Comparison of the energy and environmental impact by integrating a H_2 vehicle and an electric vehicle into a zero-energy building

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao, Sunliang

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Integrating a commercial-scale H_2 vehicle (HV) or electric vehicle (EV) into a ZEB. • Simultaneously fulfilling net-zero energy building and absolute-zero energy vehicle. • Energy performance comparison between the ZEBs with HV, EV, and no vehicle. • The energy matching-enhancing solutions for integrating the HV or EV with the ZEB. • Solutions for improving the matching and relieving the negative impact on the grid. - Abstract: The boundary extension of a zero-energy building to integrate a new energy vehicle will facilitate the realization of the target set by the EU 2050 roadmap. In this study, either a hydrogen vehicle (HV) or an electric vehicle (EV) is integrated into a renewable-supported building system with appropriate control strategies. The focused variables in this study are renewable energy capacities, vehicle system options, extents to utilize vehicle storages for domestic purposes, and the Excess REe-HW recharging strategies. The analysing aspects include the energy and environmental impact as well as the energy matching and the grid interactions. The results show that the annual net-zero energy/emission balance can be met by a 16, 12, and 12 kW rated wind turbine, or by a 195.8, 160.2, and 142.4 m"2 PV, for the building with the HV, the EV and no vehicle (NV), respectively. The building with the HV will be more demanding in meeting the balance due to the less efficient HV system than that with the EV. Moreover, better matching for the zero-energy system can be achieved by relieving the condition to discharge the vehicle storages for domestic usages and by using the Excess REe-HW recharging strategy. However, their negative effect will be a slight increase in the annual net-energy consumption, due to an increased loss from both the HV/EV integrated system and the thermal storage.

The impact of building-integrated photovoltaics on the energy demand of multi-family dwellings in Brazil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ordenes, Martin; Marinoski, Deivis Luis; Braun, Priscila; Ruther, Ricardo

2007-01-01

Brazil faces a continuous increase of energy demand and a decrease of available resources to expand the generation system. Residential buildings are responsible for 23% of the national electricity demand. Thus, it is necessary to search for new energy sources to both diversify and complement the energy mix. Building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) is building momentum worldwide and can be an interesting alternative for Brazil due its solar radiation characteristics. This work analyses the potential of seven BIPV technologies implemented in a residential prototype simulated in three different cities in Brazil (Natal, Brasilia and Florianopolis). Simulations were performed using the software tool EnergyPlus to integrate PV power supply with building energy demand (domestic equipment and HVAC systems). The building model is a typical low-cost residential building for middle-class families, as massively constructed all over the country. Architectural input and heat gain schedules are defined from statistical data (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica - Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and Sistema de Informacoes de Posses de Eletrodomesticos e Habitos de Consumo - Consumer Habits and Appliance Ownership Information System (SIMPHA)). BIPV is considered in all opaque surfaces of the envelope. Results present an interesting potential for decentralized PV power supply even for vertical surfaces at low-latitude sites. In each facade, BIPV power supply can be directly linked to local climatic conditions. In general, for 30% of the year photovoltaic systems generate more energy than building demand, i.e., during this period it could be supplying the energy excess to the public electricity grid. Contrary to the common belief that vertical integration of PV is only suitable for high latitude countries, we show that there is a considerable amount of energy to be harvested from vertical facades at the sites investigated. (Author)

Building Energy Modeling and Control Methods for Optimization and Renewables Integration

Science.gov (United States)

Burger, Eric M.

dynamics within a building by learning from sensor data. Control techniques encompass the application of optimal control theory, model predictive control, and convex distributed optimization to TCLs. First, we present the alternative control trajectory (ACT) representation, a novel method for the approximate optimization of non-convex discrete systems. This approach enables the optimal control of a population of non-convex agents using distributed convex optimization techniques. Second, we present a distributed convex optimization algorithm for the control of a TCL population. Experimental results demonstrate the application of this algorithm to the problem of renewable energy generation following. This dissertation contributes to the development of intelligent energy management systems for buildings by presenting a suite of novel and adaptable modeling and control techniques. Applications focus on optimizing the performance of building operations and on facilitating the integration of renewable energy resources.

The urban wind energy potential for integrated roof wind energy systems based on local building height distributions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blok, R.; Coers, M.D.

2017-01-01

An Integrated Roof Wind Energy System (IRWES) is a roof mounted structure with an internal wind turbine that uses smart aerodynamics to catch and accelerate wind flow. It has been designed for application on (existing) buildings in the urban environment. To estimate the maximum total wind energy

A District Approach to Building Renovation for the Integral Energy Redevelopment of Existing Residential Areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mira Conci

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Building energy renovation quotas are not currently being met due to unfavorable conditions such as complex building regulations, limited investment incentives, historical preservation priorities, and technical limitations. The traditional strategy has been to incrementally lower the energy consumption of the building stock, instead of raising the efficiency of the energy supply through a broader use of renewable sources. This strategy requires an integral redefinition of the approach to energy building renovations. The joint project SWIVT elaborates on a district redevelopment strategy that combines a reduction in the energy demand of existing buildings and their physical interconnection within a local micro-grid and heating network. The district is equipped with energy generation and distribution technologies as well as hybrid thermal and electrical energy storage systems, steered by an optimizing energy management controller. This strategy is explored through three scenarios designed for an existing residential area in Darmstadt, Germany, and benchmarked against measured data. Presented findings show that a total primary energy balance at least 30% lower than that of a standard building renovation can be achieved by a cluster of buildings with different thermal qualities and connected energy generation, conversion, and storage systems, with only minimal physical intervention to existing buildings.

Net positive energy buildings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Romero, A.; Barreiro, E.; Sanchez Zabala, V.

2010-01-01

Buildings are great consumers of energy, being responsible for almost 36% of CO2 emissions in Europe. Though there are many initiatives towards the reduction of energy consumption and CO2 emissions in buildings, many of the alternatives are diminished due to a lack of a unique and holistic approach to the problem. This paper reports a new innovative concept of Positive Energy Buildings (EB+), as well as an integral methodology that covers the overall design process for achieving them. The methodology evaluates energy efficiency solutions at different scales, from building site to generation systems. An educational building design in Navarra serves as a case study to check the feasibility of the proposed methodology. The study concludes that the key to achieve a Positive Energy Building is a minimized energy demand, complemented by efficient facilities and enhanced by distributed power generation from renewable sources. (Author).

Life cycle optimization model for integrated cogeneration and energy systems applications in buildings

Science.gov (United States)

Osman, Ayat E.

Energy use in commercial buildings constitutes a major proportion of the energy consumption and anthropogenic emissions in the USA. Cogeneration systems offer an opportunity to meet a building's electrical and thermal demands from a single energy source. To answer the question of what is the most beneficial and cost effective energy source(s) that can be used to meet the energy demands of the building, optimizations techniques have been implemented in some studies to find the optimum energy system based on reducing cost and maximizing revenues. Due to the significant environmental impacts that can result from meeting the energy demands in buildings, building design should incorporate environmental criteria in the decision making criteria. The objective of this research is to develop a framework and model to optimize a building's operation by integrating congregation systems and utility systems in order to meet the electrical, heating, and cooling demand by considering the potential life cycle environmental impact that might result from meeting those demands as well as the economical implications. Two LCA Optimization models have been developed within a framework that uses hourly building energy data, life cycle assessment (LCA), and mixed-integer linear programming (MILP). The objective functions that are used in the formulation of the problems include: (1) Minimizing life cycle primary energy consumption, (2) Minimizing global warming potential, (3) Minimizing tropospheric ozone precursor potential, (4) Minimizing acidification potential, (5) Minimizing NOx, SO 2 and CO2, and (6) Minimizing life cycle costs, considering a study period of ten years and the lifetime of equipment. The two LCA optimization models can be used for: (a) long term planning and operational analysis in buildings by analyzing the hourly energy use of a building during a day and (b) design and quick analysis of building operation based on periodic analysis of energy use of a building in a

Investigation the Advantages of CPV for Building Integrated PV : 28th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference

NARCIS (Netherlands)

S. van der Craats; R.G. Catau; Piet Sonneveld; J.V. Sahedi; A.R. Sparemberger

2013-01-01

The objective of this concept is a significant reduction of energy consumption in greenhouses and buildings with large facades and windows by using available solar energy. The scope of this investigation is to study the advantages of a building integrated CPV system. The basic idea is that a larger

Results. Building integrated energy supply; Resultater. Bygningsintegreret energiforsyning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jensen, Rasmus L.; Noergaard, J.; Daniels, O.; Justesen, R.O.

2011-08-15

In the future, buildings will not only act as consumers of energy but as producers as well. For these ''prosumers'', energy production by use of solar panels, photovoltaics and heat pumps etc will be essential. The objective of this project was to find the most optimal combinations of building insulation and use of renewable energy sources in existing buildings in terms of economics and climate impacts. Five houses were analyzed based on different personal load, consumption profiles, solar orientation and proposed building envelope improvements and use of combinations of renewable energy systems. The analysis was conducted by making a large number of simulations of which the best combinations were selected. The final result takes form of a single top-50 list with the best combinations of energy systems according to CO{sub 2} emission, energy consumption and economics. The present report contains the conclusions of and comments on the project's results. (ln)

Retrofits for Energy Efficient Office Buildings: Integration of Optimized Photovoltaics in the Form of Responsive Shading Devices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hardi K. Abdullah

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This study presents a retrofit strategy: integrating optimized photovoltaics (PV in the form of responsive shading devices using a dual-axis solar tracking system. A prototype-based model was fabricated to compare the efficiency of PV in this implementation with the conventional fixed installation. The office building, T1 Empire World in Erbil, was selected as a retrofit case study and for the application of the proposed integration system. In order to assess the effectiveness of the proposed retrofit method, the energy performance of the base case is simulated to be compared later with the energy performance simulations after the integration technique. The amount of generated electricity from the PV surfaces of the integrated shading elements is calculated. The energy simulations were performed using OpenStudio® (NREL, Washington, DC, USA, EnergyPlusTM (NREL, Washington, DC, USA, and Grasshopper/ Ladybug tools in which the essential results were recorded for the baseline reference, as well as the energy performance of the retrofitted building. The results emphasize that the PV-integrated responsive shading devices can maximize the efficiency of PV cells by 36.8% in comparison to the fixed installation. The integrated system can provide approximately 15.39% of the electricity demand for operating the building. This retrofit method has reduced the total site energy consumption by 33.2% compared to the existing building performance. Total electricity end-use of the various utilities was lowered by 33.5%, and the total natural gas end-use of heating demand was reduced by 30.9%. Therefore, the percentage reduction in electricity cooling demand in July and August is 42.7% due to minimizing the heat gain in summer through blocking the sun’s harsh rays from penetrating into interior spaces of the building. In general, this system has multiple benefits, starting with being extremely efficient and viable in generating sustainable alternative energy�

Building-integrated PV -- Analysis and US market potential

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frantzis, L.; Hill, S.; Teagan, P.; Friedman, D.

1994-01-01

Arthur D Little, Inc., in conjunction with Solar Design Associates, conducted a study for the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Building Technologies (OBT) to determine the market potential for building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). This study defines BIPV as two types of applications: (1) where the PV modules are an integral part of the building, often serving as the exterior weathering skin, and (2) the PV modules are mounted on the existing building exterior. Both of these systems are fully integrated with the energy usage of the building and have potential for significant market penetration in the US

Technologies for building integrated energy supply; Teknologier for bygningsintegreret energiforsyning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Katic, I.

2011-07-15

The current report is part of the deliverables from the project ''Building Integrated Energy Supply'' supported by the Danish Energy Authority R and D program. It describes a range of technologies for individual supply of heat and/or electricity to dwellings with respect to their stage of development and possible application in the near future. Energy supply of buildings is becoming more and more complex, partly as a result of increasing demands for comfort, efficiency and reduced emissions, partly as a result of rising oil prices and improved competitiveness of alternative energy sources. The days where ordinary boilers were the dominant source of individual supply of dwellings are becoming past these years. The challenge of the new range of technologies lies to a high extent in the fluctuating nature of their energy conversion and their interaction with the supply grids for heat and electricity. There is thus an increasing demand to understand the nature of the different supply technologies, besides a regular update of their economical key figures. The technologies briefly described in this study are: Solar heating, passive solar energy, biofuel boilers, heat pumps, micro CHP, solar photovoltaic and energy storage systems. The selected technologies are all assessed to play an important role in future's mix of supply technologies in Denmark, especially heat pumps and solar. (Author)

Building energy, building leadership : recommendations for the adoption, development, and implementation of a commercial building energy code in Manitoba

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Akerstream, T. [Manitoba Hydro, Winnipeg, MB (Canada); Allard, K. [City of Thompson, Thompson, MB (Canada); Anderson, N.; Beacham, D. [Manitoba Office of the Fire Commissioner, Winnipeg, MB (Canada); Andrich, R. [The Forks North Portage Partnership, MB (Canada); Auger, A. [Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, ON (Canada). Office of Energy Efficiency; Downs, R.G. [Shindico Realty Inc., Winnipeg, MB (Canada); Eastwood, R. [Number Ten Architectural Group, Winnipeg, MB (Canada); Hewitt, C. [SMS Engineering Ltd., Winnipeg, MB (Canada); Joshi, D. [City of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB (Canada); Klassen, K. [Manitoba Dept. of Energy Science and Technology, Winnipeg, MB (Canada); Phillips, B. [Unies Ltd., Winnipeg, MB (Canada); Wiebe, R. [Ben Wiebe Construction Ltd., Winnipeg, MB (Canada); Woelk, D. [Bockstael Construction Ltd., Winnipeg, MB (Canada); Ziemski, S. [CREIT Management LLP, Winnipeg, MB (Canada)

2006-09-15

This report presented a strategy and a set of recommendations for the adoption, development and implementation of an energy code for new commercial construction in Manitoba. The report was compiled by an advisory committee comprised of industry representatives and government agency representatives. Recommendations were divided into 4 categories: (1) advisory committee recommendations; (2) code adoption recommendations; (3) code development recommendations; and (4) code implementation recommendations. It was suggested that Manitoba should adopt an amended version of the Model National Energy Code for Buildings (1997) as a regulation under the Buildings and Mobile Homes Act. Participation in a national initiative to update the Model National Energy Code for Buildings was also advised. It was suggested that the energy code should be considered as the first step in a longer-term process towards a sustainable commercial building code. However, the code should be adopted within the context of a complete market transformation approach. Other recommendations included: the establishment of a multi-stakeholder energy code task group; the provision of information and technical resources to help build industry capacity; the establishment of a process for energy code compliance; and an ongoing review of the energy code to assess impacts and progress. Supplemental recommendations for future discussion included the need for integrated design by building design teams in Manitoba; the development of a program to provide technical assistance to building design teams; and collaboration between post-secondary institutions to develop and deliver courses on integrated building design to students and professionals. 17 refs.

Long term building energy demand for India: Disaggregating end use energy services in an integrated assessment modeling framework

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chaturvedi, Vaibhav; Eom, Jiyong; Clarke, Leon E.; Shukla, Priyadarshi R.

2014-01-01

With increasing population, income, and urbanization, meeting the energy service demands for the building sector will be a huge challenge for Indian energy policy. Although there is broad consensus that the Indian building sector will grow and evolve over the coming century, there is little understanding of the potential nature of this evolution over the longer term. The present study uses a technologically detailed, service based building energy model nested in the long term, global, integrated assessment framework, GCAM, to produce scenarios of the evolution of the Indian buildings sector up through the end of the century. The results support the idea that as India evolves toward developed country per-capita income levels, its building sector will largely evolve to resemble those of the currently developed countries (heavy reliance on electricity both for increasing cooling loads and a range of emerging appliance and other plug loads), albeit with unique characteristics based on its climate conditions (cooling dominating heating and even more so with climate change), on fuel preferences that may linger from the present (for example, a preference for gas for cooking), and vestiges of its development path (including remnants of rural poor that use substantial quantities of traditional biomass). - Highlights: ► Building sector final energy demand in India will grow to over five times by century end. ► Space cooling and appliance services will grow substantially in the future. ► Energy service demands will be met predominantly by electricity and gas. ► Urban centers will face huge demand for floor space and building energy services. ► Carbon tax policy will have little effect on reducing building energy demands

Building-integrated rooftop greenhouses: An energy and environmental assessment in the mediterranean context

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nadal, Ana; Llorach-Massana, Pere; Cuerva, Eva; López-Capel, Elisa; Montero, Juan Ignacio; Josa, Alejandro

2017-01-01

Highlights: • iRTG incorporates urban agriculture into and improves energy efficiency in buildings. • iRTG concept recycles low-grade, waste thermal energy for growing vegetables. • iRTG is an adaptable concept to promotes food security through urban agriculture. • Indoor building climate affects iRTG more than outdoor climatic conditions. • iRTG achieved annual CO_2 and cost savings of 113.8 kg CO_2 (eq)/m"2/yr and 19.63 €/m"2/yr. - Abstract: A sustainable and secure food supply within a low-carbon and resilient infrastructure is encapsulated in several of The United Nations’ 17 sustainable development goals. The integration of urban agriculture in buildings can offer improved efficiencies; in recognition of this, the first south European example of a fully integrated rooftop greenhouse (iRTG) was designed and incorporated into the ICTA-ICP building by the Autonomous University of Barcelona. This design seeks to interchange heat, CO_2 and rainwater between the building and its rooftop greenhouse. Average air temperatures for 2015 in the iRTG were 16.5 °C (winter) and 25.79 °C (summer), making the iRTG an ideal growing environment. Using detailed thermophysical fabric properties, 2015 site-specific weather data, exact control strategies and dynamic soil temperatures, the iRTG was modelled in EnergyPlus to assess the performance of an equivalent ‘freestanding’ greenhouse. The validated result shows that the thermal interchange between the iRTG and the ICTA-ICP building has considerable moderating effects on the iRTG’s indoor climate; since average hourly temperatures in an equivalent freestanding greenhouse would have been 4.1 °C colder in winter and 4.4 °C warmer in summer under the 2015 climatic conditions. The simulation results demonstrate that the iRTG case study recycled 43.78 MWh of thermal energy (or 341.93 kWh/m"2/yr) from the main building in 2015. Assuming 100% energy conversion efficiency, compared to freestanding greenhouses

Energy policy for integrating the building environmental performance model of an air conditioned building in a subtropical climate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mui, K.W.

2006-01-01

For an air conditioned building, the major electricity consumption is by the heating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. As energy saving strategies may be in conflict with the criteria of indoor air quality and thermal comfort, a concept of the building environmental performance model (BEPM) has been developed to optimize energy consumption in HVAC systems without any deterioration of the indoor air quality and thermal comfort. The BEPM is divided into two main modules: the adaptive comfort temperature (ACT) module and the new demand control ventilation (nDCV) module. This study aims to enhance and prompt the conventional operation of the air side systems by incorporating temperature reset with the adaptive comfort temperature control and the new demand control ventilation system in high rise buildings in Hong Kong. A new example weather year (1991) was established as a reference to compute the energy use of HVAC systems in buildings in order to obtain more representative data for predicting annual energy consumption. A survey of 165 Hong Kong office buildings was conducted and it provided valuable information on the existing HVAC design values in different grades of private commercial buildings in Hong Kong. It was found that the actual measured values of indoor temperature were lower than the design ones. Furthermore, with the new example weather year and the integration of the BEPM into Grade A private office buildings in Hong Kong, the total energy saving of the air conditioning systems was calculated (i.e. a saving of HK$122 million in electrical consumption per year) while the thermal comfort for the occupants was also maintained

Commercial Building Energy Saver: An energy retrofit analysis toolkit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong, Tianzhen; Piette, Mary Ann; Chen, Yixing; Lee, Sang Hoon; Taylor-Lange, Sarah C.; Zhang, Rongpeng; Sun, Kaiyu; Price, Phillip

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Commercial Building Energy Saver is a powerful toolkit for energy retrofit analysis. • CBES provides benchmarking, load shape analysis, and model-based retrofit assessment. • CBES covers 7 building types, 6 vintages, 16 climates, and 100 energy measures. • CBES includes a web app, API, and a database of energy efficiency performance. • CBES API can be extended and integrated with third party energy software tools. - Abstract: Small commercial buildings in the United States consume 47% of the total primary energy of the buildings sector. Retrofitting small and medium commercial buildings poses a huge challenge for owners because they usually lack the expertise and resources to identify and evaluate cost-effective energy retrofit strategies. This paper presents the Commercial Building Energy Saver (CBES), an energy retrofit analysis toolkit, which calculates the energy use of a building, identifies and evaluates retrofit measures in terms of energy savings, energy cost savings and payback. The CBES Toolkit includes a web app (APP) for end users and the CBES Application Programming Interface (API) for integrating CBES with other energy software tools. The toolkit provides a rich set of features including: (1) Energy Benchmarking providing an Energy Star score, (2) Load Shape Analysis to identify potential building operation improvements, (3) Preliminary Retrofit Analysis which uses a custom developed pre-simulated database and, (4) Detailed Retrofit Analysis which utilizes real-time EnergyPlus simulations. CBES includes 100 configurable energy conservation measures (ECMs) that encompass IAQ, technical performance and cost data, for assessing 7 different prototype buildings in 16 climate zones in California and 6 vintages. A case study of a small office building demonstrates the use of the toolkit for retrofit analysis. The development of CBES provides a new contribution to the field by providing a straightforward and uncomplicated decision

Optimizing Energy Consumption in Building Designs Using Building Information Model (BIM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Egwunatum Samuel

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Given the ability of a Building Information Model (BIM to serve as a multi-disciplinary data repository, this paper seeks to explore and exploit the sustainability value of Building Information Modelling/models in delivering buildings that require less energy for their operation, emit less CO2 and at the same time provide a comfortable living environment for their occupants. This objective was achieved by a critical and extensive review of the literature covering: (1 building energy consumption, (2 building energy performance and analysis, and (3 building information modeling and energy assessment. The literature cited in this paper showed that linking an energy analysis tool with a BIM model helped project design teams to predict and create optimized energy consumption. To validate this finding, an in-depth analysis was carried out on a completed BIM integrated construction project using the Arboleda Project in the Dominican Republic. The findings showed that the BIM-based energy analysis helped the design team achieve the world’s first 103% positive energy building. From the research findings, the paper concludes that linking an energy analysis tool with a BIM model helps to expedite the energy analysis process, provide more detailed and accurate results as well as deliver energy-efficient buildings. The study further recommends that the adoption of a level 2 BIM and the integration of BIM in energy optimization analyse should be made compulsory for all projects irrespective of the method of procurement (government-funded or otherwise or its size.

On an innovative integrated technique for energy refurbishment of historical buildings: Thermal-energy, economic and environmental analysis of a case study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pisello, Anna Laura; Petrozzi, Alessandro; Castaldo, Veronica Lucia; Cotana, Franco

2016-01-01

Highlights: • An innovative method for the energy retrofit of heritage buildings is proposed. • Dynamic thermal-energy assessment of passive and active solutions is carried out. • The cooling effect of novel tiles suitable for historic buildings is investigated. • Potentialities of a ground source heat pump system with storage tanks are showed. • Energy-environmental-economic assessment is made for the prototype intervention. - Abstract: In the last decades, increasing attention has been paid to the enhancement of energy performance and comfort conditions of historic buildings, where the necessity to preserve architectural heritage does not allow typical invasive retrofit interventions. The need for a replicable methodology for improving the sustainability of historic buildings based on the integration of energy efficiency solutions with renewable technologies is here addressed, by riding over the constraints imposed by architectural preservations, rather taking advantage of heritage architectural peculiarities. The case study is represented by Palazzo Gallenga Stuart, a historical university building located in central Italy. The optimization of the building energy efficiency has been pursued through two strategies specifically prototyped for application in historic buildings, i.e. innovative cool tiles with the same appearance of traditional historic tiles, and a geothermal heat pump system with water storage tanks positioned in the under-ground unoccupied areas of the building previously used as archives, also preventing the use of external units spoiling the building façade. Four retrofit scenarios were analyzed and compared from a both technical and economical point of view. The results showed that the application of the innovative cool tiles lead to a maximum cooling energy saving of 14.0% and 3.8% in the classrooms of the top floor and in the whole building, respectively. Furthermore, the installation of a more effective energy plant leads to an

Energy in buildings: Efficiency, renewables and storage

Science.gov (United States)

Koebel, Matthias M.

2017-07-01

This lecture summary provides a short but comprehensive overview on the "energy and buildings" topic. Buildings account for roughly 40% of the global energy demands. Thus, an increased adoption of existing and upcoming materials and solutions for the building sector represents an enormous potential to reduce building related energy demands and greenhouse gas emissions. The central question is how the building envelope (insulation, fenestration, construction style, solar control) affects building energy demands. Compared to conventional insulation materials, superinsulation materials such as vacuum insulation panels and silica aerogel achieve the same thermal performance with significantly thinner insulation layers. With low-emissivity coatings and appropriate filler gasses, double and triple glazing reduce thermal losses by up to an order of magnitude compared to old single pane windows, while vacuum insulation and aerogel filled glazing could reduce these even further. Electrochromic and other switchable glazing solutions maximize solar gains during wintertime and minimize illumination demands whilst avoiding overheating in summer. Upon integration of renewable energy systems into the building energy supply, buildings can become both producers and consumers of energy. Combined with dynamic user behavior, temporal variations in the production of renewable energy require appropriate storage solutions, both thermal and electrical, and the integration of buildings into smart grids and energy district networks. The combination of these measures allows a reduction of the existing building stock by roughly a factor of three —a promising, but cost intensive way, to prepare our buildings for the energy turnaround.

Integrating Building Energy Efficiency with Land Use and Transportation Planning in Jinan, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicolae Duduta

2013-02-01

Full Text Available With the rapid growth occurring in the urban regions of China, it is critical to address issues of sustainability through practices that engender holistic energy efficient solutions. In this paper, we present results from a collaborative design project carried out with planning officials from the city of Jinan (population 3.4 million, for the Luokou district, a 3.1 km2 (1.2 mi2 area to the north of the CBD that is expected to house 100,000–130,000 people by 2020. By integrating sustainable building design, land use, urban design, and transportation, our proposal identified opportunities for improving energy efficiency that might have been overlooked by considering buildings and transportation separately. Mixed land uses and walkable neighborhoods were proposed along with highly differentiated street designs, intended to carry different traffic loads and prioritize diverse travel modes. Street widths and building heights were adjusted to maximize the potential for passive solar heating and daylight use within buildings. The district’s environmental performance, analyzed using building energy evaluation and traffic micro simulation models, showed that the design would reduce energy loads by over 25% compared to business as usual. While the proposal complied with national and local policies, and had far better energy performance than conventional designs, the proposal ultimately was not accepted by local officials because initial costs to the developers were higher than for conventional designs.

A Fuzzy-Based Building Energy Management System for Energy Efficiency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José L. Hernández

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Information and communication technologies (ICT offer immense potential to improve the energetic performance of buildings. Additionally, common building control systems are typically based on simple decision-making tools, which possess the ability to obtain controllable parameters for indoor temperatures. Nevertheless, the accuracy of such common building control systems is improvable with the integration of advanced decision-making techniques embedded into software and energy management tools. This paper presents the design of a building energy management system (BEMS, which is currently under development, and that makes use of artificial intelligence for the automated decision-making process required for optimal comfort of occupants and utilization of renewables for achieving energy-efficiency in buildings. The research falls under the scope of the H2020 project BREASER which implements fuzzy logic with the aim of governing the energy resources of a school in Turkey, which has been renovated with a ventilated façade with integrated renewable energy sources (RES. The BRESAER BEMS includes prediction techniques that increase the accuracy of common BEMS tools, and subsequent energy savings, while ensuring the indoor thermal comfort of the building occupants. In particular, weather forecast and simulation strategies are integrated into the functionalities of the overall system. By collecting the aforementioned information, the BEMS makes decisions according to a well-established selection of key performance indicators (KPIs with the objective of providing a quantitative comparable value to determine new actuation parameters.

Problems of Technology of Energy-Saving Buildings and Their Impact on Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Science.gov (United States)

Kwasnowski, Pawel; Fedorczak-Cisak, Malgorzata; Knap, Katarzyna

2017-10-01

Introduction of EPBD in legislation of the EU member states caused that buildings must meet very stringent requirements of thermal protection and energy efficiency. On the basis of EPBD provisions, EU Member States introduce standard of NZEB (Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings). Such activities cause a need for new, innovative materials and technologies, and new approaches to design, construction and retrofitting of buildings. Indispensable is the precise coordination of the design of structure and technical installations of building, which may be provided in an integrated design process in the system BIM. Good coordination and cooperation of all contractors during the construction phase is also necessary. The article presents the problems and the new methodology for the design, construction and use of energy efficient buildings in terms of energy saving technologies, including discussion of the significant impact of the automation of technical installations on the building energy efficiency.

Economic assessment of energy storage for load shifting in Positive Energy Building

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dumont, Olivier; Carmo, Carolina; Georges, Emeline

2016-01-01

Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) and Positive Energy Buildings (PEB) are gaining more and more interest. In this paper, the impact of the integration of a battery in a positive energy building is assessed in order to increase its self-consumption of electricity. Parametric studies are carried out......-in tariff and a 5 kWh battery. Finally, simple correlations (based on the feed-in tariff, the annual electrical consumption and production) to predict the optimal size of battery and the lowest payback period are proposed.......Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) and Positive Energy Buildings (PEB) are gaining more and more interest. In this paper, the impact of the integration of a battery in a positive energy building is assessed in order to increase its self-consumption of electricity. Parametric studies are carried out...... by varying the building envelope characteristics, the power supply system, the climate, the lightning and appliances profiles, the roof tilt, the battery size and the electricity tariffs, leading to 3200 cases. The analysis is performed on an annual basis in terms of self-consumption rate, shifted energy...

Integrated Thermal-Energy Analysis of Innovative Translucent White Marble for Building Envelope Application

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Federica Rosso

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Marble is a natural material, used in the construction field since antiquity. It has always been used to communicate monumentality and solidity. Nowadays new technologies permit marble to express new languages: particularly, translucent marble technology overturns the concept of solidity. The main issue to address is the lack of thermal-energy performance of such a thin stone layer as the only facade component. Conversely, Bianco Carrara and Statuario marbles, for instance, have intrinsic benefits as natural cool materials, due to their high solar reflectance and thermal emissivity. Thus, this paper analyzes the thermal-energy and environmental behavior of marble facade for a new designed building in New York City. An integrated analysis of the energy performance of the marble skin is performed through a preliminary experimental characterization, carried out for two different types of naturally white marble, for comparative purposes. Then, a dynamic simulation model of the building is developed to evaluate year-round benefits and drawbacks of the translucent marble envelope in terms of indoor thermal comfort and air-conditioning requirement. The analysis showed how the proposed marble facade is able to decrease the energy requirement for cooling up to 6%, demonstrating possible relevant perspectives for marble-based facades, even in energy-efficient buildings.

"Watts per person" paradigm to design net zero energy buildings: Examining technology interventions and integrating occupant feedback to reduce plug loads in a commercial building

Science.gov (United States)

Yagi Kim, Mika

As building envelopes have improved due to more restrictive energy codes, internal loads have increased largely due to the proliferation of computers, electronics, appliances, imaging and audio visual equipment that continues to grow in commercial buildings. As the dependency on the internet for information and data transfer increases, the electricity demand will pose a challenge to design and operate Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs). Plug Loads (PLs) as a proportion of the building load has become the largest non-regulated building energy load and represents the third highest electricity end-use in California's commercial office buildings, accounting for 23% of the total building electricity consumption (Ecova 2011,2). In the Annual Energy Outlook 2008 (AEO2008), prepared by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) that presents long-term projections of energy supply and demand through 2030 states that office equipment and personal computers are the "fastest growing electrical end uses" in the commercial sector. This thesis entitled "Watts Per Person" Paradigm to Design Net Zero Energy Buildings, measures the implementation of advanced controls and behavioral interventions to study the reduction of PL energy use in the commercial sector. By integrating real world data extracted from an energy efficient commercial building of its energy use, the results produce a new methodology on estimating PL energy use by calculating based on "Watts Per Person" and analyzes computational simulation methods to design NZEBs.

Energy simulation in building design

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hensen, J.L.M.

1992-01-01

Design decision support related to building energy consumption and / or indoor climate, should be based on an integral approach of environment, building, heating, ventilating and airconditioning (HVAC) system and occupants. The tools to achieve this are now available in the form of computer

Calculation steps. Building integrated energy supply; Beregningsgang. Bygningsintegreret energiforsyning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jensen, Rasmus L.; Noergaard, J.; Daniels, O.; Justesen, R.O.

2011-08-15

In the future, buildings will not only act as consumers of energy but as producers as well. For these ''prosumers'', energy production by use of solar panels, photovoltaics and heat pumps etc will be essential. The objective of this project was to find the most optimal combinations of building insulation and use of renewable energy sources in existing buildings in terms of economics and climate impacts. Five houses were analyzed based on different personal load, consumption profiles, solar orientation and proposed building envelope improvements and use of combinations of renewable energy systems. The analysis was conducted by making a large number of simulations. The present report describes the applied simulation models, and explains the results and computer codes. The parameter variations are described for each house as well as the common calculation steps for each house. The results are presented in case sheets, as performance graphs, and top-50 lists for the best cases regarding CO{sub 2} emission, energy consumption and economics. (ln)

Building energy demand aggregation and simulation tools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gianniou, Panagiota; Heller, Alfred; Rode, Carsten

2015-01-01

to neighbourhoods and cities. Buildings occupy a key place in the development of smart cities as they represent an important potential to integrate smart energy solutions. Building energy consumption affects significantly the performance of the entire energy network. Therefore, a realistic estimation...... of the aggregated building energy use will not only ensure security of supply but also enhance the stabilization of national energy balances. In this study, the aggregation of building energy demand was investigated for a real case in Sønderborg, Denmark. Sixteen single-family houses -mainly built in the 1960s......- were examined, all connected to the regional district heating network. The aggregation of building energy demands was carried out according to typologies, being represented by archetype buildings. These houses were modelled with dynamic energy simulation software and with a simplified simulation tool...

A Multi-Agent Based Energy Management Solution for Integrated Buildings and Microgrid System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Anvari-Moghaddam, Amjad; Rahimi-Kian, Ashkan; Mirian, Maryam S.

2017-01-01

-reflex to complex learning agents are designed and implemented to cooperate with each other to reach an optimal operating strategy for the mentioned integrated energy system (IES) while meeting the system’s objectives and related constraints. The optimization process for the EMS is defined as a coordinated......In this paper, an ontology-driven multi-agent based energy management system (EMS) is proposed for monitoring and optimal control of an integrated homes/buildings and microgrid system with various renewable energy resources (RESs) and controllable loads. Different agents ranging from simple...... distributed generation (DG) and demand response (DR) management problem within the studied environment and is solved by the proposed agent-based approach utilizing cooperation and communication among decision agents. To verify the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed multi-agent based EMS, several...

Functional materials for energy-efficient buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ebert H.-P

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The substantial improving of the energy efficiency is essential to meet the ambitious energy goals of the EU. About 40% of the European energy consumption belongs to the building sector. Therefore the reduction of the energy demand of the existing building stock is one of the key measures to deliver a substantial contribution to reduce CO2-emissions of our society. Buildings of the future have to be efficient in respect to energy consumption for construction and operation. Current research activities are focused on the development of functional materials with outstanding thermal and optical properties to provide, for example, slim thermally superinsulated facades, highly integrated heat storage systems or adaptive building components. In this context it is important to consider buildings as entities which fulfill energy and comfort claims as well as aesthetic aspects of a sustainable architecture.

Functional materials for energy-efficient buildings

Science.gov (United States)

Ebert, H.-P.

2015-08-01

The substantial improving of the energy efficiency is essential to meet the ambitious energy goals of the EU. About 40% of the European energy consumption belongs to the building sector. Therefore the reduction of the energy demand of the existing building stock is one of the key measures to deliver a substantial contribution to reduce CO2-emissions of our society. Buildings of the future have to be efficient in respect to energy consumption for construction and operation. Current research activities are focused on the development of functional materials with outstanding thermal and optical properties to provide, for example, slim thermally superinsulated facades, highly integrated heat storage systems or adaptive building components. In this context it is important to consider buildings as entities which fulfill energy and comfort claims as well as aesthetic aspects of a sustainable architecture.

