scholarly journals On the Built-Environment Quality in Nearly Zero-Energy Renovated Schools: Assessment and Impact of Passive Strategies

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 2799
Author(s):  
Michele Zinzi ◽  
Francesca Pagliaro ◽  
Stefano Agnoli ◽  
Fabio Bisegna ◽  
Domenico Iatauro
Keyword(s):  
School Buildings ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Zero Energy Building ◽  
Passive Strategies ◽  
Naturally Ventilated Buildings ◽  
Protection Devices ◽  
Building Operation ◽  
The Impact

Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) is a crucial issue in school buildings, because of the conditions that pupils and students are exposed to. From this assumption, potentialities of retrofit actions with Nearly Zero-Energy Building (NZEB) targets were analyzed in existing school buildings, focusing on the impact of such measures of IEQ. Numerical analyses in a transient regime for a typical school building were carried out to assess the impacts on the thermal comfort and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). The study took into account several building configurations and three reference cities. The results showed severe overheating risks in retrofitted schools: the operative temperature increased by several degrees with respect to the existing configuration, leading to thermal discomfort for a relevant part of the observation period. Passive techniques, namely external solar protection devices and night ventilative cooling, were applied to assess their mitigation potential. Results showed that the combination of the two solutions restored the pre-retrofit performance. CO2 levels were found to be too high for naturally ventilated buildings, regardless of the building configuration; acceptable levels might be reached only with long opening times of windows, which are unrealistic for real building operation.

scholarly journals Air Enthalpy as an IAQ Indicator in Hot and Humid Environment—Experimental Evaluation

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał Piasecki ◽  
Krystyna Kostyrko ◽  
Małgorzata Fedorczak-Cisak ◽  
Katarzyna Nowak
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Test Chamber ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Zero Energy Building ◽  
Experimental Function ◽  
Experimental Values ◽  
The Impact

The authors studied the impact of indoor air humidity in the range of 60% to 90% on building user perception in the temperature range of 26 to 28 °C. The research thesis was put forward that the impact of humidity on indoor air quality dissatisfaction of building users in a warm and humid indoor environment is greater than that indicated in thermal comfort models. The presented experiment examined the indoor air quality perception of n = 28 subjects in the test chamber of a nearly zero energy building under ten environmental conditions, together with a thermal comfort assessment. The authors developed an experimental relation for predicting building users’ satisfaction based on the Weber–Fechner law, where the predicted percentage of dissatisfied users (PD) is determined by means of air enthalpy (h), PD = f(h). The obtained results confirmed the sated thesis. Additionally, the intersection points of the experimental function and isotherms resulting from the Fanger model are presented, where the thermal comfort assessment starts to indicate lower user dissatisfaction results than experimental values. The authors recommend the experimental equation for humid air enthalpies in the range of 50 to 90 kJ/kg. The indoor air quality assessment based on the enthalpy value is simple and can be used to determine the overall Indoor Environmental Quality index of a building (IEQindex).

scholarly journals Research on a Systematical Design Method for Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 7032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji Li ◽  
Wei Xu ◽  
Ping Cui ◽  
Biao Qiao ◽  
Siyang Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Architectural Design ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Performance Based Design ◽  
Building Industry ◽  
Heat Sources ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Zero Energy Building ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Zero Energy Buildings

As a result of the impact of energy consumption, research on ultra-low energy, nearly zero-energy, and zero energy buildings has been conducted in China. However, the design of the nearly zero-energy building is flexible; the traditional architectural design method is not fully applicable to nearly zero-energy buildings. The paper proposed a performance-based design method based on overall energy consumption and progress for the nearly zero-energy building. The design process of the relevant cases was also analyzed. The factors of cold and heat sources, environment, and renewable energy were combined to make a comprehensive analysis to get the optimal scheme of the nearly zero-energy building in the case. In general, the performance-based design method has a certain guiding significance for the design of nearly zero-energy buildings and certainly promotes the expansion of the nearly zero-energy building industry in China.

