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Selected Papers from ZEMCH 2016: Building Energy Performance Evaluation/Simulation

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 September 2017) | Viewed by 32170

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Arman Hashemi

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Guest Editor

School of Environment and Technology, University of Brighton, Brighton BN2 4GJ, UK
Interests: sustainable development; building performance evaluation; energy efficiency in buildings; natural lighting; indoor air quality; thermal comfort; offsite/modern methods of construction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Paris Agreement in December 2015 was an important milestone in international climate change policies. Improving the energy performance of buildings, as a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, would significantly contribute to achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement. The operational energy accounts for the majority of buildings’ life cycle emissions in developed countries, whereas embodied energy is the main concern in less developed countries. Passive design, low/zero energy buildings and energy efficient retrofitting/refurbishment of existing buildings are some of the key tools and strategies, which have been considered to reduce CO₂ emissions of buildings. However, the unbalanced and excessive attention to energy conservation, along with poor design and hasty short-term policies to meet ambitious targets without much attention to long-term consequences of such hasty decisions, have resulted in some serious issues, such as poor indoor environments, thermal discomfort and other associate problems, which could affect the health and wellbeing of the occupants of energy efficient buildings. On the other hand, the limitations of energy evaluation packages and methods have led to significant gap between predicted and actual performance of buildings making some of the current energy assessment tools less reliable. To this end, this Special Issue aims to highlight and address the above-mentioned challenges within the construction industry.

Dr. Arman Hashemi
Guest Editor

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.

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Keywords

Energy Performance Evaluation/Simulation
Energy Efficient Buildings
Zero Energy Buildings
Intelligent Buildings
Indoor Air Quality
Thermal Comfort
Post Occupancy Evaluation
Life Cycle Analysis
Embodied Energy
Performance Gap
Passive Design
Renewable Energy Sources in Buildings

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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2847 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Using Modularity to Reduce Complexity of Industrialized Building Systems for Mass Customization

by Daniela D. Viana, Iris D. Tommelein and Carlos T. Formoso

Energies 2017, 10(10), 1622; https://doi.org/10.3390/en10101622 - 17 Oct 2017

Cited by 36 | Viewed by 8062

Abstract

It is widely known that industrialized building systems can positively impact construction projects in terms of efficiency, duration, safety, and quality. Although the use of industrialized building systems can potentially simplify the production process on-site, the complexity of the overall delivery system tends to be high, especially in engineered-to-order (ETO) environments, due to factors such as uncertainty related to goals and methods, conflicts between different trades on-site, and interdependence between supply chain members. This paper explores the concept of modularity, which has proven to be useful in different industries as a way of dealing with complex systems. The aim of this paper is to illustrate how modularity can reduce the complexity of ETO industrialized building systems, in companies that adopt a mass customization strategy. This investigation is based on two descriptive case studies on the development of modular structural steel systems for buildings that have adopted innovative beam-to-column connections. The main contribution of this research is demonstrating the need to adopt an integrated product and process-oriented conceptualization of modularity in industrialized building systems. Moreover, the comparison between the two case studies pointed out that the management of tolerances plays a key role in achieving high productivity and short lead times in structural steel building systems. This investigation also illustrates how the adoption of a limited set of modular components can be used to decouple design decisions, and standardize different types of processes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from ZEMCH 2016: Building Energy Performance Evaluation/Simulation)

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1912 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Verification of the Performance of a Vertical Ground Heat Exchanger Applied to a Test House in Melbourne, Australia

by Koon Beng Ooi and Masa Noguchi

Energies 2017, 10(10), 1558; https://doi.org/10.3390/en10101558 - 10 Oct 2017

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3899

Abstract

The ground heat exchanger is traditionally used as a heat source or sink for the heat pump that raises the temperature of water to about 50 °C to heat houses. However, in winter, the heating thermostat (temperature at which heating begins) in the Australian Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) is only 20 °C during daytime and 15 °C at night. In South-East Melbourne, the temperature at the bottom of a 50-meter-deep borehole has been recorded with an Emerson™ recorder at 17 °C. Melbourne has an annual average temperature of 15 °C, so the ground temperature increases by 2 °C per 50-m depth. A linear projection gives 23 °C at 200-m of depth, and as the average undisturbed temperature of the ground for a 400-m-deep vertical ground heat exchanger (VGHE). This study, by simulation and experimentation, aims to verify that the circulation of water in the VGHE’s U-tube to low-temperature radiators (LTRs) could heat a house to thermal comfort. A literature review is included in the introduction. A simulation, using a model of a 60-m² experimental house, shows that the daytime circulation of water in this VGHE/LTR-on-opposite-walls system during the 8-month cold half of the year, heats the indoors to NatHERS settings. Simulation for the cold half shows that this VGHE-LTR system could cool the indoors. Instead, a fan creating a cooling sensation of up to 4 °C is used so that the VGHE is available for the regeneration of heat extracted from the ground during the cold portion. Simulations for this hot portion show that a 3.4-m² flat plate solar collector can collect more than twice the heat extracted from the ground in the cold portion. Thus, it can thus replenish the ground heat extracted for houses double the size of this 60-m² experimental house. Therefore, ground heat is sustainable for family-size homes. Since no heat pump is used, the cost of VGHE-LTR systems could be comparable to systems using the ground source heat pump. Water circulation pumps and fans require low power that can be supplied by photovoltaic thermal (PVT). The EnergyPlus™ v8.7 object modeling the PVT requires user-defined efficiencies, so a PVT will be tested in the experimental house. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from ZEMCH 2016: Building Energy Performance Evaluation/Simulation)