Pusat Tenaga Malaysia's Zero Energy Office (ZEO) Building

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tang, C.K.; Reimann, Gregers Peter; Kristensen, Poul Erik

Technical Review of the Zero Energy Office building in Malaysia. The building, which has an energy index of 50 kWh/m2/year, reaches a net annual energy of zero through the use of building integrated photovoltaic panels. For reference, ordinary offices in Malaysia consume 200 - 300 kWh/m2/year...

Distributed DC-UPS for energy smart buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moreno-Munoz, A.; Pallares-Lopez, V.; Real-Calvo, R.J.; Gil-de-Castro, A. [Universidad de Cordoba, Area de Electronica, Dpto. Arquitectura de Computadores, Electronica y Tecnologia Electronica, Escuela Politecnica Superior, Campus de Rabanales, E-14071 Cordoba (Spain); De la Rosa, Juan Jose Gonzalez [Universidad de Cadiz, Area de Electronica, Dpto. ISA, TE y Electronica, Escuela Politecnica Superior Avda, Ramon Puyol, S/N, E-11202 Algeciras-Cadiz (Spain)

2011-01-15

Energy efficiency (EE) improvement is one of the most important targets to be achieved on every society as a whole and in buildings in particular. Energy Smart Building aims to accelerate the uptake of EE, healthy buildings that by integrating smart technology and solutions consume radically little resources while enhancing the quality of life. This paper addresses how uninterruptible power supply (UPS), particularly when configured in distributed DC mode, can become an Energy Efficient (EE) solution in high tech buildings, especially when integrated with complimentary Power Quality (PQ) measures. The paper is based upon PQ audits conducted at different IT-intensive modern building. Some of the mayor objectives of the PQ studies were: detecting the main involved disturbances by PQ monitoring, identifying the power disturbances root causes, characterizing the electromagnetic compatibility level of equipments and installation and providing guidelines for implementing energy-efficiency solutions. It was found that the main problems for the equipment installed were harmonics and voltage sag (dip). Finally, this paper demonstrates the impacts of generalized electronic devices on the PQ of the buildings and the implications on energy uses. (author)

An energy self-sufficient public building using integrated renewable sources and hydrogen storage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marino, C.; Nucara, A.; Pietrafesa, M.; Pudano, A.

2013-01-01

The control of the use of fossil fuels, major cause of greenhouse gas emissions and climate changes, in present days represents one of Governments' main challenges; particularly, a significant energy consumption is observed in buildings and might be significantly reduced through sustainable design, increased energy efficiency and use of renewable sources. At the moment, the widespread use of renewable energy in buildings is limited by its intrinsic discontinuity: consequently integration of plants with energy storage systems could represent an efficient solution to the problem. Within this frame, hydrogen has shown to be particularly fit in order to be used as an energetic carrier. In this aim, in the paper an energetic, economic and environmental analysis of two different configurations of a self-sufficient system for energy production from renewable sources in buildings is presented. In particular, in the first configuration energy production is carried out by means of photovoltaic systems, whereas in the second one a combination of photovoltaic panels and wind generators is used. In both configurations, hydrogen is used as an energy carrier, in order to store energy, and fuel cells guarantee its energetic reconversion. The analysis carried out shows that, although dimensioned as a stand-alone configuration, the system can today be realized only taking advantage from the incentivizing fares applied to grid-connected systems, that are likely to be suspended in the next future. In such case, it represents an interesting investment, with capital returns in about 15 years. As concerns economic sustainability, in fact, the analysis shows that the cost of the energy unit stored in hydrogen volumes, due to the not very high efficiency of the process, presently results greater than that of directly used one. Moreover, also the starting fund of the system proves to be very high, showing an additional cost with respect to systems lacking of energy storage equal to about 50

Integration of Building energy and energy supply simulations for low-energy district heating supply to energy-efficient buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dalla Rosa, Alessandro

2012-01-01

The future will demand implementation of C02 neutral communities, the consequences being a far more complex design of the whole energy system, since the future energy infrastructures will be dynamic and climate responsive systems. Software able to work with such level of complexity is at present...... a missing link in the development. In this paper is demonstrated how a link between a dynamic Building Simulation Programme (BSP) and a simulation program for District Heating (DH) networks can give important information during the design phase. By using a BSP it is possible to analyze the influence...... of the human behaviour regarding the building and link the results to the simulation program for DH networks. The results show that human behaviour can lead to 50% higher heating demand and 60% higher peak loads than expected according to reference values in standardized calculation of energy demand...

Economic assessment of electric energy storage for load shifting in positive energy building

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dumont, Olivier; Do Carmo, Carolina Madeira Ramos; Georges, Emeline

2017-01-01

Net zero energy buildings and positive energy buildings are gaining more and more interest. This paper evaluates the impact of the integration of a battery in a positive energy building used to increase its self-consumption of electricity. Parametric studies are carried out by varying the buildin...... and a 3.7 kWh battery. Finally, simple correlations (based on the feed-in tariff, the annual electrical consumption and production) to predict the optimal size of battery and the lowest payback period are proposed.......Net zero energy buildings and positive energy buildings are gaining more and more interest. This paper evaluates the impact of the integration of a battery in a positive energy building used to increase its self-consumption of electricity. Parametric studies are carried out by varying the building...... envelope characteristics, the power supply system, the climate, the lighting and appliances profiles, the roof tilt angle, the battery size and the electricity tariffs, leading to 3200 cases. The analysis is performed on an annual basis in terms of self-consumption and self-production rate and payback...

The RENUE resource centre. Design study of building-integrated PV in a zero-carbon exhibition building

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Webb, R.

2001-07-01

Studies at the RENUE building in London are described. The RENUE project is a renewable energy and urban sustainability demonstration of comfortable and elegant buildings which are zero-carbon users. Building-Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) systems are a factor in the zero-CO{sub 2} building. The building should be of special interest to protagonists of renewable energy, building designers and the PV industry.

Integrated Urban System and Energy Consumption Model: Residential Buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rocco Papa

2014-05-01

Full Text Available This paper describes a segment of research conducted within the project PON 04a2_E Smart Energy Master for the energetic government of the territory conducted by the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environment Engineering, University of Naples "Federico II".  In particular, this article is part of the study carried out for the definition of the comprehension/interpretation model that correlates buildings, city’s activities and users’ behaviour in order to promote energy savings. In detail, this segment of the research wants to define the residential variables to be used in the model. For this purpose a knowledge framework at international level has been defined, to estimate the energy requirements of residential buildings and the identification of a set of parameters, whose variation has a significant influence on the energy consumption of residential buildings.

How energy efficiency fails in the building industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryghaug, Marianne; Sorensen, Knut H.

2009-01-01

This paper examines how energy efficiency fails in the building industry based on many years of research into the integration of energy efficiency in the construction of buildings and sustainable architecture in Norway. It argues that energy-efficient construction has been seriously restrained by three interrelated problems: (1) deficiencies in public policy to stimulate energy efficiency, (2) limited governmental efforts to regulate the building industry, and (3) a conservative building industry. The paper concludes that innovation and implementation of new, energy-efficient technologies in the building industry requires new policies, better regulations and reformed practices in the industry itself

The role of grid-connected, building-integrated photovoltaic generation in commercial building energy and power loads in a warm and sunny climate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Braun, P.; Ruether, R.

2010-01-01

For large commercial buildings, power load delivery limits are contracted with the local electricity distribution utility, and are usually fixed at one or more levels over the year, according to the seasonal building loads, and depending on the specific country regulations. Especially in warm and sunny climates, solar electricity generation using building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) can assist in reducing commercial building loads, offering peak-shaving (power) benefits on top of the on-site generation of electricity (energy). This on-site power delivery capability gives these consumers the possibility of renegotiating demand contracts with their distribution utility. Commercial buildings that operate during daytime quite often have an energy consumption profile that is well matched by solar radiation availability, and depending on the building's available surface areas, BIPV can generate considerable portions of the energy requirements. In this work we present the role of grid-connected BIPV in reducing the load demands of a large and urban commercial building located in a warm climate in Brazil. The building and adjacent car parking lots can accommodate a 1 MWp BIPV generator, which closely matches the building's typical maximum power demands. Based on real solar radiation data and simultaneous building electricity demands for the year 2007, simulation of the annual solar generation profile of this on-site generator showed that the 1 MWp BIPV system could account for around 30% of the total building's energy consumption. In addition to the energy benefit, maximum power demands were reduced due to a good match between midday air-conditioning cooling loads and solar radiation availability on both a daily and seasonal basis. Furthermore, we have simulated the effect of this considerably large urban-sited generator on the local distribution network load, and have shown that the 1 MWp BIPV installation can also offer considerable benefits to the local utility in

Are building users prepared for energy flexible buildings?—A large-scale survey in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Li, Rongling; Dane, G.Z.; Finck, C.J.; Zeiler, W.

2017-01-01

Building energy flexibility might play a crucial role in demand side management for integrating intermittent renewables into smart grids. The potential of building energy flexibility depends not only on the physical characteristics of a building but also on occupant behaviour in the building.

New building technology based on low energy design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meggers, Forrest; Leibundgut, Hansjurg

2009-01-01

Full text: The construction, operation and maintenance of all residential, commercial, and industrial buildings are responsible for over half of global greenhouse gas emissions, and two-thirds of global electricity is generated solely for building operation. This single sector has a huge potential impact on the future sustainability of society, and therefore new advanced technologies must be rapidly developed and implemented in what is often a slow-moving sector. The concept of the low exergy building has created a new framework for the development of high performance building systems. Exergy analysis has been used to help minimize the primary energy demands of buildings through the minimization of losses in the chain of energy supply in a building system. The new systems that have been created have been shown to be more comfortable and more energy efficient. These systems include integrated thermal mass systems heated by high efficiency heat pumps integrated with energy recovery systems that eliminate the waste that is common in building systems. The underlying principles and concepts of low exergy building systems will be presented along with the analysis of several technologies being implemented in a low Ex building in Zurich, Switzerland. These include an advanced ground source heat pump strategy with integrated heat recovery, decentralized ventilation, and a unique active wall insulation system, which are being researched as part of the IEA ECBCS Annex 49 (www.annex49.org). (author)

Integrated evaluation of radiative heating systems for residential buildings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anastaselos, Dimitrios; Theodoridou, Ifigeneia; Papadopoulos, Agis M.; Hegger, Manfred

2011-01-01

Based on the need to reduce CO 2 emissions and minimize energy dependency, the EU Member States have set ambitious energy policies goals and have developed respective, specific regulations, in order to improve the energy performance of the building sector. Thus, specific measures regarding the buildings' envelope, the use of efficient HVAC technologies and the integration of renewable energy systems are being constantly studied and promoted. The effective combination of these three main aspects will consequently result in maximum energy efficiency. Germany has played a key role in this development, with intensive work focusing in the improvement of the energy behaviour of the residential building stock. In this paper, the use of radiative heating systems placing special emphasis on infrared is being studied as part of the energy renovation of residential buildings from the 1970's. This is done by applying an integrated assessment model to evaluate specific interventions regarding the improvement of the energy behaviour of the buildings' envelope and the use of radiative heating systems, based on a thorough Life Cycle Analysis according to criteria of energy, economic and environmental performance, as well as thermal comfort. -- Highlights: → Assessment of energy, economic and environmental performance of heating systems. → Life Cycle Analysis in combination with the quality of thermal comfort. → Effectiveness of interventions in already partially insulated buildings.

State-of-the-art Review : Vol. 2B. Integrated Building Concepts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

van der Aa, Ad; Andresen, Inger; Asada, Hideo

an overview of 23 case study buildings from 9 countries with integrated building concepts. The overview provides descriptions of the buildings and their contexts, a description of the integrated energy systems, and the overall performance of the building with respect to energy, indoor environment and costs......The purpose of this report is to give examples of integrated building concepts and related available performance data and information. The report does not aspire to give a complete overview of all possible integrated building concepts and processes. The buildings included in the report have been...... selected according to the knowledge of the participants in the project, as characteristic examples of the concepts and the challenges they represent. The report will be a common basis for the research and development work that is going to be carried out within the IEA Annex 44 project. The report contains...

Technology for Building Systems Integration and Optimization – Landscape Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

William Goetzler, Matt Guernsey, Youssef Bargach

2018-01-31

BTO's Commercial Building Integration (CBI) program helps advance a range of innovative building integration and optimization technologies and solutions, paving the way for high-performing buildings that could use 50-70% less energy than typical buildings. CBI’s work focuses on early stage technology innovation, with an emphasis on how components and systems work together and how whole buildings are integrated and optimized. This landscape study outlines the current body of knowledge, capabilities, and the broader array of solutions supporting integration and optimization in commercial buildings. CBI seeks to support solutions for both existing buildings and new construction, which often present very different challenges.

Integration of net zero energy building with smart grid to improve regional electrification ratio towards sustainable development

Science.gov (United States)

Latief, Yusuf; Berawi, Mohammed Ali; Supriadi, Leni; Bintang Koesalamwardi, Ario; Petroceany, Jade; Herzanita, Ayu

2017-12-01

Indonesia is currently encouraging its physical, social and economy development. Physical development for economic development have to be supported by energy availability. For Indonesia, 90% of electrification ratio is still become an important task that has to be completed by the Government. However, the effort to increase electrification can become an environmental problem if it’s done with BAU scenario. The by-product of electric generation is the GHG, which increasing every year since 2006 from various sectors i.e. industry, housing, commercial, transportation, and energy. Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB) is an energy efficient building which can produce energy independently from clean and renewable sources. The energy that is generated by NZEB can be used for the building itself, and can be exported to the central grid. The integration of NZEB and Smart Grid can solve today’s issue on electrification ratio. Literature study will find benchmarks which can be applied in Indonesia along with possible obstacles in applying this technology.

Ten questions concerning integrating smart buildings into the smart grid

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lawrence, Thomas M.; Boudreau, Marie-Claude; Helsen, Lieve; Henze, Gregor; Mohammadpour, Javad; Noonan, Doug; Patteeuw, Dieter; Pless, Shanti; Watson, Richard T.

2016-11-01

Recent advances in information and communications technology (ICT) have initiated development of a smart electrical grid and smart buildings. Buildings consume a large portion of the total electricity production worldwide, and to fully develop a smart grid they must be integrated with that grid. Buildings can now be 'prosumers' on the grid (both producers and consumers), and the continued growth of distributed renewable energy generation is raising new challenges in terms of grid stability over various time scales. Buildings can contribute to grid stability by managing their overall electrical demand in response to current conditions. Facility managers must balance demand response requests by grid operators with energy needed to maintain smooth building operations. For example, maintaining thermal comfort within an occupied building requires energy and, thus an optimized solution balancing energy use with indoor environmental quality (adequate thermal comfort, lighting, etc.) is needed. Successful integration of buildings and their systems with the grid also requires interoperable data exchange. However, the adoption and integration of newer control and communication technologies into buildings can be problematic with older legacy HVAC and building control systems. Public policy and economic structures have not kept up with the technical developments that have given rise to the budding smart grid, and further developments are needed in both technical and non-technical areas.

Predictive Solar-Integrated Commercial Building Load Control

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Glasgow, Nathan [EdgePower Inc., Aspen, CO (United States)

2017-01-31

This report is the final technical report for the Department of Energy SunShot award number EE0007180 to EdgePower Inc., for the project entitled “Predictive Solar-Integrated Commercial Building Load Control.” The goal of this project was to successfully prove that the integration of solar forecasting and building load control can reduce demand charge costs for commercial building owners with solar PV. This proof of concept Tier 0 project demonstrated its value through a pilot project at a commercial building. This final report contains a summary of the work completed through he duration of the project. Clean Power Research was a sub-recipient on the award.

Energy Payback Time Calculation for a Building Integrated Semitransparent Thermal (BISPVT) System with Air Duct

OpenAIRE

Kanchan Mudgil; Deepali Kamthania

2013-01-01

This paper evaluates the energy payback time (EPBT) of building integrated photovoltaic thermal (BISPVT) system for Srinagar, India. Three different photovoltaic (PV) modules namely mono crystalline silicon (m-Si), poly crystalline silicon (p-Si), and amorphous silicon (a-Si) have been considered for calculation of EPBT. It is found that, the EPBT is lowest in m-Si. Hence, integration of m-Si PV modules on the roof of a room is economical.

The impact of Zero Energy Buildings on the Scandinavian energy system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seljom, Pernille; Lindberg, Karen Byskov; Tomasgard, Asgeir; Doorman, Gerard; Sartori, Igor

2017-01-01

This paper investigates how an extensive implementation of net Zero Energy Buildings (ZEBs) affects cost-optimal investments in the Scandinavian energy system towards 2050. Analyses are done by a stochastic TIMES model with an explicit representation of the short-term uncertainty related to electricity supply and heat demand in buildings. We define a nearly ZEB to be a highly efficient building with on-site PV production. To evaluate the flexibility requirement of the surrounding energy system, we consider no use of energy storage within the ZEBs. The results show that ZEBs reduce the investments in non-flexible hydropower, wind power and Combined Heat and Power, and increase the use of direct electric heating and electric boilers. With building integrated PV production of 53 TWh in 2050, ZEBs increase the Scandinavian electricity generation by 16 TWh and increase the net electricity export by 19 TWh. Although the increased production reduces the electricity prices, the low heat demand in ZEBs gives a drop in the electricity consumption by 4 TWh in 2050. Finally, the results demonstrate that the Scandinavian energy system is capable of integrating a large amount of ZEBs with intermittent PV production due to the flexible hydropower in Norway and Sweden. - Highlights: • We analyse cost-optimal integration of ZEBs in the Scandinavian energy system. • We capture impact of short-term uncertainty on long-term investment decisions. • ZEBs reduce the investments in the electricity and heating sector. • The Scandinavian electricity sector is capable of integrating ZEBs with PV. • The operation of the flexible hydropower is changed with ZEBs.

Energy analysis of an improved concept of integrated PV panels in an office building in central Greece

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zogou, Olympia; Stapountzis, Herricos [University of Thessaly, Mechanical Engineering Department, Volos (Greece)

2011-03-15

During the last decade, steel constructions with glazed facades became popular for commercial buildings in Greece. Moreover, expensive metal, natural stone, marble, ceramic, granite as well as special glass is employed for aesthetic and energy efficiency reasons. This creates opportunities for the introduction of Photovoltaic (PV) modules in double facades. PV modules on south-facing building walls are better placed at a distance from the wall to allow heat rejection and avoid overheating and efficiency loss. Exploiting the rejected heat of the PV modules is also a challenge. In this paper, we examine an improved concept of incorporating PV modules to the south facades of an office building, exploiting both the electricity produced and the heat rejected by the module, to increase building energy efficiency. The PV modules are integrated to the building wall by means of a double facade, which employs intervening ducts for ventilation purposes. The ducts are heating outdoor air, which is employed to cover the ventilation needs of the building, as well as a part of the heating loads. Simulations for typical winter and summer weather and solar insolation conditions are carried out to investigate the building's energy performance improvements. (author)

Energy analysis of an improved concept of integrated PV panels in an office building in central Greece

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zogou, Olympia; Stapountzis, Herricos

2011-01-01

During the last decade, steel constructions with glazed facades became popular for commercial buildings in Greece. Moreover, expensive metal, natural stone, marble, ceramic, granite as well as special glass is employed for aesthetic and energy efficiency reasons. This creates opportunities for the introduction of Photovoltaic (PV) modules in double facades. PV modules on south-facing building walls are better placed at a distance from the wall to allow heat rejection and avoid overheating and efficiency loss. Exploiting the rejected heat of the PV modules is also a challenge. In this paper, we examine an improved concept of incorporating PV modules to the south facades of an office building, exploiting both the electricity produced and the heat rejected by the module, to increase building energy efficiency. The PV modules are integrated to the building wall by means of a double facade, which employs intervening ducts for ventilation purposes. The ducts are heating outdoor air, which is employed to cover the ventilation needs of the building, as well as a part of the heating loads. Simulations for typical winter and summer weather and solar insolation conditions are carried out to investigate the building's energy performance improvements.

Designing of zero energy office buildings in hot arid climate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abdel-Gwad, Mohamed

2011-07-01

The designing of office buildings by using large glass areas to have a transparent building is an attractive approach in the modern office building architecture. This attitude increases the energy demand for cooling specially in the hot arid region which has long sun duration time, while the use of small glazing areas increases the energy demand for lighting. The use of uncontrolled natural ventilation increases the rate of hot ambient air flow which increases the building energy demand for cooling. At the same time, the use of mechanical ventilation to control the air change rate may increase the energy demand for fans. Some ideas such as low energy design concept are introduced for improving the building energy performance and different rating systems have been developed such as LEED, BREEAM and DGNB for evaluating building energy performance system. One of the new ideas for decreasing the dependence on fossil fuels and improving the use of renewable energy is the net zero-energy building concept in which the building generates enough renewable energy on site to equal or exceed its annual energy use. This work depends on using the potentials of mixing different energy strategies such as hybrid ventilation strategy, passive night cooling, passive chilled ceiling side by side with the integrating of photovoltaic modules into the building facade to produce energy and enrich the architectural aesthetics and finally reaching the Net Zero Energy Building. There are different definitions for zero energy buildings, however in this work the use of building-integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) to provide the building with its annual energy needs is adopted, in order to reach to a Grid-Connected Net-Zero Energy Office Building in the hot arid desert zone represented by Cairo, Egypt. (orig.)

Tropical Zero Energy Office Building

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Reimann, Gregers Peter; Kristensen, Poul Erik

2006-01-01

The new headquarter for Pusat Tenaga Malaysia is designed to be a Zero Emission Office Building (ZEO). A full range of passive and active energy efficiency measures are implemented such that the building will need no more electricity than what can be produced via its own Building Integrated PV...... lighting. These measures include the use of high efficient lighting controlled according to demand, high efficiency pumps and fans, a high efficiency chiller, and use of energy efficient office equipment. The buildings PV system is connected to the grid. Solar electricity is exported to the grid during...... of 24 – 26 oC can be maintained throughout the office hours. The PV roof of the building serves multiple purposes. During daytime, the roof becomes the powerplant of the building, and during nighttime, the PV roof becomes the “cooling tower” for the chiller. The roof will be covered by a thin water film...

Optimal Real-time Dispatch for Integrated Energy Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Anvari-Moghaddam, Amjad; Guerrero, Josep M.; Rahimi-Kian, Ashkan

2016-01-01

With the emerging of small-scale integrated energy systems (IESs), there are significant potentials to increase the functionality of a typical demand-side management (DSM) strategy and typical implementation of building-level distributed energy resources (DERs). By integrating DSM and DERs...... into a cohesive, networked package that fully utilizes smart energy-efficient end-use devices, advanced building control/automation systems, and integrated communications architectures, it is possible to efficiently manage energy and comfort at the end-use location. In this paper, an ontology-driven multi......-agent control system with intelligent optimizers is proposed for optimal real-time dispatch of an integrated building and microgrid system considering coordinated demand response (DR) and DERs management. The optimal dispatch problem is formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear programing problem (MINLP...

Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC)

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — The Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC), in the Energy and Transportation Science Division (ETSD) of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL),...

Design Process for Integrated Concepts with Responsive Building Elements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aa, Van der A.; Heiselberg, Per

2008-01-01

An integrated building concept is a prerequisite to come to an energy efficient building with a good and healthy IAQ indoor comfort. A design process that defines the targets and boundary conditions in the very first stage of the design and guarantees them until the building is finished and used...... is needed. The hard question is however: how to make the right choice of the combination of individual measures from building components and building services elements. Within the framework of IEA-ECBCS Annex 44 research has been conducted about the design process for integrated building concepts...

Integral energy concepts for office and residential buildings; Integrale Energiekonzepte fuer Buero- und Wohngebaeude

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Velten, W.

1998-06-01

It has been confirmed by practical project experience that integral energy concepts are an excellent basis for the construction of energy-efficient buildings. In the extreme case buildings can even be self-sufficient in their energy supply. Uniting the responsibility for the overall energy and technology concept in the hands of a single contractor can help reduce frictional losses between those involved in the planning as well costs. A good example of this is the use of a simulation calculation for the prescribed demonstration of proper heat insulation. The presented projects show that it is possible to construct ecologically answerable buildings at attractively low costs. The presented concepts appear particularly convincing from the viewpoint of long-term maintenance of value and user-specific advantages such as agreeable working conditions. [Deutsch] Die konkreten Projekterfahrungen bestaetigen, dass durch integrale Energiekonzepte sowohl im Verwaltungs- als auch im Wohnungsbau hervorragende Voraussetzungen fuer energiesparende Gebaeude geschaffen werden koennen. Im Extremfall kann sogar eine autarke Energieversorgung erreicht werden. Durch Zusammenfassung der Gesamtverantwortung fuer das Energie- und Technikkonzept in einer Hand koennen Reibungsverluste zwischen den Planungsbeteiligten reduziert und Kosten gesenkt werden. Ein Beispiel hierfuer ist die Verbindung des vorgeschriebenen Waermeschutznachweises mit einer fuer alle Beteiligten wesentlich aussagekraeftigeren Simulationsrechnung. Die vorgestellten Projekte zeigen, dass oekologisch sinnvolle Gebaeude auch zu oekonomisch attraktiven Kosten erstellt werden koennen, wobei insbesondere der Aspekt des langfristigen Werterhalts und die nutzerspezifischen Vorteile, z.B. durch angenehmere Arbeitsbedingungen, fuer die vorgestellten Konzepte spricht. (orig.)

Intelligent Controls for Net-Zero Energy Buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Haorong; Cho, Yong; Peng, Dongming

2011-10-30

The goal of this project is to develop and demonstrate enabling technologies that can empower homeowners to convert their homes into net-zero energy buildings in a cost-effective manner. The project objectives and expected outcomes are as follows: • To develop rapid and scalable building information collection and modeling technologies that can obtain and process “as-built” building information in an automated or semiautomated manner. • To identify low-cost measurements and develop low-cost virtual sensors that can monitor building operations in a plug-n-play and low-cost manner. • To integrate and demonstrate low-cost building information modeling (BIM) technologies. • To develop decision support tools which can empower building owners to perform energy auditing and retrofit analysis. • To develop and demonstrate low-cost automated diagnostics and optimal control technologies which can improve building energy efficiency in a continual manner.

Design and optimization of zero-energy-consumption based solar energy residential building systems

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, D. L.; Yu, L. J.; Tan, H. W.

2017-11-01

Energy consumption of residential buildings has grown fast in recent years, thus raising a challenge on zero energy residential building (ZERB) systems, which aim at substantially reducing energy consumption of residential buildings. Thus, how to facilitate ZERB has become a hot but difficult topic. In the paper, we put forward the overall design principle of ZERB based on analysis of the systems’ energy demand. In particular, the architecture for both schematic design and passive technology is optimized and both energy simulation analysis and energy balancing analysis are implemented, followed by committing the selection of high-efficiency appliance and renewable energy sources for ZERB residential building. In addition, Chinese classical residential building has been investigated in the proposed case, in which several critical aspects such as building optimization, passive design, PV panel and HVAC system integrated with solar water heater, Phase change materials, natural ventilation, etc., have been taken into consideration.

Estimating Solar Energy Potential in Buildings on a Global Level

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petrichenko, Ksenia

2015-01-01

This chapter contributes to the debate around net-zero energy concept from a global perspective. By means of comprehensive modelling, it analyses how much global building energy consumption could be reduced through utilisation of building-integrated solar energy technologies and energy......-efficiency improvements. Valuable insights on the locations and building types, in which it is feasible to achieve a net-zero level of energy performance through solar energy utilisation, are presented in world maps....

Research and Development Needs for Building-Integrated Solar Technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

none,

2014-01-01

The Building Technologies Office (BTO) has identified Building Integrated Solar Technologies (BIST) as a potentially valuable piece of the comprehensive pathway to help achieve its goal of reducing energy consumption in residential and commercial buildings by 50% by the year 2030. This report helps to identify the key research and development (R&D) needs that will be required for BIST to make a substantial contribution toward that goal. BIST include technologies for space heating and cooling, water heating, hybrid photovoltaic-thermal systems (PV/T), active solar lighting, and building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV).

Whole systems appraisal of a UK Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) system: Energy, environmental, and economic evaluations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hammond, Geoffrey P.; Harajli, Hassan A.; Jones, Craig I.; Winnett, Adrian B.

2012-01-01

Energy analysis, environmental life-cycle assessment (LCA) and economic appraisals have been utilised to study the performance of a domestic building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system on a ‘whole systems’ basis. Energy analysis determined that the system paid back its embodied energy in just 4.5 years. LCA revealed that the embodied impacts were offset by the electricity generated to provide a net environmental benefit in most categories. Only carcinogens, ecotoxicity and minerals had a small net lifetime burden. A financial analysis was undertaken from the householder's perspective, alongside cost-benefit analysis from a societal perspective. The results of both indicated that the systems are unlikely to pay back their investment over the 25 year lifetime. However, the UK is in an important period (2010/11) of policy transition with a move away from the ‘technology subsidies’ of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) and towards a ‘market development policy’ of feed-in tariffs. Representing the next stage on an innovation S-curve this is expected to facilitate rapid PV uptake, as experienced in countries such as Germany, Denmark, and Spain. The results of the present study clearly demonstrate the importance of the new government support scheme to the future uptake of BIPV. - Highlights: ► LCA and economic appraisals of a UK domestic building integrated PV system. ► Energy analysis determined that the system paid back its embodied energy in 4.5 years. ► UK moved towards a market development policy of feed-in tariffs. ► Financial analysis shows the importance of the new FiT scheme to the uptake of PV.

Accelerating the energy retrofit of commercial buildings using a database of energy efficiency performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sang Hoon; Hong, Tianzhen; Piette, Mary Ann; Sawaya, Geof; Chen, Yixing; Taylor-Lange, Sarah C.

2015-01-01

Small and medium-sized commercial buildings can be retrofitted to significantly reduce their energy use, however it is a huge challenge as owners usually lack of the expertise and resources to conduct detailed on-site energy audit to identify and evaluate cost-effective energy technologies. This study presents a DEEP (database of energy efficiency performance) that provides a direct resource for quick retrofit analysis of commercial buildings. DEEP, compiled from the results of about ten million EnergyPlus simulations, enables an easy screening of ECMs (energy conservation measures) and retrofit analysis. The simulations utilize prototype models representative of small and mid-size offices and retails in California climates. In the formulation of DEEP, large scale EnergyPlus simulations were conducted on high performance computing clusters to evaluate hundreds of individual and packaged ECMs covering envelope, lighting, heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, plug-loads, and service hot water. The architecture and simulation environment to create DEEP is flexible and can expand to cover additional building types, additional climates, and new ECMs. In this study DEEP is integrated into a web-based retrofit toolkit, the Commercial Building Energy Saver, which provides a platform for energy retrofit decision making by querying DEEP and unearthing recommended ECMs, their estimated energy savings and financial payback. - Highlights: • A DEEP (database of energy efficiency performance) supports building retrofit. • DEEP is an SQL database with pre-simulated results from 10 million EnergyPlus runs. • DEEP covers 7 building types, 6 vintages, 16 climates, and 100 energy measures. • DEEP accelerates retrofit of small commercial buildings to save energy use and cost. • DEEP can be expanded and integrated with third-party energy software tools.

Building integration of concentrating solar systems for heating applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsoutsou, Sapfo; Infante Ferreira, Carlos; Krieg, Jan; Ezzahiri, Mohamed

2014-01-01

A new solar collection system integrated on the façade of a building is investigated for Dutch climate conditions. The solar collection system includes a solar façade, a receiver tube and 10 Fresnel lenses. The Fresnel lenses Fresnel lenses considered were linear, non-imaging, line – focused with a system tracking the position of the sun that ensures vertical incidence of the direct solar radiation on the lenses. For the heating system a double-effect absorption heat pump, which requires high temperature of the heating fluid, was used, working with water and lithium-bromide as refrigerant and solution respectively. The Fresnel lens system is connected with the absorption heat pump through a thermal energy storage tank which accumulates the heat from the Fresnel lens system to provide it to the high pressure generator of the absorption heat pump. - Highlights: • The integration of Fresnel lenses in solar thermal building façades is investigated. • Using building integrated Fresnel lenses, 43% heating energy can be saved. • Energy savings in Mediterranean countries are significantly larger. • The absorption heat pump could make great contribution to energy savings for Dutch climate conditions

China's building energy demand: Long-term implications from a detailed assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eom, Jiyong; Clarke, Leon; Kim, Son H.; Kyle, Page; Patel, Pralit

2012-01-01

Buildings are an important contributor to China's energy consumption and attendant CO 2 emissions. Measures to address energy consumption and associated emissions from the buildings sector will be an important part of strategy to reduce the country's CO 2 emissions. This study presents a detailed, service-based model of China's building energy demand, nested in the GCAM (Global Change Assessment Model) integrated assessment framework. Using the model, we explored long-term pathways of China's building energy demand and identified opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A range of different scenarios was also developed to gain insights into how China's building sector might evolve and what the implications might be for improved building energy technology and carbon policies. The analysis suggests that China's building energy growth will not wane anytime soon, although technology improvement will put downward pressure on this growth: In the reference scenarios, the sector's final energy demand will increase by 110–150% by 2050 and 160–220% by 2095 from its 2005 level. Also, regardless of the scenarios represented, the growth will involve the continued, rapid electrification of the buildings sector throughout the century, and this transition will be accelerated by the implementation of carbon policy. -- Highlights: ► We developed a building energy model for China, nested in an integrated-assessment framework. ► We explore long-term pathways of China's building energy use by implementing a range of scenarios. ► China's building energy consumption will continue to grow and be electrified over the century. ► Improved building energy technology will slow down the growth in building energy consumption. ► Electrification will be accelerated by the implementation of carbon policy.

Development and Analysis of New Integrated Energy Systems for Sustainable Buildings

Science.gov (United States)

Khalid, Farrukh

Excessive consumption of fossil fuels in the residential sector and their associated negative environmental impacts bring a significant challenge to engineers within research and industrial communities throughout the world to develop more environmentally benign methods of meeting energy needs of residential sector in particular. This thesis addresses potential solutions for the issue of fossils fuel consumption in residential buildings. Three novel renewable energy based multigeneration systems are proposed for different types of residential buildings, and a comprehensive assessment of energetic and exergetic performances is given on the basis of total occupancy, energy load, and climate conditions. System 1 is a multigeneration system based on two renewable energy sources. It uses biomass and solar resources. The outputs of System 1 are electricity, space heating, cooling, and hot water. The energy and exergy efficiencies of System 1 are 91.0% and 34.9%, respectively. The results of the optimisation analysis show that the net present cost of System 1 is 2,700,496 and that the levelised cost of electricity is 0.117/kWh. System 2 is a multigeneration system, integrating three renewable energy based subsystems; wind turbine, concentrated solar collector, and Organic Rankine Cycle supplied by a ground source heat exchanger. The outputs of the System 2 are electricity, hot water, heating and cooling. The optimisation analysis shows that net present cost is 35,502 and levelised cost of electricity is 0.186/kWh. The energy and exergy efficiencies of System 2 are found to be 34.6% and 16.2%, respectively. System 3 is a multigeneration system, comprising two renewable energy subsystems-- geothermal and solar to supply power, cooling, heating, and hot water. The optimisation analysis shows that the net present cost of System 3 is 598,474, and levelised cost of electricity of 0.111/kWh. The energy and exergy efficiencies of System 3 are 20.2% and 19.2%, respectively, with

Scenarios of building energy demand for China with a detailed regional representation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Sha; Eom, Jiyong; Zhou, Yuyu; Evans, Meredydd; Clarke, Leon

2014-01-01

Building energy consumption currently accounts for 28% of China's total energy use and is expected to continue to grow induced by floorspace expansion, income growth, and population change. Fuel sources and building services are also evolving over time as well as across regions and building types. To understand sectoral and regional difference in building energy use and how socioeconomic, physical, and technological development influence the evolution of the Chinese building sector, this study developed a building energy use model for China downscaled into four climate regions under an integrated assessment framework. Three building types (rural residential, urban residential, and commercial) were modeled specifically in each climate region. Our study finds that the Cold and Hot Summer Cold Winter regions lead in total building energy use. The impact of climate change on heating energy use is more significant than that of cooling energy use in most climate regions. Both rural and urban households will experience fuel switch from fossil fuel to cleaner fuels. Commercial buildings will experience rapid growth in electrification and energy intensity. Improved understanding of Chinese buildings with climate change highlighted in this study will help policy makers develop targeted policies and prioritize building energy efficiency measures. - Highlights: • We conduct integrated assessment of Chinese building energy use at sub-regional level. • The C and HSCW regions each account for one-third of China's building energy use. • China's building energy use with climate change would decrease by 5% in 2050. • With climate change energy use rises in HSWW region and declines in other regions

Description of case houses. Building integrated energy supply; Beskrivelse af casehuse. Bygningsintegreret energiforsyning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jensen, Rasmus L.; Noergaard, J.; Daniels, O.; Justesen, R.O.