A weighting procedure to analyse the Indoor Environmental Quality of a Zero-Energy Building

2020 ◽  
Vol 183 ◽  
pp. 107155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludovico Danza ◽  
Benedetta Barozzi ◽  
Alice Bellazzi ◽  
Lorenzo Belussi ◽  
Anna Devitofrancesco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Zero Energy Building

Architectural Elements with Respect to the Energy Performance of Buildings

2014 ◽  
Vol 1020 ◽  
pp. 561-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rastislav Ingeli ◽  
Katarína Minarovičová ◽  
Miroslav Čekon
Keyword(s):  
Energy Demand ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Architectural Elements ◽  
Zero Energy Building ◽  
Very High Energy ◽  
Building Operation

Buildings account for 40% of the primary energy use and 24%of the generation of green house gases worldwide. Therefore, a reduction of the specific energy demand of buildings and increased use of renewable energy are important measures of climate change mitigation. On the 18th of May 2010 a recast of the EPBD was approved which further clarifies the intention that buildings shall have a low energy demand. The recast of the EPBD specifies that by the end of 2020 all new buildings shall be “nearly zero-energy buildings”. A nearly zero-energy building is defined as a building with a very high energy performance and very simple shape. The current focusing on the energy efficiency of the building operation may lead to uniform cuboid architecture with heavy insulated building envelopes. The paper deals with the influence of energy concept on architectural elements (and their properties as shape, material, colour, texture etc.)

scholarly journals An Assessment of Indoor Environmental Quality in School Buildings in the State of Kuwait

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Jamal Al-Hubail ◽  
Abdul-Salam Al-Temeemi
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Measured Data ◽  
The State ◽  
School Buildings ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Design Engineers ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality ◽  
The State Of Kuwait

In this study, indoor quality and environmental comfort were investigated in secondary school buildings located in the State of Kuwait. Comfort variables such as temperature and relative humidity (thermal comfort), noise (acoustic comfort), illumination (visual comfort), as well as allocated classroom floor area per student (spatial comfort) were measured. Data was collected over a 7-month period on a spot basis during school hours in student-occupied classrooms at 46 selected schools. The measured data was then compared to international guidelines and standards related to indoor environment quality. The data for noise and allocated space were shown to be in the comfort ranges in all the schools. However, 11% of the schools are not adequately illuminated, 33% had temperatures not within the recommended limits, and 22% of the schools had humidity levels either higher or lower than the recommended levels. Also, 9% of the schools had low illumination readings.In addition, during the data monitoring, a survey was conducted by which the student occupants completed a questionnaire so that subjective and objective evaluations could be compared. The findings of the questionnaire displayed significant correlations between the measured data and some ailments and other complaints experienced by the students.Ultimately, the results found in this research will provide a baseline for comparison with future indoor environment quality assessments in buildings. Furthermore, recommendations are suggested in order to improve the environmental quality problems encountered in some of the schools, which may be beneficial for policymakers, facilities managers, and design engineers. 

scholarly journals A multiple linear regression approach to correlate the Indoor Environmental Factors to the global comfort in a Zero-Energy building

2020 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 04002
Author(s):  
Ludovico Danza ◽  
Lorenzo Belussi ◽  
Francesco Salamone
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Indoor Environments ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Zero Energy Building ◽  
Experimental Campaign ◽  
Regression Techniques

The quality of the indoor environment, in terms of thermal, lighting, air and acoustic quality, grouped in the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) concept, plays a key role in occupants’ wellbeing and satisfaction. Only in recent years IEQ has been investigated as a whole. Today, IEQ occupies the same place of energy efficiency in the design of buildings, especially those with high performance level as the Zero-Energy Buildings (ZEB). The research deals with an experimental campaign during the cooling season carried out in a ZEB laboratory that involved 100 participants aimed at evaluating the IEQ and the indoor environments (e.g. thermal and air quality). The test consists in a survey, during which each participant is required to answer a questionnaire about how he feels the indoor environment. The experimental campaign was completed with a monitoring activity aimed at detecting the main environmental variables that can affect the participants’ answers. Collected data were treated with regression techniques to highlight possible relationships between them. The results show how in a building with high levels of energy performances the air quality plays a key role on occupants’ evaluation.

scholarly journals Climate Change Effects on Belgian Households: A Case Study of a Nearly Zero Energy Building

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 5357
Author(s):  
Shady Attia ◽  
Camille Gobin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Thermal Adaptation ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Reference Case ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Zero Energy Building ◽  
The Impact

Overheating in residential building is a challenging problem that causes thermal discomfort, productivity reduction, and health problems. This paper aims to assess the climate change impact on thermal comfort in a Belgian reference case. The case study represents a nearly zero energy building that operates without active cooling during summer. The study quantifies the impact of climate change on overheating risks using three representative concentration pathway (RCP) trajectories for greenhouse gas concentration adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Building performance analysis is carried out using a multizone dynamic simulation program EnergyPlus. The results show that bioclimatic and thermal adaptation strategies, including adaptive thermal comfort models, cannot suppress the effect of global warming. By 2050, zero energy buildings will be vulnerable to overheating.

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