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Building Energy-Saving Technology—2nd Edition

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A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Energy, Physics, Environment, and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2024) | Viewed by 13313

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Dr. Yaolin Lin

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Guest Editor

School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Interests: HVAC system control optimization; sustainable design concept applied to buildings; building energy efficiency
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Wei Yang

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia
Interests: thermal comfort; building energy management; sustainable building energy efficiency
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue of Buildings on “Building Energy-Saving Technology—2nd Edition”. Buildings consume about 40% of global energy; therefore, the building sector plays a key role in achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals. Various building energy-saving technologies, mechanical systems, and energy resources can help to achieve zero- or even-net energy buildings, while maintaining comfort and healthy indoor environments.

This Special Issue aims to present the current state-of-the-art progress and trends in advanced building energy-saving technologies. Original experimental studies, numerical simulations, and reviews on all aspects of building energy utilization, management, and optimization are welcome.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

High-performance buildings;
Passive and zero-energy buildings;
HVAC system control optimization;
Building energy retrofits;
Building energy, exergy, and economic analyses;
Building embodied energy and life cycle analyses;
Renewable energy allocation;
Vertical and roof greening systems;
High-performance ventilation systems;
Adaptive climatic responsive building designs.

Dr. Yaolin Lin
Dr. Wei Yang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

building envelop
mechanical system
passive and zero-energy buildings
HVAC system control
carbon neutrality
retrofit
energy performance
lifecycle analysis
embodied energy

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Related Special Issue

Building Energy-Saving Technology in Buildings (15 articles)

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

19 pages, 5307 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Energy Monitoring and Analysis of a Residential House in China

by Yanzhi Wang, Shaotong Han, Qiuqi Zhang, Jing Sun, Zhibao Cheng and An Chen

Buildings 2024, 14(9), 2930; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14092930 - 16 Sep 2024

Viewed by 498

Abstract

The energy consumption of residential buildings plays a crucial role in overall energy consumption and environmental sustainability. This paper aims to conduct an energy analysis of a residential house located in China, with a focus on comparing the accuracy of the model, identifying areas for improvement, and proposing energy-efficient solutions. Four sets of temperature sensors were placed to monitor the ambient temperature at which the building is located and the indoor temperature of the residential building during a heating season. The energy consumption of keeping the building running at a low temperature was recorded and compared with the simulation results to verify the accuracy of the model. The monitoring results give the weekly average temperature of each zone on each floor, and the door and window positions, room layouts, and orientations are discussed to analyze the thermal response of the building. In addition, the effect of the heat transfer coefficient of the exterior walls, the heat transfer coefficient of the roof, and the solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) of the exterior windows on the heating energy consumption of the building are further analyzed through simulations. The results show that, after adding a certain thickness of insulation to the exterior walls and roofs of a building, increasing the thickness of the insulation layer produces little extra energy saving. The use of building windows with high SHGC can effectively reduce building heating energy consumption. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Energy-Saving Technology—2nd Edition)

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31 pages, 58197 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study on the Impact of Design Factors of Piloti Forms on the Thermal Environment in Residential Quarters

by Jinhan Li, Xiaofang Shan and Qinli Deng

Buildings 2024, 14(5), 1303; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14051303 - 5 May 2024

Viewed by 896

Abstract

According to piloti design, the outdoor thermal environment can be improved in cities with hot summer conditions. Taking Chinese cities with a hot summer and cold winter as the research object, this paper discusses the improvement of the outdoor thermal environment of residential districts in summer by considering piloti design factors. In this article, according to our investigation of piloti design in Wuhan, a basic model of the overhead layer in the Wuhan residential area is presented, along with the effects of different piloti ratios (0–80%), piloti heights (2–6 m), and greening rates (30–35%) on the outdoor thermal environment of buildings. The average air temperature and average wind speed at the pedestrian level are used as outdoor thermal environment indicators, the average PET is used as the outdoor thermal comfort indicator, and the comfort wind ratio is used as the outdoor wind comfort indicator. The results show that increasing the ratio of corridor columns has the greatest thermal comfort enhancement effect in the corridor area, and when the piloti ratio increases from 20% to 80%, the PET in piloti areas reduces by 2.926 °C. Improving the greening rate has the greatest thermal comfort enhancement effect in the passageway area, and when the greening rate increases from 20% to 80%, the PET in piloti areas reduces by 0.9 °C. Furthermore, the increases in both the piloti ratio and piloti height have an enhancement effect on the outdoor wind environment and wind comfort, with thresholds of a piloti ratio over 60% and a piloti height over 5 m. In contrast, the increase in the greening rate will deteriorate the outdoor wind environment and wind comfort. The conclusions of this study are of great significance for the planning and design of overhead layers in residential areas in hot and humid areas in summer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Energy-Saving Technology—2nd Edition)