2011-08-15

In the future, buildings will not only act as consumers of energy but as producers as well. For these ''prosumers'', energy production by use of solar panels, photovoltaics and heat pumps etc will be essential. The objective of this project was to find the most optimal combinations of building insulation and use of renewable energy sources in existing buildings in terms of economics and climate impacts. Five houses were analyzed based on different personal load, consumption profiles, solar orientation and proposed building envelope improvements and use of combinations of renewable energy systems. The present report describes typical construction details of the building envelope (windows, floor, outside wall and roof/ceiling) for houses built in the years 1961-1972, 1973-1978 and 1979-1998. Furthermore the report describes the necessary improvements for the buildings' U-value to be the minimum value as stated in the Danish building code of 2010, and to be the values for buildings at the level of low-energy class 2015. Cost estimation for optimizing the houses to an optimum insulation level has been made. (ln)

Building integrated photovoltaics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ritzen, M.J.; Vroon, Z.A.E.P.; Geurts, C.P.W.; Reinders, Angèle; Verlinden, Pierre; Sark, Wilfried; Freundlich, Alexandre

2017-01-01

Photovoltaic (PV) installations can be realized in different situations and on different scales, such as at a building level. PV installations at the building level can either be added to the building envelope, which is called building added PV (BAPV), or they can be integrated into the building

Building energy analysis tool

Science.gov (United States)

Brackney, Larry; Parker, Andrew; Long, Nicholas; Metzger, Ian; Dean, Jesse; Lisell, Lars

2016-04-12

A building energy analysis system includes a building component library configured to store a plurality of building components, a modeling tool configured to access the building component library and create a building model of a building under analysis using building spatial data and using selected building components of the plurality of building components stored in the building component library, a building analysis engine configured to operate the building model and generate a baseline energy model of the building under analysis and further configured to apply one or more energy conservation measures to the baseline energy model in order to generate one or more corresponding optimized energy models, and a recommendation tool configured to assess the one or more optimized energy models against the baseline energy model and generate recommendations for substitute building components or modifications.

With building integrated photovoltaic in a daylight optimized passive house to energy autonomy; Mit gebaeudeintegrierter PV im tageslichtoptimierten Passivhaus zur bilanziellen Energieautarkie

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miloni, R.P. [Miloni Lichtplanung und Architektur, Hausen (Switzerland)

2008-07-01

With the introduction of a cost recovering energy feeding law, new possibilities open up for the building integration of photovoltaics and for the solar power generation at the ''Point of sale ''. Still, the appropriate Swiss market is marginal. Not all legal, technical and financial hurdles are removed. Here the photovoltaics with its building integration is in touch with an emotional factor of revaluation: An integration of photovoltaics adresses the building owner beyond their technical-economic value at a culturally abstract level - a wing of a butterfly oscillating in the sunlight also touches on a completely different level. Exactly the same the integration of photovoltaics makes the building to a unique piece of jewellery. In the pioneer phase of the photovoltaics market, architectonically successful integrations of photovoltaics succeeded in a break-through of the solar power generation. Photovoltaics at building coverings is more than a ''fashion '': it becomes a lever arm, with which the solarization of our society transports significant values. Apart from rational-technical considerations this effect has to be used to favour a broad application of photovoltaics with the building integration more purposefully.

Campus and community micro grids integration of building integrated photovoltaic renewable energy sources: Case study of Split 3 area, Croatia - part A

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gašparović Goran

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Micro grids interconnect loads and distributed energy resources as a single controllable entity. New installations of renewable energy sources (RES in urban areas, such as Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV, provide opportunities to increase energy independence and diversify energy sources in the energy system. This paper explores the integration of RES into two case study communities in an urban agglomeration to provide optimal conditions to meet a share of the electrical loads. Energy planning case studies for decentralized generation of renewable energy are conducted in H2RES energy planning software for hourly energy balances. The results indicate that BIPV and PV in the case study communities can cover about 17% of the recorded electrical demand of both areas. On a yearly basis, there will be a 0.025 GWh surplus of PV production with a maximum value of 1.25 MWh in one hour of operation unless grid storage is used. This amounts to a total investment cost of 13.36 million EUR. The results are useful for proposing future directions for the various case study communities targeting sustainable development.

Development of a methodology for life cycle building energy ratings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hernandez, Patxi; Kenny, Paul

2011-01-01

Traditionally the majority of building energy use has been linked to its operation (heating, cooling, lighting, etc.), and much attention has been directed to reduce this energy use through technical innovation, regulatory control and assessed through a wide range of rating methods. However buildings generally employ an increasing amount of materials and systems to reduce the energy use in operation, and energy embodied in these can constitute an important part of the building's life cycle energy use. For buildings with 'zero-energy' use in operation the embodied energy is indeed the only life cycle energy use. This is not addressed by current building energy assessment and rating methods. This paper proposes a methodology to extend building energy assessment and rating methods accounting for embodied energy of building components and systems. The methodology is applied to the EU Building Energy Rating method and, as an illustration, as implemented in Irish domestic buildings. A case study dwelling is used to illustrate the importance of embodied energy on life cycle energy performance, particularly relevant when energy use in operation tends to zero. The use of the Net Energy Ratio as an indicator to select appropriate building improvement measures is also presented and discussed. - Highlights: → The definitions for 'zero energy buildings' and current building energy ratings are examined. → There is a need to integrate a life cycle perspective within building energy ratings. → A life cycle building energy rating method (LC-BER), including embodied energy is presented. → Net Energy Ratio is proposed as an indicator to select building energy improvement options.

Integrated Urban System and Energy Consumption Model: Public and Singular Buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rocco Papa

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The present paper illustrates the results of the first steps of a study on one aspect investigated as the preliminary step of the definition of the analysis - comprehension model of the relation between: city, buildings, and user behavior, for the reduction of energy consumption within the research project “Smart Energy Master” for the energetic governance of the territory (PON_MIUR n. pos. 04a2_00120 CUP Ricerca: E61H12000130005, at the Department of Civil, Building and Environmental Engineering - University of Naples Federico II, principal investigator prof. Carmela Gargiulo.Specifically the literary review aimed at determining if, and in what measure, the presence of public and singular buildings is present in the energy consumption estimate models,  proposed by the scientific community, for the city or neighborhood scale.The difficulties in defining the weight of these singular buildings on the total energy consumption and the impossibility to define mean values that are significant for all subsets and different types as well as for each one, have forced model makers to either ignore them completely or chose a portion of this specific stock to include.

Supporting Building Portfolio Investment and Policy Decision Making through an Integrated Building Utility Data Platform

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aziz, Azizan [Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Lasternas, Bertrand [Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Alschuler, Elena [US DOE; View Inc; Loftness, Vivian [Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Wang, Haopeng [Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Mo, Yunjeong [Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Wang, Ting [Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Zhang, Chenlu [Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Sharma, Shilpi [Carnegie Mellon; Stevens, Ivana [Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

2016-03-18

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funding of 2009 for smart grid projects resulted in the tripling of smart meters deployment. In 2012, the Green Button initiative provided utility customers with access to their real-time1 energy usage. The availability of finely granular data provides an enormous potential for energy data analytics and energy benchmarking. The sheer volume of time-series utility data from a large number of buildings also poses challenges in data collection, quality control, and database management for rigorous and meaningful analyses. In this paper, we will describe a building portfolio-level data analytics tool for operational optimization, business investment and policy assessment using 15-minute to monthly intervals utility data. The analytics tool is developed on top of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Standard Energy Efficiency Data (SEED) platform, an open source software application that manages energy performance data of large groups of buildings. To support the significantly large volume of granular interval data, we integrated a parallel time-series database to the existing relational database. The time-series database improves on the current utility data input, focusing on real-time data collection, storage, analytics and data quality control. The fully integrated data platform supports APIs for utility apps development by third party software developers. These apps will provide actionable intelligence for building owners and facilities managers. Unlike a commercial system, this platform is an open source platform funded by the U.S. Government, accessible to the public, researchers and other developers, to support initiatives in reducing building energy consumption.

Guidelines for Using Building Information Modeling for Energy Analysis of Buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Reeves

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Building energy modeling (BEM, a subset of building information modeling (BIM, integrates energy analysis into the design, construction, and operation and maintenance of buildings. As there are various existing BEM tools available, there is a need to evaluate the utility of these tools in various phases of the building lifecycle. The goal of this research was to develop guidelines for evaluation and selection of BEM tools to be used in particular building lifecycle phases. The objectives of this research were to: (1 Evaluate existing BEM tools; (2 Illustrate the application of the three BEM tools; (3 Re-evaluate the three BEM tools; and (4 Develop guidelines for evaluation, selection and application of BEM tools in the design, construction and operation/maintenance phases of buildings. Twelve BEM tools were initially evaluated using four criteria: interoperability, usability, available inputs, and available outputs. Each of the top three BEM tools selected based on this initial evaluation was used in a case study to simulate and evaluate energy usage, daylighting performance, and natural ventilation for two academic buildings (LEED-certified and non-LEED-certified. The results of the case study were used to re-evaluate the three BEM tools using the initial criteria with addition of the two new criteria (speed and accuracy, and to develop guidelines for evaluating and selecting BEM tools to analyze building energy performance. The major contribution of this research is the development of these guidelines that can help potential BEM users to identify the most appropriate BEM tool for application in particular building lifecycle phases.

Development of an exergy-electrical analogy for visualizing and modeling building integrated energy systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saloux, E.; Teyssedou, A.; Sorin, M.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • The exergy-electrical analogy is developed for energy systems used in buildings. • This analogy has been developed for a complete set of system arrangement options. • Different possibilities of inter-connections are illustrated using analog switches. • Adaptability and utility of the diagram over traditional ones are emphasized. - Abstract: An exergy-electrical analogy, similar to the heat transfer electrical one, is developed and applied to the case of integrated energy systems operating in buildings. Its construction is presented for the case of space heating with electric heaters, heat pumps and solar collectors. The proposed analogy has been applied to a set of system arrangement options proposed for satisfying the building heating demand (space heating, domestic hot water); different alternatives to connect the units have been presented with switches in a visualization scheme. The analogy for such situation has been performed and the study of a solar assisted heat pump using ice storage has been investigated. This diagram directly permits energy paths and their associated exergy destruction to be visualized; hence, sources of irreversibility are identifiable. It can be helpful for the comprehension of the global process and its operation as well as for identifying exergy losses. The method used to construct the diagram makes it easily adaptable to others units or structures or to others models depending on the complexity of the process. The use of switches could be very useful for optimization purposes

Energy-Performance-Based Design-Build Process: Strategies for Procuring High-Performance Buildings on Typical Construction Budgets: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Scheib, J.; Pless, S.; Torcellini, P.

2014-08-01

NREL experienced a significant increase in employees and facilities on our 327-acre main campus in Golden, Colorado over the past five years. To support this growth, researchers developed and demonstrated a new building acquisition method that successfully integrates energy efficiency requirements into the design-build requests for proposals and contracts. We piloted this energy performance based design-build process with our first new construction project in 2008. We have since replicated and evolved the process for large office buildings, a smart grid research laboratory, a supercomputer, a parking structure, and a cafeteria. Each project incorporated aggressive efficiency strategies using contractual energy use requirements in the design-build contracts, all on typical construction budgets. We have found that when energy efficiency is a core project requirement as defined at the beginning of a project, innovative design-build teams can integrate the most cost effective and high performance efficiency strategies on typical construction budgets. When the design-build contract includes measurable energy requirements and is set up to incentivize design-build teams to focus on achieving high performance in actual operations, owners can now expect their facilities to perform. As NREL completed the new construction in 2013, we have documented our best practices in training materials and a how-to guide so that other owners and owner's representatives can replicate our successes and learn from our experiences in attaining market viable, world-class energy performance in the built environment.

Solar energy in buildings; L'energie solaire dans le batiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2003-07-01

This document gathers the presentations given at the first French national meetings of solar energy for the development of solar systems in buildings. The meeting was organized over two days. The first day comprises 4 workshops about: urbanism and planning, cultural acceptability of solar energy in buildings (the OPAC 38 housing association, point of view on an energy information point, the Freiburg (Germany) solar region and marketing examples), technical integration to the structure (Clipsol solutions), and economical criteria (compared impacts of R and D public photovoltaic programs (USA, Japan, Germany, France, Italy), financing of rehabilitation projects, global approach of solar photovoltaic energy, technical solutions and strategy of products development, why and how to make an economical analysis of solar energy applications in the building industry). The second day comprises a plenary session and a round table: global status of solar energy development in Europe, status of French programs, renewable energies in Europe, the experience of Alsace region (Eastern France), the success of German solar markets, and the tools for the launching of solar energy. Two syntheses for these two days of meetings complete the document. (J.S.)

Building-Integrated Solar Energy Devices based on Wavelength Selective Films

Science.gov (United States)

Ulavi, Tejas

A potentially attractive option for building integrated solar is to employ hybrid solar collectors which serve dual purposes, combining solar thermal technology with either thin film photovoltaics or daylighting. In this study, two hybrid concepts, a hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) collector and a hybrid 'solar window', are presented and analyzed to evaluate technical performance. In both concepts, a wavelength selective film is coupled with a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) to reflect and concentrate the infrared portion of the solar spectrum onto a tubular absorber. The visible portion of the spectrum is transmitted through the concentrator to either a thin film Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) solar panel for electricity generation or into the interior space for daylighting. Special attention is given to the design of the hybrid devices for aesthetic building integration. An adaptive concentrator design based on asymmetrical truncation of CPCs is presented for the hybrid solar window concept. The energetic and spectral split between the solar thermal module and the PV or daylighting module are functions of the optical properties of the wavelength selective film and the concentrator geometry, and are determined using a Monte Carlo Ray-Tracing (MCRT) model. Results obtained from the MCRT can be used in conjugation with meteorological data for specific applications to study the impact of CPC design parameters including the half-acceptance angle thetac, absorber diameter D and truncation on the annual thermal and PV/daylighting efficiencies. The hybrid PV/T system is analyzed for a rooftop application in Phoenix, AZ. Compared to a system of the same area with independent solar thermal and PV modules, the hybrid PV/T provides 20% more energy, annually. However, the increase in total delivered energy is due solely to the addition of the thermal module and is achieved at an expense of a decrease in the annual electrical efficiency from 8.8% to 5.8% due to shading by

An Advanced IoT-based System for Intelligent Energy Management in Buildings.

Science.gov (United States)

Marinakis, Vangelis; Doukas, Haris

2018-02-16

The energy sector is closely interconnected with the building sector and integrated Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) solutions for effective energy management supporting decision-making at building, district and city level are key fundamental elements for making a city Smart. The available systems are designed and intended exclusively for a predefined number of cases and systems without allowing for expansion and interoperability with other applications that is partially due to the lack of semantics. This paper presents an advanced Internet of Things (IoT) based system for intelligent energy management in buildings. A semantic framework is introduced aiming at the unified and standardised modelling of the entities that constitute the building environment. Suitable rules are formed, aiming at the intelligent energy management and the general modus operandi of Smart Building. In this context, an IoT-based system was implemented, which enhances the interactivity of the buildings' energy management systems. The results from its pilot application are presented and discussed. The proposed system extends existing approaches and integrates cross-domain data, such as the building's data (e.g., energy management systems), energy production, energy prices, weather data and end-users' behaviour, in order to produce daily and weekly action plans for the energy end-users with actionable personalised information.

Integrating advanced facades into high performance buildings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Selkowitz, Stephen E.

2001-01-01

Glass is a remarkable material but its functionality is significantly enhanced when it is processed or altered to provide added intrinsic capabilities. The overall performance of glass elements in a building can be further enhanced when they are designed to be part of a complete facade system. Finally the facade system delivers the greatest performance to the building owner and occupants when it becomes an essential element of a fully integrated building design. This presentation examines the growing interest in incorporating advanced glazing elements into more comprehensive facade and building systems in a manner that increases comfort, productivity and amenity for occupants, reduces operating costs for building owners, and contributes to improving the health of the planet by reducing overall energy use and negative environmental impacts. We explore the role of glazing systems in dynamic and responsive facades that provide the following functionality: Enhanced sun protection and cooling load control while improving thermal comfort and providing most of the light needed with daylighting; Enhanced air quality and reduced cooling loads using natural ventilation schemes employing the facade as an active air control element; Reduced operating costs by minimizing lighting, cooling and heating energy use by optimizing the daylighting-thermal tradeoffs; Net positive contributions to the energy balance of the building using integrated photovoltaic systems; Improved indoor environments leading to enhanced occupant health, comfort and performance. In addressing these issues facade system solutions must, of course, respect the constraints of latitude, location, solar orientation, acoustics, earthquake and fire safety, etc. Since climate and occupant needs are dynamic variables, in a high performance building the facade solution have the capacity to respond and adapt to these variable exterior conditions and to changing occupant needs. This responsive performance capability

Emerging Energy-Efficient Technologies in Buildings Technology Characterizations for Energy Modeling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hadley, SW

2004-10-11

The energy use in America's commercial and residential building sectors is large and growing. Over 38 quadrillion Btus (Quads) of primary energy were consumed in 2002, representing 39% of total U.S. energy consumption. While the energy use in buildings is expected to grow to 52 Quads by 2025, a large number of energy-related technologies exist that could curtail this increase. In recent years, improvements in such items as high efficiency refrigerators, compact fluorescent lights, high-SEER air conditioners, and improved building shells have all contributed to reducing energy use. Hundreds of other technology improvements have and will continue to improve the energy use in buildings. While many technologies are well understood and are gradually penetrating the market, more advanced technologies will be introduced in the future. The pace and extent of these advances can be improved through state and federal R&D. This report focuses on the long-term potential for energy-efficiency improvement in buildings. Five promising technologies have been selected for description to give an idea of the wide range of possibilities. They address the major areas of energy use in buildings: space conditioning (33% of building use), water heating (9%), and lighting (16%). Besides describing energy-using technologies (solid-state lighting and geothermal heat pumps), the report also discusses energy-saving building shell improvements (smart roofs) and the integration of multiple energy service technologies (CHP packaged systems and triple function heat pumps) to create synergistic savings. Finally, information technologies that can improve the efficiency of building operations are discussed. The report demonstrates that the United States is not running out of technologies to improve energy efficiency and economic and environmental performance, and will not run out in the future. The five technology areas alone can potentially result in total primary energy savings of between 2 and

Energy research program: energy in buildings for the years 2008-2011; Energieforschungsprogramm. Energie in Gebaeuden fuer die Jahre 2008-2011

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Filleux, Ch.

2009-08-15

In Switzerland, existing buildings account for approximately 50% of primary energy consumption. Climate change, as well as the demand on supply, require that Swiss construction practices be immediately adapted. For new buildings, innovative technologies are now widely available. However, their integration into new construction is still too slow due to the fact that current construction practices still lack a holistic approach. Today there also lacks practical solutions for renovations of existing buildings. Therefore, the great challenge for research and development today are 1.5 million pre-existing buildings, which will dictate the future energy consumption for decades. The Federal Energy Research Commission (CORE) has recognized the situation and has considered these issues in its 2008 - 2011 concept for federal energy research. The present research programme Energy in Buildings of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy focuses on the long-term objectives of CORE. This results in the following actions in the building sector: (a) Reducing energy consumption and improving energy efficiency; (b) Integration of renewable energy sources; (c) Reduction of CO{sub 2} emissions through the use of improved technologies. The research programme is therefore focused on concepts and technologies that have long-term objectives, without neglecting the short and medium term goals. The objectives for the period 2008 - 2011 are: (i) Concepts for buildings and housing developments concerning the development of construction methods that are compatible with the goal of a 2,000-watt society (preservation of architectural diversity, use of passive solar energy and daylight); (ii) Concepts, technologies and planning tools for the improvement of energy systems in buildings; (iii) Heating, cooling and ventilation systems in buildings that are compatible with the goal of a 2,000-watt society (efficient cooling systems, heat pumps, etc.); (iv) Increase in efficient use of electricity in

Improving building energy efficiency in India: State-level analysis of building energy efficiency policies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yu, Sha; Tan, Qing; Evans, Meredydd; Kyle, Page; Vu, Linh; Patel, Pralit L.

2017-11-01

India is expected to add 40 billion m2 of new buildings till 2050. Buildings are responsible for one third of India’s total energy consumption today and building energy use is expected to continue growing driven by rapid income and population growth. The implementation of the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) is one of the measures to improve building energy efficiency. Using the Global Change Assessment Model, this study assesses growth in the buildings sector and impacts of building energy policies in Gujarat, which would help the state adopt ECBC and expand building energy efficiency programs. Without building energy policies, building energy use in Gujarat would grow by 15 times in commercial buildings and 4 times in urban residential buildings between 2010 and 2050. ECBC improves energy efficiency in commercial buildings and could reduce building electricity use in Gujarat by 20% in 2050, compared to the no policy scenario. Having energy codes for both commercial and residential buildings could result in additional 10% savings in electricity use. To achieve these intended savings, it is critical to build capacity and institution for robust code implementation.

Co-simulation of innovative integrated HVAC systems in buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Trcka, Marija; Hensena, Jan L.M.; Wetter, Michael

2010-06-21

Integrated performance simulation of buildings HVAC systems can help in reducing energy consumption and increasing occupant comfort. However, no single building performance simulation (BPS) tool offers sufficient capabilities and flexibilities to analyze integrated building systems and to enable rapid prototyping of innovative building and system technologies. One way to alleviate this problem is to use co-simulation, as an integrated approach to simulation. This article elaborates on issues important for co-simulation realization and discusses multiple possibilities to justify the particular approach implemented in the here described co-simulation prototype. The prototype is validated with the results obtained from the traditional simulation approach. It is further used in a proof-of-concept case study to demonstrate the applicability of the method and to highlight its benefits. Stability and accuracy of different coupling strategies are analyzed to give a guideline for the required coupling time step.

Integrated cost estimation methodology to support high-performance building design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vaidya, Prasad; Greden, Lara; Eijadi, David; McDougall, Tom [The Weidt Group, Minnetonka (United States); Cole, Ray [Axiom Engineers, Monterey (United States)

2007-07-01

Design teams evaluating the performance of energy conservation measures (ECMs) calculate energy savings rigorously with established modelling protocols, accounting for the interaction between various measures. However, incremental cost calculations do not have a similar rigor. Often there is no recognition of cost reductions with integrated design, nor is there assessment of cost interactions amongst measures. This lack of rigor feeds the notion that high-performance buildings cost more, creating a barrier for design teams pursuing aggressive high-performance outcomes. This study proposes an alternative integrated methodology to arrive at a lower perceived incremental cost for improved energy performance. The methodology is based on the use of energy simulations as means towards integrated design and cost estimation. Various points along the spectrum of integration are identified and characterized by the amount of design effort invested, the scheduling of effort, and relative energy performance of the resultant design. It includes a study of the interactions between building system parameters as they relate to capital costs. Several cost interactions amongst energy measures are found to be significant.The value of this approach is demonstrated with alternatives in a case study that shows the differences between perceived costs for energy measures along various points on the integration spectrum. These alternatives show design tradeoffs and identify how decisions would have been different with a standard costing approach. Areas of further research to make the methodology more robust are identified. Policy measures to encourage the integrated approach and reduce the barriers towards improved energy performance are discussed.

Person and consumption profiles. Building integrated energy supply; Person- og forbrugsprofiler. Bygningsintegreret energiforsyning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jensen, Rasmus L.; Noergaard, J.; Daniels, O.; Justesen, R.O.

2011-08-15

In the future, buildings will not only act as consumers of energy but as producers as well. For these ''prosumers'', energy production by use of solar panels, photovoltaics and heat pumps etc will be essential. The objective of this project was to find the most optimal combinations of building insulation and use of renewable energy sources in existing buildings in terms of economics and climate impacts. Five houses were analyzed based on different personal load, consumption profiles, solar orientation and proposed building envelope improvements and use of combinations of renewable energy systems. The present report describes how person and consumption profiles used in this project are developed, and which data that form the basis for these profiles. The increasing requirements for energy in the building sector mean that the primary energy consumption ends close to or below zero within the next years. Therefore, the consumption in buildings becomes a relatively larger and larger part of the total energy demand in dwellings. It is important to investigate whether there are seasonal distributions of power and water consumption, because it might give a more exact result and describe the reality better than by using yearly values. First, the personal load determined, and then humidity and consumption of both power and hot water is defined. Second, the hourly profiles are developed based on analyses of seasonal distributions. These profiles also include cold domestic water to see whether there is a correlation between this and hot domestic water. (ln)

Solar energy in buildings; L'energie solaire dans le batiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2003-07-01

This document gathers the presentations given at the first French national meetings of solar energy for the development of solar systems in buildings. The meeting was organized over two days. The first day comprises 4 workshops about: urbanism and planning, cultural acceptability of solar energy in buildings (the OPAC 38 housing association, point of view on an energy information point, the Freiburg (Germany) solar region and marketing examples), technical integration to the structure (Clipsol solutions), and economical criteria (compared impacts of R and D public photovoltaic programs (USA, Japan, Germany, France, Italy), financing of rehabilitation projects, global approach of solar photovoltaic energy, technical solutions and strategy of products development, why and how to make an economical analysis of solar energy applications in the building industry). The second day comprises a plenary session and a round table: global status of solar energy development in Europe, status of French programs, renewable energies in Europe, the experience of Alsace region (Eastern France), the success of German solar markets, and the tools for the launching of solar energy. Two syntheses for these two days of meetings complete the document. (J.S.)

Energy Simulation of a Holographic PVT Concentrating System for Building Integration Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julia Marín-Sáez

2016-07-01

Full Text Available A building integrated holographic concentrating photovoltaic-thermal system has been optically and energetically simulated. The system has been designed to be superimposed into a solar shading louvre; in this way the concentrating unit takes profit of the solar altitude tracking, which the shading blinds already have, to increase system performance. A dynamic energy simulation has been conducted in two different locations—Sde Boker (Israel and Avignon (France—both with adequate annual irradiances for solar applications, but with different weather and energy demand characteristics. The simulation engine utilized has been TRNSYS, coupled with MATLAB (where the ray-tracing algorithm to simulate the holographic optical performance has been implemented. The concentrator achieves annual mean optical efficiencies of 30.3% for Sde Boker and 43.0% for the case of Avignon. Regarding the energy production, in both locations the thermal energy produced meets almost 100% of the domestic hot water demand as this has been considered a priority in the system control. On the other hand, the space heating demands are covered by a percentage ranging from 15% (Avignon to 20% (Sde Boker. Finally, the electricity produced in both places covers 7.4% of the electrical demand profile for Sde Boker and 9.1% for Avignon.

A hybrid energy efficient building ventilation system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calay, Rajnish Kaur; Wang, Wen Chung

2013-01-01

The present paper presents a high performance cooling/heating ventilation system using a rotary heat exchanger (RHE), together with a reverse-cycle heat pump (RCHP) that can be integrated with various heat sources. Energy consumption in the building sector is largely dominated by the energy consumed in maintaining comfortable conditions indoors. For example in many developed countries the building heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems consume up to 50% of the total energy consumed in buildings. Therefore energy efficient HVAC solutions in buildings are critical for realising CO 2 targets at local and global level. There are many heating/cooling concepts that rely upon renewable energy sources and/or use natural low temperature heat sources in the winter and heat sinks in the summer. In the proposed system, waste energy from the exhaust air stream is used to precondition the outdoor air before it is supplied into the building. The hybrid system provides heating in the winter and cooling in the summer without any need for additional heating or cooling devices as required in conventional systems. Its performance is better than a typical reheat or air conditioning system in providing the same indoor air quality (IAQ) levels. It is shown that an energy saving up to 60% (heat energy) is achieved by using the proposed hybrid system in building ventilation applications. -- Highlights: • Hybrid ventilation system: the hybrid ventilation system uses a rotating regenerator and a reversible heat pump. • Heat recovery: heat recovery from exhaust air stream by rotary wheel type heat exchanger. • Reversible cycle heat pump (RCHP): additional heating or cooling of the supply air is provided by the RCHP. • Energy efficiency: energy savings of up to 60% using the proposed system are achievable

Green buildings for Egypt: a call for an integrated policy

Science.gov (United States)

Bampou, P.

2017-11-01

As global warming is on the threshold of each country worldwide, Middle East and North African (MENA) region has already adopted energy efficiency (EE) policies on several consuming sectors. The present paper valuates the impact of temperature increase in the residential building sector of Egypt that is the most integrated example of the 7 out of the 20 MENA countries that have started their green efforts upon building environment. Furthermore, as it is based on a literature research upon socio-economic characteristics, existing building stock, existing legal and institutional framework, it elaborates a quantitative evaluation of Egypt's energy-saving potential, outlining basic constraints upon energy conservation, in order for Egypt to be able to handle the high energy needs due to its warm climate. Last but not least, the paper proposes a policy pathway for the implementation of green building codes and concludes with the best available technologies to promote EE in the Egyptian building sector.

Zero Energy Building

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marszal, Anna Joanna; Heiselberg, Per; Bourrelle, J.S.

2011-01-01

The concept of Zero Energy Building (ZEB) has gained wide international attention during last few years and is now seen as the future target for the design of buildings. However, before being fully implemented in the national building codes and international standards, the ZEB concept requires......, (4) the type of energy balance, (5) the accepted renewable energy supply options, (6) the connection to the energy infrastructure and (7) the requirements for the energy efficiency, the indoor climate and in case of gird connected ZEB for the building–grid interaction. This paper focuses...

Energy monitoring and the 'energy passport' for buildings - Preliminary study; Energie-Monitoring Gebaeude und Gebaeude-Energiepass

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baumgartner, A.; Menti, U.-P. [Amstein and Walthert AG, Zuerich (Switzerland); Sigg, R.; Besser, U. [Intep Integrale Planung GmbH, Zuerich (Switzerland)

2004-07-01

This preliminary study for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) examines the situation in Switzerland with regard to the creation of an energy-consumption rating system for buildings. Present and future developments in Europe in this area are examined. This preliminary study provides the basis for a main study in that it defines the main questions to be looked at. Present-day data collection on the energy consumption of buildings is looked at critically. The authors suggest the integration of an energy-consumption data bank in the existing building and apartment register. The situation in Europe, where specific ideas on the introduction of national 'energy passports' for buildings are being looked at, is considered. The work that will have to be done in Switzerland in this area is reviewed, and the essential prerequisites for the implementation of such an energy-monitoring system are discussed.

Efficient utilization of energy in office buildings. Planning manual; Effiziente Energienutzung in Buerogebaeuden. Planungsleitfaden

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2008-07-15

Regarding to the energy efficiency of office buildings, a high standard is set to architects: Office buildings need more energy for the cooling in the summer than for the heating in the winter. Additionally, there is an energy consumption for lighting, ventilation and operation of office equipment. Under this aspect, in the planning manual under consideration ten demands for an efficient energy utilization at office buildings are described: (a) Integral concept for the minimization of the entire power demand; (b) Compact building method and very good structural thermal protection; (c) Adapted glass areas and quality of vitrifications; (d) Integrals ventilation planning; (e) Efficient ventilation systems; (f) Efficient room climate concept and minimization of internal and outside heat loads; (g) Utilization of daylight with adapted architectural draft; (h) Efficient artificial lighting; (i) Supply of warmth and coldness with minimum characteristic values for primary energy; (j) Energy monitoring and optimization of operation. This manual also is valid for other buildings such as schools, administration buildings or swimming pools.

Integrated smart control of heating, cooling, ventilation, daylighting and electrical lighting in buildings

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bakker, L.G.; Brouwer, A.H.M.; Babuska, R.

1998-01-01

The present energy consumption of European Buildings is higher than necessary, given the developments in control engineering. Optimization and integration of smart control into building systems can save substantial quantities of energy on a European scale while improving the standards for indoor

Building Energy Efficiency in India: Compliance Evaluation of Energy Conservation Building Code

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yu, Sha; Evans, Meredydd; Delgado, Alison

2014-03-26

India is experiencing unprecedented construction boom. The country doubled its floorspace between 2001 and 2005 and is expected to add 35 billion m2 of new buildings by 2050. Buildings account for 35% of total final energy consumption in India today, and building energy use is growing at 8% annually. Studies have shown that carbon policies will have little effect on reducing building energy demand. Chaturvedi et al. predicted that, if there is no specific sectoral policies to curb building energy use, final energy demand of the Indian building sector will grow over five times by the end of this century, driven by rapid income and population growth. The growing energy demand in buildings is accompanied by a transition from traditional biomass to commercial fuels, particularly an increase in electricity use. This also leads to a rapid increase in carbon emissions and aggravates power shortage in India. Growth in building energy use poses challenges to the Indian government. To curb energy consumption in buildings, the Indian government issued the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) in 2007, which applies to commercial buildings with a connected load of 100 kW or 120kVA. It is predicted that the implementation of ECBC can help save 25-40% of energy, compared to reference buildings without energy-efficiency measures. However, the impact of ECBC depends on the effectiveness of its enforcement and compliance. Currently, the majority of buildings in India are not ECBC-compliant. The United Nations Development Programme projected that code compliance in India would reach 35% by 2015 and 64% by 2017. Whether the projected targets can be achieved depends on how the code enforcement system is designed and implemented. Although the development of ECBC lies in the hands of the national government – the Bureau of Energy Efficiency under the Ministry of Power, the adoption and implementation of ECBC largely relies on state and local governments. Six years after ECBC�

An Adaptive Intelligent Integrated Lighting Control Approach for High-Performance Office Buildings

Science.gov (United States)

Karizi, Nasim

An acute and crucial societal problem is the energy consumed in existing commercial buildings. There are 1.5 million commercial buildings in the U.S. with only about 3% being built each year. Hence, existing buildings need to be properly operated and maintained for several decades. Application of integrated centralized control systems in buildings could lead to more than 50% energy savings. This research work demonstrates an innovative adaptive integrated lighting control approach which could achieve significant energy savings and increase indoor comfort in high performance office buildings. In the first phase of the study, a predictive algorithm was developed and validated through experiments in an actual test room. The objective was to regulate daylight on a specified work plane by controlling the blind slat angles. Furthermore, a sensor-based integrated adaptive lighting controller was designed in Simulink which included an innovative sensor optimization approach based on genetic algorithm to minimize the number of sensors and efficiently place them in the office. The controller was designed based on simple integral controllers. The objective of developed control algorithm was to improve the illuminance situation in the office through controlling the daylight and electrical lighting. To evaluate the performance of the system, the controller was applied on experimental office model in Lee et al.'s research study in 1998. The result of the developed control approach indicate a significantly improvement in lighting situation and 1-23% and 50-78% monthly electrical energy savings in the office model, compared to two static strategies when the blinds were left open and closed during the whole year respectively.

Development of whole-building energy design targets for commercial buildings: Phase 1, Planning: Volume 2, Technical report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Crawley, D.B.; Briggs, R.S.; Jones, J.W.; Seaton, W.W.; Kaufman, J.E.; Deringer, J.J.; Kennett, E.W.

1987-08-01

This is the second volume of the Phase 1 report and discusses the 10 tasks performed in Phase 1. The objective of this research is to develop a methodology for setting energy design targets to provide voluntary guidelines for the buildings industry. The whole-building energy targets project is being conducted at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) for the US Department of Energy (DOE) to encourage the construction of energy-efficient buildings by informing designers and owners about cost-effective goals for energy use in new commercial buildings. The outcome of this research will be a flexible methodology for setting such targets. The tasks are listed and discussed in this report as follows: Task 1 - Develop Detailed Project Goals and Objectives; Task 2 - Establish Buildings-Industry Liaison; Task 3 - Develop Approaches to the Energy Targets Model, Building Operations, and Climate; Task 4 - Develop an Approach for Treating Economic Considerations; Task 5 - Develop an Approach for Treating Energy Sources; Task 6 - Collect Energy-Use Data; Task 7 - Survey Energy Expert Opinion; Task 8 - Evaluation Procedure Specification and Integration; Task 9 - Phase 1 Report Development; and Task 10 - Phase 1 Review Planning.