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7476 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Case Studies of Environmental Visualization

by Panagiotis Patlakas, Georgios Koronaios, Rokia Raslan, Gareth Neighbour and Hasim Altan

Energies 2017, 10(10), 1459; https://doi.org/10.3390/en10101459 - 21 Sep 2017

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4195

Abstract

The performance gap between simulation and reality has been identified as a major challenge to achieving sustainability in the Built Environment. While Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) surveys are an integral part of better understanding building performance, and thus addressing this issue, the importance of POE remains relatively unacknowledged within the wider Built Environment community. A possible reason that has been highlighted is that POE survey data is not easily understood and utilizable by non-expert stakeholders, including designers. A potential method by which to address this is the visualization method, which has well established benefits for communication of big datasets. This paper presents two case studies where EnViz (short for “Environmental Visualization”), a prototype software application developed for research purposes, was utilized and its effectiveness tested via a range of analysis tasks. The results are discussed and compared with those of previous work that utilized variations of the methods presented here. The paper concludes by presenting the lessons drawn from the five-year period of EnViz, emphasizing the potential of environmental visualization for decision support in environmental design and engineering for the built environment, and suggests directions for future development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from ZEMCH 2016: Building Energy Performance Evaluation/Simulation)

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10085 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Retrofit Planning for the Performance Gap: Results of a Workshop on Addressing Energy, Health and Comfort Needs in a Protected Building

by Eugene Mohareb, Arman Hashemi, Mehdi Shahrestani and Minna Sunikka-Blank

Energies 2017, 10(8), 1177; https://doi.org/10.3390/en10081177 - 10 Aug 2017

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4240

Abstract

Research on the performance gap suggests that the actual energy consumption in buildings can be twice as much as expected from modelled estimates. Energy models rely on predictive indicators and assumptions that are usually done at the design stage, without acknowledging behavioral patterns of actual users, amongst other uncertain elements. Moreover, in the context of the performance gap, it is evident that energy efficiency is overemphasized while other key issues such as health and comfort of occupants associated with indoor air quality, noise levels etc., have been less stressed and discussed. This paper discusses physical measurements of indoor temperature in a case study building at the University of Cambridge and reports findings of a workshop with researchers, building professionals and graduate students working on environmental performance in the built environment. The workshop addressed research issues related to energy, comfort and health (couched in terms of thermal performance), used as a means to understand the complexities of and trade-off between different aspects of sustainable buildings. Retrofit measures were suggested while considering how to balance energy and comfort needs, with some these measures being modelled to determine their efficacy. This research concludes with a reflection on how to implement these retrofit measures in a manner that addresses the performance gap. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from ZEMCH 2016: Building Energy Performance Evaluation/Simulation)

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Review

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8785 KiB

Open AccessReview

Building Applications, Opportunities and Challenges of Active Shading Systems: A State-of-the-Art Review

by Joud Al Dakheel and Kheira Tabet Aoul

Energies 2017, 10(10), 1672; https://doi.org/10.3390/en10101672 - 23 Oct 2017

Cited by 78 | Viewed by 10826

Abstract

Active shading systems in buildings have emerged as a high performing shading solution that selectively and optimally controls daylight and heat gains. Active shading systems are increasingly used in buildings, due to their ability to mainly improve the building environment, reduce energy consumption and in some cases generate energy. They may be categorized into three classes: smart glazing, kinetic shading and integrated renewable energy shading. This paper reviews the current status of the different types in terms of design principle and working mechanism of the systems, performance, control strategies and building applications. Challenges, limitations and future opportunities of the systems are then discussed. The review highlights that despite its high initial cost, the electrochromic (EC) glazing is the most applied smart glazing due to the extensive use of glass in buildings under all climatic conditions. In terms of external shadings, the rotating shading type is the predominantly used one in buildings due to its low initial cost. Algae façades and folding shading systems are still emerging types, with high initial and maintenance costs and requiring specialist installers. The algae façade systems and PV integrated shading systems are a promising solution due to their dual benefits of providing shading and generating electricity. Active shading systems were found to save 12 to 50% of the building cooling electricity consumption. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from ZEMCH 2016: Building Energy Performance Evaluation/Simulation)

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