A Comparison of Energy Consumption in American Homes by Climate Region

The present research analyzes the impact of nine factors related to household demographics, building equipment, and building characteristics towards a home’s total energy consumption while controlling for climate. To do this, we have surveyed single-family owned houses from the 2015 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) dataset and controlled the analysis by Building America climate zones. Our findings are based on descriptive statistics and multiple regression models, and show that for a median-sized home in three of the five climate zones, heating equipment is still the main contributor to a household’s total energy consumed, followed by home size. Social-economic factors and building age were found relevant for some regions, but often contributed less than size and heating equipment towards total energy consumption. Water heater and education were not found to be statistically relevant in any of the regions. Finally, solar power was only found to be a significant factor in one of the regions, positively contributing to a home’s total energy consumed. These findings are helpful for policymakers to evaluate the specificities of climate regions in their jurisdiction, especially guiding homeowners towards more energy-efficient heating equipment and home configurations, such as reduced size.

Light Shelf Development Using Folding Technology and Photovoltaic Modules to Increase Energy Efficiency in Building

Some recent research in the area of light shelves has been focused on applying photovoltaic modules to light shelves to save building energy. However, due to the modules installed on the light shelf reflectors, most such light shelves have failed to improve both daylighting and generation efficiency. This study proposes a folding technology to improve light shelves’ daylighting and generation efficiency that uses photovoltaic modules and validates their performance using a testbed. The major obtained findings are as follows: (1) The proposed folding technology has a structure in which reflectors and photovoltaic modules fold alternately by modularizing the light shelf. The reflector and photovoltaic modules are controlled by adjusting the degree of folding. (2) Because light shelf angles for improving daylighting and generation differed depending on the application of the photovoltaic module, the optimal light shelf specifications differed. (3) Compared to previous light shelf technologies, the light shelf with folding technology and a photovoltaic module reduced energy use by 31.3% to 38.2%. This demonstrates the efficacy of the proposed system. (4) Applying a photovoltaic module can lower the indoor uniformity ratio, which means that the daylighting performance of the light shelf is degraded due to the reduction of the area occupied by the reflector.

Advanced Methods for Structural Rehabilitation

Structural rehabilitation has globally become an urgent need due to both widespread construction obsolescence and more demanding requirements from modern construction codes, especially in earthquake-prone areas, where upgrading the existing constructions has become a primary goal [...]

An AI/ML-Based Strategy for Disaster Response and Evacuation of Victims in Aged Care Facilities in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley: A Perspective

The Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley, Australia’s longest coastal catchment, is spanned by a river system of more than 470 km, that runs from Goulburn to Broken Bay, covering a total area of over 2.2 million hectares. This region has remained prone to flood events, with considerable mortalities, economic impacts and infrastructural losses occurring quite regularly. The topography, naturally variable climatic conditions and the ‘bathtub’ effect in the region are responsible for the frequent flood events. In response, the Government at the national/federal, state and local level has focused on the design of efficient flood risk management strategies with appropriate evacuation plans for vulnerable communities from hospitals, schools, childcare and aged care facilities during a flood event. Despite these overarching plans, specialized response and evacuation plans for aged care facilities are critical to reducing the loss incurred by flood events in the region. This is the focus of this present paper, which reviews the history of flood events and responses to them, before examining the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques during flood events to overcome the flood risks. An early flood warning system, based on AI/Machine Learning (ML) strategy is being suggested for a timely decision, enhanced disaster prediction, assessment and response necessary to overcome the flood risks associated with aged care facilities within the Hawkesbury-Nepean region. A framework entailing AI/ML methods for identifying the safest route to the destination using UAV and path planning has been proposed for timely disaster response and evacuation of the residents of aged care facilities.

Failure Mechanisms and Parameters of Elastoplastic Deformations of Anchorage in a Damaged Concrete Base under Seismic Loading

The article addresses mechanisms of anchorage failure in a concrete base studied within the framework of physical experiments. The authors investigated the most frequently used types of anchors, such as the cast-in-place and post-installed ones. The anchorages were studied under static and dynamic loading, similar to the seismic type. During the experiments, the post-earthquake condition of a concrete base was simulated. Within the framework of the study, the authors modified the values of such parameters, such as the anchor embedment depth, anchor steel strength, base concrete class, and base crack width. As a result of the experimental studies, the authors identified all possible failure mechanisms for versatile types of anchorages, including steel and concrete cone failures, anchor slippage at the interface with the base concrete (two types of failure mechanisms were identified), as well as the failure involving the slippage of the adhesive composition at the interface with the concrete of the anchor embedment area. The data obtained by the authors encompasses total displacements in the elastic and plastic phases of deformation, values of the bearing capacity for each type of anchorage, values of the bearing capacity reduction, and displacements following multi-cyclic loading compared to static loading. As a result of the research, the authors identified two types of patterns that anchorages follow approaching the limit state: elastic-brittle and elastoplastic mechanisms. The findings of the experimental research allowed the authors to determine the plasticity coefficients for the studied types of anchors and different failure mechanisms. The research findings can be used to justify seismic load reduction factors to be further used in the seismic design of anchorages.

