English

This paper presents a case study of a typically poor energy performing factory building singled outfrom nation-wide study on factory buildings for improving energy performance. Short term energymonitoring has shown that lighting system is the main energy consumer of landlord area energyusage in these naturally ventilated factory buildings. It aims to maximize significant energyperformance upgrading opportunities in the lighting system and explore the use of photovoltaics toachieve low-energy factory buildings.

Nowadays energy performance is an increasing concern to sustainable urban planning because of itsimplications in energy consumption patterns. Interactions between urban form and urban microclimatehas been broadly studied from large scale such as the city as a whole through heat island studies.However urban planning needs to be addressed at local scale as well.The purpose of the work is to study experimentally thermal conditions on outdoor spaces within theurban fabric at neighbourhood scale in Santiago city, Chile.

Vegetation on the building envelope can have a marked effect on the microclimate and on the building’s energy behavior as well. In this paper, the impact of planted roofs on the thermal load of buildings is presented. Based on measurements and a series of

This work proposes a mathematical dynamic modeling of a PV-T bi-fluids collector prototype that willpermit electricity production and preheating air and/or hot water production.This study is realised in a bi-dimensional geometry according to some assumptions. The collector is discretizedalong the flow and the collector slope is taking into account in the radiative transfers equations.

The Singular Strategic Project called Bioclimatic Architecture and Solar Cooling, ARFRISOL (ARquitectura bioclimática y FRIo SOLar, in Spanish), has been promoted and supported by Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (MEC). This project plans to save

This paper introduces a new approach for the prediction of hourly energy consumption inbuildings. The proposed method uses nonlinear timeseries analysis techniques for thereconstruction of energy consumption timeseries and the estimation of the dynamicinvariants, and artificial neural networks as a nonlinear modeling tool.Among the several neural network modeling factors that affect time-series prediction, themost important are the window-size and the sampling lags for the data.

The utilization factor is a relative well-known concept used in some simplified calculation methodssuch as the procedure described in the CEN EN-13790 where the FU depends on the inertia of thezone. In this paper we will analyse the inertia influence of each component of the zone in the inertia ofthe zone itself. With the results of this study, we will be able to know where to act if we desire to ariseor diminish the whole thermal inertia of a room. The present paper starts analysing the energy storedand released in building components as walls.

Multi-layers polycarbonate panels are naturally good thermal insulation materials. But their thermalinsulation can be significantly improved if they are used in pairs, as in double glazing, and if the spacebetween them is filled with a product aimed at blocking air movement but keeping a very visualtransmittance. Such a product has been designed, with a U-value close from 0.65W/m2.K. The finalmaterial is however translucent, and not transparent. It appears attractive to use it as a component ofexternal walls or ceiling.

Active solar heating was a favorite topic after the first energy crisis. Usage for space heating, however,proved to be completely uneconomic. Domestic hot water systems, instead, retained attention. Theycan be used year-around and have a much larger share in the hot water energy bill than space heatingsystems have in the heating bill. Of course, in the past, energy use for domestic hot water wasonly a fraction of the energy needed for space heating.

Unsteady natural convection in a rectangular enclosure with a vertical saturated porous wall is studiednumerically. The governing equations using Boussinesq approximation for the treatment of buoyancyterm in the momentum equation and the Darcy model are expressed using the stream functionvorticityformulation. Equations are discretized with the implicite finite-difference method. Thomasalgorithm and Gauss-Seidel method are used to solve the resultant algebraic system equations.Results are presented in terms of streamlines, isotherms and isoconcentrations.