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Exploring Energy Saving and Building Thermal Comfort as a Tool to Mitigate Climate Change

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Dear Colleagues,

Accomplishing energy saving in buildings is essential to achieve the 2050 decarbonization goals. In order to achieve this, buildings must improve their energy performance to ensure both thermal comfort for users and a low environmental impact. For this reason, it is necessary to carry out interdisciplinary analyses of the energy saving–thermal comfort relationship in order to discover the best strategies that should be applied for energy saving and how the impact of climate change can be reduced.

The objective of this Special Issue is to analyze the importance of thermal comfort and energy saving in the built environment. The expected scope of this Special Issue includes all relevant approaches, namely concentrating on:

Thermal comfort in buildings;
Adaptive thermal comfort;
Natural ventilation;
Mixed-mode;
HVAC systems;
Energy conservation measures;
Energy poverty;
Energy saving.

The published studies will serve to broaden the existing knowledge on optimal energy saving in buildings and its implications for thermal comfort. These studies will be of great interest to researchers, architects, engineers and other technicians involved in the construction industry.

Dr. David Bienvenido-Huertas
Dr. Daniel Sánchez-García
Guest Editors

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Keywords

thermal comfort
energy saving
buildings
energy efficiency
indoor air

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 4938 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Energy Audits and Energy Modeling as a Tool towards Reducing Energy Consumption in Buildings: The Cases of Two Multi-Unit Residential Buildings (MURBs) in Toronto

by Ali Taileb and Mohammed Fareed Sherzad

Sustainability 2023, 15(18), 13983; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151813983 - 20 Sep 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 883

Abstract

This research is based on an energy audit of two multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) located in Toronto, Canada. Energy consumption (gas and electricity) data were extracted from the energy bills of the two buildings for a consecutive period of three years. The data were then normalized to account for variations in weather conditions. Conclusions were drawn from correlation analyses between kWh, cooling degree days (CDDs), and heating degree days (HDDs), which were then compared to the energy consumption benchmarks of MURBs within the GTA. An energy simulation using e-Quest v.3.64 was performed, utilizing the advantages of the e-Quest building modeling tool to create a virtual 3D model of the audited buildings. A baseline model was constructed to reflect the actual buildings and was used to simulate the outcomes and calculate the projected energy savings from window replacements with a higher energy efficiency than the existing ones. The simulation results revealed that triple low-E glazing outperformed single- and double-glass windows, achieving reductions of 38% and 34% in gas consumption, respectively. The building envelope simulations showed that enhancing insulation reduced gas consumption by 4%, while an insulation upgrade demonstrated no discernible savings. Reducing the window area by 20% (north/south sides) led to a 6% decrease in gas consumption, while a 30% reduction resulted in approximately 9% of energy savings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Energy Saving and Building Thermal Comfort as a Tool to Mitigate Climate Change)

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20 pages, 6237 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Building Energy Saving for Indoor Cooling and Heating: Mechanism and Comparison on Temperature Difference

by Jianwu Xiong, Linlin Chen and Yin Zhang

Sustainability 2023, 15(14), 11241; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151411241 - 19 Jul 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1681

Abstract

Reducing the heat transfer temperature difference via reasonable indoor temperature determination and air conditioning system design is a confirmed building energy-saving approach for space cooling and heating. However, the energy-saving mechanism cannot be explained scientifically and comprehensively while maintaining the cognitive level of the heat transfer law. In this paper, based on the same climatic conditions and decreasing range of indoor and outdoor temperature difference, the yearly and monthly absolute energy-saving amount (ESA) and relative energy-saving ratio (ESR) are investigated and compared for cooling and heating, respectively, to reveal the energy-saving mechanism for cooling and heating from the microscopic perspective. Two new concepts, including ESA by temperature difference and behavioral ESA by measure itself, are defined. The yearly ESA for cooling or heating caused by the decreasing of temperature difference is composed of those two factors. For cooling, the contribution rate of the behavioral ESA at those moments within the decreasing range of the temperature difference can be up to 78%, while for heating is only 7%. This work can provide theoretical support for building energy system design optimization and method reference for energy-saving analysis of building air conditioning systems with temperature difference considerations for cooling and heating, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Energy Saving and Building Thermal Comfort as a Tool to Mitigate Climate Change)

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