The scope of the program SUBURET is to develop tools and design methods for advanced retrofit, to demonstrate successful retrofit concepts and to perform a technical and social evaluation.
The aim of that study was to demonstrate the potential to design buildings that can simultaneously improve indoor environmental quality along with a reduction of energy. In that order 4 energy-efficient relocatable classrooms were designed and constructed, each equipped with two different HVAC systems (heat-pump air-conditioning system and an energy-efficient indirect/direct evaporative cooler). Results are presented.
The objective of the annex 34 was to develop HVAC fault detection and diagnosis tools, which are closed to commercial products. The approach was to design a number of different computer based demonstration systems that could be interfaced to HVAC processes in buildings. By monitoring the operation of these demonstration systems, researchers were able to test a variety of fault detection and diagnosis methods and technique in a real environment, find possible shortcomings and obtain new ideas for further development.
In the frame of the IEA Future Buildings Forum, a workshop was held January 15 -17 2003 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The goal of the proposed workshop was to discuss and to decide upon an international collaboration to promote a program for advanced retrofit of existing buildings and community systems.
The proposed topics dealing with energy conservation and renewable energy use in retrofit buildings were:
The objective of the BRITA in PuBS proposal on Ecobuildings is an increasing of the market penetration of innovative and effective retrofit solutions to improve energy efficiency and implement renewables, with moderate additional costs.
The design for the new Federal Building for San Francisco includes an office tower that is to be naturally ventilated. Each floor is designed to be cross-ventilated, through upper windows that are controlled by the building management system (BMS). Users have control over lower windows, which can be as much as 50% of the total operable area. There are significant differences in the performance and the control of the windward and leeward sides of the building, and separate monitoring and control strategies are determined for each side.
During the cold seasons, it is possible to use ambient air to cool down the coolants in air-conditioning or other refrigeration applications. Applying this free cooling reduces the energy costs of a refrigeration machine. This paper presents a general method for the economically optimal dimensioning of a free cooling system in which a heat exchanger of the counterflow or crossflow type is applied to the heat transfer between the ambient air and the coolant.
Ventilation and comfort assessment of buildings is not a new practice in post occupancy evaluation (POE) of buildings. Most evaluations have been based on perceived assessments by the occupants collated through questionnaires asking for a Yes/No response or qualitative scale rating. While this study does not deal with a POE survey, it was initiated by the lack of comfort and overheating complaints of the occupants of the subject university building.
In highly insulated residential buildings, complying with the Passive House Standard, the space heat demand can be covered by air heating at air flow rates given by air quality requirements, without the need for additional air re-circulation or for a water heating system. The air distribution system is kept compact. In a common concept the supply air terminal is located above the door to the corridor. Such configurations were evaluated for typical air transfer devices and extreme supply temperatures.
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