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Buildings of Tomorrow: Goals and Challenges for Design and Operation of High-Performance Buildings

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 39162

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Mitja Košir

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Guest Editor

Chair of Buildings and Constructional Complexes, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Jamova 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Interests: daylighting, building energy performance; bioclimatic design; building envelope performance; high-performance buildings; climate change and building performance; building sustainability
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Dr. Manoj Kumar Singh

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Guest Editor

Department of Civil Engineering, Shiv Nadar University, Tehsil Dadri, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201314, India
Interests: thermal comfort; occupant behavior and built environment interaction; bioclimatic building design and sustainability; building energy simulation; energy performance of building envelopes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the last few decades, there has been a considerable shift in building design towards more energy-efficient and better performing buildings. Although the main focus is usually on the reduction of energy use for the operation and construction of buildings, the awareness regarding benefits of higher occupant comfort and health has shifted the focus toward a more holistic treatment of building design. Therefore, contemporary high-performance buildings are not only energy efficient but represent a synergetic interconnectedness between indoor environment, user health and comfort while at the same time addressing the sustainability and resilience issues. Concurrently, the anthropogenically induced climate change necessitates that such buildings need to adapt to current as well as the future projected climate in order to provide adequate performance throughout the anticipated lifecycle. Due to the complexity and interconnectedness of parameters influencing the design of high-performance buildings, a crucial research question emerges – “how to accomplish appropriate optimization among opposing and contrasting demands of different fields governing the design of high-performance buildings?”

The focus of this Special Issue will, therefore, be on the strategies, tools, methodologies and materials that ensure the formulation of high-performance buildings geared towards the inclusive treatment of building performance. In this respect, the purpose of this Special Issue is to present and evaluate how a coupled treatment of varied building design issues (e.g. energy performance, daylighting, indoor comfort, environmental impacts, etc.) can be utilized in order to achieve the goals of higher overall performance of buildings and what are the limitations of such approach. In relation to the above-described context the scope will be on, but not limited to, the following topics:

Coupled thermal and visual performance of buildings;
Climate adaptive building design and adaptive building envelopes;
Indoor environment quality and concurrent energy efficiency;
Strategies and methods for the design and development of high-performance buildings;
Sustainability and resilience of high-performance buildings;
Application of artificial intelligence, data management and data collection technologies for the design and operation of high-performance buildings;
User-centered building design as a tool for achieving higher building performance;
Case studies of high-performance buildings and their energy efficiency, daylighting and overall indoor environment quality as well as environmental impacts.

Above-mentioned broad topics can be classified into two phases of the building's lifecycle – the planning/construction phase and the operation phase. This special issue will try its best to maintain a balance including articles with innovative solutions from the researchers, scientists and engineers that address issues of both phases of buildings life in the context of global warming, climate change and human well-being. The overall purpose of the Special Issue is to broaden the field of knowledge in regards to the potentials of achieving higher sustainability and resilience of the built environment through the multi-objective approach to building performance. Therefore, trying to address a much broader question of “whether we should design buildings for survivability, sustainability or both?” because at many instances it was found that, measuring buildings on the parameters of sustainability alone is not solving the issues in context of uncertainty being added by the increased frequency of extreme climatic events across the globe.

Thank you for your contribution.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Mitja Košir
Dr. Manoj Kumar Singh
Guest Editors

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Keywords

Building energy efficiency
Building envelope
Building indoor environment
Daylighting
Thermal comfort
Visual comfort
Building performance evaluation
Building sustainability and resilience
High-performance buildings
Climate adaptability
Bioclimatic design

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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29 pages, 16332 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental Assessment of the Reflection of Solar Radiation from Façades of Tall Buildings to the Pedestrian Level

by Alberto Speroni, Andrea Giovanni Mainini, Andrea Zani, Riccardo Paolini, Tommaso Pagnacco and Tiziana Poli

Sustainability 2022, 14(10), 5781; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14105781 - 10 May 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3791