Integration of Low Energy Technologies for Optimal Building and Space Conditioning Design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

D.E. Fisher

2006-01-07

EnergyPlus is the DOE's newest building energy simulation engine. It was developed specifically to support the design of low energy building systems. This project focused on developing new low energy building simulation models for EnergyPlus, verifying and validating new and existing EnergyPlus models and transferring the new technology to the private sector. The project focused primarily on geothermal and radiant technologies, which are related by the fact that both are based on hydronic system design. As a result of this project eight peer reviewed journal and conference papers were added to the archival literature and five technical reports were published as M.S. theses and are available in the archival literature. In addition, several reports, including a trombe wall validation report were written for web publication. Thirteen new or significantly enhanced modules were added to the EnergyPlus source code and forty-two new or significantly enhanced sections were added to the EnergyPlus documentation as a result of this work. A low energy design guide was also developed as a pedagogical tool and is available for web publication. Finally several tools including a hybrid ground source heat pump optimization program and a geothermal heat pump parameter estimation tool were developed for research and design and are available for web publication.

An Advanced IoT-based System for Intelligent Energy Management in Buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vangelis Marinakis

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The energy sector is closely interconnected with the building sector and integrated Information and Communication Technologies (ICT solutions for effective energy management supporting decision-making at building, district and city level are key fundamental elements for making a city Smart. The available systems are designed and intended exclusively for a predefined number of cases and systems without allowing for expansion and interoperability with other applications that is partially due to the lack of semantics. This paper presents an advanced Internet of Things (IoT based system for intelligent energy management in buildings. A semantic framework is introduced aiming at the unified and standardised modelling of the entities that constitute the building environment. Suitable rules are formed, aiming at the intelligent energy management and the general modus operandi of Smart Building. In this context, an IoT-based system was implemented, which enhances the interactivity of the buildings’ energy management systems. The results from its pilot application are presented and discussed. The proposed system extends existing approaches and integrates cross-domain data, such as the building’s data (e.g., energy management systems, energy production, energy prices, weather data and end-users’ behaviour, in order to produce daily and weekly action plans for the energy end-users with actionable personalised information.

An Advanced IoT-based System for Intelligent Energy Management in Buildings

Science.gov (United States)

Doukas, Haris

2018-01-01

The energy sector is closely interconnected with the building sector and integrated Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) solutions for effective energy management supporting decision-making at building, district and city level are key fundamental elements for making a city Smart. The available systems are designed and intended exclusively for a predefined number of cases and systems without allowing for expansion and interoperability with other applications that is partially due to the lack of semantics. This paper presents an advanced Internet of Things (IoT) based system for intelligent energy management in buildings. A semantic framework is introduced aiming at the unified and standardised modelling of the entities that constitute the building environment. Suitable rules are formed, aiming at the intelligent energy management and the general modus operandi of Smart Building. In this context, an IoT-based system was implemented, which enhances the interactivity of the buildings’ energy management systems. The results from its pilot application are presented and discussed. The proposed system extends existing approaches and integrates cross-domain data, such as the building’s data (e.g., energy management systems), energy production, energy prices, weather data and end-users’ behaviour, in order to produce daily and weekly action plans for the energy end-users with actionable personalised information. PMID:29462957

Energy Efficiency Building Systems Regional Innovation Cluster Initiative

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Krebs, Martha [Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)

2016-07-29

The Consortium for Building Energy Innovation (CBEI) was established through a Funding Opportunity Announcement led by the U.S. Department of Energy, under a cooperative agreement managed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory. CBEI is led by The Pennsylvania State University and is composed of partners from academia, the private sector, and economic development agencies. The Consortium has included as many as 24 different partners over the five years, but 14 have been core to the work over the five year cooperative agreement. CBEI primarily focused on developing energy efficiency solutions for the small and medium commercial building market, with a focus on buildings less than 50,000 square feet. This market has been underserved by the energy efficiency industry, which has focused on larger commercial buildings where the scale of an individual retrofit lends itself to the use of sophisticated modeling tools and more advanced solutions. Owners/operators and retrofit providers for larger buildings have a greater level of understanding of, and experience with different solutions. In contrast, smaller commercial building retrofits, like residential retrofits, often have owners with less knowledge about energy management and less time to learn about it. This market segment is also served by retrofit providers that are smaller and often focused on particular building systems, e.g. heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), lighting, roofing, or insulation. The size of a smaller commercial building retrofit does not lend itself, from a cost perspective, to the application of multiple, sophisticated design and modeling tools, which means that they are less likely to have integrated solutions.

Building occupancy diversity and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system energy efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Zheng; Ghahramani, Ali; Becerik-Gerber, Burcin

2016-01-01

Approximately forty percent of total building energy consumption is attributed to HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems that aim to maintain healthy and comfortable indoor environments. An HVAC system is a network with several subsystems, and there exist heat transfer and balance among the zones of a building, as well as heat gains and losses through a building's envelope. Diverse occupancy (diversity in terms of when and how occupants occupy a building) in spaces could result in increase of loads that are not actual demands for an HVAC system, leading into inefficiencies. This paper introduces a framework to quantitatively evaluate the energy implications of occupancy diversity at the building level, where building information modeling is integrated to provide building geometries, HVAC system layouts, and spatial information as inputs for computing potential energy implications if occupancy diversity were to be eliminated. An agglomerate hierarchical clustering-based iterative evaluation algorithm is designed for iteratively eliminating occupancy diversity. Whole building energy simulations for a real-world building, as well as virtual reference buildings demonstrate that the proposed framework could effectively quantify the HVAC system energy efficiency affected by occupancy diversity and the framework is generalizable to different building geometries, layouts, and occupancy diversities. - Highlights: • Analyze relationships between occupancy diversity and HVAC energy efficiency. • Integrate BIM for quantifying energy implications of occupancy diversity. • Demonstrate the effectiveness and generalizability of iterative evaluation algorithm. • Improve agglomerative hierarchical clustering process using heap data structure.

Building energy modeling for green architecture and intelligent dashboard applications

Science.gov (United States)

DeBlois, Justin

Buildings are responsible for 40% of the carbon emissions in the United States. Energy efficiency in this sector is key to reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions. This work studied the passive technique called the roof solar chimney for reducing the cooling load in homes architecturally. Three models of the chimney were created: a zonal building energy model, computational fluid dynamics model, and numerical analytic model. The study estimated the error introduced to the building energy model (BEM) through key assumptions, and then used a sensitivity analysis to examine the impact on the model outputs. The conclusion was that the error in the building energy model is small enough to use it for building simulation reliably. Further studies simulated the roof solar chimney in a whole building, integrated into one side of the roof. Comparisons were made between high and low efficiency constructions, and three ventilation strategies. The results showed that in four US climates, the roof solar chimney results in significant cooling load energy savings of up to 90%. After developing this new method for the small scale representation of a passive architecture technique in BEM, the study expanded the scope to address a fundamental issue in modeling - the implementation of the uncertainty from and improvement of occupant behavior. This is believed to be one of the weakest links in both accurate modeling and proper, energy efficient building operation. A calibrated model of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation's LEED Gold, 3,400 m2 building was created. Then algorithms were developed for integration to the building's dashboard application that show the occupant the energy savings for a variety of behaviors in real time. An approach using neural networks to act on real-time building automation system data was found to be the most accurate and efficient way to predict the current energy savings for each scenario. A stochastic study examined the impact of the

Integrated Building Energy Design of a Danish Office Building Based on Monte Carlo Simulation Method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Mathias Juul; Myhre, Sindre Hammer; Hansen, Kasper Kingo

2017-01-01

The focus on reducing buildings energy consumption is gradually increasing, and the optimization of a building’s performance and maximizing its potential leads to great challenges between architects and engineers. In this study, we collaborate with a group of architects on a design project of a new...... office building located in Aarhus, Denmark. Building geometry, floor plans and employee schedules were obtained from the architects which is the basis for this study. This study aims to simplify the iterative design process that is based on the traditional trial and error method in the late design phases...

Long-term Energy and Emissions Savings Potential in New York City Buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bhatt, Vatsal [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Lee, John [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Klein, Yehuda [City Univ. (CUNY), NY (United States); Link, Hildegaard [City Univ. (CUNY), NY (United States); Pillich, Jose [City Univ. (CUNY), NY (United States)

2012-09-30

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) partnered with the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and the City University of New York (CUNY) to develop an integrated methodology that is capable of quantifying the impact of energy efficiency and load management options in buildings, including CUNY’s campus buildings, housing projects, hospitals, and hotels, while capturing the synergies and offsets in a complex and integrated energy-environmental system. The results of this work serve as a guideline in implementing urban energy efficiency and other forms of urban environmental improvement through cost-effective planning at the institutional and local level.

Zero energy office building renovation; Energieneutrale kantoorrenovatie

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deguelle, D.; Krijnen, M. [DHV, Amersfoort (Netherlands); Heijnis, J. [cepezed, Delft (Netherlands)

2011-04-15

Building Brains has been set up by TNO as a cooperative and started September 21, 2009. The aim of the project was to answer the question how the energy consumption in the Netherlands can be reduced by 50% up to 2030 or how the built environment can be made energy-neutral. This issue of the magazine is dedicated to Building Brains project. Four different renovation concepts are compared: energy-neutral renovation that involves the exclusive use of sustainable generated energy;.the application of the passive construction principles; the use of Double Skin Facades; and decentralized facade-integrated installation techniques. Following the results of this study two optimized refurbishment approaches for a zero energy office are designed. [Dutch] Building Brains is een door TNO opgezet samenwerkingsproject dat op 21 september 2009 van start ging. Het doel van het project is antwoord te geven op de vraag hoe tot 2030 het energiegebruik in Nederland kan worden gehalveerd of hoe de gebouwde omgeving energieneutraal kan worden gemaakt. Deze aflevering van het tijdschrift TVVL is vrijwel geheel gewijd aan het Building Brains project. Er is onderzocht hoe verschillende renovatieconcepten scoren. Er zijn vier renovatieconcepten met elkaar vergeleken: energie neutraal renoveren door middel van duurzame energieopwekking, toepassen van het passiefhuisprincipe, toepassen van een tweedehuidfacade en toepassen van een decentrale, gevel-geintegreerde installatie. Uit de studie kwamen twee geoptimaliseerde concepten voor een energieneutrale kantoorrenovatie naar voren.

Implementation of a demand elasticity model in the building energy management system

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ożadowicz, A.; Grela, J.; Babar, M.

2016-01-01

Nowadays, crucial part of modern Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS) is electric energy management. An active demand side management is very important feature of a Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) integrated within the BACS. Since demand value changes in time and depends on

Use of LCA as a Tool for Building Ecodesign. A Case Study of a Low Energy Building in Spain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alberto Jáñez

2013-08-01

Full Text Available This paper demonstrates how to achieve energy savings in the construction and operation of buildings by promoting the use of life cycle assessment techniques in the design for new buildings and for refurbishment. The paper aims to draw on the application of a specific methodology for low energy consumption, integrated planning, environmental performance evaluation of buildings, and design for sustainability and LCA techniques applied to buildings. The ENergy Saving through promotion of LIfe Cycle assessment in buildings (ENSLIC methodology based on LCA for use in an integral planning process has been promoted to stakeholders who require a means to optimize the environmental performance of buildings. Feedback from the stakeholders has facilitated the creation of simplified LCA guidelines, a systematic approach guiding the user through the alternative options regarding software choices, their strengths and weaknesses, the databases available, the usefulness of different indicators, aggregation, definition of limits and options for simplifying the process. As a result, this paper presents the applied results of a case study where this methodology is implemented serving as an energy savings evaluation tool for decision makers, end-users, professionals involved in the different stages of construction, etc. Finally, it is demonstrated how LCA can facilitate comparisons between different buildings, showing the influence of all variables on a building’s life cycle environmental impact and showing the potential for energy savings. Removing market barriers to sustainable construction is actually stricter and this is good news for promoting higher energy efficiency in buildings.

PV-PCM integration in glazed building. Co-simulation and genetic optimization study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Elarga, Hagar; Dal Monte, Andrea; Andersen, Rune Korsholm

2017-01-01

. An exploratory step has also been considered prior to the optimization algorithm: it evaluates the energy profiles before and after the application of PCM to PV module integrated in glazed building. The optimization analysis investigate parameters such as ventilation flow rates and time schedule to obtain......The study describes a multi-objective optimization algorithm for an innovative integration of forced ventilated PV-PCM modules in glazed façade buildings: the aim is to identify and optimize the parameters that most affect thermal and energy performances. 1-D model, finite difference method FDM...

Improvement of energy performances of existing buildings by application of solar thermal systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krstić-Furundžić Aleksandra

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Improvement of energy performances of the existing buildings in the suburban settlement Konjarnik in Belgrade, by the application of solar thermal systems is the topic presented in this paper. Hypothetical models of building improvements are created to allow the benefits of applying solar thermal collectors to residential buildings in Belgrade climate conditions to be estimated. This case study presents different design variants of solar thermal collectors integrated into a multifamily building envelope. The following aspects of solar thermal systems integration are analyzed in the paper: energy, architectural, ecological and economic. The results show that in Belgrade climatic conditions significant energy savings and reduction of CO2 emissions can be obtained with the application of solar thermal collectors.

Expand the Modeling Capabilities of DOE's EnergyPlus Building Energy Simulation Program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Don Shirey

2008-02-28

EnergyPlus{trademark} is a new generation computer software analysis tool that has been developed, tested, and commercialized to support DOE's Building Technologies (BT) Program in terms of whole-building, component, and systems R&D (http://www.energyplus.gov). It is also being used to support evaluation and decision making of zero energy building (ZEB) energy efficiency and supply technologies during new building design and existing building retrofits. Version 1.0 of EnergyPlus was released in April 2001, followed by semiannual updated versions over the ensuing seven-year period. This report summarizes work performed by the University of Central Florida's Florida Solar Energy Center (UCF/FSEC) to expand the modeling capabilities of EnergyPlus. The project tasks involved implementing, testing, and documenting the following new features or enhancement of existing features: (1) A model for packaged terminal heat pumps; (2) A model for gas engine-driven heat pumps with waste heat recovery; (3) Proper modeling of window screens; (4) Integrating and streamlining EnergyPlus air flow modeling capabilities; (5) Comfort-based controls for cooling and heating systems; and (6) An improved model for microturbine power generation with heat recovery. UCF/FSEC located existing mathematical models or generated new model for these features and incorporated them into EnergyPlus. The existing or new models were (re)written using Fortran 90/95 programming language and were integrated within EnergyPlus in accordance with the EnergyPlus Programming Standard and Module Developer's Guide. Each model/feature was thoroughly tested and identified errors were repaired. Upon completion of each model implementation, the existing EnergyPlus documentation (e.g., Input Output Reference and Engineering Document) was updated with information describing the new or enhanced feature. Reference data sets were generated for several of the features to aid program users in selecting proper

Energy management systems in buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lush, D. M.

1979-07-01

An investigation is made of the range of possibilities available from three types of systems (automatic control devices, building envelope, and the occupants) in buildings. The following subjects are discussed: general (buildings, design and personnel); new buildings (envelope, designers, energy and load calculations, plant design, general design parameters); existing buildings (conservation measures, general energy management, air conditioned buildings, industrial buildings); man and motivation (general, energy management and documentation, maintenance, motivation); automatic energy management systems (thermostatic controls, optimized plant start up, air conditioned and industrial buildings, building automatic systems). (MCW)

Experience with building integrated solar collectors; Erfaring med bygningsintegrerte solfangere

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Simonsen, Ingeborg; Time, Berit; Andresen, Inger

2011-07-01

The main objective of the research 'Zero Emission Buildings' ZEB is to develop products and solutions that provide buildings with zero greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production, operation and disposal. Can we make this happen must the building produce more energy than it needs to compensate for greenhouse gas emissions from the production of materials and the actual construction.To build up knowledge on experience with building integrated solar collectors in Norway, we have in this study made interviews with suppliers and manufacturers of solar collectors and some building owners. Since the focus is on climate shell, we have limited the study to include solar collectors to replace a part of the cladding or roofing. Construction upstairs roofing, outside facade or freestanding rack is not considered as building integrated in this context. The providers we have been in contact with appeals to slightly different parts of the market. This is reflected in the product's development, assembly and approach to the calculation of energy delivery. Overall, providers may offer a range of products suitable for both the professional and skilled carpenter, the interested 'man in the street' . The feedback we have received shows generally good experiences with the product and the installation. Because of the preliminary short operating periods of the investigated plants we have little data on energy supply from these plants. In summary, we can say that the knowledge and the products are available and it is up to use to use them.(Author)

Energy - efficient buildings in pakistan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sohail, M.; Qureshi, M.U.D.

2011-01-01

Pakistan is one of the countries with the highest energy consumption for domestic use. Annual energy consumption by the domestic sector is 45.9 % of the total, while the industrial sector, consumes about 27.5%. About half of the total energy consumed is used in buildings and/or heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) and lighting appliances. The energy consumed for the same purposes in China and UK is 25 to 30 % and 40 %, respectively, even in extreme weather conditions. Energy deficiency in Pakistan is approximately 5,000 MWe, which results in worst load-shedding in summers and, lately, even in winters. Building new energy sources like dams, coal power plants and renewable energy power projects are some possible solutions, but these are time taking and need at least 2 to 6 years to complete, depending upon the nature of the project. Fast development of energy-efficient buildings is, therefore, necessary to deal with exacerbating energy-crisis and related environmental impact in Pakistan. Innovations in the prevailing building-design will help the country in reducing the energy burden. These innovations may include improved architectural designs, energy-efficient building materials, electrical appliances and implementation of building energy-efficiency codes. In 1987, the National Energy Conservation Centre (ENERCON), was established under Ministry of Environment, Government of Pakistan, with the aim to build awareness among the masses for energy conservation, and to make policies regarding energy-conservation structures in the country. But no policy regarding building energy codes has been introduced by ENERCON till now. In collaboration with Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), ENERCON has recently finalized the Building Energy Code of Pakistan Energy Provisions 2011 for which statutory notification is under process for necessary amendment in the building by-laws. The implementation of this Energy Code will result in 25 to 30 % of energy savings in the

China's Building Energy Use: A Long-Term Perspective based on a Detailed Assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eom, Jiyong; Clarke, Leon E.; Kim, Son H.; Kyle, G. Page; Patel, Pralit L.

2012-01-13

We present here a detailed, service-based model of China's building energy use, nested in the GCAM (Global Change Assessment Model) integrated assessment framework. Using the model, we explore long-term pathways of China's building energy use and identify opportunities of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The inclusion of a structural model of building energy demands within an integrated assessment framework represents a major methodological advance. It allows for a structural understanding of the drivers of building energy consumption while simultaneously considering the other human and natural system interactions that influence changes in the global energy system and climate. We also explore a range of different scenarios to gain insights into how China's building sector might evolve and what the implications might be for improved building energy technology and carbon policies. The analysis suggests that China's building energy growth will not wane anytime soon, although technology improvement will put downward pressure on this growth. Also, regardless of the scenarios represented, the growth will involve the continued, rapid electrification of the buildings sector throughout the century, and this transition will be accelerated by the implementation of carbon policy.

A Buildings Module for the Stochastic Energy Deployment System

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lacommare, Kristina S H; Marnay, Chris; Stadler, Michael; Borgeson, Sam; Coffey, Brian; Komiyama, Ryoichi; Lai, Judy

2008-05-15

The U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) is building a new long-range (to 2050) forecasting model for use in budgetary and management applications called the Stochastic Energy Deployment System (SEDS), which explicitly incorporates uncertainty through its development within the Analytica(R) platform of Lumina Decision Systems. SEDS is designed to be a fast running (a few minutes), user-friendly model that analysts can readily run and modify in its entirety through a visual programming interface. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is responsible for implementing the SEDS Buildings Module. The initial Lite version of the module is complete and integrated with a shared code library for modeling demand-side technology choice developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Lumina. The module covers both commercial and residential buildings at the U.S. national level using an econometric forecast of floorspace requirement and a model of building stock turnover as the basis for forecasting overall demand for building services. Although the module is fundamentally an engineering-economic model with technology adoption decisions based on cost and energy performance characteristics of competing technologies, it differs from standard energy forecasting models by including considerations of passive building systems, interactions between technologies (such as internal heat gains), and on-site power generation.

Development of an Integrated Process, Modeling and Simulation Platform for Performance-Based Design of Low-Energy and High IEQ Buildings

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yixing

2013-01-01

The objective of this study was to develop a "Virtual Design Studio (VDS)": a software platform for integrated, coordinated and optimized design of green building systems with low energy consumption, high indoor environmental quality (IEQ), and high level of sustainability. The VDS is intended to assist collaborating architects,…

A Solar Atlas for Building-Integrated Photovoltaic Electricity Resource Assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Möller, Bernd; Nielsen, Steffen; Sperling, Karl

While photovoltaic energy gathers momentum as power costs increase and panel costs decrease, the total technical and economic potentials for building integrated solar energy in Denmark remain largely unidentified. The current net metering feed-in scheme is restricted to 6kW plant size, limiting...... large scale application. This paper presents a solar atlas based on a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of all 2.9 million buildings in the country, combined with a building register. The 1.6 m resolution DEM has been processed into global radiation input, solar energy output and production....... The continuous assessment of solar electricity generation potentials by marginal costs, ownership and plant type presented in the paper may be used for defining long term policies for the development of photovoltaic energy, as well as political instruments such as a multi-tier feed-in tariff....

Compliance with building energy regulations for new-build dwellings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pan, Wei; Garmston, Helen

2012-01-01

Despite increasingly stringent building energy regulations worldwide, non-compliance exists in practice. This paper examines the profile of compliance with building energy regulations for new-build dwellings. In total 404 new-build dwellings completed in the UK from 2006 to 2009 were investigated. Only a third of these dwellings were evidenced as being compliant with Building Regulations Part L (England and Wales). Such low compliance casts a serious concern over the achievability of the UK Government's target for all new-build homes to be ‘zero carbon’ from 2016. Clearly evidenced was a lack of knowledge of Part L and its compliance requirements among the supply and building control sides of new-build dwellings. The results also indicate that the compliance profile was influenced by factors including Standard Assessment Procedure (UK Government's methodology for energy efficiency) calculation submissions, learning and experience of builders and building controls with Part L, use of Part L1A checklist, the introduction of energy performance certificate (EPC), build method, dwelling type, and project size. Better compliance was associated with flats over houses and timber frame over masonry. The use of EPC and Part L1A checklist should be encouraged. Key to addressing the lack of compliance with building energy regulations is training. -- Highlights: ► There exists a lack of compliance, worldwide, with building energy regulations. ► The implementation of England and Wales building energy regulations is problematic. ► Training, learning and experience of builders and building control are critical. ► Energy performance certificate and Part L 2006 checklist helped achieve compliance. ► Flats achieved better compliance over houses; and timber frame over masonry.

Building Energy Monitoring and Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hong, Tianzhen; Feng, Wei; Lu, Alison; Xia, Jianjun; Yang, Le; Shen, Qi; Im, Piljae; Bhandari, Mahabir

2013-06-01

This project aimed to develop a standard methodology for building energy data definition, collection, presentation, and analysis; apply the developed methods to a standardized energy monitoring platform, including hardware and software, to collect and analyze building energy use data; and compile offline statistical data and online real-time data in both countries for fully understanding the current status of building energy use. This helps decode the driving forces behind the discrepancy of building energy use between the two countries; identify gaps and deficiencies of current building energy monitoring, data collection, and analysis; and create knowledge and tools to collect and analyze good building energy data to provide valuable and actionable information for key stakeholders.

Evaluating sub-national building-energy efficiency policy options under uncertainty: Efficient sensitivity testing of alternative climate, technological, and socioeconomic futures in a regional integrated-assessment model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scott, Michael J.; Daly, Don S.; Zhou, Yuyu; Rice, Jennie S.; Patel, Pralit L.; McJeon, Haewon C.; Page Kyle, G.; Kim, Son H.; Eom, Jiyong

2014-01-01

Improving the energy efficiency of building stock, commercial equipment, and household appliances can have a major positive impact on energy use, carbon emissions, and building services. Sub-national regions such as the U.S. states wish to increase energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, or adapt to climate change. Evaluating sub-national policies to reduce energy use and emissions is difficult because of the large uncertainties in socioeconomic factors, technology performance and cost, and energy and climate policies. Climate change itself may undercut such policies. However, assessing all of the uncertainties of large-scale energy and climate models by performing thousands of model runs can be a significant modeling effort with its accompanying computational burden. By applying fractional–factorial methods to the GCAM-USA 50-state integrated-assessment model in the context of a particular policy question, this paper demonstrates how a decision-focused sensitivity analysis strategy can greatly reduce computational burden in the presence of uncertainty and reveal the important drivers for decisions and more detailed uncertainty analysis. - Highlights: • We evaluate building energy codes and standards for climate mitigation. • We use an integrated assessment model and fractional factorial methods. • Decision criteria are energy use, CO2 emitted, and building service cost. • We demonstrate sensitivity analysis for three states. • We identify key variables to propagate with Monte Carlo or surrogate models

An integrated system for buildings’ energy-efficient automation: Application in the tertiary sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marinakis, Vangelis; Doukas, Haris; Karakosta, Charikleia; Psarras, John

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► We developed an interactive software for building automation systems. ► Monitoring of energy consumption in real time. ► Optimization of energy consumption implementing appropriate control scenarios. ► Pilot appraisal on remote control of active systems in the tertiary sector building. ► Significant decrease in energy and operating cost of A/C system. -- Abstract: Although integrated building automation systems have become increasingly popular, an integrated system which includes remote control technology to enable real-time monitoring of the energy consumption by energy end-users, as well as optimization functions is required. To respond to this common interest, the main aim of the paper is to present an integrated system for buildings’ energy-efficient automation. The proposed system is based on a prototype software tool for the simulation and optimization of energy consumption in the building sector, enhancing the interactivity of building automation systems. The system can incorporate energy-efficient automation functions for heating, cooling and/or lighting based on recent guidance and decisions of the National Law, energy efficiency requirements of EN 15232 and ISO 50001 Energy Management Standard among others. The presented system was applied to a supermarket building in Greece and focused on the remote control of active systems.

Building concepts for a transition towards energy neutrality in 2050

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

De Boer, B.J.; Paauw, J. [TNO Built Environment and Geosciences, Delft (Netherlands); Opstelten, I.J.; Bakker, E.J. [Energy research Centre of the Netherlands ECN, Petten (Netherlands)

2007-03-15

In this paper building concepts for the near future are described which enable the transition towards a net energy neutral building sector in the Netherlands by the year 2050. With 'net energy neutrality' is meant that, on a yearly basis, the total energy consumption in the built environment is compensated by local renewable energy production e.g. by using solar thermal (T), photovoltaic (PV), PVT and/or wind. A study concerning the feasibility of a 'net energy neutral built environment by 2050' set the energetic ambitions for the building concepts to be developed. This resulted in different concepts for residential buildings and for office-buildings. The building concepts are based on passive house technology to minimise the heating and cooling demand, and make optimal use of active and passive solar energy. Concepts for new to build domestic buildings are in fact energy producing to compensate for the remaining energy demand of existing, renovated dwellings. In all concepts the 'trias energetica' or 'energy pyramid' served as a general guideline, striving for minimisation of energy demand, maximal usage of renewable energy and usage of fossil fuels as efficiently as possible. Different full roof integrated options for using solar energy (PV, T or PVT) with variable storage options have been compared by making simulations with a dynamic simulation programme, to gain insight on their impact on energy, building engineering and economic impact. Also different possibilities for installations to fulfil the heating demand for the space heating and DHW demand are compared. For each concept, the resulting primary energy profiles for space heating and cooling, domestic hot water, electricity consumption for lighting, ventilation and household appliances are given.

Ten questions concerning future buildings beyond zero energy and carbon neutrality

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Na; Phelan, Patrick E.; Gonzalez, Jorge; Harris, Chioke; Henze, Gregor P.; Hutchinson, Robert; Langevin, Jared; Lazarus, Mary Ann; Nelson, Brent; Pyke, Chris; Roth, Kurt; Rouse, David; Sawyer, Karma; Selkowitz, Stephen

2017-07-01

Architects, planners, and building scientists have been at the forefront of envisioning a future built environment for centuries. However, fragmental views that emphasize one facet of the built environment, such as energy, environment, or groundbreaking technologies, often do not achieve expected outcomes. Buildings are responsible for approximately one-third of worldwide carbon emissions and account for over 40% of primary energy consumption in the U.S. In addition to achieving the ambitious goal of reducing building greenhouse gas emissions by 75% by 2050, buildings must improve their functionality and performance to meet current and future human, societal, and environmental needs in a changing world. In this article, we introduce a new framework to guide potential evolution of the building stock in the next century, based on greenhouse gas emissions as the common thread to investigate the potential implications of new design paradigms, innovative operational strategies, and disruptive technologies. This framework emphasizes integration of multidisciplinary knowledge, scalability for mainstream buildings, and proactive approaches considering constraints and unknowns. The framework integrates the interrelated aspects of the built environment through a series of quantitative metrics that aim to improve environmental outcomes while optimizing building performance to achieve healthy, adaptive, and productive buildings.

Building Energy Monitoring and Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hong, Tianzhen; Feng, Wei; Lu, Alison; Xia, Jianjun; Yang, Le; Shen, Qi; Im, Piljae; Bhandari, Mahabir

2013-06-01

U.S. and China are the world’s top two economics. Together they consumed one-third of the world’s primary energy. It is an unprecedented opportunity and challenge for governments, researchers and industries in both countries to join together to address energy issues and global climate change. Such joint collaboration has huge potential in creating new jobs in energy technologies and services. Buildings in the US and China consumed about 40% and 25% of the primary energy in both countries in 2010 respectively. Worldwide, the building sector is the largest contributor to the greenhouse gas emission. Better understanding and improving the energy performance of buildings is a critical step towards sustainable development and mitigation of global climate change. This project aimed to develop a standard methodology for building energy data definition, collection, presentation, and analysis; apply the developed methods to a standardized energy monitoring platform, including hardware and software, to collect and analyze building energy use data; and compile offline statistical data and online real-time data in both countries for fully understanding the current status of building energy use. This helps decode the driving forces behind the discrepancy of building energy use between the two countries; identify gaps and deficiencies of current building energy monitoring, data collection, and analysis; and create knowledge and tools to collect and analyze good building energy data to provide valuable and actionable information for key stakeholders.

Natural ventilation systems to enhance sustainability in buildings: a review towards zero energy buildings in schools

Science.gov (United States)

Gil-Baez, Maite; Barrios-Padura, Ángela; Molina-Huelva, Marta; Chacartegui, Ricardo

2017-11-01

European regulations set the condition of Zero Energy Buildings for new buildings since 2020, with an intermediate milestone in 2018 for public buildings, in order to control greenhouse gases emissions control and climate change mitigation. Given that main fraction of energy consumption in buildings operation is due to HVAC systems, advances in its design and operation conditions are required. One key element for energy demand control is passive design of buildings. On this purpose, different recent studies and publications analyse natural ventilation systems potential to provide indoor air quality and comfort conditions minimizing electric power consumption. In these passive systems are of special relevance their capacities as passive cooling systems as well as air renovation systems, especially in high-density occupied spaces. With adequate designs, in warm/mild climates natural ventilation systems can be used along the whole year, maintaining indoor air quality and comfort conditions with small support of other heating/cooling systems. In this paper is analysed the state of the art of natural ventilation systems applied to high density occupied spaces with special focus on school buildings. The paper shows the potential and applicability of these systems for energy savings and discusses main criteria for their adequate integration in school building designs.

Building energy governance in Shanghai

Science.gov (United States)

Kung, YiHsiu Michelle

With Asia's surging economies and urbanization, the region is adding to its built environment at an unprecedented rate, especially those population centers in China and India. With numerous existing buildings, plus a new building boom, construction in these major Asian cities has caused momentous sustainability challenges. This dissertation focuses on China's leading city, Shanghai, to explore and assess its existing commercial building energy policies and practices. Research estimates that Shanghai's commercial buildings might become a key challenge with regard to energy use and CO2 emissions as compared to other major Asian cities. Relevant building energy policy instruments at national and local levels for commercial buildings are reviewed. In addition, two benchmarks are established to further assess building energy policies in Shanghai. The first benchmark is based on the synthesis of relevant criteria and policy instruments as recommended by professional organizations, while the second practical benchmark is drawn from an analysis of three global cities: New York, London and Tokyo. Moreover, two large-scale commercial building sites - Shanghai IKEA and Plaza 66 - are selected for investigation and assessment of their efforts on building energy saving measures. Detailed building energy savings, CO2 reductions, and management cost reductions based on data availability and calculations are presented with the co-benefits approach. The research additionally analyzes different interventions and factors that facilitate or constrain the implementation process of building energy saving measures in each case. Furthermore, a multi-scale analytical framework is employed to investigate relevant stakeholders that shape Shanghai's commercial building energy governance. Research findings and policy recommendations are offered at the close of this dissertation. Findings and policy recommendations are intended to facilitate commercial building energy governance in Shanghai and

Luminescent solar concentrators for building-integrated photovoltaics

Science.gov (United States)

Meinardi, Francesco; Bruni, Francesco; Brovelli, Sergio

2017-12-01

The transition to fully energetically sustainable architecture through the realization of so-called net zero-energy buildings is currently in progress in areas with low population density. However, this is not yet true in cities, where the cost of land for the installation of ground photovoltaic (PV) is prohibitively high and the rooftop space is too scarce to accommodate the PV modules necessary for sustaining the electrical requirements of tall buildings. Thus, new technologies are being investigated to integrate solar-harvesting devices into building façades in the form of PV windows or envelope elements. Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) are the most promising technology for semi-transparent, electrodeless PV glazing systems that can be integrated 'invisibly' into the built environment without detrimental effects to the aesthetics of the building or the quality of life of the inhabitants. After 40 years of research, recent breakthroughs in the realization of reabsorption-free emitters with broadband absorption have boosted the performance of LSCs to such a degree that they might be commercialized in the near future. In this Perspective, we explore the successful strategies that have allowed this change of pace, examining and comparing the different types of chromophores and waveguide materials, and discuss the issues that remain to be investigated for further progress.

Energy Flexibility in Retail Buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ma, Zheng; Billanes, Joy Dalmacio; Kjærgaard, Mikkel Baun

2017-01-01

Retail buildings has an important role for demand side energy flexibility because of their high energy consumption, variety of energy flexibility resources, and centralized control via building control systems. Energy flexibility requires agreements and collaborations among different actors......), with the discussion of the stakeholders’ roles and their interrelation in delivering energy flexibility with the influential factors to the actual implementation of energy flexible operation of their buildings. Based on a literature analysis, the results cover stakeholders’ types and roles, perceptions (drivers......, barriers, and benefits), energy management activities and technology adoptions, and the stakeholders’ interaction for the energy flexibility in retail buildings....

Zero Energy Building Pays for Itself: Odyssey Elementary

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Torcellini, Paul A [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-08-09

Odyssey Elementary is a large public school in an area of Utah with a growing population. Created as a prototype for the Davis School District, Odyssey is a zero energy building whose design has already been copied for two other new schools, both of which are targeting zero energy. It has a unique design with four 'houses' (or classroom wings) featuring generously daylit classrooms. This design contributes to the school's energy efficiency. In an effort to integrate positive messages about fitness into the learning environment, each house has a different take on the theme of 'bodies in motion' in the natural world. In a postoccupancy survey of parents, students, and teachers, more than 87% were satisfied with the building overall.