Affordances, Architecture and the Action Possibilities of Learning Environments: A Critical Review of the Literature and Future Directions

This paper critically reviews the body of literature on affordances relating to the design and inhabitation of school buildings. Focusing on the influence of learning spaces on pedagogical practices, we argue that links between affordances, architecture and the action possibilities of school-based environments have largely been overlooked and that such links hold great promise for better aligning space and pedagogy—especially amidst changing expectations of what effective teaching and learning ‘looks like’. Emerging innovative learning environments (ILEs) are designed to enable a wider pedagogical repertoire than traditional classrooms. In order to transcend stereotypical understandings about how the physical environment in schools may afford teaching and learning activities, it is becoming increasingly recognised that both design and practice reconceptualisation is required for affordances of new learning environments to be effectively actualised in support of contemporary education. With a focus on the environmental perceptions of architects, educators and learners, we believe affordance theory offers a useful framework for thinking about the design and use of learning spaces. We argue that Gibson’s affordance theory should be more commonly applied to help situate conversations between designers and users about how physical learning environments are conceived, perceived and actioned for effective teaching and learning.

Analyzing the Time-Varying Thermal Perception of Students in Classrooms and Its Influencing Factors from a Case Study in Xi’an, China

Owing to movement in the spatial environment and changes in activity levels, students’ thermal perception is time varying in classrooms throughout different periods of the day. However, previous studies have rarely considered the time-varying thermal perception in different periods of the day, which may cause discomfort for students and lead to energy wastage. Therefore, a study was conducted to investigate the time-varying thermal perception of students and its influencing factors in different classes of the day. In addition, the differences in students’ adaptive behaviors in different periods were also explored. A total of 578 university students were surveyed using questionnaire surveys during the heating season in Xi’an, China. The following results can be obtained: (1) The thermal sensation vote and thermal preference vote values in the afternoon were significantly higher than those in the morning. At the start of the first class in the morning/afternoon, the thermal sensation of the students had the highest sensitivity to outdoor temperature changes. (2) The students’ thermal perception was greatly affected by the preclass activity state at the start of the first class in the morning/afternoon. However, in other periods, the above phenomenon was not obvious. (3) In the afternoon, the frequency of clothing adjustment was greater than that in the morning, and this behavior would significantly affect the students’ thermal sensation. (4) Compared with the current classroom heating strategy, the heating strategy of dynamically adjusting the indoor set temperature according to the time-varying characteristics of the students can theoretically achieve energy savings of 25.6%.

Designing Post COVID-19 Buildings: Approaches for Achieving Healthy Buildings

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the accessibility, social gathering, lifestyle, and working environment to be changed to reduce the infection. Coronavirus spreads between people in several different ways. Small liquid particles (aerosols, respiratory droplets) from an infected person are transmitted through air and surfaces that are in contact with humans. Reducing transmission through modified heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and building design are potential solutions. A comprehensive review of the engineering control preventive measures to mitigate COVID-19 spread, healthy building design, and material was carried out. The current state-of-the-art engineering control preventive measures presented include ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI), bipolar ionization, vertical gardening, and indoor plants. They have potential to improve the indoor air quality. In addition, this article presents building design with materials (e.g., copper alloys, anti-microbial paintings) and smart technologies (e.g., automation, voice control, and artificial intelligence-based facial recognition) to mitigate the infections of communicable diseases.

BIM Approach in Construction Safety—A Case Study on Preventing Falls from Height

The construction industry has one of the highest occupational accident incidence rates among all economic sectors. Currently, building information modelling (BIM) appears to be a valuable tool for analysing occupational safety issues throughout the construction life cycle of projects, helping to avoid hazards and risks and, consequently, increasing safety. This work investigates BIM methodology and the application of related technologies for building safety planning and demonstrates the potential of this technology for the integrated implementation of safety measures during the design phase and construction site management. The first step consisted of a literature review on applying BIM-related technologies for safety in the design and planning phases. Following this, to show the potentialities of construction simulation, a case study based on BIM 4D to prevent falls from height was developed. With BIM 4D, it is possible to follow the construction process over time, giving the construction safety technicians, designers, supervisors and managers the capability to analyse, in each phase, the potential risks and identify which safety measures should be implemented. BIM can effectively integrate safety measures from the design phase to the construction and use phase and enable integrated safety planning within construction planning, leading to reliable safety management throughout the construction process.

Building Geometry as a Variable in Energy, Comfort, and Environmental Design Optimization—A Review from the Perspective of Architects

Due to negative environmental impacts caused by the building industry, sustainable buildings have recently become one of the most investigated fields in research. As the design technique itself is mainly responsible for building performance, building energy design optimization is of particular interest. Several studies concentrate on systems, operation, and control optimization, complemented by passive strategies, specifically related to the envelope. In building physics, different architectural considerations, in particular, the building’s shape, are essential variables, as they greatly influence the performance of a building. Most scientific work that takes into consideration building geometry explores spaces without any energy optimization or calculates optimization processes of a few basic variables of simplified space geometries. Review studies mainly discuss the historic development of optimization algorithms, building domains, and the algorithm-system and software framework performance with coupling issues. By providing a systemized clustering of different levels of shape integration intensities, space creation principals, and algorithms, this review explores the current status of sustainability related shape optimization. The review proves that geometry design variable modifications and, specifically, shape generation techniques offer promising optimization potential; however, the findings also indicate that building shape optimization is still in its infancy.