ENERGY AND BUILDINGS (original) (raw)
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Energy Conservation in Buildings – a Review
International Journal of Energy Engineering, 2015
The primary function of a building is to provide thermally comfortable environment to its occupants. A good indoor climate is important for the success of any building, not only because it will make its occupants comfortable, but also because it will decide its energy consumption, and thus influences its sustainability. A literature review of over 100 research papers, in four areas in the field of Energy Conservation in Buildings, i.e. (i) Climate Responsive Buildings, (ii) Analysis, Simulation and Modelling, (iii) Zero Energy Buildings and (iv) Thermal Comfort, were conducted in order to obtain a valid research topic. The findings of the literature survey is presented in this paper which include issue wise discussion, solution approaches used by various researchers, strengths, weaknesses and future scope of work in the four issues pertaining to energy conservation in buildings. Out of the several identified lag, it was felt that there was a dearth of field studies based thermal comfort research in India, which is essential for the correct definition of building codes. Proper building codes are required not only for providing comfort condition but also to conserve energy. Hence field studies based thermal comfort study was considered for further research study. Thus, this paper summarizes the researches about Climate Responsive Buildings, Analysis, Simulation and Modelling, Zero Energy Buildings and Thermal Comfort. It also concludes the methodology of these researches in above four fields, and gives further work suggestions.
Nowadays, debates addressing climate change, fossil fuels depletion and energy security highlight the need for a more sustainable built environment in order to reduce energy consumption and emission trends in the buildings sector. Meeting these targets is a challenge that calls for innovative research to improve the use of renewable energy sources, new technologies, and holistic tools and methodologies. Such research should integrate the dynamics and main drivers of energy supply and demand in buildings to support new policies, plans and actions towards lowering the built environment burdens. This paper brings together ten research topics concerning the energy and environmental performance of buildings, which can support a shift towards a more sustainable built environment. Background information and state of the art literature on the covered research topics is briefly summarized, gaps are identified and guidelines for future research are provided. The selected topics cover different stages along the lifetime of buildings (from design and operation, to retrofitting and end-of-life), different scale approaches (from building elements/components, to the building, district and urban scales), and different methods to assess the energy and environmental performance of buildings (life-cycle assessment, generative design methods and retrofitting tools). Other topics are discussed such as: nearly zero-energy buildings, the control of domestic energy resources in smart grid scenarios, the need to include end-users' behaviors in the dynamics of energy demand, the advantages of improving thermal storage by using phase change materials, the importance of reducing heating and cooling energy demand (maintaining indoor thermal comfort), and the optimization of heating and cooling fluids, and their system control.
Energy performance of buildings : bridging the gap between research and practice
2016
A method to bridge the gap between research and practice, as far as estimation of the building envelope Heat Loss Coefficient is concerned, is to perform measurement of indoor temperature profiles during unoccupied periods when the solar heat gains are sufficient to reach significant indoor-outdoor temperature differences. An observation of indoor temperature profiles was conducted during summer 2014 in a passive house located in Belgium. The observation includes periods with and without occupancy. Occupants were asked to describe their behavior regarding windows opening, closing of external blinds, opening of internal doors. Electric devices were listed and the electricity consumption profile was characterized during occupancy and no occupancy. A calibration process is performed in order to reproduce the global heat balance of the whole building and the zone by zone heat balance. The calibrated model provides an estimation of the Building Heat Loss Coefficient. The influence of the...
Energy efficiency in buildings research perspectives and trends
Thermal Science, 2018
The 1st International Conference on Buildings, Energy, Systems, and Technology (BEST 2016), was held in Belgrade, Serbia, on November 2-4,2016. This conference was an opportunity to bring together experts with different skills around the theme of building performance. It covered different aspects (technology, energy, environment, and economy), different scales (from the urban to the building level, including the built environment up to the single technical building systems), and different phases of the building process (from urban planning to building design, up to construction and management). This Special issue contains extended versions of some selected papers presented at BEST 2016, which went through a blind peer review of international experts. The present Editorial introduces the topics of the BEST 2016 and the contents of this Special issue. The focus of the Editorial is the theme of energy efficiency improvement in buildings; it provides an overview of state-of-the-art and ...
A REVIEW OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
This seminar describes the energy efficiency in residential buildings focusing on the prevailing factors such as indoor climate, design and locations, heating and ventilations, technical operation and user behavior/attitudes. It aim at studying various researches done on building efficiency and the important parameters affecting the efficiency of such buildings with the sole objective of understanding the different views and thoughts from past researches concerning the subject matter and hence provide suitable ways of enhancing the energy efficiency of residential building methods. From the review, it was discovered that energy efficient buildings are often rated better than conventional buildings on indoor climate, and heating, but when investigating more thoroughly, the users have different concerns. However, inefficiency may also arise as a result of inappropriate use, perceived personal control and sufficient information on operation and use is crucial for an overall positive efficiency of a building.
Need of Energy Conservation Measures in Existing Residential Buildings
India, like many countries is an emerging economy which is urbanising rapidly. The construction sector plays a vital role in this economic growth and development but exerts a lot of environmental pressure. The sector is a huge consumer of resources as well as a generator of pollutants during the construction as well as the operation phase. The building sector consumes 30% of the total electricity consumption out of which 72% is consumed by the residential sector. New residential buildings are constructed by incorporating measures of energy efficiency as well as use of renewable energy but existing residential buildings are often neglected in the energy efficiency debate. India's existing residential buildings have a great potential and opportunities in reducing the total energy consumption. Thus the aim of the research is to understand the energy usage of the existing residential buildings and the need of energy conservation measures for the same. The existing residential building stock in Pune was identified and studied for its energy usage. Different typologies of residential buildings based on area was identified and its energy usage pattern was studied from the energy bills for one year. As these buildings will continue to consume the same amount of energy (or more) and are here to stay for at least 30-40 more years, it becomes a matter of great concern. Furthermore, the EPI (Energy Performance Index) are calculated for the selected samples and compared with the EPI of a Green Rated building. Analysis is led to the understanding of energy efficiency achieved in these buildings. The research emphasizes on the need to improve the existing residential buildings and prioritizes the methods of energy efficiency upgrades.