California commercial building energy benchmarking

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kinney, Satkartar; Piette, Mary Ann

2003-07-01

Building energy benchmarking is the comparison of whole-building energy use relative to a set of similar buildings. It provides a useful starting point for individual energy audits and for targeting buildings for energy-saving measures in multiple-site audits. Benchmarking is of interest and practical use to a number of groups. Energy service companies and performance contractors communicate energy savings potential with ''typical'' and ''best-practice'' benchmarks while control companies and utilities can provide direct tracking of energy use and combine data from multiple buildings. Benchmarking is also useful in the design stage of a new building or retrofit to determine if a design is relatively efficient. Energy managers and building owners have an ongoing interest in comparing energy performance to others. Large corporations, schools, and government agencies with numerous facilities also use benchmarking methods to compare their buildings to each other. The primary goal of Task 2.1.1 Web-based Benchmarking was the development of a web-based benchmarking tool, dubbed Cal-Arch, for benchmarking energy use in California commercial buildings. While there were several other benchmarking tools available to California consumers prior to the development of Cal-Arch, there were none that were based solely on California data. Most available benchmarking information, including the Energy Star performance rating, were developed using DOE's Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), which does not provide state-level data. Each database and tool has advantages as well as limitations, such as the number of buildings and the coverage by type, climate regions and end uses. There is considerable commercial interest in benchmarking because it provides an inexpensive method of screening buildings for tune-ups and retrofits. However, private companies who collect and manage consumption data are concerned that the

Net Zero Energy Buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marszal, Anna Joanna; Bourrelle, Julien S.; Gustavsen, Arild

2010-01-01

and identify possible renewable energy supply options which may be considered in calculations. Finally, the gap between the methodology proposed by each organisation and their respective national building code is assessed; providing an overview of the possible changes building codes will need to undergo......The international cooperation project IEA SHC Task 40 / ECBCS Annex 52 “Towards Net Zero Energy Solar Buildings”, attempts to develop a common understanding and to set up the basis for an international definition framework of Net Zero Energy Buildings (Net ZEBs). The understanding of such buildings...

Energy saving in existing buildings by an intelligent use of interoperable ICTs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Osello, A.; Acquaviva, A.; Aghemo, C.; Blaso, L.; Dalmasso, D.; Erba, D.; Fracastoro, G.; Macii, E.; Patti, E.; Pellegrino, A.; Piumatti, P. [Politecnico di Torino, Torino (Italy); Gondre, D.; Savoyat, J.; Virgone, J. [University Lyon, Lyon (France); Jahn, M.; Pramudianto, F. [Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT, Sankt Augustin (Germany); Spirito, M.; Tomasi, R. [Istituto Superiore Mario Boella (ISMB), Torino (Italy)

2013-11-15

In this paper, we report a methodology, developed in the context of Smart Energy Efficient Middleware for Public Spaces European Project, aimed at exploiting ICT monitoring and control services to reduce energy usage and CO2 footprint in existing buildings. The approach does not require significant construction work as it is based on commercial-off-the-shelf devices and, where present, it exploits and integrates existing building management systems with new sensors and actuator networks. To make this possible, the proposed approach leverages upon the following main contributions: (a) to develop an integrated building automation and control system, (b) to implement a middleware for the energy-efficient buildings domain, (c) to provide a multi-dimensional building information modelling-based visualisation, and (d) to raise people's awareness about energy efficiency. The research approach adopted in the project started with the selection, as case studies, of representative test and reference rooms in modern and historical buildings chosen for having different requirements and constraints in term of sensing and control technologies. Then, according to the features of the selected rooms, the strategies to reduce the energy consumptions were defined, taking into account the potential savings related to lighting, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and other device loads (PC, printers, etc.). The strategies include both the control of building services and devices and the monitoring of environmental conditions and energy consumption. In the paper, the energy savings estimated through simulation, for both HVAC and lighting, are presented to highlight the potential of the designed system. After the implementation of the system in the demonstrator, results will be compared with the monitored data.

Solar energy in buildings solved by building information modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Chudikova, B.; Faltejsek, M.

2018-03-01

Building lead us to use renewable energy sources for all types of buildings. The use of solar energy is the alternatives that can be applied in a good ratio of space, price, and resultant benefits. Building Information Modelling is a modern and effective way of dealing with buildings with regard to all aspects of the life cycle. The basis is careful planning and simulation in the pre-investment phase, where it is possible to determine the effective result and influence the lifetime of the building and the cost of its operation. By simulating, analysing and insert a building model into its future environment where climate conditions and surrounding buildings play a role, it is possible to predict the usability of the solar energy and establish an ideal model. Solar systems also very affect the internal layout of buildings. Pre-investment phase analysis, with a view to future aspects, will ensure that the resulting building will be both low-energy and environmentally friendly.

A SCADA System for Energy Management in Intelligent Buildings

OpenAIRE

Figueiredo, Joao; Sá da Costa, Jose

2012-01-01

This paper develops an energy management platform for intelligent buildings using a SCADA system (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition). This SCADA system integrates different types of information coming from the several technologies present in modern buildings (control of ventilation, temperature, illumination, etc.). The developed control strategy implements an hierarchical cascade controller where inner loops are performed by local PLCs (Programmable Logic Controller), and the outer...

Implementation of the EU directive on the energy performance of buildings: Development of the Latvian Scheme for energy auditing of buildings and inspection of boilers. Project document

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2005-07-01

'Development of the Latvian Scheme for energy auditing of buildings and inspection of boilers' includes major steps in implementing the EU EPB directive in Latvia. The EPB directive includes a number of efforts: 1. A methodology for calculation of the integrated energy performance of buildings 2. Application of minimum requirements on the energy performance for new buildings 3. Application of minimum requirements on the energy performance for larger existing buildings subject to major renovation 4. Energy performance certification (energy labelling) of buildings 5. Regular inspection of boilers and of air-conditioning systems in buildings, and assessment of heating installations in older systems. The present project includes activities connected to point 4 and point 5. The results will include 4 steps in implementing the EU EPB directive: 1) A Latvian training of certified independent energy auditors to be active conducting energy audits and issuing energy performance certificates. Including a handbook in energy auditing. 2) A Latvian training of certified independent experts for inspection of boilers, air-con systems and assessing older heating systems. Including a handbook in boiler inspection. 3) A proposal for the institutional set-up for a connected scheme for energy auditing and a scheme for boiler inspection 4) Initial information on the scheme of energy auditors and of the boiler inspection. (au)

ImBuild: Impact of building energy efficiency programs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Scott, M.J.; Hostick, D.J.; Belzer, D.B.

1998-04-01

As part of measuring the impact of government programs on improving the energy efficiency of the Nation`s building stock, the Department of Energy Office of Building Technology, State and Community Programs (BTS) is interested in assessing the economic impacts of its portfolio of programs, specifically the potential impact on national employment and income. The special-purpose version of the IMPLAN model used in this study is called ImBuild. In comparison with simple economic multiplier approaches, such as Department of Commerce RIMS 2 system, ImBuild allows for more complete and automated analysis of the economic impacts of energy efficiency investments in buildings. ImBuild is also easier to use than existing macroeconomic simulation models. The authors conducted an analysis of three sample BTS energy programs: the residential generator-absorber heat exchange gas heat pump (GAX heat pump), the low power sulfur lamp (LPSL) in residential and commercial applications, and the Building America program. The GAX heat pump would address the market for the high-efficiency residential combined heating and cooling systems. The LPSL would replace some highly efficient fluorescent commercial lighting. Building America seeks to improve the energy efficiency of new factory-built, modular, manufactured, and small-volume, site-built homes through use of systems engineering concepts and early incorporation of new products and processes, and by increasing the demand for more energy-efficient homes. The authors analyze a scenario for market penetration of each of these technologies devised for BTS programs reported in the BTS GPRA Metrics Estimates, FY99 Budget Request, December 19, 1997. 46 figs., 4 tabs.

Integrated community energy solutions : a roadmap for action

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2009-07-01

Integrated community energy solutions (ICES) can significantly improve community energy performance and help to achieve Canada's energy efficiency and climate change objectives. The solutions integrate physical components from multiple sectors, including transportation; housing and buildings; industry; water; waste management; and other local community services. However, ICES require the support of communities, governments and investors who can help to reduce barriers to action and define a marketplace. This road map provided details of provincial, territorial, and federal government inputs to ensuring the adoption of ICES. The roles of municipalities, developers, energy utilities and other stakeholders were also discussed. Key roles, sectoral building blocks, and barriers affecting ICES implementation were discussed. A 3-phase transition approach was presented in which the overarching strategies of ICES implementation were described. A menu of ICES tools was also included. 17 figs.

75 FR 20833 - Building Energy Codes

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-21

...-0012] Building Energy Codes AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of... the current model building energy codes or their equivalent. DOE is interested in better understanding... codes, Standard 90.1-2007, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings (or...

Energy Efficiency Requirements in Building Codes, Energy Efficiency Policies for New Buildings. IEA Information Paper

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Laustsen, Jens

2008-03-15

The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse current approaches to encourage energy efficiency in building codes for new buildings. Based on this analysis the paper enumerates policy recommendations for enhancing how energy efficiency is addressed in building codes and other policies for new buildings. This paper forms part of the IEA work for the G8 Gleneagles Plan of Action. These recommendations reflect the study of different policy options for increasing energy efficiency in new buildings and examination of other energy efficiency requirements in standards or building codes, such as energy efficiency requirements by major renovation or refurbishment. In many countries, energy efficiency of buildings falls under the jurisdiction of the federal states. Different standards cover different regions or climatic conditions and different types of buildings, such as residential or simple buildings, commercial buildings and more complicated high-rise buildings. There are many different building codes in the world and the intention of this paper is not to cover all codes on each level in all countries. Instead, the paper details different regions of the world and different ways of standards. In this paper we also evaluate good practices based on local traditions. This project does not seek to identify one best practice amongst the building codes and standards. Instead, different types of codes and different parts of the regulation have been illustrated together with examples on how they have been successfully addressed. To complement this discussion of efficiency standards, this study illustrates how energy efficiency can be improved through such initiatives as efficiency labelling or certification, very best practice buildings with extremely low- or no-energy consumption and other policies to raise buildings' energy efficiency beyond minimum requirements. When referring to the energy saving potentials for buildings, this study uses the analysis of recent IEA

Cumulative energy demand and global warming potential of a building-integrated solar thermal system with/without phase change material.

Science.gov (United States)

Lamnatou, Chr; Motte, F; Notton, G; Chemisana, D; Cristofari, C

2018-04-15

Building-integrated solar thermal (BIST) systems are a specific type of solar thermal systems which are integrated into the building and they participate in building functionality. The present article is about the life-cycle assessment of different options of a BIST system (Mediterranean climatic conditions: Ajaccio, France). The environmental profile of the studied configurations is assessed by means of CED (cumulative energy demand), GWP (global warming potential) and EPBT (energy payback time). The proposed configurations (for the collector) include: i) a system without PCM (phase change material) using only rock wool as insulation and ii) a system with PCM (myristic acid) and rock wool. Concerning life-cycle results based on CED and GWP 100a (scenario without recycling), the configuration without PCM shows 0.67 MJ prim /kWh and 0.06 kg CO 2.eq /kWh while the configuration with PCM presents 0.74 MJ prim /kWh and 0.08 kg CO 2.eq /kWh. Regarding EPBT, if the inputs for pumping/auxiliary heating are not taken into account, both configurations (with/without PCM) have almost the same EPBT (about 1.3 years). On the other hand, if the inputs for pumping/auxiliary heating are considered, EPBT is lower for the system with PCM. In addition, scenarios with recycling have been examined and the results demonstrate that recycling considerably improves the environmental profile of the studied configurations. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Energy Efficiency, Building Productivity and the Commercial Buildings Market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jones, D.W.

2002-05-16

The energy-efficiency gap literature suggests that building buyers are often short-sighted in their failure to apply life-cycle costing principles to energy efficient building technologies, with the result that under investment in these advanced technology occurs. This study examines the reasons this behavior may occur, by analyzing the pressures that market forces place on purchasers of buildings. Our basic conclusion is that the fundamental manner in which the buildings sector does business creates pressures to reduce initial capital outlays and to hedge against a variety of risks, including the ability of building owners to capture benefits from energy efficiency. Starting from the position that building buyers' willingness to pay drives choices over building attributes, we examine basic market principles, the structure of the buildings market, including the role of lenders, and policies that promote penetration of energy efficient technologies. We conclude that greater attention to buyers, and to the incentives and constraints they face, would promote a better understanding of building investment choices and contribute to better policies to promote the penetration of these technologies into markets.

Environmental assessment of low-energy social housing, Boatemah Walk building, Brixton

Science.gov (United States)

Vargas, Lidia Johansen

Energy use from buildings represents a considerable share from the UK energy consumption as a whole and the resulting C02 emissions are considered the main driver for climate change. There is a global urge for new and existing buildings to be truly effective in reducing their energy consumption. This study evaluates the performance in use of low energy design in social housing: Boatemah Walk is a newly built residential block of 18 flats located in Angell Town, Brixton, which benefits from various low energy enhancing features such as: a low embodied energy building fabric, super insulation, photovoltaic panels integrated in the roof, rainwater recycling system and non-toxic building materials and finishes. The new building layout and surrounding landscape influences positively the community integration and safety. The evaluation has been done through observation, monitoring, interviews with tenants and the use of TAS software, throughout the year after occupation. Boatemah Walk building has proved successful in some aspects and less successful in others. It is crucial that a demonstration project like Boatemah Walk building considers all mechanisms necessary to monitor its efficiency, as this would provide feedback to prove the efficiency and encourage similar investments. However, during the course of the study it was found that a meter for the recycled water and export meters for the photovoltaic production were missing. This proved to be an obstacle for the accurate monitoring of the building performance. The annual heating in Boatemah Walk is below the national averages, which confirms the good performance of its building fabric. In hot summer days the lightweight building is expectedly vulnerable to the outside. This is not a frequent occurrence however the effects of climate change are very likely to increase the length and temperatures in the future. The tenants' energy consuming behavior has a definitive impact, as revealed through monitoring and direct

Modelling energy demand in the Norwegian building stock

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sartori, Igor

2008-07-15

understanding of the stock dynamics was needed as a precondition for addressing energy demand in a more consistent way. A methodology was developed for assessing in a coherent way both the stock and the building activities, i.e. construction, renovation and demolition. This methodology applies only to the residential stock. The analysis showed that in the coming decades renovation is likely to overtake construction as the major activity in the Norwegian residential stock. Finally, the two models, the energy model and the activity model, were merged to perform an integrated analysis of the energy demand at a regional level. The result showed how considering the stock dynamics have a great impact in determining the effectiveness of a policy. (Author). refs., figs., tabs

Building integrated photovoltaic; Photovaltaique integre aux batiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2004-01-01

Durable, modular and flexible in use, as demonstrated by the different case studies in this publication, photovoltaic can replace diverse building elements, from glass facades to weather proof roofs. This leaflet towards architects describes aesthetic, technical, economic and environmental interest of building integrated photovoltaic. (author)

Efficiencies and improvement potential of building integrated photovoltaic thermal (BIPVT) system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ibrahim, Adnan; Fudholi, Ahmad; Sopian, Kamaruzzaman; Othman, Mohd Yusof; Ruslan, Mohd Hafidz

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Performances analysis of BIPVT solar collector based on energy and exergy analyses. • A new absorber design of BIPVT solar collector is presented. • BIPVT solar collector is produced primary-energy saving efficiency from about 73% to 81%. • PVT energy efficiency varies between 55% and 62% where as the variation in the PVT exergy efficiency is from 12% to 14%. • The improvement potential is between 98 and 404 W. - Abstract: Building integrated photovoltaic thermal (BIPVT) system has been designed to produce both electricity and hot water and later integrated to building. The hot water is produced at the useful temperatures for the applications in Malaysia such as building integrated heating system and domestic hot water system as well as many industrial including agricultural and commercial applications. The photovoltaic thermal (PVT) system comprises of a high efficiency multicrystal photovoltaic (PV) module and spiral flow absorber for BIPVT application, have been performed and investigated. In this study, it was assumed that the absorber was attached underneath the flat plate single glazing sheet of polycrystalline silicon PV module and water has been used as a heat transfer medium in absorber. Performances analysis of BIPVT system based on energy and exergy analyses. It was based on efficiencies including energy and exergy, and exergetic improvement potential (IP) based on the metrological condition of Malaysia has been carried out. Results show that the hourly variation for BIPVT system, the PVT energy efficiency of 55–62% is higher than the PVT exergy efficiency of 12–14%. The improvement potential increases with increasing solar radiation, it is between 98 and 404 W. On the other hand, BIPVT system was produced primary-energy saving efficiency from about 73% to 81%

Energy choice criteria and approaches in the building industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Despretz, H.

2006-01-01

With the recent evolutions in the global and local energy context, any actor of the building sector must contribute to reduce the environmental impact of new or existing buildings by integrating environmental and energy optimization elements during their construction or rehabilitation. This article presents, first, the global energy problem that nations, groups of nations and economic agents have to cope with (demographic growth, environmental impacts, market tensions and resources depletion, markets liberalization, sustainable development and sustainable decay). The second chapter presents the main elements of the evolution of the economic, legal and environmental context and their impact on energy markets (environmental constraints, security of energy supplies, opening of energy markets, European directives under preparation, decentralized energy production technologies). The last chapter describes the energy choice criteria according to the new environmental constraints (general problem, prices, environmental impacts, decision making). An overview of energy resources and markets, of electricity prices formation, and of the international dispositions against greenhouse effect are gathered in appendixes. (J.S.)

Barriers and Potential Solutions for Energy Renovation of Buildings in Denmark

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niels I. Meyer

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Buildings account for a substantial part of the total energy consumption. In Denmark this number is about 40 % and this is approximately the same in most industrial countries. On this background there is an urgent need to develop strategies for reducing the energy demand in the building sector. Renovation of existing buildings must have high priority as houses often last for 50 to 100 years, while the time perspective for the desired transformation to low-energy houses is less than 30 years in order to mitigate global warming and avoid irreversible tipping-points. The only sustainable energy supply in the perspective of centuries is renewable energy provided by the sun and exploited in the form of solar heat, solar electricity (PVs, wind power, hydropower, wave power, and some types of biomass etc. A future dominating role of intermittent renewable sources requires new integrated systems thinking on both the supply and demand side for heat, electricity and transport. Implementing such Smart Energy Systems requires integrated strategic energy planning on the national and local level. With the fundamental changes in the energy supply technologies expected during the coming years, it is important to synchronize investments in energy conservation measures with investments in the supply side, in order to avoid overinvestment in supply systems and thus to minimize the total costs of the transformation to Smart Energy Systems. This paper highlights some of the most important barriers for renovation of existing buildings in Denmark and points to policies for overcoming these barriers. Some of the policies have been presented in the reports of a recent Danish research project (CEESA

Energy Innovations for Healthy Buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bogucz, Edward A. [Syracuse Univ., NY (United States)

2016-09-23

Healthy buildings provide high indoor environmental quality for occupants while simultaneously reducing energy consumption. This project advanced the development and marketability of envisioned healthy, energy-efficient buildings through studies that evaluated the use of emerging technologies in commercial and residential buildings. The project also provided resources required for homebuilders to participate in DOE’s Builders Challenge, concomitant with the goal to reduce energy consumption in homes by at least 30% as a first step toward achieving envisioned widespread availability of net-zero energy homes by 2030. In addition, the project included outreach and education concerning energy efficiency in buildings.

Energy efficiency buildings program, FY 1980

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1981-05-01

A separate abstract was prepared on research progress in each group at LBL in the energy efficient buildings program. Two separate abstracts were prepared for the Windows and Lighting Program. Abstracts prepared on other programs are: Energy Performance of Buildings; Building Ventilation and Indoor Air Quality Program; DOE-21 Building Energy Analysis; and Building Energy Data Compilation, Analysis, and Demonstration. (MCW)

Building energy efficiency in rural China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evans, Meredydd; Yu, Sha; Song, Bo; Deng, Qinqin; Liu, Jing; Delgado, Alison

2014-01-01

Rural buildings in China now account for more than half of China's total building energy use. Forty percent of the floorspace in China is in rural villages and towns. Most of these buildings are very energy inefficient, and may struggle to provide for basic needs. They are cold in the winter, and often experience indoor air pollution from fuel use. The Chinese government plans to adopt a voluntary building energy code, or design standard, for rural homes. The goal is to build on China's success with codes in urban areas to improve efficiency and comfort in rural homes. The Chinese government recognizes rural buildings represent a major opportunity for improving national building energy efficiency. The challenges of rural China are also greater than those of urban areas in many ways because of the limited local capacity and low income levels. The Chinese government wants to expand on new programs to subsidize energy efficiency improvements in rural homes to build capacity for larger-scale improvement. This article summarizes the trends and status of rural building energy use in China. It then provides an overview of the new rural building design standard, and describes options and issues to move forward with implementation. - Highlights: • Building energy use is larger in rural China than in cities. • Rural buildings are very energy intensive, and energy use is growing with incomes. • A new design standard aims to help rural communities build more efficiently. • Important challenges remain with implementation

Battery energy storage systems: Assessment for small-scale renewable energy integration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nair, Nirmal-Kumar C.; Garimella, Niraj [Power Systems Group, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Auckland, 38 Princes Street, Science Centre, Auckland 1142 (New Zealand)

2010-11-15

Concerns arising due to the variability and intermittency of renewable energy sources while integrating with the power grid can be mitigated to an extent by incorporating a storage element within the renewable energy harnessing system. Thus, battery energy storage systems (BESS) are likely to have a significant impact in the small-scale integration of renewable energy sources into commercial building and residential dwelling. These storage technologies not only enable improvements in consumption levels from renewable energy sources but also provide a range of technical and monetary benefits. This paper provides a modelling framework to be able to quantify the associated benefits of renewable resource integration followed by an overview of various small-scale energy storage technologies. A simple, practical and comprehensive assessment of battery energy storage technologies for small-scale renewable applications based on their technical merit and economic feasibility is presented. Software such as Simulink and HOMER provides the platforms for technical and economic assessments of the battery technologies respectively. (author)

Energy audit role in building planning

Science.gov (United States)

Sipahutar, Riman; Bizzy, Irwin

2017-11-01

An energy audit is one way to overcome the excessive use of energy in buildings. The increasing growth of population, economy, and industry will have an impact on energy demand and the formation of greenhouse gas emissions. Indonesian National Standard (SNI) concerning the building has not been implemented optimally due to the socialization process by a government not yet been conducted. An energy audit of buildings has been carried out at offices and public services. Most electrical energy in buildings used for air refresher equipment or air conditioning. Calculation of OTTV has demonstrated the importance of performing since the beginning of the planning of a building to get energy-efficient buildings.

Energy efficiency of elevated water supply tanks for high-rise buildings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheung, C.T.; Mui, K.W.; Wong, L.T.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► We evaluate energy efficiency for water supply tank location in buildings. ► Water supply tank arrangement in a building affects pumping energy use. ► We propose a mathematical model for optimal design solutions. ► We test the model with measurements in 22 Hong Kong buildings. ► A potential annual energy saving for Hong Kong is up to 410 TJ. -- Abstract: High-rise housing, a trend in densely populated cities around the world, increases the energy use for water supply and corresponding greenhouse gas emissions. This paper presents an energy efficiency evaluation measure for water supply system designs and a mathematical model for optimizing pumping energy through the arrangement of water tanks in a building. To demonstrate that the model is useful for establishing optimal design solutions that integrate energy consumption into urban water planning processes which cater to various building demands and usage patterns, measurement data of 22 high-rise residential buildings in Hong Kong are employed. The results show the energy efficiency of many existing high-rise water supply systems is about 0.25 and can be improved to 0.26–0.37 via water storage tank relocations. The corresponding annual electricity that can be saved is 160–410 TJ, a 0.1–0.3% of the total annual electricity consumption in Hong Kong.

Consumer Central Energy Flexibility in Office Buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Billanes, Joy Dalmacio; Ma, Zheng; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

2017-01-01

Energy flexibility in buildings will play an important role in the smart energy system. Office buildings have more potentials to provide energy flexibility to the grid compared to other types of buildings, due to the existing building management, control systems and large energy consumption....... Consumers in office buildings (building owners/managers and occupants) take a main role for adopting and engaging in building energy flexibility. In this paper provides a systematic review of consumer central energy flexibility in office buildings with the discussion of social, technical and business...... can boost energy flexibility in the office buildings....

Costs and Operating Dynamics of Integrating Distributed Energy Resources in Commercial and Industrial Buildings with Electric Vehicle Charging

Science.gov (United States)

Flores, Robert Joseph

Growing concerns over greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions have increased the pressure to shift energy conversion paradigms from current forms to more sustainable methods, such as through the use of distributed energy resources (DER) at industrial and commercial buildings. This dissertation is concerned with the optimal design and dispatch of a DER system installed at an industrial or commercial building. An optimization model that accurately captures typical utility costs and the physical constraints of a combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) system is designed to size and operate a DER system at a building. The optimization model is then used with cooperative game theory to evaluate the financial performance of a CCHP investment. The CCHP model is then modified to include energy storage, solar powered generators, alternative fuel sources, carbon emission limits, and building interactions with public and fleet PEVs. Then, a separate plugin electric vehicle (PEV) refueling model is developed to determine the cost to operate a public Level 3 fast charging station. The CCHP design and dispatch results show the size of the building load and consistency of the thermal loads are critical to positive financial performance. While using the CCHP system to produce cooling can provide savings, heat production drives positive financial performance. When designing the DER system to reduce carbon emissions, the use of renewable fuels can allow for a gas turbine system with heat recovery to reduce carbon emissions for a large university by 67%. Further reductions require large photovoltaic installations coupled with energy storage or the ability to export electricity back to the grid if costs are to remain relatively low. When considering Level 3 fast charging equipment, demand charges at low PEV travel levels are sufficiently high to discourage adoption. Integration of the equipment can reduce demand charge costs only if the building maximum demand does not coincide

Optimal control and performance of photovoltachromic switchable glazing for building integration in temperate climates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Favoino, Fabio; Fiorito, Francesco; Cannavale, Alessandro; Ranzi, Gianluca; Overend, Mauro

2016-01-01

Highlights: • The features and properties of photovoltachromic switchable glazing are presented. • The different possible control strategies for the switchable glazing are presented. • Thermal and daylight performance are co-simulated for rule-based and optimal control. • A novel building performance simulation framework is developed for this aim. • Switchable glazing performance is compared for different controls and climates. - Abstract: The development of adaptive building envelope technologies, and particularly of switchable glazing, can make significant contributions to decarbonisation targets. It is therefore essential to quantify their effect on building energy use and indoor environmental quality when integrated into buildings. The evaluation of their performance presents new challenges when compared to conventional “static” building envelope systems, as they require design and control aspects to be evaluated together, which are also mutually interrelated across thermal and visual physical domains. This paper addresses these challenges by presenting a novel simulation framework for the performance evaluation of responsive building envelope technologies and, particularly, of switchable glazing. This is achieved by integrating a building energy simulation tool and a lighting simulation one, in a control optimisation framework to simulate advanced control of adaptive building envelopes. The performance of a photovoltachromic glazing is evaluated according to building energy use, Useful Daylight Illuminance, glare risk and load profile matching indicators for a sun oriented office building in different temperate climates. The original architecture of photovoltachromic cell provides an automatic control of its transparency as a function of incoming solar irradiance. However, to fully explore the building integration potential of photovoltachromic technology, different control strategies are evaluated, from passive and simple rule based controls, to

Optimising building net energy demand with dynamic BIPV shading

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jayathissa, P.; Luzzatto, M.; Schmidli, J.; Hofer, J.; Nagy, Z.; Schlueter, A.

2017-01-01

Highlights: •Coupled analysis of PV generation and building energy using adaptive BIPV shading. •20–80% net energy saving compared to an equivalent static system. •The system can in some cases compensate for the entire heating/cooling/lighting load. •High resolution radiation simulation including impacts of module self shading. -- Abstract: The utilisation of a dynamic photovoltaic system for adaptive shading can improve building energy performance by controlling solar heat gains and natural lighting, while simultaneously generating electricity on site. This paper firstly presents an integrated simulation framework to couple photovoltaic electricity generation to building energy savings through adaptive shading. A high-resolution radiance and photovoltaic model calculates the photovoltaic electricity yield while taking into account partial shading between modules. The remaining solar irradiation that penetrates the window is used in a resistance-capacitance building thermal model. A simulation of all possible dynamic configurations is conducted for each hourly time step, of which the most energy efficient configuration is chosen. We then utilise this framework to determine the optimal orientation of the photovoltaic panels to maximise the electricity generation while minimising the building’s heating, lighting and cooling demand. An existing adaptive photovoltaic facade was used as a case study for evaluation. Our results report a 20–80% net energy saving compared to an equivalent static photovoltaic shading system depending on the efficiency of the heating and cooling system. In some cases the Adaptive Solar Facade can almost compensate for the entire energy demand of the office space behind it. The control of photovoltaic production on the facade, simultaneously with the building energy demand, opens up new methods of building management as the facade can control both the production and consumption of electricity.

The building as a power plant. Net plus energy building with e-mobility; Das Gebaeude als Kraftwerk. Netto-Plusenergiegebaeude mit E-Mobilitaet

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fisch, M. Norbert [Technische Univ. Braunschweig (Germany). Inst. fuer Gebaeude- und Solartechnik

2011-07-01

Energy designers do not consider the building technology isolated from the architecture. Instead, sustainable, functional and innovative solutions are developed in an integrated process with all persons involved. The user comfort, the overall energy efficiency, the selection of ecologically compatible materials as well as the relation between building and sustainable mobility belong to the context of holistic planning.

China. Top Sector Energy. Sustainable Building. Opportunities for Dutch companies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-08-15

For China, sustainable design is necessary for controlling energy usage in crowded and constantly expanding urban areas. It is well known that China is the world's biggest construction market. Nearly half of the new buildings annually constructed worldwide are located in China by 2015. However, only about 4% of these are built according to energy efficiency standards. China's construction market will by 2020 account for 40% of the country's total energy consumption. While it contributes 15% of the world's GDP, China consumes 30% of the earth's steel and half its concrete. On top of which, buildings in China consume a third of the country's increasingly endangered water supplies. Recent research showed that almost half of the national energy consumption has been used for construction related purposes. Of existing buildings, a huge amount needs sustainable redesign and retrofitting technologies.Chinese government has recognized the urgency of widely implementing sustainable buildings. As a result, a national 3-star China National Green Building rating system has been launched in 2006. Yet the Chinese green building revolution is still in its infancy. Main problems are, amongst others, low level of regulations and standards, problematic implementations at local level, lack of awareness and transparency in related public and private sector, lack of expertise of integrated sustainable building design and construction among engineers, designers and constructors. It is also to be expected that more aggressive energy saving and environmental protection targets will be set by the 12th Five Year Plan. Promote green buildings will be one of the top priorities in China's swift urbanization process with focus on saving land, energy, water and materials. Chinese government has recognized the urgency of widely implementing sustainable buildings. Yet the Chinese green building revolution is still in its infancy. Under this framework, the

China. Top Sector Energy. Sustainable Building. Opportunities for Dutch companies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-08-15

For China, sustainable design is necessary for controlling energy usage in crowded and constantly expanding urban areas. It is well known that China is the world's biggest construction market. Nearly half of the new buildings annually constructed worldwide are located in China by 2015. However, only about 4% of these are built according to energy efficiency standards. China's construction market will by 2020 account for 40% of the country's total energy consumption. While it contributes 15% of the world's GDP, China consumes 30% of the earth's steel and half its concrete. On top of which, buildings in China consume a third of the country's increasingly endangered water supplies. Recent research showed that almost half of the national energy consumption has been used for construction related purposes. Of existing buildings, a huge amount needs sustainable redesign and retrofitting technologies.Chinese government has recognized the urgency of widely implementing sustainable buildings. As a result, a national 3-star China National Green Building rating system has been launched in 2006. Yet the Chinese green building revolution is still in its infancy. Main problems are, amongst others, low level of regulations and standards, problematic implementations at local level, lack of awareness and transparency in related public and private sector, lack of expertise of integrated sustainable building design and construction among engineers, designers and constructors. It is also to be expected that more aggressive energy saving and environmental protection targets will be set by the 12th Five Year Plan. Promote green buildings will be one of the top priorities in China's swift urbanization process with focus on saving land, energy, water and materials. Chinese government has recognized the urgency of widely implementing sustainable buildings. Yet the Chinese green building revolution is still in its infancy. Under this framework, the following areas will offer business

Improving energy efficiency in buildings under the framework of facility management and leasing financing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leutgoeb, Klemens [Austrian Energy Agency (Austria)

2007-07-01

Non-residential buildings see a big variety of building management and financing schemes. Two approaches quickly gain shares in the European real estate market: Leasing Financing (LF) and Facility Management (FM). They change the framework for the implementation of energy efficiency measures: LF influences the decision criteria in new construction and refurbishment; FM plays a crucial role during the operation phase.Although LF and FM introduce new parties and thus an additional set of interests, they must not be perceived as obstacles per se: They also offer new ways towards energy efficiency. Pilot activities in Austria demonstrate the successful integration of advanced energy services into the framework of LF and FM: At the end of the contract duration, leasing-financed buildings may be confronted with a need for comprehensive refurbishment. Here, leasing can become an important catalyst in preparing the refurbishment project. Integrating energy efficiency measures to the refurbishment activity and guaranteeing thermal-energetic qualities, provide the lessor with the opportunity to prolong and enlarge a running contract. Furthermore, this service reduces his credit risk, due to reduced running (i.e. energy) cost for the lessee. FM means outsourcing of selected building management functions to an external specialist. The list of requested services can be extended by the identification, implementation, operation and potentially also financing of cost-effective energy saving measures, and by a guarantee on energy cost savings - in other words by integrating elements of EPC-contracts into FM.

Automatic generation and simulation of urban building energy models based on city datasets for city-scale building retrofit analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Yixing; Hong, Tianzhen; Piette, Mary Ann

2017-01-01

Highlights: •Developed methods and used data models to integrate city’s public building records. •Shading from neighborhood buildings strongly influences urban building performance. •A case study demonstrated the workflow, simulation and analysis of building retrofits. •CityBES retrofit analysis feature provides actionable information for decision making. •Discussed significance and challenges of urban building energy modeling. -- Abstract: Buildings in cities consume 30–70% of total primary energy, and improving building energy efficiency is one of the key strategies towards sustainable urbanization. Urban building energy models (UBEM) can support city managers to evaluate and prioritize energy conservation measures (ECMs) for investment and the design of incentive and rebate programs. This paper presents the retrofit analysis feature of City Building Energy Saver (CityBES) to automatically generate and simulate UBEM using EnergyPlus based on cities’ building datasets and user-selected ECMs. CityBES is a new open web-based tool to support city-scale building energy efficiency strategic plans and programs. The technical details of using CityBES for UBEM generation and simulation are introduced, including the workflow, key assumptions, and major databases. Also presented is a case study that analyzes the potential retrofit energy use and energy cost savings of five individual ECMs and two measure packages for 940 office and retail buildings in six city districts in northeast San Francisco, United States. The results show that: (1) all five measures together can save 23–38% of site energy per building; (2) replacing lighting with light-emitting diode lamps and adding air economizers to existing heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are most cost-effective with an average payback of 2.0 and 4.3 years, respectively; and (3) it is not economical to upgrade HVAC systems or replace windows in San Francisco due to the city’s mild

Low energy building with novel cooling unit using PCM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jaber, Samar

2012-02-13

This thesis aims to reduce the energy consumption as well as greenhouse gases to the environment without negatively affecting the thermal comfort. In the present work, thermal, energetic and economic impacts of employing passive solar systems combined with energy conservation systems have been investigated. These energy systems have been integrated with a typical residential building located in three different climate zones in Europe and Middle East regions.Hour-by-hour energy computer simulations have been carried out using TRNSYS and INSEL programs to analyze the performance of integrated energy systems. Furthermore, IESU software module has been developed to simulate a novel cooling unit using Phase Change Material (PCM). This unit is named as Indirect Evaporative and Storage Unit (IESU). Thereafter, complete economic equations for the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) criterion have been formulated. Furthermore this criterion has been optimized for different variables as a function of thermal parameters and economic figures from local markets. An optimum design of both residential buildings and energy systems has great impact on energy consumption. In fact, results showed that the energy consumption is reduced by 85.62%, 86.33% and 74.05% in Berlin, Amman and Aqaba, respectively. Moreover, the LCC criterion is reduced by 41.85% in Berlin, 19.21% in Amman and 15.22% in Aqaba.The macro economic analysis shows that once this research is applied in one million typical residential buildings in the selected climate zones, the annual avoided CO{sub 2} emissions are estimated to be about 5.7 million Tons in Berlin. In Aqaba, around 2.96 million Tons CO{sub 2} emissions will be saved annually and in Amman about 2.98 million Tons will be reduced. The payback period from the achieved saving is 18 years, 11 years and 8.6 years in Amman, Aqaba and Berlin, respectively.

