building envelope

The new European regulations on energy saving were aimed at a reduction in consumption in the winter phase. This caused even warm countries such as Italy to use envelopes optimised for the winter phase only which are nevertheless unsuitable to the other seasons. The research was developed in order to understand the total yearly behaviour of different envelopes in Mediterranean climates. It started from a real case subject to: (i) monitoring; (ii) simulation of the as-built state for tuning up the software (ENERGYPLUS); (iii) parametric analysis.

In this paper, a 3-floors building with capacious spaces was introduced. It has unique shape and all-glass envelope, which worsens the thermotechnical performance of the envelope, deteriorates the indoor thermal comfort. By simulation, the indoor thermal environment of this building can be obtained.

A computer system for enabling designers and entrepreneurs a simple, convenient and quick manner to select different building technologies for the building's envelope is presented. The selection is achieved by examining the profitability of each alternative, while presenting its performance ability on the basis of a large number of criteria. This paper looks at the application of multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques in the assessment of environmentally sensitive construction methods.

This study examined the effect of building envelope on thermal comfort. The effects of key energy conservation measures, such as window/wall ratio, transmittance of fenestration glass and shading devices, were studied. The output from EnergyPlus was use to predict their influence on thermal comfort. Standard energy conserving measures proposed by ENVLOAD to reduce indoor thermal discomfort and cooling energy consumption were examined.

The urban climate of high-density areas is often affected by an increase of the air temperature known as Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon. 
UHI is strongly influenced by the solar reflectance of conventional materials used for building envelope and urban coatings, i.e. streets and square pavings. 
The present work proposes an original method to predict the temperature of both facades and local air mass on urban scenarios. The effect of changes on coatings may also be estimated.  

by space and water heating. The high costs of energy are a national matter not only for their economic and environmental implications, but also because they contribute largely to a social problem, known as fuel poverty. The cost of heating the housing stock is rather high for different reasons, one of each being the heat loss through the building envelope. The thermal performance of existing buildings can be increased in two ways: by adding insulation to external fabric, and by reducing the unintended air leaks of the envelope.

In buildings, favorable growing conditions for mold fungi can occur and cause fungusinfestation. The danger for the occupants of dwellings lies in the spreading of pathogensthrough microorganisms. Mold fungi can occur not only on the surface of external walls, butalso inside construction parts. A prerequisite for preventing mold fungus is the knowledge ofthe transient building physical boundary conditions under which fungus growth takes place.The decisive parameters of influence like temperature, humidity and substrate have to beavailable over a certain period of time simultaneously.

This paper presents an analysis of the transient thermal performance of dynamic insulation. A modelbased on heat transfer through porous media is introduced, considering two types of boundaryconditions: (1) indoor temperature and outdoor temperature are constant; (2) indoor temperature isconstant while outdoor temperature changes. By solving the model numerically, it is found that for thefirst kind of boundary condition, the temperature profile in the wall will reach steady-state within onehour, when the porosity is high.

The paper concerns the definition of guidelines in the design of a new urban settlement, based on system energy utilization and building environmental impacts and sustainability improvement. The study refers to a 160000 m2 area sited on the outskirts of Carmagnola, a city close to Torino, where the municipality decided to locate about 1260000 m3 of commercial buildings: offices, shopping centres, a trade fair area, a cattle market, a multi-hall cinema, hotels, restaurants, industrial sheds.

International building legislation is setting stronger and stronger requirements for the energy performance of buildings. The most recent example is the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive in the European Union. The improved energy performance of buildings can't be achieved by additional insulation or more effective building systems only. A major influence factor on the energy quality is the ventilation technology and also the airtightness of the building.