energy consumption

A new set of climatic data for different kinds of calculations has been compiled for various Swiss localities. This includes the generation of new design reference year data sets with hourly values for e.g. building simulations. The procedure conforms to a set of new European standards describing the algorithms. One key element in this is the processing of solar radiation information, especially for the separation into direct and diffuse components. The most advanced methodology was used.

The paper focuses on the assessment of indoor comfort and the energy consumption in a University building, during winter and summer time. The examined building belongs to the Cyprus University of Technology, it is located in coastal city of Limassol and it is used for teaching and offices. The main aim of the paper is to make a comparative study of the occupants’ behaviour and its effects on the building’s energy consumption, as well as on the indoor thermal and optical comfort, between winter and summer season.  

The aim of this paper is to present an advanced controller for artificial lights developed and tested using validated light models for several rooms in two European Hospitals located in Chania, Greece and Ancona, Italy respectively. Fuzzy techniques have been used for the architecture of the controller. The efficiency of the controllers has been tested using validated models of the RADIANCE back-wards ray tracing model.

Universities’ campuses can be viewed as small communities considering their size, users and mixed complex activities. The energy and environmental impact caused by universities due to activities and operations in teaching and research could be considerably reduced by an effective choice of organizational and managerial measures. In addition, there is considerable room for improvement and research potential in energy management, when leaving from the single building aspect and moving towards a “district” approach, where a set of different buildings and outdoor spaces are considered.

This research aims to investigate, analyse and characterize the relation between the economic crisis and energy consumption in Greece. A survey held in the spring and summer of 2012 collected data of the heating energy consumption for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, from 598 households via a questionnaire. Comparing the 2010-11 winter to the harsher winter of 2011-12 showed that inhabitants consumed less energy during the winter of 2011- 12 because of the rapid economic degradation.

In Spain, the residential sector is the third principal source of energy consumption; many of these dwellings are obsolete and do not have optimal conditions of comfort. For this reason, their energy retrofitting means an enormous step towards the energy efficiency. Under the general intervention strategies, the study and analysis of the air-tightness of the building envelope (as measured by the degree of infiltration) is a fundamental factor, because of its impact on energy efficiency, thermal comfort of occupants and indoor air quality.

Recently, insulation retrofits of existing houses have been thought to be one of the effective measures from the viewpoint of global warming prevention. However, the overall reduction effects of environmental loads by the insulation retrofits have not yet been clarified. This study intends to accumulate basic data concerning the insulation retrofits and to promote the energy saving of existing houses. 

The objective of this paper is to summarize results of two studies that compared Baseline, ENERGY STAR® and Guaranteed Performance homes co-located in Phoenix, Arizona, USA and determine if homes in these three groups could be distinguished from each other in terms of actual summer/cooling energy usage or homeowner satisfaction related to the HVAC systems. The summer/cooling energy use study surveyed 7,141 houses, of which 3,336 were Baseline homes, 2,979 were ENERGY STAR homes and 826 were Guaranteed Performance homes.

This paper focuses on ventilation solutions of a net zero energy building. We present the monitoring results after two years as part of the PHD programme research “Design, simulation and control of hybrid ventilation systems in high energy performances buildings” founded by Elithis Groupe in parternship with the LEPTIAB of La Rochelle.

The control strategy for mechanical ventilation systems has significant impact on the performance of the system, in terms of energy consumption and correct air distribution. This paper presents a static pressure reset control system employing a new type of flow damper with lower pressure loss for use in low pressure ventilation systems. The flow damper has a droplet shape that minimizes turbulence generation and the resulting pressure loss. The performance of the damper was examined by making measurements of pressure loss and airflow.