Energy Performance and CO2 Emissions of HVAC Systems in Commercial Buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafat Al-Waked

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Energy performance of buildings has attracted much attention among building physicists and engineers worldwide. The effects of building heating; ventilation; and air conditioning (HVAC systems’ design upgrade on the building energy performance are the focus of the current study. The adopted HVAC system consisted of chilled ceiling and chilled beam systems served by a centrifugal water chiller. An energy simulation study was undertaken in accordance with the national Australian built environment rating system-rules for collecting and using data. A three-dimensional simulation study was carried out utilizing the virtual environment-integrated environmental solutions software. Results from the current study have shown the importance of utilizing energy-efficient HVAC systems and HVAC strategies for achieving a high building energy star rating. Recommended strategies in order to achieve the nominated star rating; as predicted by the simulation analysis; were presented. Moreover; the effects of solar radiation inside the building atrium were significant; which cannot be overcome by simply installing a low shading coefficient glazing type at the atrium skylight. In addition to providing chilled ceiling technology; a high efficiency chiller and low energy lighting; it is recommended that the building be well tuned during the commissioning period. The current approach could be extended to accommodate higher energy ratings of commercial buildings at different locations worldwide.

Vision-based building energy diagnostics and retrofit analysis using 3D thermography and building information modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Ham, Youngjib

localization issues of 2D thermal image-based inspection, a new computer vision-based method is presented for automated 3D spatio-thermal modeling of building environments from images and localizing the thermal images into the 3D reconstructed scenes, which helps better characterize the as-is condition of existing buildings in 3D. By using these models, auditors can conduct virtual walk-through in buildings and explore the as-is condition of building geometry and the associated thermal conditions in 3D. Second, to address the challenges in qualitative and subjective interpretation of visual data, a new model-based method is presented to convert the 3D thermal profiles of building environments into their associated energy performance metrics. More specifically, the Energy Performance Augmented Reality (EPAR) models are formed which integrate the actual 3D spatio-thermal models ('as-is') with energy performance benchmarks ('as-designed') in 3D. In the EPAR models, the presence and location of potential energy problems in building environments are inferred based on performance deviations. The as-is thermal resistances of the building assemblies are also calculated at the level of mesh vertex in 3D. Then, based on the historical weather data reflecting energy load for space conditioning, the amount of heat transfer that can be saved by improving the as-is thermal resistances of the defective areas to the recommended level is calculated, and the equivalent energy cost for this saving is estimated. The outcome provides building practitioners with unique information that can facilitate energy efficient retrofit decision-makings. This is a major departure from offhand calculations that are based on historical cost data of industry best practices. Finally, to improve the reliability of BIM-based energy performance modeling and analysis for existing buildings, a new model-based automated method is presented to map actual thermal resistance measurements at the level of 3D vertexes to the

Smart buildings: Energy efficient conditioning of building occupants

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zeiler, W.; Houten, van M.A.; Boxem, G.; Vehler, R.; Verhoeven, M.; Fremouw, M.

2009-01-01

To further optimize energy performance of buildings, intelligent building control offers new possibilities. Intelligent Software Agents (ISA) can be implemented at different levels of building automation. Individual agents for individual climate control for each user of the building in combination

Case Study of a Nearly Zero Energy Building in Italian Climatic Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hassan Saeed Khan

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The building sector is an important stakeholder in the energy and environmental scenario of any country. It continues to grow across the world due to factors such as population growth, and economic and infrastructure development. Within the European Union, buildings account for 40% of the total energy requirements and 30% of carbon dioxide emissions. The building sector is keen to improve its sustainability standards and also to help achieve the 20-20-20 targets set by the European Union. The present work aims to design a nearly zero energy sports gymnasium building in Calolziocorte, Italy. Various sustainability techniques are applied in an integrated design project approach using ECOTECT software to undertake the energy modelling exercise. Firstly, the base-case is modelled with conventional building materials and the total energy demand is calculated. Duly considering the local climatic conditions, sustainable materials are chosen for walls, the floor, the roof, and windows and a 38% reduction is noted in the total energy demand of the building compared to the base-case. The impact of louvers as a passive design technique has also been examined on the total energy demand of the building. The monthly load/discomfort analysis is undertaken for various individual functions inside the building to identify the critical areas that consume more energy. The monthly load/discomfort analysis is performed with the proposed materials and the air infiltration rate is improved through the building envelope and 63% reduction is noted in the total energy demand of the building compared to the base-case. A solar access analysis is conducted to understand the on-site energy production and then the building net energy demand is calculated, which is reduced to 90% compared to the base-case.

Financial overview of integrated community energy systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Croke, K. G.; Hurter, A. P.; Lerner, E.; Breen, W.; Baum, J.

1977-01-01

This report is designed to analyze the commercialization potential of various concepts of community-scale energy systems that have been termed Integrated Community Energy Systems (ICES). A case analysis of alternative ICES concepts applied to a major metropolitan development complex is documented. The intent of this study is twofold: (1) to develop a framework for comparing ICES technologies to conventional energy supply systems and (2) to identify potential problems in the commercialization of new systems approaches to energy conservation. In brief, the ICES Program of the ERDA Office of Energy Conservation is intended to identify the opportunities for energy conservation in the community context through analysis, development, and/or demonstration of: location and design of buildings, building complexes, and infrastructure links; engineering and systems design of existing, emerging, and advanced energy production and delivery technologies and systems; regulatory designs for public planning, administration, and regulation of energy-conserving community development and energy services; and financial planning for energy-conserving community development and energy supply systems.

Analysis and Optimization of Building Energy Consumption

Science.gov (United States)

Chuah, Jun Wei

Energy is one of the most important resources required by modern human society. In 2010, energy expenditures represented 10% of global gross domestic product (GDP). By 2035, global energy consumption is expected to increase by more than 50% from current levels. The increased pace of global energy consumption leads to significant environmental and socioeconomic issues: (i) carbon emissions, from the burning of fossil fuels for energy, contribute to global warming, and (ii) increased energy expenditures lead to reduced standard of living. Efficient use of energy, through energy conservation measures, is an important step toward mitigating these effects. Residential and commercial buildings represent a prime target for energy conservation, comprising 21% of global energy consumption and 40% of the total energy consumption in the United States. This thesis describes techniques for the analysis and optimization of building energy consumption. The thesis focuses on building retrofits and building energy simulation as key areas in building energy optimization and analysis. The thesis first discusses and evaluates building-level renewable energy generation as a solution toward building energy optimization. The thesis next describes a novel heating system, called localized heating. Under localized heating, building occupants are heated individually by directed radiant heaters, resulting in a considerably reduced heated space and significant heating energy savings. To support localized heating, a minimally-intrusive indoor occupant positioning system is described. The thesis then discusses occupant-level sensing (OLS) as the next frontier in building energy optimization. OLS captures the exact environmental conditions faced by each building occupant, using sensors that are carried by all building occupants. The information provided by OLS enables fine-grained optimization for unprecedented levels of energy efficiency and occupant comfort. The thesis also describes a retrofit

Nationwide Buildings Energy Research enabled through an integrated Data Intensive Scientific Workflow and Advanced Analysis Environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kleese van Dam, Kerstin [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Lansing, Carina S. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Elsethagen, Todd O. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Hathaway, John E. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Guillen, Zoe C. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Dirks, James A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Skorski, Daniel C. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Stephan, Eric G. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Gorrissen, Willy J. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Gorton, Ian [Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Liu, Yan [Concordia Univ., Montreal, QC (Canada)

2014-01-28

Modern workflow systems enable scientists to run ensemble simulations at unprecedented scales and levels of complexity, allowing them to study system sizes previously impossible to achieve, due to the inherent resource requirements needed for the modeling work. However as a result of these new capabilities the science teams suddenly also face unprecedented data volumes that they are unable to analyze with their existing tools and methodologies in a timely fashion. In this paper we will describe the ongoing development work to create an integrated data intensive scientific workflow and analysis environment that offers researchers the ability to easily create and execute complex simulation studies and provides them with different scalable methods to analyze the resulting data volumes. The integration of simulation and analysis environments is hereby not only a question of ease of use, but supports fundamental functions in the correlated analysis of simulation input, execution details and derived results for multi-variant, complex studies. To this end the team extended and integrated the existing capabilities of the Velo data management and analysis infrastructure, the MeDICi data intensive workflow system and RHIPE the R for Hadoop version of the well-known statistics package, as well as developing a new visual analytics interface for the result exploitation by multi-domain users. The capabilities of the new environment are demonstrated on a use case that focusses on the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) building energy team, showing how they were able to take their previously local scale simulations to a nationwide level by utilizing data intensive computing techniques not only for their modeling work, but also for the subsequent analysis of their modeling results. As part of the PNNL research initiative PRIMA (Platform for Regional Integrated Modeling and Analysis) the team performed an initial 3 year study of building energy demands for the US Eastern

Energy efficiency of residential buildings. Energy consumption and investment costs of different building energy standards; Energieeffizienz von Wohngebaeuden. Energieverbraeuche und Investitionskosten energetischer Gebaeudestandards

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beecken, Christoph; Schulze, Stephan [Bow Ingenieure GmbH, Braunschweig (Germany)

2011-12-15

In view of the impending energy transition in Germany, turning away from fossil fuels and atomic power and leading to renewable energy sources, the construction of very energy efficient new buildings gains more and more in importance. Because the saving of energy with efficient buildings offers the highest potential to achieve the energy transition without loss of comfort and also complying with the climate protection target of limitation of the carbon dioxide emission. For new buildings in the initial project planning phase, the client needs qualified consulting concerning a reasonable energy standard for his building. The consulting should comprise the multitude of energy efficiency standards and the related financial incentives and not only cover the minimum standard of the German Building Energy Conservation Regulation EnEV (Energieeinsparverordnung). But the architect can hardly quantify the potentials to reduce energy consumption of buildings considering the multitude of existing standards with multifarious effects on energy consumption, technical requirements and building costs. With the help of an example multi-storey residential building in Hannover, current energy standards for residential buildings are compared. Besides the building construction also the building services like heating, hot water generation and ventilation are considered and the most important results concerning energy consumption and investment costs are compared.

Energy requirements for new buildings in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Airaksinen, M., Email: miimu.airaksinen@vtt.fi

2012-06-15

Buildings account for circa 40% of the total energy use in Europe [1] and for about 36% of the EU's total CO{sub 2} emissions [2], including the existing energy conservation in buildings [3]. Key features of the Finnish energy policy are improved energy efficiency and increased use of renewable energy sources. To achieve a sustainable shift in the energy system, a target set by the authorities, both energy savings and increased use of low-pollution energy sources are therefore priority areas. Building low-energy buildings is in accordance with the declared national aim of reducing energy use and thus reducing CO{sub 2} emissions. The main motivation in renewing building codes for new buildings was to build more energy efficiently, encourage the use the most efficient energy sources and to enhance the use of renewable energy sources. In addition the aim was to give more freedom to fi nd the real optimal solutions for energy efficiency by optimising all aspects including the building architecture and different systems with demand controls. However, in order to ensure the good quality of buildings certain minimum requirements for structure U-values are given. (orig.)

Intervention strategies for energy efficient municipal buildings: Influencing energy decisions throughout buildings` lifetimes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1993-12-31

The current energy-related decisionmaking processes that take place during the lifetimes of municipal buildings in San Francisco do not reflect our ideal picture of energy efficiency as a part of staff awareness and standard practice. Two key problems that undermine the success of energy efficiency programs are lost opportunities and incomplete actions. These problems can be caused by technology-related issues, but often the causes are institutional barriers (organizational or procedural {open_quotes}people problems{close_quotes}). Energy efficient decisions are not being made because of a lack of awareness or policy mandate, or because financial resources are not available to decisionmakers. The Bureau of Energy Conservation (BEC) is working to solve such problems in the City & County of San Francisco through the Intervention Strategies project. In the first phase of the project, using the framework of the building lifetime, we learned how energy efficiency in San Francisco municipal buildings can be influenced through delivering services to support decisionmakers; at key points in the process of funding, designing, constructing and maintaining them. The second phase of the project involved choosing and implementing five pilot projects. Through staff interviews, we learned how decisions that impact energy use are made at various levels. We compiled information about city staff and their needs, and resources available to meet those needs. We then designed actions to deliver appropriate services to staff at these key access points. BEC implemented five pilot projects corresponding to various stages in the building`s lifetime. These were: Bond Guidelines, Energy Efficient Design Practices, Commissioning, Motor Efficiency, and Facilities Condition Monitoring Program.

Integration of design applications with building models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eastman, C. M.; Jeng, T. S.; Chowdbury, R.

1997-01-01

This paper reviews various issues in the integration of applications with a building model... (Truncated.)......This paper reviews various issues in the integration of applications with a building model... (Truncated.)...

Embodied energy of construction materials: integrating human and capital energy into an IO-based hybrid model.

Science.gov (United States)

Dixit, Manish K; Culp, Charles H; Fernandez-Solis, Jose L

2015-02-03

Buildings alone consume approximately 40% of the annual global energy and contribute indirectly to the increasing concentration of atmospheric carbon. The total life cycle energy use of a building is composed of embodied and operating energy. Embodied energy includes all energy required to manufacture and transport building materials, and construct, maintain, and demolish a building. For a systemic energy and carbon assessment of buildings, it is critical to use a whole life cycle approach, which takes into account the embodied as well as operating energy. Whereas the calculation of a building's operating energy is straightforward, there is a lack of a complete embodied energy calculation method. Although an input-output-based (IO-based) hybrid method could provide a complete and consistent embodied energy calculation, there are unresolved issues, such as an overdependence on price data and exclusion of the energy of human labor and capital inputs. This paper proposes a method for calculating and integrating the energy of labor and capital input into an IO-based hybrid method. The results demonstrate that the IO-based hybrid method can provide relatively complete results. Also, to avoid errors, the total amount of human and capital energy should not be excluded from the calculation.

NASA Net Zero Energy Buildings Roadmap

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pless, S.; Scheib, J.; Torcellini, P.; Hendron, B.; Slovensky, M.

2014-10-01

In preparation for the time-phased net zero energy requirement for new federal buildings starting in 2020, set forth in Executive Order 13514, NASA requested that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to develop a roadmap for NASA's compliance. NASA detailed a Statement of Work that requested information on strategic, organizational, and tactical aspects of net zero energy buildings. In response, this document presents a high-level approach to net zero energy planning, design, construction, and operations, based on NREL's first-hand experience procuring net zero energy construction, and based on NREL and other industry research on net zero energy feasibility. The strategic approach to net zero energy starts with an interpretation of the executive order language relating to net zero energy. Specifically, this roadmap defines a net zero energy acquisition process as one that sets an aggressive energy use intensity goal for the building in project planning, meets the reduced demand goal through energy efficiency strategies and technologies, then adds renewable energy in a prioritized manner, using building-associated, emission- free sources first, to offset the annual energy use required at the building; the net zero energy process extends through the life of the building, requiring a balance of energy use and production in each calendar year.

The Consortium of Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB) - A Building America Energy Efficient Housing Partnership

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robb Aldrich; Lois Arena; Dianne Griffiths; Srikanth Puttagunta; David Springer

2010-12-31

This final report summarizes the work conducted by the Consortium of Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB) (http://www.carb-swa.com/), one of the 'Building America Energy Efficient Housing Partnership' Industry Teams, for the period January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2010. The Building America Program (BAP) is part of the Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building Technologies Program (BTP). The long term goal of the BAP is to develop cost effective, production ready systems in five major climate zones that will result in zero energy homes (ZEH) that produce as much energy as they use on an annual basis by 2020. CARB is led by Steven Winter Associates, Inc. with Davis Energy Group, Inc. (DEG), MaGrann Associates, and Johnson Research, LLC as team members. In partnership with our numerous builders and industry partners, work was performed in three primary areas - advanced systems research, prototype home development, and technical support for communities of high performance homes. Our advanced systems research work focuses on developing a better understanding of the installed performance of advanced technology systems when integrated in a whole-house scenario. Technology systems researched included: - High-R Wall Assemblies - Non-Ducted Air-Source Heat Pumps - Low-Load HVAC Systems - Solar Thermal Water Heating - Ventilation Systems - Cold-Climate Ground and Air Source Heat Pumps - Hot/Dry Climate Air-to-Water Heat Pump - Condensing Boilers - Evaporative condensers - Water Heating CARB continued to support several prototype home projects in the design and specification phase. These projects are located in all five program climate regions and most are targeting greater than 50% source energy savings over the Building America Benchmark home. CARB provided technical support and developed builder project case studies to be included in near-term Joule Milestone reports for the following community scale projects: - SBER Overlook at

Zero Energy Buildings – Design Principles and Built Examples

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Designing a zero energy building is a complicated task, and in order to achieve good results it is necessary to include knowledge from a range of sources. Therefore, cooperation is required between different professions and between generalists and specialists from the very beginning of the process...... knowledge must be acquired, depending on the project in question. Through a cross-disciplinary approach to architecture and building design, and based on an integrated design process, this publication will: • introduce a number of design strategies and technologies which are particularly important...... for the development of zero energy houses. These strategies and technologies are illustrated through simple design principles and built examples • identify technical and architectural potentials and challenges related to design strategies of crucial importance to the development of zero energy houses • identify...

Analysis of Photovoltaic Applications in Zero Energy Building Cases of IEA SHC/EBC Task 40/Annex 52

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin-Hee Kim

2015-07-01

Full Text Available A Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB considerably reduces the building energy load through high efficiency equipment and passive elements such as building orientation, high insulation, natural daylighting, and ventilation in order to achieve zero energy balance with on-site energy production from renewable energy systems applied to the building. For a Zero Energy Building (ZEB, the heating energy demand can be significantly reduced with high insulation and air tightness, while the cooling energy demand can be curtailed by applying shading device, cross ventilation, etc. As such, the electrical energy demand for a ZEB is relatively higher than its heat energy demand. Therefore, the application of a Renewable Energy System (RES to produce electricity is necessary for a ZEB. In particular, Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV systems that generate electricity can play an important role for achieving zero energy balance in buildings; BIPVs are multi-functional and there are many ways to apply them into buildings. This study comprehensively analyzes photovoltaic (PV applications in ZEB cases through the International Energy Agency Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (IEA SHC/Energy in Buildings and Communities Programme (EBC Task 40/Annex 52 activities, which include PV installation methods, PV cell type, and electricity generation. The most widely applied RES is the PV system, corresponding to 29 out of a total of 30 cases. Among the roof type PV systems, 71% were non-integrated. In addition, 14 of the 27 cases in which PV systems were applied, satisfied over 100% of the electricity energy demand from the PV system and were found to generate surplus electrical power.

Building Energy Assessment and Computer Simulation Applied to Social Housing in Spain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Aranda

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The actual energy consumption and simulated energy performance of a building usually differ. This gap widens in social housing, owing to the characteristics of these buildings and the consumption patterns of economically vulnerable households affected by energy poverty. The aim of this work is to characterise the energy poverty of the households that are representative of those residing in social housing, specifically in blocks of apartments in Southern Europe. The main variables that affect energy consumption and costs are analysed, and the models developed for software energy-performance simulations (which are applied to predict energy consumption in social housing are validated against actual energy-consumption values. The results demonstrate that this type of household usually lives in surroundings at a temperature below the average thermal comfort level. We have taken into account that a standard thermal comfort level may lead to significant differences between computer-aided energy building simulation and actual consumption data (which are 40–140% lower than simulated consumption. This fact is of integral importance, as we use computer simulation to predict building energy performance in social housing.

Energy and Environmental Research in the Building Area; Forschen und Bauen im Kontext von Energie und Umwelt

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Binz, A. [Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (HABG-IEB), Muttenz (Switzerland); Chianese, D. [Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana, Dipartimento Ambiente Costruzioni e Design, Instituto di Sostenibilita Applicata all' Ambiente Costruito (SUPSI-DACD-ISAAC), Canobbio (Switzerland); Filleux, Ch. [Basler und Hofmann, Zuerich (Switzerland); Gaegauf, Ch. [Oekozentrum Langenbruck, Langenbruck (Switzerland); Gugerli, H. [Amt fuer Hochbauten der Stadt Zuerich, Zuerich (Switzerland); Menti, U.-P. [Hochschule Luzern, Technik und Architektur, Horw (Switzerland); Rommel, M. [Hochschule fuer Technik, Institut fuer Solartechnik (SPF), Rapperswil (Switzerland); Schwehr, P. [brenet, building and renewable energies network of technology, HTA Luzern, Horw (Switzerland); Zimmermann, M. [Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA), Duebendorf (Switzerland)

2010-07-01

These proceedings of the 16{sup th} Swiss Status Seminar held in September 2010 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH in Zurich, Switzerland, present a comprehensive overview of the two-day event on Swiss energy and environmental topics in the building area. A total of 55 lectures in ten sessions covered architectural and building topics. The main lectures at the beginning of the seminar covered models for sustainable city development, building for the 2000-watt society and design principles. Also the 'Tropical House' project, the 'Self' autonomous house, the new Monte Rosa mountaineers hut and the Swiss Village project in Masdar were presented. The presentations were divided into nine thematic areas: The house as a 'power station', building renewal, energy management, heat pumps, processes, innovative building and renovation, city districts, building technologies, ventilation and the building as a system. Twenty poster contributions completed the seminar. Themes addressed in the 'house as a power station' set looked at the local generation of power, buildings that generate or even export energy and low-energy consumption buildings. Building renewal topics discussed included grey energy and legal topics, energy management contributions dealt with control, hot water preparation and energy efficiency. The heat pump section dealt with theory and practice of heating and cooling, multi-functional and low-exergy systems and related calculation aids. The processes section included contributions on infra-red analysis, solar-assisted systems, modelling, eco-balances and the City of Zurich's resource strategy for mineral building materials. Innovative building and renovation topics included renovation with prefabricated elements, integrated photovoltaic modules, retrofits as well as financing topics. The topics covered in the district development set included contributions on sustainable (re-)development, the 2000-watt

Performance advancement of solar air-conditioning through integrated system design for building

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fong, K.F.; Lee, C.K.

2014-01-01

This study is to advance the energy performance of solar air-conditioning system through appropriate component integration from the absorption refrigeration cycle and proper high-temperature cooling. In the previous studies, the solar absorption air-conditioning using the working pair of water – lithium bromide (H 2 O–LiBr) is found to have prominent primary energy saving than the conventional compression air-conditioning for buildings in the hot-humid climate. In this study, three integration strategies have been generated for solar cooling, namely integrated absorption air-conditioning; integrated absorption-desiccant air-conditioning; and integrated absorption-desiccant air-conditioning for radiant cooling. To realize these ideas, the working pair of ammonia – water (NH 3 –H 2 O) was used in the absorption cycle, rather than H 2 O–LiBr. As such, the evaporator and the condenser can be separate from the absorption refrigeration cycle for the new configuration of various integrated design alternatives. Through dynamic simulation, the year-round primary energy saving of the proposed integration strategies for solar NH 3 –H 2 O absorption air-conditioning systems could be up to 50.6% and 25.5%, as compared to the conventional compression air-conditioning and the basic solar H 2 O–LiBr absorption air-conditioning respectively. Consequently, carbon reduction of building air-conditioning can be achieved more effectively through the integrated system design in the hot and humid cities. - Highlights: • Three integration strategies, IAAU, IADAU and IADAU-RC, are proposed to advance solar air-conditioning. • NH 3 –H 2 O is adopted for absorption refrigeration instead of H 2 O–LiBr. • Separate evaporator and condenser, desiccant cooling and radiant cooling are designed for IADAU-RC. • IADAU-RC can have 50.6% primary energy saving against the conventional air-conditioning

Energy efficiency drivers in Europe. Regulations and other instruments open new horizons for energy management in buildings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Obara, H.

2010-01-01

Curbing climate change and global warming will be one of the major challenges of the 21. Century.The very survival of our society could be at stake. Greenhouse gases including CO 2 have been identified as the culprits and the vast majority of industrialized countries have agreed to cut emissions drastically over coming decades. Buildings account for nearly 40% of the energy used in most countries and are responsible for a similar level of global CO 2 emissions. Energy efficiency in buildings is therefore one of the keys to reducing green-house emissions. The main driving force to achieve the ambitious goals that have been set for the reduction of greenhouse gases will come from energy efficiency regulations, building codes, standards, labels, certifications, obligations and incentives, all of which have been multiplying steadily over recent decades. International institutions are rolling out energy efficiency directives and standards that set minimum requirements for buildings.They are gradually being taken into account in national regulations and building codes. Today, most energy efficiency regulations concern building design. They hardly touch on Energy Management aspects that can generate major operational gains with relatively low investments and quick payback. Beyond regulations that focus on minimum requirements, environmental performance labels use building rating criteria that can take energy efficiency much further.They offer a practical way of assigning value to energy efficiency and in this way represent powerful market drivers. Moreover, the important benefits of Energy Management can be easily integrated in the rating criteria of these far-reaching schemes. Indeed, through effective building measurement, monitoring and control systems, Energy Management is one of the keys to rapidly reducing carbon emissions and achieving climate change targets. (author)

Quantifying demand flexibility of power-to-heat and thermal energy storage in the control of building heating systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Finck, C.J.; Li, R.; Kramer, R.P.; Zeiler, W.

2018-01-01

In the future due to continued integration of renewable energy sources, demand-side flexibility would be required for managing power grids. Building energy systems will serve as one possible source of energy flexibility. The degree of flexibility provided by building energy systems is highly

Understanding Net Zero Energy Buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Salom, Jaume; Widén, Joakim; Candanedo, José

2011-01-01

Although several alternative definitions exist, a Net-Zero Energy Building (Net ZEB) can be succinctly described as a grid-connected building that generates as much energy as it uses over a year. The “net-zero” balance is attained by applying energy conservation and efficiency measures...... and by incorporating renewable energy systems. While based on annual balances, a complete description of a Net ZEB requires examining the system at smaller time-scales. This assessment should address: (a) the relationship between power generation and building loads and (b) the resulting interaction with the power grid...

System Integration of Distributed Power for Complete Building Systems: Phase 2 Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kramer, R.

2003-12-01

This report describes NiSource Energy Technologies Inc.'s second year of a planned 3-year effort to advance distributed power development, deployment, and integration. Its long-term goal is to design ways to extend distributed generation into the physical design and controls of buildings. NET worked to meet this goal through advances in the implementation and control of combined heat and power systems in end-user environments and a further understanding of electric interconnection and siting issues. The specific objective of work under this subcontract is to identify the system integration and implementation issues of DG and develop and test potential solutions to these issues. In addition, recommendations are made to resolve identified issues that may hinder or slow the integration of integrated energy systems into the national energy picture.

Energy efficient model based algorithm for control of building HVAC systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Kirubakaran, V; Sahu, Chinmay; Radhakrishnan, T K; Sivakumaran, N

2015-11-01

Energy efficient designs are receiving increasing attention in various fields of engineering. Heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) control system designs involve improved energy usage with an acceptable relaxation in thermal comfort. In this paper, real time data from a building HVAC system provided by BuildingLAB is considered. A resistor-capacitor (RC) framework for representing thermal dynamics of the building is estimated using particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. With objective costs as thermal comfort (deviation of room temperature from required temperature) and energy measure (Ecm) explicit MPC design for this building model is executed based on its state space representation of the supply water temperature (input)/room temperature (output) dynamics. The controllers are subjected to servo tracking and external disturbance (ambient temperature) is provided from the real time data during closed loop control. The control strategies are ported on a PIC32mx series microcontroller platform. The building model is implemented in MATLAB and hardware in loop (HIL) testing of the strategies is executed over a USB port. Results indicate that compared to traditional proportional integral (PI) controllers, the explicit MPC's improve both energy efficiency and thermal comfort significantly. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Commercial Buildings Energy Performance within Context

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lazarova-Molnar, Sanja; Kjærgaard, Mikkel Baun; Shaker, Hamid Reza

2015-01-01

Existing commercial buildings represent a challenge in the energy efficiency domain. Energy efficiency of a building, very often equalized to a building’s performance should not be observed as a standalone issue. For commercial buildings, energy efficiency needs to be observed and assessed within...

Impact of coupled heat and moisture transfer effects on buildings energy consuption

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ferroukhi Mohammed Yacine

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Coupled heat, air, and moisture transfers through building envelope have an important effect on prediction of building energy requirements. Several works were conducted in order to integrate hygrothermal transfers in dynamic buildings simulations codes. However, the incorporation of multidirectional hygrothermal transfer analysis in the envelope into building simulation tools is rarely considered. In this work, coupled heat, air, and moisture (HAM transfer model in multilayer walls was established. Thereafter, the HAM model is coupled dynamically to a building behavior code (BES.The coupling concerns a co-simulation between COMSOL Multiphysics and TRNSYS software. Afterward, the HAM-BES co-simulation accuracy was verified. Then, HAM-BES co-simulation platform was applied to a case study with various types of climates (temperate, hot and humid, cold and humid. Three simulations cases were carried out. The first simulation case consists of the TRNSYS model without HAM transfer model. The second simulation case, 1-D HAM model for the envelope was integrated in TRNSYS code. For the third one, 1-D HAM model for the wall and 2-D HAM model for thermal bridges were coupled to the thermal building model of TRNSYS. Analysis of the results confirms the significant impact of 2-D envelope hygrothermal transfers on the indoor thermal and moisture behavior of building as well as on the energy building assessment. These conclusions are shown for different studied climates.

Calculating Impacts of Energy Standards on Energy Demand in U.S. Buildings under Uncertainty with an Integrated Assessment Model: Technical Background Data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Scott, Michael J. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Daly, Don S. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Hathaway, John E. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Lansing, Carina S. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Liu, Ying [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); McJeon, Haewon C. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Moss, Richard H. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Patel, Pralit L. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Peterson, Marty J. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Rice, Jennie S. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Zhou, Yuyu [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2014-12-06

This report presents data and assumptions employed in an application of PNNL’s Global Change Assessment Model with a newly-developed Monte Carlo analysis capability. The model is used to analyze the impacts of more aggressive U.S. residential and commercial building-energy codes and equipment standards on energy consumption and energy service costs at the state level, explicitly recognizing uncertainty in technology effectiveness and cost, socioeconomics, presence or absence of carbon prices, and climate impacts on energy demand. The report provides a summary of how residential and commercial buildings are modeled, together with assumptions made for the distributions of state–level population, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per worker, efficiency and cost of residential and commercial energy equipment by end use, and efficiency and cost of residential and commercial building shells. The cost and performance of equipment and of building shells are reported separately for current building and equipment efficiency standards and for more aggressive standards. The report also details assumptions concerning future improvements brought about by projected trends in technology.

Air source integrated heat pump simulation model for EnergyPlus

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shen, Bo; New, Joshua; Baxter, Van

2017-12-01

An Air Source Integrated Heat Pump (AS-IHP) is an air source, multi-functional spacing conditioning unit with water heating function (WH), which can lead to great energy savings by recovering the condensing waste heat for domestic water heating. This paper summarizes development of the EnergyPlus AS-IHP model, introducing the physics, sub-models, working modes, and control logic. Based on the model, building energy simulations were conducted to demonstrate greater than 50% annual energy savings, in comparison to a baseline heat pump with electric water heater, over 10 US cities, using the EnergyPlus quick-service restaurant template building. We assessed water heating energy saving potentials using AS-IHP versus both gas and electric baseline systems, and pointed out climate zones where AS-IHPs are promising. In addition, a grid integration strategy was investigated to reveal further energy saving and electricity cost reduction potentials, via increasing the water heating set point temperature during off-peak hours and using larger water tanks.

Integration of fuel cells into residential buildings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bell, J.M.; Entchev, E.; Gusdorf, J.; Szadkowski, F.; Swinton, M.; Kalbfleisch, W.; Marchand, R.

2004-01-01

Integration of small combined heat and power systems (CHP) into residential buildings is challenging as the loads are small, the load diversity is limited and there are a number of unresolved issues concerning sizing, control, peak loads, emergency operation, grid connection and export, etc. Natural Resources Canada has undertaken an initiative to investigate and develop techniques for the integration of small CHP systems into residential buildings using a highly instrumented house modified to allow quick installation and thorough monitoring of CHP integration techniques as well determining the performance of the CHP systems themselves when operating in a house. The first CHP system installed was a Stirling engine residential CHP system. It was used to examine the completeness of the CHP modifications to the house, to evaluate various building integration techniques and to measure the performance of the CHP system itself. The testing demonstrated the modified house to be an excellent facility for the development of CHP building integration techniques and the testing of residential CHP systems. The Stirling engine CHP system was found to operate well and produce meaningful input to the house. A second system (residential fuel cell) is presently being installed and building integration techniques and the performance of the fuel cell will be tested over the coming year. (author)

Energy Systems Integration Laboratory | Energy Systems Integration Facility

Science.gov (United States)

| NREL Integration Laboratory Energy Systems Integration Laboratory Research in the Energy Systems Integration Laboratory is advancing engineering knowledge and market deployment of hydrogen technologies. Applications include microgrids, energy storage for renewables integration, and home- and station

Energy efficiency design strategies for buildings with grid-connected photovoltaic systems

Science.gov (United States)

Yimprayoon, Chanikarn

The building sector in the United States represents more than 40% of the nation's energy consumption. Energy efficiency design strategies and renewable energy are keys to reduce building energy demand. Grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems installed on buildings have been the fastest growing market in the PV industry. This growth poses challenges for buildings qualified to serve in this market sector. Electricity produced from solar energy is intermittent. Matching building electricity demand with PV output can increase PV system efficiency. Through experimental methods and case studies, computer simulations were used to investigate the priorities of energy efficiency design strategies that decreased electricity demand while producing load profiles matching with unique output profiles from PV. Three building types (residential, commercial, and industrial) of varying sizes and use patterns located in 16 climate zones were modeled according to ASHRAE 90.1 requirements. Buildings were analyzed individually and as a group. Complying with ASHRAE energy standards can reduce annual electricity consumption at least 13%. With energy efficiency design strategies, the reduction could reach up to 65%, making it possible for PV systems to meet reduced demands in residential and industrial buildings. The peak electricity demand reduction could be up to 71% with integration of strategies and PV. Reducing lighting power density was the best single strategy with high overall performances. Combined strategies such as zero energy building are also recommended. Electricity consumption reductions are the sum of the reductions from strategies and PV output. However, peak electricity reductions were less than their sum because they reduced peak at different times. The potential of grid stress reduction is significant. Investment incentives from government and utilities are necessary. The PV system sizes on net metering interconnection should not be limited by legislation existing in

Energy Gaining Windows for Residental Buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kragh, Jesper; Laustsen, Jacob Birck; Svendsen, Svend

2008-01-01

This paper presents some of the research done during the last 8 years at the Technical University of Denmark developing improved low-energy window solutions. The focus has been on maximizing the net energy gain of windows for residential buildings. The net energy gain of windows is the solar gain...... minus the heat loss integrated over the heating season. It is assumed that in northern cold climates all of the solar gain during the heating season can be utilized for space heating. Problems with overheating in the summer period must be solved with overhang or moveable solar shading devices. Two...... and longer durability of the window. The glazing in these fiber reinforced polyester windows is both unsealed and sealed triple glazing units. To increase the net energy gain slim frame profiles have been developed to increase the glazing area and thereby the solar gain. The challenge when developing slim...

FloorspaceJS - A New, Open Source, Web-Based Geometry Editor for Building Energy Modeling (BEM): Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Macumber, Daniel L [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Horowitz, Scott G [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Schott, Marjorie [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Nolan, Katie [Devetry; Schiller, Brian [Devetry

2018-03-19

Across most industries, desktop applications are being rapidly migrated to web applications for a variety of reasons. Web applications are inherently cross platform, mobile, and easier to distribute than desktop applications. Fueling this trend are a wide range of free, open source libraries and frameworks that make it incredibly easy to develop powerful web applications. The building energy modeling community is just beginning to pick up on these larger trends, with a small but growing number of building energy modeling applications starting on or moving to the web. This paper presents a new, open source, web based geometry editor for Building Energy Modeling (BEM). The editor is written completely in JavaScript and runs in a modern web browser. The editor works on a custom JSON file format and is designed to be integrated into a variety of web and desktop applications. The web based editor is available to use as a standalone web application at: https://nrel.github.io/openstudio-geometry-editor/. An example integration is demonstrated with the OpenStudio desktop application. Finally, the editor can be easily integrated with a wide range of possible building energy modeling web applications.

