scholarly journals LEVERAGING THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY SOLAR DECATHLON DESIGN CHALLENGE AS A FRAMEWORK FOR STUDENT-LED ADAPTIVE REUSE PROJECTS TO ADDRESS CONTEXT-SPECIFIC SUSTAINABLE DESIGN, HOUSING AFFORDABILITY, AND COMMUNITY RESILIENCE

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 201-234
Author(s):  
Tom Collins ◽  
Daniel Overbey

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the context, pedagogical approach, and design outcomes of two net-zero energy residential design projects completed by graduate architecture students as part of a comprehensive design studio course and submitted to the 2018 and 2020 USDOE Race to Zero/Solar Decathlon Design Challenge competition. The competition aims to give students real-word experience designing high-performance buildings by encouraging collaboration, involving community partners, and requiring a high degree of technical design development. Working within the competition parameters, two teams at Ball State University worked with outside partners to identify vacant/abandoned homes as a significant problem for rust-belt Indiana communities, and then focused their design efforts on high-performance retrofits of two blighted homes in Muncie and Indianapolis. Each project will be described in detail and the implications of the 2018 project on the 2020 project will be addressed. This paper will demonstrate that adaptive reuse projects can be used to engage students in context-specific challenges and to meet stringent high-performance design targets and thresholds. (162)

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-270
Author(s):  
Edoarda Corradi Dell’Acqua ◽  
Jaime Marin ◽  
Eric Wright

ABSTRACT This paper describes the design of InterTech, a zero-energy mixed-use student residence hall, developed in 2018 by an interdisciplinary team of Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech) students for the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Design Challenge, formerly known as Race to Zero. The main focus is the team’s integrated and iterative approach, which blended architectural design and engineering concepts and led to achieving the high-performance goal. InterTech aims to provide an innovative housing solution to Illinois Institute of Technology’s graduate students and their families. Located along State Street in between Illinois Tech’s main campus and downtown Chicago, it offers a mix of living options providing both independence and access to the campus and to the city. In addition to the residential program, the project includes a small grocery/cafe connected to an outdoor public plaza, and an underground garage. Energy modeling was introduced in the early design stages. The potential of on-site renewable energy generation defined the project’s target Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of 37 kBtu/sqft. Several passive and active strategies were implemented to reduce the building’s total energy needs and meet the target EUI. The implementation of energy conservation measures led to a 25% reduction of the building’s cooling load and a 33% reduction of the heating load. A design EUI of 28 kBtu/sqft was calculated, validating that this design met and exceeded the zero-energy goal.


Author(s):  
Mona Azarbayjani ◽  
Valentina Cecchi ◽  
Brett Tempest

This paper reviews the development process of a net-zero-energy modular house, called UrbanEden, which was the UNC-Charlotte entry to the 2013 US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition. It reports the collaboration of students and faculty from various colleges and schools at UNC-Charlotte working towards delivering a net-zero energy house for the competition held in October in Irvine California. The study presents the participation of students involved in various phases of schematic design, design development and construction. It also identifies the composition and organization of students through the two-year progress and how it evolved throughout the process. The paper also reviews the curriculum integration in school of Architecture with Engineering. The lessons learned from the process will be discussed.


Author(s):  
Zheng Zeng ◽  
Rick Hurt ◽  
Robert F. Boehm

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has posed the challenge to the homebuilding industry to make available cost-effective net-zero energy homes for all Americans by 2030. University of Nevada Las Vegas’s DesertSol was the 2nd place winner in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2013. This paper identifies the implementation of integrative design during the planning and programming phases of the project, and the ways such practice benefited the team and the contractors. This paper also describes the unique approaches and simulation methods for the whole building design. The team designed a high performance whole building system that dramatically reduced the overall energy loads through careful detailing of the entire building envelope, efficient equipment and lighting, and onsite renewable generation with both solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal systems. Building Information Management (BIM) software was used collaboratively and iteratively among the multi-discipline team throughout the 2 year research, design and build phases. Furthermore, this paper also discusses the optimization of project cost and affordability versus building performance criteria. Each individual system was modeled using specific software or developed codes. NREL’s BEopt was used for identifying the cost-optimal packages for the whole building energy analysis, by inputting discrete parametric options, reflecting realistic construction materials and practices. Data collected during the Solar Decathlon event was a validation that the systems were functional and performed as simulated. Continuing data monitoring of the home at its permanent Las Vegas location will validate the modeled long-term performance of this house.