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19 pages, 7526 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Operational Strategy of a DC Inverter Heat Pump System Considering PV Power Fluctuation and Demand-Side Load Characteristics

by Yilin Li, Yang Lu, Jie Sun, Tianhang Wang, Shiji Zong, Tongyu Zhou and Xin Wang

Buildings 2024, 14(4), 1139; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14041139 - 18 Apr 2024

Viewed by 1510

Abstract

With the increase in application of solar PV systems, it is of great significance to develop and investigate direct current (DC)-powered equipment in buildings with flexible operational strategies. A promising piece of building equipment integrated in PV-powered buildings, DC inverter heat pump systems often operate with strategies either focused on the power supply side or on the building demand side. In this regard, the aim of this study was to investigate the operational strategy of a DC inverter heat pump system for application in an office building with a PV power system. Firstly, the PV power fluctuation and demand-side load characteristics were analyzed. Then, a series of heat transfer and heat pump system models were developed. A reference building model was developed for simulating the performance of the system. A control logic of the DC inverter heat pump was proposed with a certain level of flexibility and capability considering both the characteristics of the PV power generation and the demand-side heating load. MATLAB/Simulink 2021 software was used for simulation. The simulation results show that the DC inverter heat pump is able to regulate its own power according to the change signal of the bus voltage such that the DC distribution network can achieve power balance and thus provide enough energy for a room. This study can provide a reference for developing flexible operational strategies for DC inverter heat pump systems. The proposed strategy can also help to improve the systems’ performance when they are applied in buildings with distributed PV systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Energy-Saving Technology—2nd Edition)

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27 pages, 4315 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Evaluation National Green Building Index Based on a Survey of Personnel Satisfaction: The Case of Hubei Province, China

by Shengda Ouyang, Xiaofang Shan, Qinli Deng, Zhigang Ren, Wenyu Wu, Tingwei Meng and Yinguang Wu

Buildings 2024, 14(4), 868; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14040868 - 22 Mar 2024

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1048

Abstract

With the rapid development of China’s urbanization process and the promotion of the ‘double carbon’ strategy, green buildings will become an inevitable trend in the future development of the construction industry. Among the various building evaluation criteria, it is important to discuss how to promote the development of green buildings more efficiently and adaptively according to the characteristics of personnel needs. This study constructed a questionnaire to assess building use satisfaction based on China’s national standards. Field research was conducted on 23 projects in six cities in Hubei Province, China, and a total of 2251 questionnaires were collected. The survey evaluated satisfaction with the current use of green buildings across different age groups and genders. A new satisfaction evaluation model is constructed through fuzzy comprehensive evaluation to provide guidance for the differentiated development of green buildings in different cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Energy-Saving Technology—2nd Edition)

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16 pages, 22306 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Orientation and Skylight Area Ratio on Building Energy Efficiency in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

by Yingmei Wang, Haosen Qin, Yan Wang, Ji Chen, Xin Hou, Pengfei Rui, Shouhong Zhang and Hanyu Song

Buildings 2024, 14(3), 755; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14030755 - 11 Mar 2024

Viewed by 1193

Abstract

The Qinghai–Tibet plateau, with an average altitude of over 4000 m, has low annual average temperatures and a high demand for building heating. This region’s abundant solar energy resources hold substantial practical significance for improving the indoor heat environment and reducing building energy consumption. This paper investigates the impact of orientation and skylight area ratio on building heat load and indoor temperature, using both actual measurement and simulation methods, with a case study of the comprehensive building at Beiluhe Observation and Research Station of Frozen Soil Engineering and Environment (Beiluhe Station), located in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau region. Initially, a model was established using the EnergyPlus 9.4 software, with orientation variables set from east to west in 15° increments, to simulate the variations in building heat load resulting from orientation changes; simulations were then conducted for three different skylight area ratios under the optimal orientation to evaluate their influence on heat load and indoor temperature. The results show that for the architectural style examined in this paper, the optimal building orientation within the region is 30° south by east, with the optimal orientation range spanning from 45° south by east to due south. Heating load is negatively correlated with the skylight area ratio, and beyond a certain threshold, the rate of decrease in heat load diminishes or even stabilizes. The conclusions of this paper offer guidance for the orientation and skylight design of new buildings on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Energy-Saving Technology—2nd Edition)

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12 pages, 5274 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of Influencing Factors on Solid Waste Generation of Public Buildings in Tropical Monsoon Climate Region

by Tingwei Meng, Xiaofang Shan, Zhigang Ren and Qinli Deng

Buildings 2024, 14(2), 513; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14020513 - 13 Feb 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1124