Abstract

Urban climates are highly influenced by the ability of built surfaces to reflect solar radiation, and the use of high-albedo materials has been widely investigated as an effective option to mitigate urban overheating. While diffusely solar reflective walls have attracted concerns in the architectural and thermal comfort community, the potential of concave and polished surfaces, such as glass and metal panels, to cause extreme glare and localized thermal stress has been underinvestigated. Furthermore, there is the need for a systematic comparison of the solar concentration at the pedestrian level in front of tall buildings. Herein, we show the findings of an experimental campaign measuring the magnitude of the sunlight reflected by scale models reproducing archetypical tall buildings. Three 1:100 scaled prototypes with different shapes (classic vertical façade, 10% tilted façade, curved concave façade) and different finishing materials (representative of extremes in reflectance properties of building materials) were assessed. A specular surface was assumed as representative of a glazed façade under high-incidence solar angles, while selected light-diffusing materials were considered sufficient proxies for plaster finishing. With a diffusely reflective façade, the incident radiation at the pedestrian level in front of the building did not increase by more than 30% for any geometry. However, with a specular reflective (i.e., mirror-like) flat façade, the incident radiation at the pedestrian level increased by more than 100% and even by more than 300% with curved solar-concentrating geometries. In addition, a tool for the preliminary evaluation of the solar reflectance risk potential of a generic complex building shape is developed and presented. Our findings demonstrate that the solar concentration risk due to mirror-like surfaces in the built environment should be a primary concern in design and urban microclimatology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buildings of Tomorrow: Goals and Challenges for Design and Operation of High-Performance Buildings)

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18 pages, 3574 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigation on Subjects’ Seasonal Perception and Adaptive Actions in Naturally Ventilated Hostel Dormitories in the Composite Climate Zone of India

by Sanjay Kumar, Manoj Kumar Singh, Nedhal Al-Tamimi, Badr S. Alotaibi and Mohammed Awad Abuhussain

Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 4997; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14094997 - 21 Apr 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2154

Abstract

A seasonal adaptive thermal comfort study was done on university students in naturally ventilated dormitories in the composite climate zone of India. A total of 1462 responses were collected from the students during the field study spread over the autumn, winter, spring, and summer seasons of the academic year for 2018 and 2019. A “Right Here Right Now” type of surveying method was adopted, and the indoor thermal parameters were recorded simultaneously using high-grade instruments. The subjects’ mean thermal sensation (TS) was skewed towards a slightly cool feeling for the combined data. Most occupants preferred a cooler thermal environment during the summer season, while hostel residents desired a warmer temperature during autumn, winter, and spring seasons. During the summer season, the PMV−PPD model overestimated the subjects’ actual thermal sensation, while it underestimated the their thermal sensation in the winter season. The mean comfort temperature

T_{comf}

was observed to be close to 27.1 (±4.65 °C) for the pooled data. Mean clo values of about 0.57 (±0.25), 0.98 (±0.12), 0.45 (±0.27), and 0.36 (±0.11) were recorded during the autumn, winter, spring, and summer seasons, respectively. Furthermore, switching on ceiling fans and opening doors and windows improved occupants’ thermal satisfaction during different seasons. The study results show the effective use of environmental controls and the role of thermal adaptation in enhancing the subjects/overall thermal satisfaction in the composite climate of India. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buildings of Tomorrow: Goals and Challenges for Design and Operation of High-Performance Buildings)

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30 pages, 7569 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multi-Objective Techno-Economic Optimization of Design Parameters for Residential Buildings in Different Climate Zones

by Muhammad Usman and Georg Frey

Sustainability 2022, 14(1), 65; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010065 - 22 Dec 2021

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3097

Abstract

The comprehensive approach for a building envelope design involves building performance simulations, which are time-consuming and require knowledge of complicated processes. In addition, climate variation makes the selection of these parameters more complex. The paper aims to establish guidelines for determining a single-family household’s unique optimal passive design in various climate zones worldwide. For this purpose, a bi-objective optimization is performed for twenty-four locations in twenty climates by coupling TRNSYS and a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-III) using the Python program. The optimization process generates Pareto fronts of thermal load and investment cost to identify the optimum design options for the insulation level of the envelope, window aperture for passive cooling, window-to-wall ratio (WWR), shading fraction, radiation-based shading control, and building orientation. The goal is to find a feasible trade-off between thermal energy demand and the cost of thermal insulation. This is achieved using multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) through criteria importance using intercriteria correlation (CRITIC) and the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The results demonstrate that an optimal envelope design remarkably improves the thermal load compared to the base case of previous envelope design practices. However, the weather conditions strongly influence the design parameters. The research findings set a benchmark for energy-efficient household envelopes in the investigated climates. The optimal solution sets also provide a criterion for selecting the ranges of envelope design parameters according to the space heating and cooling demands of the climate zone. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buildings of Tomorrow: Goals and Challenges for Design and Operation of High-Performance Buildings)

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29 pages, 5498 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Retrofitting Building Envelope Using Phase Change Materials and Aerogel Render for Adaptation to Extreme Heatwave: A Multi-Objective Analysis Considering Heat Stress, Energy, Environment, and Cost

by Dileep Kumar, Morshed Alam and Jay G. Sanjayan

Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10716; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910716 - 27 Sep 2021