Author(s):  
Franca Trubiano ◽  

The research question at the center of this paper was initiated in response to my participation in a larger Department of Energy funded project awarded to the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster for Energy Efficient Buildings (GPIC). My particular research initiatives within GPIC are focused on developing a roadmap of use by architects, engineers, builders and building owners for the successful implementation and market adoption of rigorous Integrated Design Practices in the energy efficient retrofit of buildings in a 10 county region of the Mid Atlantic region, that includes the city of Philadelphia and its Navy Yard. A group of computer scientists and building engineers comprise the Integrated Technologies Team, whose “subtask [is to] utilize models, tools, and methods developed by the Design Tools Team for rapid synthesis of systems.” 1 And a sub-group of researchers from the Architecture Department at the University of Pennsylvania is more broadly devising innovative Integrated Design strategies that can be implemented in the process of whole building design of high performance buildings.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 2485-2494
Author(s):  
S. W. Eikevåg ◽  
A. Kvam ◽  
M. K. Bjølseth ◽  
J. F. Erichsen ◽  
M. Steinert

AbstractWhen designing high performance sports equipment for Paralympic athletes, there are many unknowns for the design engineer to consider. The design challenge is an optimisation task per individual athlete. However, modelling this optimisation is difficult due to the many variables. This article presents the design of an experiment for identifying and evaluating various seating positions in Paralympic rowing by using a rowing ergometer with a modified seat. Results indicate that changing seating position has a substantial impact on per-athlete rowing performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 7115
Author(s):  
Chul-Ho Kim ◽  
Min-Kyeong Park ◽  
Won-Hee Kang

The purpose of this study was to provide a guideline for the selection of technologies suitable for ASHRAE international climate zones when designing high-performance buildings. In this study, high-performance technologies were grouped as passive, active, and renewable energy systems. Energy saving technologies comprising 15 cases were categorized into passive, active, and renewable energy systems. EnergyPlus v9.5.0 was used to analyze the contribution of each technology in reducing the primary energy consumption. The energy consumption of each system was analyzed in different climates (Incheon, New Delhi, Minneapolis, Berlin), and the detailed contributions to saving energy were evaluated. Even when the same technology is applied, the energy saving rate differs according to the climatic characteristics. Shading systems are passive systems that are more effective in hot regions. In addition, the variable air volume (VAV) system, combined VAV–energy recovery ventilation (ERV), and combined VAV–underfloor air distribution (UFAD) are active systems that can convert hot and humid outdoor temperatures to create comfortable indoor environments. In cold and cool regions, passive systems that prevent heat loss, such as high-R insulation walls and windows, are effective. Active systems that utilize outdoor air or ventilation include the combined VAV-economizer, the active chilled beam with dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS), and the combined VAV-ERV. For renewable energy systems, the ground source heat pump (GSHP) is more effective. Selecting energy saving technologies that are suitable for the surrounding environment, and selecting design strategies that are appropriate for a given climate, are very important for the design of high-performance buildings globally.


Author(s):  
Francis J Alexander ◽  
James Ang ◽  
Jenna A Bilbrey ◽  
Jan Balewski ◽  
Tiernan Casey ◽  
...  

Rapid growth in data, computational methods, and computing power is driving a remarkable revolution in what variously is termed machine learning (ML), statistical learning, computational learning, and artificial intelligence. In addition to highly visible successes in machine-based natural language translation, playing the game Go, and self-driving cars, these new technologies also have profound implications for computational and experimental science and engineering, as well as for the exascale computing systems that the Department of Energy (DOE) is developing to support those disciplines. Not only do these learning technologies open up exciting opportunities for scientific discovery on exascale systems, they also appear poised to have important implications for the design and use of exascale computers themselves, including high-performance computing (HPC) for ML and ML for HPC. The overarching goal of the ExaLearn co-design project is to provide exascale ML software for use by Exascale Computing Project (ECP) applications, other ECP co-design centers, and DOE experimental facilities and leadership class computing facilities.


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