energy efficiency

This article presents a simulation study comparing the thermal interior comfort performance, the energy consumption and the efficiency of (i) nighttime ventilation concepts considering varying air change rates, (ii) three thermo-active building systems (TABS) and (iii) ceiling mounted radiant cooling panels in a low energy office building for a chosen climate of the Test Reference Year (TRY) weather database as well as for the hot summer 2003 in South-West Germany.

There is an increasing demand for energy efficient and environment-friendly buildings with a high  thermal comfort. On the other hand, the Kyoto protocol binds the developed countries to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases at least by 5% by 2008-2012.

The paper discusses the concept of an adaptive thermal comfort design methodology and its impact on the selection, design and performance of climate control systems for large public spaces with transient occupancy in hot and humid climates. It outlines the design methodology which is based on providing localised comfort conditions to zones within a building based on its occupancy patterns, activity of occupants and acceptable thermal comfort criteria. The methodology focuses on quantifying the collective impact of space operating parameters on the thermal comfort of its occupants.

Taking into account Mediterranean climate particularities for Barcelona, Spain, a whole year study using TAS simulation software was carried out for a Double Skin Façade corporative office building. It is a typical office building with an extended working hours schedule for acclimatization.

This paper discusses a combination of a dynamic thermal model (HTB2) and a regional energy and emission auditing tool (Energy and environmental prediction model) to analyze the energy efficiency potential of different design strategies, in new or renovated projects. The main aim of the model is to enable decision-makers and other sectors in built environment to predict and account for energy use within a region so that overall strategies and schemes could be made beforehand to reduce energy and carbon dioxide emissions.

Cool roof is a well-documented passive cooling strategy for buildings in several climate conditions. The mechanism consists of the reduction of the heat load entering the roof, which is characterized by high solar reflectance and high thermal emittance. The purpose of this paper is to study the coupled effect produced by such a technology. First, the passive cooling contribution is quantified, then, the “active” contribution is investigated.

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.

Rejection of solar gains is the aim of passive cooling strategies in any type of building and any climatic region. The extent of cool materials usefulness is dependent on the severity of external conditions and internal heat gains. The aim of the present paper is to underline the contribution of an innovative cool fluorocarbon coating in the reduction of energy demand for cooling in an industrial building with increased heat gains under temperate climatic conditions. The material is tested using accelerated weathering procedures and its optical properties, i.e.

The present article deals with the energy classification and the environmental evaluation of the school buildings in Greece. The energy performance of the school buildings, in relation to the normalized annual consumption for heating regarding floor area and climatic conditions, was rated using clustering technique (K-means algorithm) and an energy classification tool developed. The audited school buildings were classified into five energy categories.

The stock housing of England (UK) constitutes the oldest housing stocks in the world. Indeed, 63 per cent of all dwellings were built before 1960s and thus most of the people in the UK live in an old house or at least a house that is more than 50 years old. The most common dwelling types in the UK are the semi-detached and terraced houses, and particularly within deprived communities. In deprived communities, houses suffer from poor indoor conditions and building standards of energy performance.