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3909

Abstract

Energy retrofitting the existing building stock is crucial to reduce thermal discomfort, energy consumption, and carbon emissions. However, insulating and enhancing the thermal mass of an existing building wall using traditional methods is a very challenging and expensive task. There is a need to develop a material that can be applied easily in an existing occupied building without much interruption to occupants’ daily life while also having high thermal resistance and heat storage capacity. This study aimed to investigate a potential building wall retrofit strategy combining aerogel render and Phase change materials (PCM) because aerogel render is highly resistive to heat and PCM has high thermal mass. While a number of studies investigated the thermal and energy-saving performances of aerogel render and PCM separately, no study has been done on the thermal and energy-saving performance of the combination of PCM and aerogel render. In this study, the performance of 12 different retrofit strategies, including aerogel and PCM, were evaluated numerically in terms of heat stress, energy savings, peak cooling, emission, and lifecycle cost using a typical single-story Australian house. The results showed that applying aerogel render and PCM on the outer side of the external walls and PCM and insulation in ceilings is the best option considering all performance indicators and ease of application. Compared to the baseline, this strategy reduced severe discomfort hours by 82% in a free-running building. In an air-conditioned building, it also decreased energy use, peak cooling demand, CO₂ emission, and operational energy cost by 40%, 65%, 64%, and 35%, respectively. Although the lifecycle cost savings for this strategy were lower than the “insulated ceiling and rendered wall without PCM” case, the former one was considered the best option for its superior energy, emission, and comfort performance. Parametric analysis showed that 0.025 m is the optimum thickness for both PCM and aerogel render, and the 25 °C melting point PCM was optimum to achieve the best results amongst all performance indicators for a typical Australian house in Melbourne climate. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buildings of Tomorrow: Goals and Challenges for Design and Operation of High-Performance Buildings)

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21 pages, 2016 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Review of White Roofing Materials and Emerging Economies with Focus on Energy Performance Cost-Benefit, Maintenance, and Consumer Indifference

by Fadye Al Fayad, Wahid Maref and Mohamed M. Awad

Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9967; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179967 - 6 Sep 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5315

Abstract

This article performed a comprehensive review of the different state-of-the-art of roofing technologies and roofing materials and their impact on the urban heat island (UHI) and energy consumption of buildings. The building roofs are the main sources of undesirable heat for buildings, especially in warm climates. This paper discusses the use and application of white roofing material in emerging economies. The use of white roofing material is a suggestion because of its cooling, evaporative and efficiency characteristics compared to traditional black roofing materials. Many research studies have shown that the darker roofing surfaces that are prevalent in many urban areas actually can increase temperature by 1 to 3 degrees Celsius to the environment surrounding these urban areas. Additionally, improved temperature control and heat reflection also work to reduce the energy requirements for the interior spaces of the structures that have white roofing surfaces. The white or lighter colored roofs tend to reflect a part of the solar radiation that strikes the roof’s surface. Consequently, one might believe that white roofing material would be commonplace and especially so within emerging economies. Yet, this is hardly the case at all. This paper examines the issue of white roofing materials in emerging economies from a dual perspective. The dual perspective includes the technical details of white roofing material and its impact on lowering the interior temperature of the affected structures, which consequently reduces hours of indoor thermal discomfort and use of air conditioners in indoor spaces. The other element in this study, however, involves the marketing aspect of white roofing material. This includes its adoption, acceptance and cost-benefit in emerging economies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buildings of Tomorrow: Goals and Challenges for Design and Operation of High-Performance Buildings)

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20 pages, 3010 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Shape Factor on Energy Demand, CO₂ Emissions and Energy Cost of Residential Buildings in Cold Oceanic Climates: Case Study of South Chile

by Manuel Carpio and David Carrasco

Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9491; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179491 - 24 Aug 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2219

Abstract

The increase in energy consumption that occurs in the residential sector implies a higher consumption of natural resources and, therefore, an increase in pollution and a degradation of the ecosystem. An optimal use of materials in the thermal envelope, together with efficient measures in the passive architectural design process, translate into lower energy demands in residential buildings. The objective of this study is to analyse and compare, through simulating different models, the impact of the shape factor on energy demand and CO₂ emissions depending on the type of construction solution used in the envelope in a cold oceanic climate in South Chile. Five models with different geometries were considered based on their relationship between exposed surface and volume. Additionally, three construction solutions were chosen so that their thermal transmittance gradually complied with the values required by thermal regulations according to the climatic zone considered. Other parameters were equally established for all simulations so that their comparison was objective. Ninety case studies were obtained. Research has shown that an appropriate design, considering a shape factor suitable below 0.767 for the type of cold oceanic climate, implies a decrease in energy demand, which increased when considering architectural designs in the envelope with high values of thermal resistance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buildings of Tomorrow: Goals and Challenges for Design and Operation of High-Performance Buildings)