Abstract

Environmental problems including the depletion of natural resources and energy have drawn a lot of attention from all sectors of society in the context of high-quality global development, and solid waste generated by the construction industry accounts for 36% of the total amount of municipal waste. The generation of large amounts of construction waste not only causes a waste of resources, but also causes great damage to the environment. Reducing the quantity of solid waste produced during a building’s new construction period can be greatly aided by construction site solid waste statistics and forecasts. Based on the statistical data of 61 public construction projects in Hainan Province, China, this study uses the Random Forest algorithm to rank the importance of possible factors affecting the amount of solid waste generated, and linearly fits the data to achieve the prediction of solid waste at construction sites. The findings indicate that building area, building height, concrete usage, steel usage and assembly rate are the main factors affecting solid waste in construction sites. In office buildings and exhibition buildings, an increase in ground area, building height, concrete usage, and steel usage increases the generation of each type of solid waste (inorganic non-metallic solid waste, metallic solid waste), with the exception of an increase in concrete usage, which results in a decrease in the generation of metallic solid waste. Furthermore, a higher assembly rate can substantially lower the production of all waste types. These results offer a theoretical foundation for the implementation of assembly construction to support the high-quality development of the construction industry, as well as partial design inspiration for the architectural design stage. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Energy-Saving Technology—2nd Edition)

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28 pages, 9625 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Phase Change Materials for Pre-Cooling of Supply Air into Air Conditioning Systems in Extremely Hot Climates

by Usman Masood, Mahmoud Haggag, Ahmed Hassan and Mohammad Laghari

Buildings 2024, 14(1), 95; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14010095 - 29 Dec 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1688

Abstract

This research investigates the use of phase change materials (PCMs) in thermal energy storage (TES) unit-based cooling systems to increase the efficiency of air conditioners (ACs) by reducing the air inlet temperature. This study aims to evaluate different configurations of PCM enclosures, and different PCMs (paraffin and salt hydrate), by changing the speed of inlet air to achieve heat reduction of inlet air. The study includes experimental and simulation investigations. Every configuration simulates the hot-season atmospheric conditions of the UAE. A duct containing enclosures of paraffin RT-31 and salt hydrate (calcium chloride hexahydrate) was used for the simulation study using ANSYS/Fluent. A conjugate heat transfer model employing an enthalpy-based formulation is developed to predict the optimized PCM number of series and optimum airflow rate. Four designs of the AC duct were modelled and evaluated that contained one to four series of PCM containers subjected to different levels of supplied air velocities ranging from 1 m/s–4 m/s. The simulation study revealed that employing four series (Design 4) of PCM enclosures at a low air velocity of 1 m/s enhanced the pre-cooling performance and reduced the outlet air temperature to 33 °C, yielding a temperature drop up to 13 °C. The performance of salt hydrate (calcium chloride hexahydrate) was observed to be better than paraffin (RT-31) in terms of the cooling effect. Characterization of paraffin wax (RT-31) and salt hydrate was performed to establish the thermophysical properties. The experimental setup based on a duct with integrated PCM enclosures was studied. The experiment was repeated for three days as the repeatability test incorporating RT-31 as the PCM and a 3 °C maximum temperature drop was observed. The drop in the outlet air temperature of the duct system quantifies the cooling effect. Net heat reduction was around 16%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Energy-Saving Technology—2nd Edition)

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27 pages, 8040 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Source Location Identification in an Ideal Urban Street Canyon with Time-Varying Wind Conditions under a Coupled Indoor and Outdoor Environment

by Yuwei Dai, Minzhang Hou, Haidong Wang and Wanli Tu

Buildings 2023, 13(12), 3121; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13123121 - 15 Dec 2023

Viewed by 1197

Abstract

Source location identification methods are typically applied to steady-state conditions under pure indoor or outdoor environments, but under time-varying wind conditions and coupled indoor and outdoor environments, the applicability is not clear. In this study, we proposed an improved adjoint probability method to identify the pollutant source location with time-varying inflows in street canyons and used scaled outdoor experiment data to verify the accuracy. The change in inflow velocity will affect the airflow structure inside the street canyons. Outdoor wind with a lower temperature will exchange heat with the air with a higher temperature inside the street canyon, taking away part of the heat and reducing the heat of the air inside the street canyons. Moreover, the room opening will produce some air disturbance, which is conducive to the heat exchange between the air near the opening and the outdoor wind. Furthermore, the fluctuations of the upper wind will influence the diffusion of the tracer gas. We conducted three cases to verify the accuracy of the source identification method. The results showed that the conditioned adjoint location probability (CALP) of each case was 0.06, 0.32, and 0.28. It implies that with limited pollutant information, the improved adjoint probability method can successfully identify the source location in the dynamic wind environments under coupled indoor and outdoor conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Energy-Saving Technology—2nd Edition)