What Is Energy Systems Integration? | Energy Systems Integration Facility |

Science.gov (United States)

NREL What Is Energy Systems Integration? What Is Energy Systems Integration? Energy systems integration (ESI) is an approach to solving big energy challenges that explores ways for energy systems to Research Community NREL is a founding member of the International Institute for Energy Systems Integration

Energy Systems Integration Facility Videos | Energy Systems Integration

Science.gov (United States)

Facility | NREL Energy Systems Integration Facility Videos Energy Systems Integration Facility Integration Facility NREL + SolarCity: Maximizing Solar Power on Electrical Grids Redefining What's Possible for Renewable Energy: Grid Integration Robot-Powered Reliability Testing at NREL's ESIF Microgrid

Energy Cloud: Services for Smart Buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mohamed, Nader; Al-Jaroodi, Jameela; Lazarova-Molnar, Sanja

2018-01-01

, and network technologies. Using smart building energy management systems provides intelligent procedures to control buildings’ equipment such as HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning) systems, home and office appliances, and lighting systems to reduce energy consumption while maintaining......Energy consumption in buildings is responsible for a significant portion of the total energy use and carbon emissions in large cities. One of the main approaches to reduce energy consumption and its environmental impact is to convert buildings into smart buildings using computer, software, sensor...... the required quality of living in all of the building’s spaces. This chapter discusses and reviews utilizing cloud computing to provide energy-related services to enhance the operations of smart buildings’ energy management systems. Cloud computing can provide many advantages for smart buildings’ energy...

Integrated sustainable urban infrastructures in building projects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Susanne Balslev; Quitzau, Maj-Britt; Elle, Morten

2007-01-01

Current strategies in urban planning and development merely promote standardized building solutions, while failing to prioritize innovative approaches of integration between building projects and sustainable urban infrastructures. As a result of this, urban infrastructures – the urban veins...... – are outdated from a sustainability perspective. This paper looks into more holistic ways of approaching building projects and discuss whether this provide a basis for an increased integration of urban infrastructures within building projects. In our study, we especially emphasise how conventional ways...... of approaching building projects are influenced by lock-in of existing infrastructural systems and compare this with two examples of more holistic ways of approaching building projects, developed by two architecture firms. The paper points out that such holistic perspective in building projects provide...

Advanced Energy Retrofit Guide Office Buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Guopeng; Liu, Bing; Wang, Weimin; Zhang, Jian; Athalye, Rahul A.; Moser, Dave; Crowe, Eliot; Bengtson, Nick; Effinger, Mark; Webster, Lia; Hatten, Mike

2011-09-27

The Advanced Energy Retrofit Guide for Office Buildings is a component of the Department of Energy’s Advanced Energy Retrofit Guides for Existing Buildings series. The aim of the guides is to facilitate a rapid escalation in the number of energy efficiency projects in existing buildings and to enhance the quality and depth of those projects. By presenting general project planning guidance as well as financial payback metrics for the most common energy efficiency measures, these guides provide a practical roadmap to effectively planning and implementing performance improvements for existing buildings.

Advanced Energy Retrofit Guide Retail Buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Guopeng; Liu, Bing; Zhang, Jian; Wang, Weimin; Athalye, Rahul A.; Moser, Dave; Crowe, Eliot; Bengtson, Nick; Effinger, Mark; Webster, Lia; Hatten, Mike

2011-09-19

The Advanced Energy Retrofit Guide for Retail Buildings is a component of the Department of Energy’s Advanced Energy Retrofit Guides for Existing Buildings series. The aim of the guides is to facilitate a rapid escalation in the number of energy efficiency projects in existing buildings and to enhance the quality and depth of those projects. By presenting general project planning guidance as well as financial payback metrics for the most common energy efficiency measures, these guides provide a practical roadmap to effectively planning and implementing performance improvements for existing buildings.

Country Report on Building Energy Codes in China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shui, Bin; Evans, Meredydd; Lin, H.; Jiang, Wei; Liu, Bing; Song, Bo; Somasundaram, Sriram

2009-04-15

This report is part of a series of reports on building energy efficiency codes in countries associated with the Asian Pacific Partnership (APP) - Australia, South Korea, Japan, China, India, and the United States of America (U.S.). This reports gives an overview of the development of building energy codes in China, including national energy policies related to building energy codes, history of building energy codes, recent national projects and activities to promote building energy codes. The report also provides a review of current building energy codes (such as building envelope and HVAC) for commercial and residential buildings in China.

Country Report on Building Energy Codes in Japan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Evans, Meredydd; Shui, Bin; Takagi, T.

2009-04-15

This report is part of a series of reports on building energy efficiency codes in countries associated with the Asian Pacific Partnership (APP) - Australia, South Korea, Japan, China, India, and the United States of America (U.S.). This reports gives an overview of the development of building energy codes in Japan, including national energy policies related to building energy codes, history of building energy codes, recent national projects and activities to promote building energy codes. The report also provides a review of current building energy codes (such as building envelope, HVAC, and lighting) for commercial and residential buildings in Japan.

Country Report on Building Energy Codes in Australia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shui, Bin; Evans, Meredydd; Somasundaram, Sriram

2009-04-02

This report is part of a series of reports on building energy efficiency codes in countries associated with the Asian Pacific Partnership (APP) - Australia, South Korea, Japan, China, India, and the United States of America (U.S.). This reports gives an overview of the development of building energy codes in Australia, including national energy policies related to building energy codes, history of building energy codes, recent national projects and activities to promote building energy codes. The report also provides a review of current building energy codes (such as building envelope, HVAC, and lighting) for commercial and residential buildings in Australia.

Country Report on Building Energy Codes in Canada

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shui, Bin; Evans, Meredydd

2009-04-06

This report is part of a series of reports on building energy efficiency codes in countries associated with the Asian Pacific Partnership (APP) - Australia, South Korea, Japan, China, India, and the United States of America . This reports gives an overview of the development of building energy codes in Canada, including national energy policies related to building energy codes, history of building energy codes, recent national projects and activities to promote building energy codes. The report also provides a review of current building energy codes (such as building envelope, HVAC, lighting, and water heating) for commercial and residential buildings in Canada.

Energy use in office buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1980-10-01

This is the report on Task IB, Familiarization with Additional Data Collection Plans of Annual Survey of BOMA Member and Non-Member Buildings in 20 Cities, of the Energy Use in Office Buildings project. The purpose of the work was to monitor and understand the efforts of the Building Owners and Managers Association International (BOMA) in gathering an energy-use-oriented data base. In order to obtain an improved data base encompassing a broad spectrum of office space and with information suitable for energy analysis in greater detail than is currently available, BOMA undertook a major data-collection effort. Based on a consideration of geographic area, climate, population, and availability of data, BOMA selected twenty cities for data collection. BOMA listed all of the major office space - buildings in excess of 40,000 square feet - in each of the cities. Tax-assessment records, local maps, Chamber of Commerce data, recent industrial-development programs, results of related studies, and local-realtor input were used in an effort to assemble a comprehensive office-building inventory. In order to verify the accuracy and completeness of the building lists, BOMA assembled an Ad-Hoc Review Committee in each city to review the assembled inventory of space. A questionnaire on office-building energy use and building characteristics was developed. In each city BOMA assembled a data collection team operating under the supervision of its regional affiliate to gather the data. For each city a random sample of buildings was selected, and data were gathered. Responses for over 1000 buildings were obtained.

Energy Efficiency Building Code for Commercial Buildings in Sri Lanka

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Busch, John; Greenberg, Steve; Rubinstein, Francis; Denver, Andrea; Rawner, Esther; Franconi, Ellen; Huang, Joe; Neils, Danielle

2000-09-30

1.1.1 To encourage energy efficient design or retrofit of commercial buildings so that they may be constructed, operated, and maintained in a manner that reduces the use of energy without constraining the building function, the comfort, health, or the productivity of the occupants and with appropriate regard for economic considerations. 1.1.2 To provide criterion and minimum standards for energy efficiency in the design or retrofit of commercial buildings and provide methods for determining compliance with them. 1.1.3 To encourage energy efficient designs that exceed these criterion and minimum standards.

Energy Efficiency Building Code for Commercial Buildings in Sri Lanka

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Busch, John; Greenberg, Steve; Rubinstein, Francis; Denver, Andrea; Rawner, Esther; Franconi, Ellen; Huang, Joe; Neils, Danielle

2000-01-01

1.1.1 To encourage energy efficient design or retrofit of commercial buildings so that they may be constructed, operated, and maintained in a manner that reduces the use of energy without constraining the building function, the comfort, health, or the productivity of the occupants and with appropriate regard for economic considerations. 1.1.2 To provide criterion and minimum standards for energy efficiency in the design or retrofit of commercial buildings and provide methods for determining compliance with them. 1.1.3 To encourage energy efficient designs that exceed these criterion and minimum standards

A comprehensive framework to quantify energy savings potential from improved operations of commercial building stocks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Azar, Elie; Menassa, Carol C.

2014-01-01

While studies highlight the significant impact of actions performed by occupants and facility managers on building energy performance, current policies ignore the importance of human actions and the potential energy savings from a more efficient operation of building systems. This is mainly attributed to the lack of methods that evaluate non-technological drivers of energy use for large stocks of commercial buildings to support policy making efforts. Therefore, this study proposes a scientific approach to quantifying the energy savings potential due to improved operations of any stock of commercial buildings. The proposed framework combines energy modeling techniques, studies on human actions in buildings, and surveying and sampling methods. The contributions of this study to energy policy are significant as they reinforce the role of human actions in energy conservation, and support efforts to integrate operation-focused solutions in energy conservation policy frameworks. The framework's capabilities are illustrated in a case study performed on the stock of office buildings in the United States (US). Results indicate a potential 21 percent reduction in the current energy use levels of these buildings through realistic changes in current building operation patterns. - Highlights: • Human actions highly influence energy performance of commercial building stocks. • It is challenging to quantify operation-related energy savings potential. • The proposed framework quantifies potential energy savings from improved operations. • The framework can be applied on any stock of commercial buildings. • Applications include support for operation-focused solutions in energy policies

Dynamic energy performance analysis: Case study for energy efficiency retrofits of hospital buildings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buonomano, Annamaria; Calise, Francesco; Ferruzzi, Gabriele; Palombo, Adolfo

2014-01-01

This paper investigates several actions for the energy refurbishment of some buildings of the University Hospital Federico II of Naples. The analysis focuses on a specific lot of 4 buildings, representative of the whole district hospital. For those structures, sustainable energy savings actions are investigated. They regard the installation of: i) roofs thermal insulation; ii) a substation climatic 3-way valve; iii) radiators thermostatic valves; iv) AHU (air handling unit) time-programmable regulation. This paper aims at presenting an investigation methodology, useful for designers and other stakeholders involved in hospital energy refurbishments, based on an integrated approach which combines dynamic energy performance simulations and experimental campaigns. In order to measure all the simulations' missing input parameters, a suitable experimental analysis, including measurements of temperature, humidity, flow rate and density of construction materials, is performed. A thermographic investigation is also performed for investigating the building envelope performance. This analysis showed that significant savings can be achieved especially by adopting radiators thermostatic valves and AHU regulations. Coherently, the installation of a 3-way valve in the substation does not determine significant additional savings when radiators thermostatic valves are already installed. For high-rise buildings, roofs insulation returns only marginal reductions of space heating and cooling demands. - Highlights: • Energy saving measures applied to the largest hospital of South Italy are analyzed. • A new approach combining dynamic simulations and measurements is implemented. • Thermography, temperature and flow measurements are performed. • High savings are achieved by adopting thermostatic valves and AHU control systems. • The simplest energy saving actions resulted to be the most profitable ones

Building Energy Management Open Source Software

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rahman, Saifur [Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)

2017-08-25

Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy in November 2013, a Building Energy Management Open Source Software (BEMOSS) platform was engineered to improve sensing and control of equipment in small- and medium-sized commercial buildings. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), small- (5,000 square feet or smaller) and medium-sized (between 5,001 to 50,000 square feet) commercial buildings constitute about 95% of all commercial buildings in the U.S. These buildings typically do not have Building Automation Systems (BAS) to monitor and control building operation. While commercial BAS solutions exist, including those from Siemens, Honeywell, Johnsons Controls and many more, they are not cost effective in the context of small- and medium-sized commercial buildings, and typically work with specific controller products from the same company. BEMOSS targets small and medium-sized commercial buildings to address this gap.

Energy options for residential buildings assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rezaie, Behnaz; Dincer, Ibrahim; Esmailzadeh, Ebrahim

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Studying various building energy options. ► Assessing these options from various points. ► Comparing these options for better environment and sustainability. ► Proposing renewable energy options as potential solutions. - Abstract: The building sector, as one of the major energy consumers, demands most of the energy research to assess different energy options from various aspects. In this paper, two similar residential buildings, with either low or high energy consumption patterns, are chosen as case studies. For these case studies, three different renewable energy technology and three different hybrid systems are designed for a specified size. Then, the environmental impact indices, renewable energy indices, and the renewable exergy indices have been estimated for every energy options. Results obtained show that the hybrid systems (without considering the economics factors) are superior and having top indices. The importance of the energy consumption patterns in buildings are proven by the indices. By cutting the energy consumption to about 40% the environment index would increase by more than twice (2.1). Utilization of the non-fossil fuels is one part of the solution to environmental problems while energy conservation being the other. It has been shown that the re-design of the energy consumption model is less complex but more achievable for buildings.

Managing carbon emissions in China through building energy efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jun; Colombier, Michel

2009-06-01

This paper attempts to analyse the role of building energy efficiency (BEE) in China in addressing climate change mitigation. It provides an analysis of the current situation and future prospects for the adoption of BEE technologies in Chinese cities. It outlines the economic and institutional barriers to large-scale deployment of the sustainable, low-carbon, and even carbon-free construction techniques. Based on a comprehensive overview of energy demand characteristics and development trends driven by economic and demographic growth, different policy tools for cost-effective CO(2) emission reduction in the Chinese construction sector are described. We propose a comprehensive approach combining building design and construction, and the urban planning and building material industries, in order to drastically improve BEE during this period of rapid urban development. A coherent institutional framework needs to be established to ensure the implementation of efficiency policies. Regulatory and incentive options should be integrated into the policy portfolios of BEE to minimise the efficiency gap and to realise sizeable carbon emissions cuts in the next decades. We analyse in detail several policies and instruments, and formulate relevant policy proposals fostering low-carbon construction technology in China. Specifically, Our analysis shows that improving building energy efficiency can generate considerable carbon emissions reduction credits with competitive price under the CDM framework.

Integrated building energy systems design considering storage technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stadler, Michael; Marnay, Chris; Lai, Judy; Aki, Hirohisa (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (United States)). e-mail: MStadler@lbl.gov; Siddiqui, Afzal (Dept. of Statistical Science at Univ. College London (United Kingdom))

2009-07-01

The addition of storage technologies such as flow batteries, conventional batteries, and heat storage can improve the economic, as well as environmental attraction of micro-generation systems (e.g. PV or fuel cells with or without CHP) and contribute to enhanced demand response. The interactions among PV, solar thermal, and storage systems can be complex, depending on the tariff structure, load profile, etc. In order to examine the impact of storage technologies on demand response and CO{sub 2} emissions, a microgrid's distributed energy resources (DER) adoption problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear program that can pursue two strategies as its objective function. These two strategies are minimization of its annual energy costs or of its CO{sub 2} emissions. The problem is solved for a given test year at representative customer sites, e.g. nursing homes, to obtain not only the optimal investment portfolio, but also the optimal hourly operating schedules for the selected technologies. This paper focuses on analysis of storage technologies in micro-generation optimization on a building level, with example applications in New York State and California. It shows results from a two-year research project performed for the U.S. Dept. of Energy and ongoing work. Contrary to established expectations, our results indicate that PV and electric storage adoption compete rather than supplement each other considering the tariff structure and costs of electricity supply. The work shows that high electricity tariffs during on-peak hours are a significant driver for the adoption of electric storage technologies. To satisfy the site's objective of minimizing energy costs, the batteries have to be charged by grid power during off-peak hours instead of PV during on-peak hours. In contrast, we also show a CO{sub 2} minimization strategy where the common assumption that batteries can be charged by PV can be fulfilled at extraordinarily high energy costs for the site.

Integrated Building Energy Systems Design Considering Storage Technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stadler, Michael; Marnay, Chris; Siddiqui, Afzal; Lai, Judy; Aki, Hirohisa

2009-01-01

The addition of storage technologies such as flow batteries, conventional batteries, and heat storage can improve the economic, as well as environmental attraction of micro-generation systems (e.g., PV or fuel cells with or without CHP) and contribute to enhanced demand response. The interactions among PV, solar thermal, and storage systems can be complex, depending on the tariff structure, load profile, etc. In order to examine the impact of storage technologies on demand response and CO2 emissions, a microgrid's distributed energy resources (DER) adoption problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear program that can pursue two strategies as its objective function. These two strategies are minimization of its annual energy costs or of its CO2 emissions. The problem is solved for a given test year at representative customer sites, e.g., nursing homes, to obtain not only the optimal investment portfolio, but also the optimal hourly operating schedules for the selected technologies. This paper focuses on analysis of storage technologies in micro-generation optimization on a building level, with example applications in New York State and California. It shows results from a two-year research project performed for the U.S. Department of Energy and ongoing work. Contrary to established expectations, our results indicate that PV and electric storage adoption compete rather than supplement each other considering the tariff structure and costs of electricity supply. The work shows that high electricity tariffs during on-peak hours are a significant driver for the adoption of electric storage technologies. To satisfy the site's objective of minimizing energy costs, the batteries have to be charged by grid power during off-peak hours instead of PV during on-peak hours. In contrast, we also show a CO2 minimization strategy where the common assumption that batteries can be charged by PV can be fulfilled at extraordinarily high energy costs for the site

Modelling piezoelectric energy harvesting potential in an educational building

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Xiaofeng; Strezov, Vladimir

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Energy harvesting potential of commercialized piezoelectric tiles is analyzed. • The parameters which will affect the energy harvesting efficiency are determined. • The potential could cover 0.5% of the total energy usage of the library building. • A simplified evaluation indicator is proposed to test the considered paving area. - Abstract: In this paper, potential application of a commercial piezoelectric energy harvester in a central hub building at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia is examined and discussed. Optimization of the piezoelectric tile deployment is presented according to the frequency of pedestrian mobility and a model is developed where 3.1% of the total floor area with the highest pedestrian mobility is paved with piezoelectric tiles. The modelling results indicate that the total annual energy harvesting potential for the proposed optimized tile pavement model is estimated at 1.1 MW h/year. This potential energy generation may be further increased to 9.9 MW h/year with a possible improvement in piezoelectric energy conversion efficiency integrated into the system. This energy harvesting potential would be sufficient to meet close to 0.5% of the annual energy needs of the building. The study confirms that locating high traffic areas is critical for optimization of the energy harvesting efficiency, as well as the orientation of the tile pavement significantly affects the total amount of the harvested energy. A Density Flow evaluation is recommended in this study to qualitatively evaluate the piezoelectric power harvesting potential of the considered area based on the number of pedestrian crossings per unit time

Overview of rural building energy efficiency in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

He, Bao-jie; Yang, Li; Ye, Miao; Mou, Ben; Zhou, Yanan

2014-01-01

Over the past three decades, people's living standard in China has been greatly improved, accompanied by the rapid increasing building energy consumption. Rural building energy consumption has become one of the most important parts of the total energy consumption in China, which deserves to be paid much attention. It is of vital importance to promote building energy efficiency for the New Socialist Countryside and energy conservation and emission reduction. This paper provides an overview of building energy consumption in the countryside, which figures out the situation and challenges in energy-saving work. The government has worked for years on rural building code system aimed at narrowing the energy gap between urban areas, but it is in the beginning phase. This paper has analyzed the only special issues about rural building energy efficiency and the mandatory standards for urban buildings, which can facilitate the development of rural building energy efficiency. Based on the above analysis, some recommendations regarding the improvement of rural building energy efficiency are given. - Highlights: • Situation of rural energy consumption in China. • Challenges in rural building energy-saving work. • Design standard, special plan and some pilot projects are analyzed. • Effects of existing energy policies for urban buildings. • Some recommendations are given

Sault Tribe Building Efficiency Energy Audits

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Holt, Jeffrey W.

2013-09-26

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians is working to reduce energy consumption and expense in Tribally-owned governmental buildings. The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians will conduct energy audits of nine Tribally-owned governmental buildings in three counties in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to provide a basis for evaluating and selecting the technical and economic viability of energy efficiency improvement options. The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians will follow established Tribal procurement policies and procedures to secure the services of a qualified provider to conduct energy audits of nine designated buildings. The contracted provider will be required to provide a progress schedule to the Tribe prior to commencing the project and submit an updated schedule with their monthly billings. Findings and analysis reports will be required for buildings as completed, and a complete Energy Audit Summary Report will be required to be submitted with the provider?s final billing. Conducting energy audits of the nine governmental buildings will disclose building inefficiencies to prioritize and address, resulting in reduced energy consumption and expense. These savings will allow Tribal resources to be reallocated to direct services, which will benefit Tribal members and families.

Policy Pathways: Energy Performance Certification of Buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-07-01

Improving energy efficiency is one of the most effective measures to address energy security, climate change and economic objectives. The Policy Pathways series can help countries capture this potential by assisting with the implementation of the 25 energy efficiency policy recommendations that were published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in 2008. This policy pathway on energy performance certification of buildings is the second in the series. It aims to provide a 'how-to' guide to policy makers and relevant stakeholders on the essential elements in implementing energy performance certification of buildings programmes. Energy performance certification of buildings is a way to rate the energy efficiency of individual buildings -- whether they be residential, commercial or public. It is a key policy instrument that can assist governments in reducing energy consumption in buildings. This policy pathway showcases experiences from countries around the world to show examples of good practice and delivers a pathway of ten critical steps to implement energy performance certification of buildings programmes.

Energy balance framework for Net Zero Energy buildings

Science.gov (United States)

Approaching a Net Zero Energy (NZE) building goal based on current definitions is flawed for two principal reasons - they only deal with energy quantities required for operations, and they do not establish a threshold, which ensures that buildings are optimized for reduced consum...

Building envelope influence on the annual energy performance in office buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harmati Norbert L.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of the research is to determine the quantitative influence of building envelope on the annual heating and cooling energy demand in office buildings demonstrated on a reference office-tower building located in Novi Sad, Serbia. The investigation intended to find preferable and applicable solutions for energy performance improvement in currently inefficient office buildings. A comparative and evaluative analysis was performed among the heating energy expenses and simulated values from the multi-zone model designed in EnergyPlus engine. The research determines an improved window to wall ratio using dynamic daylight simulation and presents the influence of glazing parameters (U-value, Solar heat gain coefficient - SHGC on the annual energy performance. Findings presented window to wall ratio reduction down to 30% and point out the significance of the SHGC parameter on the overall energy performance of buildings with high internal loads. The calculation of the air-ventilation energy demand according to EN 15251 is included respectively. Results offer effective methods for energy performance improvement in temperate climate conditions.

BUILDING DESIGN INFLUENCE ON THE ENERGY PERFORMANCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moga Ligia

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Energy efficient design is a high priority in the national energy strategy of European countries considering the latest requirements of the European Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings. The residential sector is responsible for a significant quantity of energy consumptions from the total amount of consumptions on a worldwide level. In residential building most of the energy consumptions are given mainly by heating, domestic hot water and lighting. Retrofitting the existing building stock offers great opportunities for reducing global energy consumptions and greenhouse gas emissions. The first part of the paper will address the need of thermal and energy retrofit of existing buildings. The second part will provide an overview on how various variables can influence the energy performance of a building that is placed in all four climatic zones from Romania. The paper is useful for specialist and designers from the construction field in understanding that buildings behave differently from the energy point of view in different climatic regions, even if the building characteristic remain the same.

Zion National Park Visitor Center: Significant Energy Savings Achieved through a Whole-Building Design Process: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Torcellini, P.; Judkoff, R.; Hayter, S.

2002-07-01

The National Park Service (NPS) applied a whole-building design process developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to create a building that performs more than 70% better than a comparable code-compliant building at no additional construction cost. This whole-building design process involves a committed design team, including the energy consultant, in the earliest conceptual design phase and continues through building commissioning. The design team for this project included the architect, engineer, energy consultant, landscape architect, owner, operator, and others who could influence the building design and operation. Extensive whole-building energy and lighting computer simulations were conducted throughout the process, which included the integration of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies into the building. The design team, inspired by natural cooling within the canyon, developed simple solutions to create an extremely energy efficient building. The se strategies included natural ventilation cooling, cooltowers for evaporative cooling without distribution fans, daylighting, massive building materials, Trombe walls and direct solar gains for heating, engineered window overhangs for solar load control, a building automation system to maintain comfort and control the energy-efficient lighting system, and a roof-mounted photovoltaic system to offset building electrical loads and ensure a power supply during the frequent utility grid outages.

BLAST: Building energy simulation in Hong Kong

Science.gov (United States)

Fong, Sai-Keung

1999-11-01

The characteristics of energy use in buildings under local weather conditions were studied and evaluated using the energy simulation program BLAST-3.0. The parameters used in the energy simulation for the study and evaluation include the architectural features, different internal building heat load settings and weather data. In this study, mathematical equations and the associated coefficients useful to the industry were established. A technology for estimating energy use in buildings under local weather conditions was developed by using the results of this study. A weather data file of Typical Meteorological Years (TMY) has been compiled for building energy studies by analyzing and evaluating the weather of Hong Kong from the year 1979 to 1988. The weather data file TMY and the example weather years 1980 and 1988 were used by BLAST-3.0 to evaluate and study the energy use in different buildings. BLAST-3.0 was compared with other building energy simulation and approximation methods: Bin method and Degree Days method. Energy use in rectangular compartments of different volumes varying from 4,000 m3 to 40,000 m3 with different aspect ratios were analyzed. The use of energy in buildings with concrete roofs was compared with those with glass roofs at indoor temperature 21°C, 23°C and 25°C. Correlation relationships among building energy, space volume, monthly mean temperature and solar radiation were derived and investigated. The effects of space volume, monthly mean temperature and solar radiation on building energy were evaluated. The coefficients of the mathematical relationships between space volume and energy use in a building were computed and found satisfactory. The calculated coefficients can be used for quick estimation of energy use in buildings under similar situations. To study energy use in buildings, the cooling load per floor area against room volume was investigated. The case of an air-conditioned single compartment with 5 m ceiling height was

Energy refurbishment of the Italian residential building stock: energy and cost analysis through the application of the building typology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ballarini, Ilaria; Corrado, Vincenzo; Madonna, Francesco; Paduos, Simona; Ravasio, Franco

2017-01-01

The European residential building stock is largely composed of buildings with poor energy performance, therefore basic retrofit actions could lead to significant energy savings. However, energy refurbishment measures should be identified in accurate way, taking into account the technical viability and aiming both to increase the building energy performance and to restrain the costs. The present article investigates the effects of different measures applied to the Italian residential building stock by using the building typology, which consists of 120 building types, representative of six construction ages, four building sizes and five climatic zones. A quasi-steady state model has been used to calculate the energy performance; the economic evaluation has been carried out as specified in the EU cost-optimal comparative methodology (Directive 2010/31/EU). The most effective measures and packages of measures, in terms of energy saving and global cost reduction, are identified and discussed. The results are addressed to important purposes for energy policy, as for instance: (a) to provide political authorities with the most effective energy efficiency measures as to encourage retrofit processes through the allocation of financial incentives, (b) to offer a knowledge-base for developing energy refurbishment scenarios of residential building stocks and forecasting future energy resource demand. - Highlights: • Investigation of energy savings and cost effectiveness of the Italian housing stock refurbishments. • Application of the building typology approach of the IEE-TABULA project. • Knowledge-base for bottom-up models of the building stock energy performance. • Supporting the political authorities to promote effective refurbishment measures.

Low-energy buildings on mainstream market terms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Quitzau, Maj-Britt; Elle, Morten; Hoffmann, Birgitte

2008-01-01

implementation of strict energy performance requirements in mainstream building. The paper describes how the municipality of Egedal experienced a collapse in regulation for low-energy buildings and what struggles it had to take on in order to convince the mainstream building industry and their customers......This paper looks into the challenge of actually implementing energy efficient technologies and concepts in mainstream new build. The aim of the paper is to point out some of the provisos of promoting low-energy buildings on mainstream market terms, emphasising the need to understand forces working...... against implementation of low-energy buildings. The study is based on actor-network theory, emphasising the relations and struggles that form the basis for pushing for low-energy buildings. The paper is based on a case study of the proactive attempt of a Danish municipality to force through an actual...

Energy savings in Danish residential building stock

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tommerup, Henrik M.; Svendsen, Svend

2006-01-01

a short account of the technical energy-saving possibilities that are present in existing dwellings and presents a financial methodology used for assessing energy-saving measures. In order to estimate the total savings potential detailed calculations have been performed in a case with two typical...... buildings representing the residential building stock and based on these calculations an assessment of the energy-saving potential is performed. A profitable savings potential of energy used for space heating of about 80% is identified over 45 years (until 2050) within the residential building stock......A large potential for energy savings exists in the Danish residential building stock due to the fact that 75% of the buildings were constructed before 1979 when the first important demands for energy performance of building were introduced. It is also a fact that many buildings in Denmark face...

Policy Pathways: Modernising Building Energy Codes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-08-01

Buildings are the largest consumers of energy worldwide and will continue to be a source of increasing energy demand in the future. Globally, the sector’s final energy consumption doubled between 1971 and 2010 to reach 2 794 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe), driven primarily by population increase and economic growth. Under current policies, the global energy demand of buildings is projected by the IEA experts to grow by an additional 838 Mtoe by 2035 compared to 2010. The challenges of the projected increase of energy consumption due to the built environment vary by country. In IEA member countries, much of the future buildings stock is already in place, and so the main challenge is to renovate existing buildings stock. In non-IEA countries, more than half of the buildings stock needed by 2050 has yet to be built. The IEA and the UNDP partnered to analyse current practices in the design and implementation of building energy codes. The aim is to consolidate existing efforts and to encourage more attention to the role of the built environment in a low-carbon and climate-resilient world. This joint IEA-UNDP Policy Pathway aims to share lessons learned between IEA member countries and non-IEA countries. The objective is to spread best practices, limit pressures on global energy supply, improve energy security, and contribute to environmental sustainability. Part of the IEA Policy Pathway series, Modernising building energy codes to secure our global energy future sets out key steps in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The Policy Pathway series aims to help policy makers implement the IEA 25 Energy Efficiency Policy Recommendations endorsed by IEA Ministers (2011).

A New Building-Integrated Wind Turbine System Utilizing the Building

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeongsu Park

2015-10-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes an innovative building-integrated wind turbine (BIWT system by directly utilizing the building skin, which is an unused and unavailable area in all conventional BIWT systems. The proposed system has been developed by combining a guide vane that is able to effectively collect the incoming wind and increase its speed and a rotor with an appropriate shape for specific conditions. To this end, several important design issues for the guide vane as well as the rotor were thoroughly investigated and accordingly addressed in this paper. A series of computational fluid dynamics (CFD analyses was performed to determine the optimal configuration of the proposed system. Finally, it is demonstrated from performance evaluation tests that the prototype with the specially designed guide vane and rotor for the proposed BIWT system accelerates the wind speed to a sufficient level and consequently increases the power coefficient significantly. Thus, it was confirmed that the proposed system is a promising environment-friendly energy production system for urban areas.

Energy efficient buildings : a plan for BC : creating a legacy of energy efficient buildings in British Columbia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-10-01

A plan to conserve energy and improve energy efficiency in homes and buildings in British Columbia was presented. Benefits of the plan included savings for consumers throughout BC; an increase in the value of homes and buildings; a return on investment after an average of 5 years; improved comfort and indoor air quality in buildings; creation of equipment manufacturing, building design, development and trades jobs across the province; and reduced environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas (GHG) and smog-creating air emissions. An outline of cost-effective energy efficiency targets was presented to complement ongoing local, provincial and federal programs. A number of market challenges were reviewed, such as the lack of information available to consumers on energy efficiency, the increased initial cost of energy efficient buildings, and the fact that opportunities to reduce energy consumption after construction are limited and expensive. It was suggested that energy consumers are not often aware of the environmental and social costs of over-consumption of energy. Details of existing programs that support energy efficiency were presented, as well as information concerning sales tax exemptions for high efficiency heating equipment and other materials used to conserve energy. Various provincial policies and incentives supporting energy conservation were outlined. Cost-effective targets for energy efficiency for new and existing buildings were presented, as well as details of rebates for homeowners. Capital costs for new construction standards were presented, as well as details of incentives and provincial sales tax exemptions

Life-cycle energy of residential buildings in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, Yuan; Ries, Robert J.; Wang, Yaowu

2013-01-01

In the context of rapid urbanization and new construction in rural China, residential building energy consumption has the potential to increase with the expected increase in demand. A process-based hybrid life-cycle assessment model is used to quantify the life-cycle energy use for both urban and rural residential buildings in China and determine the energy use characteristics of each life cycle phase. An input–output model for the pre-use phases is based on 2007 Chinese economic benchmark data. A process-based life-cycle assessment model for estimating the operation and demolition phases uses historical energy-intensity data. Results show that operation energy in both urban and rural residential buildings is dominant and varies from 75% to 86% of life cycle energy respectively. Gaps in living standards as well as differences in building structure and materials result in a life-cycle energy intensity of urban residential buildings that is 20% higher than that of rural residential buildings. The life-cycle energy of urban residential buildings is most sensitive to the reduction of operational energy intensity excluding heating energy which depends on both the occupants' energy-saving behavior as well as the performance of the building itself. -- Highlights: •We developed a hybrid LCA model to quantify the life-cycle energy for urban and rural residential buildings in China. •Operation energy in urban and rural residential buildings is dominant, varying from 75% to 86% of life cycle energy respectively. •Compared with rural residential buildings, the life-cycle energy intensity of urban residential buildings is 20% higher. •The life-cycle energy of urban residential buildings is most sensitive to the reduction of daily activity energy

Simulation of energy use in buildings with multiple micro generators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karmacharya, S.; Putrus, G.; Underwood, C.P.; Mahkamov, K.; McDonald, S.; Alexakis, A.

2014-01-01

This paper focuses on the detailed modelling of micro combined heat and power (mCHP) modules and their interaction with other renewable micro generators in domestic applications based on an integrated modular modelling approach. The simulation model has been developed using Matlab/Simulink and incorporates a Stirling engine mCHP module embedded in a lumped-parameter domestic energy model, together with contributions from micro wind and photovoltaic modules. The Stirling cycle component model is based on experimental identification of a domestic-scale system which includes start up and shut down characteristics. The integrated model is used to explore the interactions between the various energy supply technologies and results are presented showing the most favourable operating conditions that can be used to inform the design of advanced energy control strategies in building. The integrated model offers an improvement on previous models of this kind in that a fully-dynamic approach is adopted for the equipment and plant enabling fast changing load events such as switching on/off domestic loads and hot water, to be accurately captured at a minimum interval of 1 min. The model is applied to two typical 3- and 4-bedroom UK house types equipped with a mCHP module and two other renewable energy technologies for a whole year. Results of the two cases show that the electrical contribution of a Stirling engine type mCHP heavily depends on the thermal demand of the building and that up to 19% of the locally-generated electricity is exported whilst meeting a similar percentage of the overall annual electricity demand. Results also show that the increased number of switching of mCHP module has an impact on seasonal module efficiency and overall fuel utilisation. The results demonstrate the need for the analysis of equipment design and optimal sizing of thermal and electrical energy storage. -- Highlights: • Dynamic modelling of a building along with its space heating and hot

The Denver Federal Courthouse: Energy-efficiency in a new Federal building

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jacobs, P.C.; Holtz, M.J.; Digert, N.; Starkweather, S.; Porter, F.; Clevenger, C.