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17 pages, 2602 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Exploring Climate-Change Impacts on Energy Efficiency and Overheating Vulnerability of Bioclimatic Residential Buildings under Central European Climate

by Luka Pajek and Mitja Košir

Sustainability 2021, 13(12), 6791; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126791 - 16 Jun 2021

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 4378

Abstract

Climate change is expected to expose the locked-in overheating risk concerning bioclimatic buildings adapted to a specific past climate state. The study aims to find energy-efficient building designs which are most resilient to overheating and increased cooling energy demands that will result from ongoing climate change. Therefore, a comprehensive parametric study of various passive building design measures was implemented, simulating the energy use of each combination for a temperate climate of Ljubljana, Slovenia. The approach to overheating vulnerability assessment was devised and applied using the increase in cooling energy demand as a performance indicator. The results showed that a B1 heating energy efficiency class according to the Slovenian Energy Performance Certificate classification was the highest attainable using the selected passive design parameters, while the energy demand for heating is projected to decrease over time. In contrast, the energy use for cooling is in general projected to increase. Furthermore, it was found that, in building models with higher heating energy use, low overheating vulnerability is easier to achieve. However, in models with high heating energy efficiency, very high overheating vulnerability is not expected. Accordingly, buildings should be designed for current heating energy efficiency and low vulnerability to future overheating. The paper shows a novel approach to bioclimatic building design with global warming adaptation integrated into the design process. It delivers recommendations for the energy-efficient, robust bioclimatic design of residential buildings in the Central European context, which are intended to guide designers and policymakers towards a resilient and sustainable built environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buildings of Tomorrow: Goals and Challenges for Design and Operation of High-Performance Buildings)

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Review

Jump to: Research, Other

29 pages, 3399 KiB

Open AccessReview

Advancement on Thermal Comfort in Educational Buildings: Current Issues and Way Forward

by Giulia Lamberti, Giacomo Salvadori, Francesco Leccese, Fabio Fantozzi and Philomena M. Bluyssen

Sustainability 2021, 13(18), 10315; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810315 - 15 Sep 2021

Cited by 53 | Viewed by 8484

Abstract

The thermal environment in educational buildings is crucial to improve students’ health and productivity, as they spend a considerable amount of time in classrooms. Due to the complexity of educational buildings, research performed has been heterogeneous and standards for thermal comfort are based on office studies with adults. Moreover, they rely on single dose-response models that do not account for interactions with other environmental factors, or students’ individual preferences and needs. A literature study was performed on thermal comfort in educational buildings comprising of 143 field studies, to identify all possible confounding parameters involved in thermal perception. Educational stage, climate zone, model adopted to investigate comfort, and operation mode were then selected as confounding parameters and discussed to delineate the priorities for future research. Results showed that children often present with different thermal sensations than adults, which should be considered in the design of energy-efficient and comfortable educational environments. Furthermore, the use of different models to analyse comfort can influence field studies’ outcomes and should be carefully investigated. It is concluded that future studies should focus on a more rational evaluation of thermal comfort, also considering the effect that local discomfort can have on the perception of an environment. Moreover, it is important to carefully assess possible relationships between HVAC systems, building envelope, and thermal comfort, including their effect on energy consumption. Since several studies showed that the perception of the environment does not concern thermal comfort only, but it involves the aspects of indoor air, acoustic, and visual quality, their effect on the health and performance of the students should be assessed. This paper provides a way forward for researchers, which should aim to have an integrated approach through considering the positive effects of indoor exposure while considering possible individual differences. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buildings of Tomorrow: Goals and Challenges for Design and Operation of High-Performance Buildings)

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Other

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22 pages, 2618 KiB

Open AccessSystematic Review

Variables That Affect Thermal Comfort and Its Measuring Instruments: A Systematic Review

by Tamara Mamani, Rodrigo F. Herrera, Felipe Muñoz-La Rivera and Edison Atencio

Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1773; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031773 - 4 Feb 2022

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 3730

Abstract

Thermal comfort can impact the general behavior of the occupants, and considering that humans currently perform 90% of their daily work indoors, it is necessary to improve the accuracy of thermal comfort assessments, and a correct selection of variables could make this possible. However, no review integrates all the variables that could influence thermal comfort evaluation, which relates them to their respective capture devices. For this reason, this research identifies all the variables that influence the thermal comfort of a building, together with the measurement tools for these variables, evaluating the relevance of each one in the research carried out to date. For this purpose, a systematic literature review was carried out by analyzing a set of articles selected under certain defined inclusion/exclusion criteria. In this way, it became evident that the most used variables to measure thermal comfort are the same as those used by the predicted mean vote (PMV) model; however, research focused on the behavior of the occupants has focused on new variables that seek to respond to individual differences in human thermal perception. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buildings of Tomorrow: Goals and Challenges for Design and Operation of High-Performance Buildings)

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