reviewed the housing situation in India from the perspective of the government authorities and the initiatives undertaken by them to improve the housing crisis. However, a gap exists in achieving a balanced understanding of the supply-side constraints, with the demand-side expectations from the housing. Focusing only on the supply without adequately understanding the consumption can only lead to further chaos in the already turbulent housing situation. Originality/value To the best of author’s knowledge, this is among the first attempts to address the housing scenario in urban centers of India, simultaneously from the perspective of both the demand side and the supply side of the housing, giving additional impetus to the expectations of the demand side which are often ignored. This study becomes more relevant in the ongoing pandemic situation to be able to provide appropriate and acceptable housing solutions to all.

Decoupling the Monitoring of Solar Water Heaters and their Usage Profiles

South Africa is the most technologically advanced nation in Africa. However, the country is plagued with constant load shedding. The country receives about 2500 sunshine hours annually, with daily average irradiation levels of 4.5–6.5 kWh/m2. Despite these potentials, the use of electricity for domestic water heating is still prevalent in the country. The mass rollout of solar water heating (SWH) technologies in the low-cost housing sector across the country were met with massive failures. This study aims to assess the energy yield of a passive flat plate and an evacuated tube solar water heating system by evaluating the performance of these systems to address the energy crisis in South Africa. The flat plate (FP) and evacuated tube (ET) solar water heating systems were monitored for four days, characterised by varying sky conditions through instantaneous data measurement at 5 s. The parameters measured were water temperature, ambient temperature, irradiance at the plane of array, relative humidity, wind speed and direction. The results obtained show that a maximum irradiance of 1050 W/m2 was obtained on a clear day and corresponded to a hot water temperature of about 58 °C and 65 °C for the FP and ET, respectively. However, a cloudy day with a maximum irradiance of 400 W/m2 produced about 22 °C and 29 °C of hot water for the FP and ET, respectively. The results obtained in this study will guide stakeholders in the renewable energy sector towards employing SWH systems to replace or augment the electric geyser. Solar water heaters (SWH) can be used in the low-cost housing sector to provide hot water. Hence, the assessments in this study offer essential information for the deployment of these systems to reduce demand on the ailing South African electricity utility, Eskom, and mitigate climate change.

Critical infrastructure of the housing sector of the national economy: Economic and legal aspect

The purpose of the study is to summarize the current state of the art in the economic and legal aspects of ensuring the functioning of critical infrastructure in the housing sector of the national economy and to substantiate proposals for its improvement. The study used general and special research methods: synergistic approach, trend statistical analysis method, economic-mathematical modelling using Statgraphics XV&I Centurion program, logical method and generalization method. The main results of the study include. It has been concluded that housing and public utilities infrastructure is the largest consumer of resources in the world economy, so its operation and development require further research. The authors have defined the tendencies for increasing the volumes of construction works on the territory of Ukraine for the period of 2016-2020 and slow rate for increasing the construction of housing stock. With the help of economic and mathematical modeling, the authors have obtained results of the forecast of the volume of commissioning of the total area of residential buildings in Ukraine. Based on the analysis of the dynamics of emergencies in residential buildings or constructions in Ukraine for the period of 2015-2020, the authors have made a conclusion on the need to implement measures on preventing emergencies. Critical infrastructure facilities within the residential sector of the national economy include both enterprises in the field of water supply, sewerage, production, transportation and marketing of heat and electricity, gas distribution and transportation and water heating and gas supply networks in residential buildings, as well as elevators and networks that provide communication.