1999-07-01

The US Federal Courthouse Expansion in Denver, Colorado is twelve story, 16,112 m{sup 2} project to be constructed adjacent to several existing Courthouse and Federal buildings in downtown Denver. The project has been designated a sustainable design showcase by the General Services Administration, and additional funds were made available to the project for sustainable design features. The design achieves a high level of energy efficiency through a combination of strategies that seek first to reduce building lighting and HVAC loads as low as possible, and then satisfy the remaining, loads through a combination of state-of-the-art, high-efficiency mechanical, electrical, and renewable energy systems. The unique attributes of the Denver climate--sunny skies and low humidity, are utilized throughout the design to minimize energy consumption. The resulting building provides a visible expression of sustainability through the incorporation of a set of features that are designed to work together in an integrated energy-efficient building system. Careful life-cycle assessment of materials and building practices results in minimized use of natural resources as well as a healthier environment for the occupants. The use of local materials is emphasized and the building is designed to have a 100-year life. Issues addressed in material selection include sustainability, recyclability, toxicity, and maintenance. The criteria used to establish the success of the design are contained in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. Although the building is currently entering final design, a LEED gold rating is expected.

Energy consumption of building related energy functions in houses and utility buildings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Arkel, W.G.; Jeeninga, H.; Menkveld, M.; Ruijg, G.J.

1999-11-01

This study investigates the development of the use of electricity and natural gas in houses and buildings until 2010. For the domestic sector it is studied how much energy is used now and will be used in future for heating, for production of hot water, for lighting, for ventilation and for cooling. For different sorts of buildings (shops, hospitals, schools, offices, restaurants) it has been determined how much gas will be used for heating, for hot water production and by humidifiers. It has also been calculated how much electricity will be used for lighting, ventilation, cooling and humidifying. The influence of higher and lower energy prices on the amount of use has been studied. Experts have been asked to give their opinions on trends in the use of buildings and the role of new technologies. The influence of these ideas on the use of energy has been calculated. 44 refs

Requirements of Integrated Design Teams While Evaluating Advanced Energy Retrofit Design Options in Immersive Virtual Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xue Yang

2015-12-01

Full Text Available One of the significant ways to save energy use in buildings is to implement advanced energy retrofits in existing buildings. Improving energy performance of buildings through advanced energy retrofitting requires a clear understanding of the cost and energy implications of design alternatives from various engineering disciplines when different retrofit options are considered. The communication of retrofit design alternatives and their energy implications is essential in the decision-making process, as it affects the final retrofit selections and hence the energy efficiency of the retrofitted buildings. The objective of the research presented here was to identify a generic list of information requirements that are needed to be shared and collectively analyzed by integrated design teams during advanced energy retrofit design review meetings held in immersive settings. While identifying such requirements, the authors used an immersive environment based iterative requirements elicitation approach. The technology was used as a means to better identify the information requirements of integrated design teams to be analyzed as a group. This paper provides findings on information requirements of integrated design teams when evaluating retrofit options in immersive virtual environments. The information requirements were identified through interactions with sixteen experts in design and energy modeling domain, and validated with another group of participants consisting of six design experts who were experienced in integrated design processes. Industry practitioners can use the findings in deciding on what information to share with integrated design team members during design review meetings that utilize immersive virtual environments.

INTEGRATED ENERGY EFFICIENT WINDOW-WALL SYSTEMS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Michael Arney, Ph.D.

2002-12-31

The building industry faces the challenge of reducing energy use while simultaneously improving construction methods and marketability. This paper describes the first phase of a project to address these concerns by designing an Integrated Window Wall System (IWWS) that can be commercialized. This work builds on previous research conducted during the 1990's by Lawrence Berkeley national Laboratories (LBNL). During this phase, the objective was to identify appropriate technologies, problems and issues and develop a number of design concepts. Four design concepts were developed into prototypes and preliminary energy analyses were conducted Three of these concepts (the foam wall, steel wall, and stiffened plate designs) showed particular potential for meeting the project objectives and will be continued into a second phase where one or two of the systems will be brought closer to commercialization.

Simulation of temperature in office with building integrated heating and cooling system

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Weitzmann, Peter

2002-01-01

In this paper a numerical investigation of the thermal indoor environment has been performed for an office with building integrated hydronic heating and cooling system. Today office buildings are designed in such a way, and have such high internal heat loads and solar gains, that some kind...... of cooling is normally necessary for most of the year. Even in as cool climates as in the Nordic countries. The way the cooling is often achieved is through air conditioning. This can in many cases lead to sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms, and furthermore it results in high energy consumption periods...... the temperature of the concrete to a level slightly below the desired room temperature, the concrete will work as an absorber for the excess heat in the office. This can significantly reduce the need for air conditioning, which will give both improved indoor climate and lower energy costs in the building...

Building energy efficiency in different climates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lam, Joseph C.; Wan, Kevin K.W.; Tsang, C.L.; Yang Liu

2008-01-01

Energy simulation was conducted for office buildings in the five major climate zones - severe cold, cold, hot summer and cold winter, mild, and hot summer and warm winter - in China using DOE-2.1E. The primary aim was to investigate the thermal and energy performance of office buildings with centralised heating, ventilation and air conditioning plants in the major climatic zones in China. The computed results were analysed in three aspects - heating load, cooling load and the corresponding building energy consumption. The building peak monthly heating load varied from 142 MW h (1033 MW h cooling) in Hong Kong to 447 MW h (832 MW h cooling) in Harbin. It was also found that passive solar designs could have large energy savings potential in the severe cold and cold climates. In Harbin, the window solar component helped lower the annual building heating load by 650 MW h. Internal loads (lighting and office equipment) and part load operations of fans and pumps also played a significant role in the overall building energy efficiency. This paper presents the work, its findings and energy efficiency implications

Technical Support Document: 50% Energy Savings for Small Office Buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thornton, Brian A.; Wang, Weimin; Huang, Yunzhi; Lane, Michael D.; Liu, Bing

2010-04-30

The Technical Support Document (TSD) for 50% energy savings in small office buildings documents the analysis and results for a recommended package of energy efficiency measures (EEMs) referred to as the advanced EEMs. These are changes to a building design that will reduce energy usage. The package of advanced EEMs achieves a minimum of 50% energy savings and a construction area weighted average energy savings of 56.6% over the ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004 for 16 cities which represent the full range of climate zones in the United States. The 50% goal is for site energy usage reduction. The weighted average is based on data on the building area of construction in the various climate locations. Cost-effectiveness of the EEMs is determined showing an average simple payback of 6.7 years for all 16 climate locations. An alternative set of results is provided which includes a variable air volume HVAC system that achieves at least 50% energy savings in 7 of the 16 climate zones with a construction area weighted average savings of 48.5%. Other packages of EEMs may also achieve 50% energy savings; this report does not consider all alternatives but rather presents at least one way to reach the goal. Design teams using this TSD should follow an integrated design approach and utilize additional analysis to evaluate the specific conditions of a project.

Energy integration: Regional economic integration lever and possible insertion factor in the global economy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lokolo, M.C.

2001-01-01

In the 1920s, just after the War, an idea began taking root in the Old Continent, to build what could be described as the United States of Europe. Thirty years later, in 1951, a new source of energy, coal, paved the way for the economic integration of Europe. It culminated into monetary integration in January 2002. Economic integration makes sense in the context of the relatively small size of some national economies and markets, and the judicious utilization of rare resources and their unequal distribution. In this document, the author elaborated on the principles at play in economic integration and argued that the integration of the national energy markets could be the lever for economic integration through the gradual elimination of the various obstacles to trade. The author first presented a brief historical overview of economic integration from the perspective of global economic relationships, covering the period between the two world wars to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The concept and the forms of economic integration were reviewed. Energy integration as a lever of regional economic integration and as a factor in global economic insertion were discussed. Energy integration is a tool for the improvement of the human condition. 15 refs

Crossflex: Concept and early development of a true building integrated wind turbine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sharpe, Tim [Mackintosh Environmental Architecture Research Unit (MEARU), Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, G3 6RQ, Scotland (United Kingdom); Proven, Gordon [Proven Energy Ltd. Wardhead Park, Stewarton, Ayrshire, KA3 5LH, Scotland (United Kingdom)

2010-12-15

This paper describes the concept development and work to date, of an innovative 'true' building integrated wind turbine. The context for this is the role of small-scale renewable energy in addressing climate change. In the UK a number of small wind turbines have reached the market, however, in almost all cases, these are existing HAWT or VAWT tower mounted systems. Due to their inherent design qualities, and issues such as planning requirements, these have much reduced output due to their form and siting and are unable to take advantage of augmented airflow around buildings. The Crossflex proposal is a radical new development of a Darrieus turbine form. As well as having a technically innovative flexible blade system, it also utilises a lightweight cowling system that can provide both augmented airflow and improved visual integration into new and existing building forms. It is a modular form that can be sited on ridges and corners of buildings to provide useful levels of generation. (author)

Crossflex: Concept and early development of a true building integrated wind turbine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharpe, Tim; Proven, Gordon

2010-01-01

This paper describes the concept development and work to date, of an innovative 'true' building integrated wind turbine. The context for this is the role of small-scale renewable energy in addressing climate change. In the UK a number of small wind turbines have reached the market, however, in almost all cases, these are existing HAWT or VAWT tower mounted systems. Due to their inherent design qualities, and issues such as planning requirements, these have much reduced output due to their form and siting and are unable to take advantage of augmented airflow around buildings. The Crossflex proposal is a radical new development of a Darrieus turbine form. As well as having a technically innovative flexible blade system, it also utilises a lightweight cowling system that can provide both augmented airflow and improved visual integration into new and existing building forms. It is a modular form that can be sited on ridges and corners of buildings to provide useful levels of generation. (author)

Low energy buildings – the basis for realizing the strategy for independency of fossil fuels in 2050

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svendsen, Svend

2011-01-01

The paper introduces how low energy buildings can be developed, designed, optimized, constructed and operated in the future and thereby make a significant contribution to the realization of aim of the energy policy of EU: to become independent of fossil fuels in 2050. The paper describes how low...... energy buildings can become independent of fossil fuels in 2020 based on the following activities. Innovation of building components and systems with improved energy performance. Heating of low energy building with low temperature district heating based on renewable heat. Integrated design...... without use of fossil fuels can be accomplished by the building sector by 2020. The building sector may in the process be transformed from an experience based sector to knowledge and research based sector with high quality sustainable products and very good business....

Energy Signal Tool for Decision Support in Building Energy Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Henze, G. P.; Pavlak, G. S.; Florita, A. R.; Dodier, R. H.; Hirsch, A. I.

2014-12-01

A prototype energy signal tool is demonstrated for operational whole-building and system-level energy use evaluation. The purpose of the tool is to give a summary of building energy use which allows a building operator to quickly distinguish normal and abnormal energy use. Toward that end, energy use status is displayed as a traffic light, which is a visual metaphor for energy use that is either substantially different from expected (red and yellow lights) or approximately the same as expected (green light). Which light to display for a given energy end use is determined by comparing expected to actual energy use. As expected, energy use is necessarily uncertain; we cannot choose the appropriate light with certainty. Instead, the energy signal tool chooses the light by minimizing the expected cost of displaying the wrong light. The expected energy use is represented by a probability distribution. Energy use is modeled by a low-order lumped parameter model. Uncertainty in energy use is quantified by a Monte Carlo exploration of the influence of model parameters on energy use. Distributions over model parameters are updated over time via Bayes' theorem. The simulation study was devised to assess whole-building energy signal accuracy in the presence of uncertainty and faults at the submetered level, which may lead to tradeoffs at the whole-building level that are not detectable without submetering.

Trends in energy use in commercial buildings -- Sixteen years of EIA's commercial buildings energy consumption survey

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Davis, J.; Swenson, A.

1998-07-01

The Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) collects basic statistical information on energy consumption and energy-related characteristics of commercial buildings in the US. The first CBECS was conducted in 1979 and the most recent was completed in 1995. Over that period, the number of commercial bindings and total amount of floorspace increased, total consumption remained flat, and total energy intensity declined. By 1995, there were 4.6 million commercial buildings and 58.8 billion square feet of floorspace. The buildings consumed a total of 5.3 quadrillion Btu (site energy), with a total intensity of 90.5 thousand Btu per square foot per year. Electricity consumption exceeded natural gas consumption (2.6 quadrillion and 1.9 quadrillion Btu, respectively). In 1995, the two major users of energy were space heating (1.7 quadrillion Btu) and lighting (1.2 quadrillion Btu). Over the period 1979 to 1995, natural gas intensity declined from 71.4 thousand to 51.0 thousand Btu per square foot per year. Electricity intensity did not show a similar decline (44.2 thousand Btu per square foot in 1979 and 45.7 thousand Btu per square foot in 1995). Two types of commercial buildings, office buildings and mercantile and service buildings, were the largest consumers of energy in 1995 (2.0 quadrillion Btu, 38% of total consumption). Three building types, health care, food service, and food sales, had significantly higher energy intensities. Buildings constructed since 1970 accounted for half of total consumption and a majority (59%) of total electricity consumption.

Building thermography as a tool in energy audits and building commissioning procedure

Science.gov (United States)

Kauppinen, Timo

2007-04-01

A Building Commissioning-project (ToVa) was launched in Finland in the year 2003. A comprehensive commissioning procedure, including the building process and operation stage was developed in the project. This procedure will confirm the precise documentation of client's goals, definition of planning goals and the performance of the building. It is rather usual, that within 1-2 years after introduction the users complain about the defects or performance malfunctions of the building. Thermography is one important manual tool in verifying the thermal performance of the building envelope. In this paper the results of one pilot building (a school) will be presented. In surveying the condition and energy efficiency of buildings, various auxiliary means are needed. We can compare the consumption data of the target building with other, same type of buildings by benchmarking. Energy audit helps to localize and determine the energy saving potential. The most general and also most effective auxiliary means in monitoring the thermal performance of building envelopes is an infrared camera. In this presentation some examples of the use of thermography in energy audits are presented.

A Building Energy Efficiency Optimization Method by Evaluating the Effective Thermal Zones Occupancy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Franco Cotana

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Building energy efficiency is strongly linked to the operations and control systems, together with the integrated performance of passive and active systems. In new high quality buildings in particular, where these two latter aspects have been already implemented at the design stage, users’ perspective, obtained through post-occupancy assessment, has to be considered to reduce whole energy requirement during service life. This research presents an innovative and low-cost methodology to reduce buildings’ energy requirements through post-occupancy assessment and optimization of energy operations using effective users’ attitudes and requirements as feedback. As a meaningful example, the proposed method is applied to a multipurpose building located in New York City, NY, USA, where real occupancy conditions are assessed. The effectiveness of the method is tested through dynamic simulations using a numerical model of the case study, calibrated through real monitoring data collected on the building. Results show that, for the chosen case study, the method provides optimized building energy operations which allow a reduction of primary energy requirements for HVAC, lighting, room-electricity, and auxiliary supply by about 21%. This paper shows that the proposed strategy represents an effective way to reduce buildings’ energy waste, in particular in those complex and high-efficiency buildings that are not performing as well as expected during the concept-design-commissioning stage, in particular due to the lack of feedback after the building handover.

NET-ZERO ENERGY BUILDING OPERATOR TRAINING PROGRAM (NZEBOT)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brizendine, Anthony; Byars, Nan; Sleiti, Ahmad; Gehrig, Bruce; Lu, Na

2012-12-31

The primary objective of the Net-Zero Energy Building Operator Training Program (NZEBOT) was to develop certificate level training programs for commercial building owners, managers and operators, principally in the areas of energy / sustainability management. The expected outcome of the project was a multi-faceted mechanism for developing the skill-based competency of building operators, owners, architects/engineers, construction professionals, tenants, brokers and other interested groups in energy efficient building technologies and best practices. The training program draws heavily on DOE supported and developed materials available in the existing literature, as well as existing, modified, and newly developed curricula from the Department of Engineering Technology & Construction Management (ETCM) at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC-Charlotte). The project goal is to develop a certificate level training curriculum for commercial energy and sustainability managers and building operators that: 1) Increases the skill-based competency of building professionals in energy efficient building technologies and best practices, and 2) Increases the workforce pool of expertise in energy management and conservation techniques. The curriculum developed in this project can subsequently be used to establish a sustainable energy training program that can contribute to the creation of new “green” job opportunities in North Carolina and throughout the Southeast region, and workforce training that leads to overall reductions in commercial building energy consumption. Three energy training / education programs were developed to achieve the stated goal, namely: 1. Building Energy/Sustainability Management (BESM) Certificate Program for Building Managers and Operators (40 hours); 2. Energy Efficient Building Technologies (EEBT) Certificate Program (16 hours); and 3. Energy Efficent Buildings (EEB) Seminar (4 hours). Training Program 1 incorporates the following

Energy Systems Integration Facility News | Energy Systems Integration

Science.gov (United States)

Facility | NREL Energy Systems Integration Facility News Energy Systems Integration Facility Energy Dataset A massive amount of wind data was recently made accessible online, greatly expanding the Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has completed technology validation testing for Go

Integrating a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle with vehicle-to-grid technology, photovoltaic power and a residential building

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Robledo, C.B.; Oldenbroek, V.D.W.M.; Abbruzzese, F.; van Wijk, A.J.M.

2018-01-01

This paper presents the results of a demonstration project, including building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) solar panels, a residential building and a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) for combined mobility and power generation, aiming to achieve a net zero-energy residential building

Energy Saving Assessment of Semi-Transparent Photovoltaic Modules Integrated into NZEB

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina Cornaro

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Photovoltaic semi-transparent materials (STPV integrated into glazing systems can offer good potential for energy saving to buildings, influencing heating loads, cooling loads, and lighting, as well as electricity production. Moreover, with the new stringent regulations issued by various European countries, following the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD, 2010/31/EC, the building envelope, including the glazing elements, needs to have high thermal performance to guarantee Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB behavior. This work presents an assessment of energy saving potential of 4 different types of STPV with respect to conventional double pane glass. Dye sensitized solar modules (DSM and thin film modules were considered in the study. Simulations based on an IEA reference office building (STD and on reference buildings prescribed by the new Italian building energy performance regulation (NZEB were carried out. All the glazing peculiarities could be simulated using only one simulation tool, namely IDA ICE 4.7.1. Dye sensitized solar modules resulted as the best performing devices for all orientations and climate zones. The work also evidenced how the requirements of NZEB seem to be too stringent for insulation properties, especially for the climate zone of Rome.

The Power of Flexibility: Autonomous Agents That Conserve Energy in Commercial Buildings

Science.gov (United States)

Kwak, Jun-young

Agent-based systems for energy conservation are now a growing area of research in multiagent systems, with applications ranging from energy management and control on the smart grid, to energy conservation in residential buildings, to energy generation and dynamic negotiations in distributed rural communities. Contributing to this area, my thesis presents new agent-based models and algorithms aiming to conserve energy in commercial buildings. More specifically, my thesis provides three sets of algorithmic contributions. First, I provide online predictive scheduling algorithms to handle massive numbers of meeting/event scheduling requests considering flexibility , which is a novel concept for capturing generic user constraints while optimizing the desired objective. Second, I present a novel BM-MDP ( Bounded-parameter Multi-objective Markov Decision Problem) model and robust algorithms for multi-objective optimization under uncertainty both at the planning and execution time. The BM-MDP model and its robust algorithms are useful in (re)scheduling events to achieve energy efficiency in the presence of uncertainty over user's preferences. Third, when multiple users contribute to energy savings, fair division of credit for such savings to incentivize users for their energy saving activities arises as an important question. I appeal to cooperative game theory and specifically to the concept of Shapley value for this fair division. Unfortunately, scaling up this Shapley value computation is a major hindrance in practice. Therefore, I present novel approximation algorithms to efficiently compute the Shapley value based on sampling and partitions and to speed up the characteristic function computation. These new models have not only advanced the state of the art in multiagent algorithms, but have actually been successfully integrated within agents dedicated to energy efficiency: SAVES, TESLA and THINC. SAVES focuses on the day-to-day energy consumption of individuals and

Demand Response Technology Readiness Levels for Energy Management in Blocks of Buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tracey Crosbie

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Fossil fuels deliver most of the flexibility in contemporary electricity systems. The pressing need to reduce CO2 emissions requires new methods to provide this flexibility. Demand response (DR offers consumers a significant role in the delivery of flexibility by reducing or shifting their electricity usage during periods of stress or constraint. Blocks of buildings offer more flexibility in the timing and use of energy than single buildings, however, and a lack of relevant scalable ICT tools hampers DR in blocks of buildings. To ameliorate this problem, a current innovation project called “Demand Response in Blocks of Buildings” (DR-BoB: www.dr-bob.eu has integrated existing technologies into a scalable cloud-based solution for DR in blocks of buildings. The degree to which the DR-BoB energy management solution can increase the ability of any given site to participate in DR is dependent upon its current energy systems, i.e., the energy metering, the telemetry and control technologies in building management systems, and the existence/capacity of local power generation and storage plants. To encourage the owners and managers of blocks of buildings to participate in DR, a method of assessing and validating the technological readiness to participate in DR energy management solutions at any given site is required. This paper describes the DR-BoB energy management solution and outlines what we have called the demand response technology readiness levels (DRTRLs for the implementation of such a solution in blocks of buildings.

Analysis of the Dependence between Energy Demand Indicators in Buildings Based on Variants for Improving Energy Efficiency in a School Building

Science.gov (United States)

Skiba, Marta; Rzeszowska, Natalia

2017-09-01

One of the five far-reaching goals of the European Union is climate change and sustainable energy use. The first step in the implementation of this task is to reduce energy demand in buildings to a minimum by 2021, and in the case of public buildings by 2019. This article analyses the possibility of improving energy efficiency in public buildings, the relationship between particular indicators of the demand for usable energy (UE), final energy (FE) and primary energy (PE) in buildings and the impact of these indicators on the assessment of energy efficiency in public buildings, based on 5 variants of extensive thermal renovation of a school building. The analysis of the abovementioned variants confirms that the thermal renovation of merely the outer envelope of the building is insufficient and requires the use of additional energy sources, for example RES. Moreover, each indicator of energy demand in the building plays a key role in assessing the energy efficiency of the building. For this reason it is important to analyze each of them individually, as well as the dependencies between them.

Building Energy Codes: Policy Overview and Good Practices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cox, Sadie [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2016-02-19

Globally, 32% of total final energy consumption is attributed to the building sector. To reduce energy consumption, energy codes set minimum energy efficiency standards for the building sector. With effective implementation, building energy codes can support energy cost savings and complementary benefits associated with electricity reliability, air quality improvement, greenhouse gas emission reduction, increased comfort, and economic and social development. This policy brief seeks to support building code policymakers and implementers in designing effective building code programs.

Energy efficiency evaluation of hospital building office

Science.gov (United States)

Fitriani, Indah; Sangadji, Senot; Kristiawan, S. A.

2017-01-01

One of the strategy employed in building design is reducing energy consumption while maintaining the best comfort zone in building indoor climate. The first step to improve office buildings energy performance by evaluating its existing energy usage using energy consumption intensity (Intensitas Konsumsi Energi, IKE) index. Energy evaluation of office building for hospital dr. Sayidiman at Kabupaten Magetan has been carried out in the initial investigation. The office building is operated with active cooling (air conditioning, AC) and use limited daylighting which consumes 14.61 kWh/m2/month. This IKE value is attributed into a slightly inefficient category. Further investigation was carried out by modeling and simulating thermal energy load and room lighting in every building zone using of Ecotect from Autodesk. Three scenarios of building energy and lighting retrofit have been performed simulating representing energy efficiency using cross ventilation, room openings, and passive cooling. The results of the numerical simulation indicate that the third scenario by employing additional windows, reflector media and skylight exhibit the best result and in accordance with SNI 03-6575-2001 lighting standard. Total thermal load of the existing building which includes fabric gains, indirect solar gains, direct solar gains, ventilation fans, internal gains, inter-zonal gains and cooling load were 162,145.40 kWh. Based on the three scenarios, the thermal load value (kWh) obtained was lowest achieved scenario 2 with the thermal value of 117,539.08 kWh.The final results are interpreted from the total energy emissions evaluated using the Ecotect software, the heating and cooling demand value and specific design of the windows are important factors to determine the energy efficiency of the buildings.

Energy efficiency evaluation of hospital building office

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fitriani, Indah; Sangadji, Senot; Kristiawan, S.A.

2017-01-01

One of the strategy employed in building design is reducing energy consumption while maintaining the best comfort zone in building indoor climate. The first step to improve office buildings energy performance by evaluating its existing energy usage using energy consumption intensity (Intensitas Konsumsi Energi, IKE) index. Energy evaluation of office building for hospital dr. Sayidiman at Kabupaten Magetan has been carried out in the initial investigation. The office building is operated with active cooling (air conditioning, AC) and use limited daylighting which consumes 14.61 kWh/m2/month. This IKE value is attributed into a slightly inefficient category. Further investigation was carried out by modeling and simulating thermal energy load and room lighting in every building zone using of Ecotect from Autodesk. Three scenarios of building energy and lighting retrofit have been performed simulating representing energy efficiency using cross ventilation, room openings, and passive cooling. The results of the numerical simulation indicate that the third scenario by employing additional windows, reflector media and skylight exhibit the best result and in accordance with SNI 03-6575-2001 lighting standard. Total thermal load of the existing building which includes fabric gains, indirect solar gains, direct solar gains, ventilation fans, internal gains, inter-zonal gains and cooling load were 162,145.40 kWh. Based on the three scenarios, the thermal load value (kWh) obtained was lowest achieved scenario 2 with the thermal value of 117,539.08 kWh.The final results are interpreted from the total energy emissions evaluated using the Ecotect software, the heating and cooling demand value and specific design of the windows are important factors to determine the energy efficiency of the buildings. (paper)

U.S. Department of Energy Commercial Reference Building Models of the National Building Stock

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deru, M.; Field, K.; Studer, D.; Benne, K.; Griffith, B.; Torcellini, P.; Liu, B.; Halverson, M.; Winiarski, D.; Rosenberg, M.; Yazdanian, M.; Huang, J.; Crawley, D.

2011-02-01

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Technologies Program has set the aggressive goal of producing marketable net-zero energy buildings by 2025. This goal will require collaboration between the DOE laboratories and the building industry. We developed standard or reference energy models for the most common commercial buildings to serve as starting points for energy efficiency research. These models represent fairly realistic buildings and typical construction practices. Fifteen commercial building types and one multifamily residential building were determined by consensus between DOE, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and represent approximately two-thirds of the commercial building stock.

Energy Systems Integration News | Energy Systems Integration Facility |

Science.gov (United States)

the Energy Systems Integration Facility as part of NREL's work with SolarCity and the Hawaiian Electric Companies. Photo by Amy Glickson, NREL Welcome to Energy Systems Integration News, NREL's monthly date on the latest energy systems integration (ESI) developments at NREL and worldwide. Have an item

Measures for energy efficiency improvement of buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vukadinović Ana V.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The increase in energy consumption in buildings causes the need to propose energy efficiency improvement measures. Urban planning in accordance with micro location conditions can lead to energy consumption reduction in buildings through the passive solar design. While satisfying the thermal comfort to the user space purpose, energy efficiency can be achieved by optimizing the architectural and construction parameters such as shape of the building, envelope structure and the percentage of glazing. The improvement of the proposed measures, including the use of renewable energy sources, can meet requirements of Directive 2010/31 / EU of 'nearly zero energy buildings'.

Capacity building for sustainable energy development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rogner, Hans-Holger

2006-01-01

Capacity Building for Sustainable Energy Development - Mission: To build capacity in Member States (MS) for comprehensive energy system, economic and environmental analyses to assist in: - making informed policy decisions for sustainable energy development; - assessing the role of nuclear power; - understanding environmental and climate change issues related to energy production and use

Energy conservation in rented buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Klingberg, T.; Broechner, J.; Forsman, J.; Gaunt, L.; Holgersson, M.

1984-08-01

The bulletin is an anthology of nine essays by different authors addressing the issue of energy conservation in buildings, where there exists a landlord/tenant relationship. After an overview of the rental market and the stock of rental buildings different types of rental contracts and energy charges are described.

Multiobjective optimisation of energy systems and building envelope retrofit in a residential community

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Raphael; Mavromatidis, Georgios; Orehounig, Kristina; Carmeliet, Jan

2017-01-01

Highlights: • Simultaneous optimisation of building envelope retrofit and energy systems. • Retrofit and energy systems change interact and should be considered simultaneously. • Case study quantifies cost-GHG emission tradeoffs for different retrofit options. - Abstract: In this paper, a method for a multi-objective and simultaneous optimisation of building energy systems and retrofit is presented. Tailored to be suitable for the diverse range of existing buildings in terms of age, size, and use, it combines dynamic energy demand simulation to explore individual retrofit scenarios with an energy hub optimisation. Implemented as an epsilon-constrained mixed integer linear program (MILP), the optimisation matches envelope retrofit with renewable and high efficiency energy supply technologies such as biomass boilers, heat pumps, photovoltaic and solar thermal panels to minimise life cycle cost and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Due to its multi-objective, integrated assessment of building transformation options and its ability to capture both individual building characteristics and trends within a neighbourhood, this method is aimed to provide developers, neighbourhood and town policy makers with the necessary information to make adequate decisions. Our method is deployed in a case study of typical residential buildings in the Swiss village of Zernez, simulating energy demands in EnergyPlus and solving the optimisation problem with CPLEX. Although common trade-offs in energy system and retrofit choice can be observed, optimisation results suggest that the diversity in building age and size leads to optimal strategies for retrofitting and building system solutions, which are specific to different categories. With this method, GHG emissions of the entire community can be reduced by up to 76% at a cost increase of 3% compared to the current emission levels, if an optimised solution is selected for each building category.

Simulation-based support for integrated design of new low-energy office buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Steffen

. The method uses the energy frame concept to express the constraints of the optimisation problem, which is then solved by minimising the costs of conserving energy in all the individual energy-saving measures. A case example illustrates how the method enables designers to establish a qualified estimate...... a method for making informed decisions in the early stages of building design to fulfil performance requirements with regard to energy consumption and indoor environment. The method is operationalised in a program that utilises a simple simulation program to make performance predictions of user......-defined parameter variations. The program then presents the output in a way that enables designers to make informed decisions. The method and the program reduce the need for design iterations, reducing time consumption and construction costs, to obtain the intended energy performance and indoor environment. Paper...

IEA EBC Annex 67 Energy Flexible Buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marszal, Anna Joanna; Jensen, Søren Østergaard

2016-01-01

know ledge on and demonstration of the Energy Flexibility Buildings can provide for the energy grids as well of to identify critical aspects and possible solutions to manage this Energy Flexibility. The paper discusses the background, the aims and the work plan of IEA (International Energy Agency) EBC......The foreseen large deployment of renewable energy sources may seriously affect the stability of energy grids. It will be necessary to control energy consumption to match instantaneous energy production. The built-in Energy Flexibility in buildings may be utilized for stabilizing the energy grids......, allowing for a larger roll out of renewable technologies. The Energy Flexibility of a building is the ability to manage its energy demand and generation according to local climate conditions, user needs and grid requirements. Energy Flexibility of buildings will thus allow for demand side management...

Building integrated concentrating photovoltaics: A review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chemisana, Daniel

2011-01-01

For building integration, Concentrating Photovoltaic (CPV) systems can offer a host of advantages over conventional flat panel devices, the most notable being: a higher electrical conversion efficiency in the PV cells, better use of space, ease of recycling of constituent materials, and reduced use of toxic products involved in the PV cells' production process. However, the viability of Building-Integrated Concentrating PV (BICPV) systems is dependent on their ability to offer a comparative economic advantage over flat panel photovoltaic technologies whose market prices are decreasing from day to day and which offer other advantages such as ease of replacement of structural elements. A comparative analysis is presented of the main existing CPV systems' suitability for use in buildings, in which the different challenges specific to integration of each system are discussed. The systems are categorized by type of concentration technology and concentration factor. (author)

Handbook of energy use for building construction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stein, R.G.; Stein, C.; Buckley, M.; Green, M.

1980-03-01

The construction industry accounts for over 11.14% of the total energy consumed in the US annually. This represents the equivalent energy value of 1 1/4 billion barrels of oil. Within the construction industry, new building construction accounts for 5.19% of national annual energy consumption. The remaining 5.95% is distributed among new nonbuilding construction (highways, ralroads, dams, bridges, etc.), building maintenance construction, and nonbuilding maintenance construction. The handbook focuses on new building construction; however, some information for the other parts of the construction industry is also included. The handbook provides building designers with information to determine the energy required for buildings construction and evaluates the energy required for alternative materials, assemblies, and methods. The handbook is also applicable to large-scale planning and policy determination in that it provides the means to estimate the energy required to carry out major building programs.

Handbook of energy use for building construction

Science.gov (United States)

Stein, R. G.; Stein, C.; Buckley, M.; Green, M.

1980-03-01

The construction industry accounts for over 11.14% of the total energy consumed in the US annually. This represents the equivalent energy value of 1 1/4 billion barrels of oil. Within the construction industry, new building construction accounts for 5.19% of national annual energy consumption. The remaining 5.95% is distributed among new nonbuilding construction (highways, railroads, dams, bridges, etc.), building maintenance construction, and nonbuilding maintenance construction. Emphasis is given to new building construction; however, some information for the other parts of the construction industry is also included. Building designers are provided with information to determine the energy required for buildings construction and to evaluate the energy required for alternative materials, assemblies, and methods. It is also applicable to large-scale planning and policy determination in that it provides the means to estimate the energy required to carry out major building programs.

Annual performance of building-integrated photovoltaic/water-heating system for warm climate application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chow, T.T.; Chan, A.L.S.; Fong, K.F.; Lin, Z.; He, W.; Ji, J.

2009-01-01

A building-integrated photovoltaic/water-heating (BiPVW) system is able to generate higher energy output per unit collector area than the conventional solar systems. Through computer simulation with energy models developed for this integrative solar system in Hong Kong, the results showed that the photovoltaic/water-heating (PVW) system has economic advantages over the conventional photovoltaic (PV) installation. The system thermal performance under natural water circulation was found better than the pump-circulation mode. For a specific BiPVW system at a vertical wall of a fully air-conditioned building and with collectors equipped with flat-box-type thermal absorber and polycrystalline silicon cells, the year-round thermal and cell conversion efficiencies were found respectively 37.5% and 9.39% under typical Hong Kong weather conditions. The overall heat transmission through the PVW wall is reduced to 38% of the normal building facade. When serving as a water pre-heating system, the economical payback period was estimated around 14 years. This greatly enhances the PV market opportunities. (author)

Zero Energy Building definition–a literature review

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Heiselberg, Per Kvols; Marszal, Anna Joanna

2011-01-01

The worldwide CO2 emission mitigation efforts, the growing energy resource shortage and the fact that buildings are responsible for a large share of the world’s primary energy use drives research towards new building concepts, in particular Zero Energy/Emission Buildings (ZEBs). Unfortunately, th...

Are building users prepared for energy flexible buildings—A large-scale survey in the Netherlands

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Rongling; Dane, Gamze; Finck, Christian

2017-01-01

Building energy flexibility might play a crucial role in demand side management for integrating intermittent renewables into smart grids. The potential of building energy flexibility depends not only on the physical characteristics of a building but also on occupant behaviour in the building. Bui...... incentives such as financial rewards....... never heard of smart grids. However, unfamiliarity with smart grids increased with age, and half of the respondents aged 20–29 years old were aware of the concept. Monetary incentives were identified as the biggest motivating factor for adoption of smart grid technologies. It was also found that people...

Barriers and Potential Solutions for Energy Renovation of Buildings in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Meyer, Niels I; Mathiesen, Brian vad; Hvelplund, Frede

2014-01-01

the supply and demand side for heat, electricity and transport. Implementing such Smart Energy Systems requires integrated strategic energy planning on the national and local level. With the fundamental changes in the energy supply technologies expected during the coming years, it is important to synchronize...... investments in energy conservation measures with investments in the supply side, in order to avoid overinvestment in supply systems and thus to minimize the total costs of the transformation to Smart Energy Systems. This paper highlights some of the most important barriers for renovation of existing buildings...