English

People spend around 90% of their time in buildings while about 40% of primary energy needs are due to buildings. That is why the present paper deals with a method allowing identifying and assessing the energy impact of a building on the electricity grid. Thanks to the wide range of building models we developed and fuzzy logic contribution, the results we obtained in simulation validate the proposed impact indicator.

With the rising individual demand for energy as well as the diminishing fossil energy resources, new opti-mized concepts for energy supply and usage are re-quired for future buildings. To address these chal-lenges, renewable energy sources and decentralized storage are matters of rapidly growing importance.  Electric mobility concepts and electrical vehicles address these challenges but provide additional requirements due to power and energy demands.

The sensitivity of a real (under construction) UK school building’s energy consumption to input parameters was investigated using IES Virtual Environment.  Differential sensitivity analysis and Monte Carlo analysis were conducted for two base models, one set at 2006 Building Regulation standards and one at Passivhaus certification level.  Heated temperature and envelope specification were the dominant factors governing energy consumption for the Building Regulation model, while for the Passivhaus model occupancy parameters and class equipment load were most important.

An alternative to using numerical simulation to model ventilation performance is to model internal air flows using water-based experimental models. However, these can be time consuming and the manual nature of model assembly means that exploring detail and design variations is often prohibitively expensive. Additive, or Rapid manufacturing processes can build physical models directly from 3D-CAD data and is widely used in product development within the aero-automotive and consumer goods industries.

The achievement of sustainable goals in the home environment demands an optimized management of electricity loads from the control side.The present work proposes a control approach based on an appropriate load definition, context awareness regarding user behaviours and the persuasive capabili-ties of pervasive systems. Beyond further benefits, the main aim is focused on the improvement of the elas-ticity of the electricity market.In order to check the proposal, some simulations com-paring common users and “optimized” users are per-formed.

This document is a case study of the design and construction of a 30,000 sq.m office tower that has achieved an excellent energy efficiency outcome close to the simulated potential when modelled with actual weather data. The design features and processes contributing to the result have been considered.  Some of the lessons learnt throughout the simulation and results reconciliation work have been articulated to promote interchange of ideas and experiences amongst simulation practitioners.

The William McCormack Place Stage 2 (WMP2) building is located in Cairns, North Queensland. The climate is classified as tropical equatorial, hot and humid. It is a government tenanted office building comprising 9 levels and just over 9500 m2 net lettable area (NLA). This paper summarises the key strategies employed in the HVAC systems and discusses the thermal and CFD modelling involved during the design stage to optimise the building’s environmental performance.

Infiltration is rarely considered a critical factor in AC design. Purposed built buildings such as libraries or shopping centres with dynamic occupants may prove otherwise. The main access to Macquarie University Library is through three large doors in the foyer. Infiltration/exfiltration rates through these doors warranted a careful analysis for its HVAC design and sizing. The Airflow Network model in EnergyPlus was utilised to simulate the bulk air flow throughout the whole building driven by the inflow/outflow through these doors with wind-tunnel-tested wind pressure coefficients.

This paper outlines a methodology for determining the thermal performance of a complex ventilated glazed facade system through desktop analysis and computer simulation.There is a limited amount of published work on the overall thermal performance values of complex doubled skin facades with a ventilated cavity between the facade layers.

Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation (CFD) has been mainly used for building scientists as an analysis tool to assess the complex phenomenon of building physics. It has recently been used as a design support tool. However, its utilization in the later phase of design restricts the applicability, mainly due to the lack of integration with geometry software application and optimization. This paper explores a method to integrate CFD with NURBS Modelling program (CAD) to optimize the building form in order to reduce the adverse wind.