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20 pages, 9645 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Numerical Simulation Study of Pumping Airflow Driven by Wind Pressure for Single- and Multi-Room Buildings

by Xinpeng Qiu, Junli Zhou, Xue Xiao, Wenjun Zhu, Jiaji Zhang, Shuqiang Gui and Yangdong Peng

Buildings 2023, 13(12), 3066; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13123066 - 8 Dec 2023

Viewed by 1174

Abstract

Pumping airflow occurs in single-sided natural ventilation buildings when the openings are located on the leeward side; the direction of airflow through the building then changes periodicity. In order to propose a calculation method of the ventilation rates for single-room buildings and analyze the pumping ventilation for multi-room buildings, the CFD method with an SST k-ω turbulence model was used to conduct numerical simulation in this study, which is verified by other experimental results. Firstly, the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of pumping ventilation were investigated for a single-room building with two openings. The results show that the steady-state method underestimates the ventilation flow rates, and the unsteady-state method captures the microstructures of the flow better. Secondly, the vortex-shedding and indoor airflow oscillation frequencies were analyzed based on transient simulation for a single-room building. It was found that both of them increase with air speed. Then, the factors affecting ventilation flow rates were analyzed. A calculation method for dimensionless ventilation rates is proposed. Finally, the pumping ventilation for a multi-room building was numerically simulated. The ventilation rate for a middle room is greater than that for a corner room, and the ventilation rate for any room in a multi-room building is greater than the single-room building given the same room size and the same incoming wind speed. The findings of this paper are helpful for the design and evaluation of natural ventilation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Energy-Saving Technology—2nd Edition)

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18 pages, 6943 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Economic Feasibility of PV Mounting Structures on Industrial Roofs

by Alicia Perdigones, José L. García, Isaac García, Fátima Baptista and Fernando R. Mazarrón

Buildings 2023, 13(11), 2834; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13112834 - 12 Nov 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1186

Abstract

This study determines the viability and profitability of photovoltaic (PV) mounting structures on industrial roofs. For this purpose, more than 656,000 different cases have been analyzed, combining different consumption patterns, energy prices, locations, inclinations, azimuths, capacity installed, and excess income. The results show that the industry’s consumption pattern is a key factor, leading to significant reductions in the available assembly budget for inclined structures compared to the coplanar option when the pattern is seasonal and/or irregular. The increase in energy prices experienced in the last 2 years represents a substantial change in the viability of the structures. The budget for inclined structures increases by hundreds of euros compared to the coplanar option. Depending on the azimuth and inclination of the roof, the maximum available budget can vary by more than a thousand euros per kWp, being highly profitable in orientations close to the east and west and on roofs partially inclined to the north. Differences between low-irradiation and high-irradiation locations can mean variations in the average budget of more than 1 k€/kWp, especially with high electricity prices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Energy-Saving Technology—2nd Edition)

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Review

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28 pages, 7433 KiB

Open AccessReview

Scopes for Improvements in Energy Conservation and Thermomechanical Performance of Building Blocks in the Kingdom of Bahrain: A Literature Review

by Payal Ashish Modi, Abdelgadir Mohamed Mahmoud and Yousif Abdalla Abakr

Buildings 2024, 14(4), 861; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14040861 - 22 Mar 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1088

Abstract

In regions with hot climates such as Bahrain, the utilization of air conditioning is indispensable in both public and private buildings to attain thermally comfortable indoor environments. External walls, constructed with building blocks, play a crucial role in the heat penetration into the building system. Despite extensive research on the cavity designs of building blocks, there has been a lack of comparison between individual block systems and integrated multi-block systems, considering both thermal and mechanical performance criteria simultaneously. Therefore, it is imperative to gather and review information on key parameters influencing the thermomechanical performance of building blocks, along with investigating techniques used to evaluate these parameters according to international standards. This review primarily focuses on these aspects. Additionally, it presents the historical evolution of housing types and the standard procedures followed by the Bahraini Government and block manufacturing companies in alignment with energy efficiency policies in Bahrain. Ultimately, this review aims to inspire researchers to explore other viable and innovative designs for enhancing the thermal insulation of building walls. By doing so, this work will contribute to Bahrain’s 2030 goals of fostering sustainability and mitigating environmental impact at a local level, while also aligning with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030, specifically SDG 11, which aims to “make cities and human settlements sustainable”. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Energy-Saving Technology—2nd Edition)

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