scholarly journals GREEN RESIDENTIAL BUILDING TOOLS AND EFFICIENCY METRICS

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 125-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Kallaos ◽  
Rolf André Bohne

Residential buildings have the function of providing shelter, comfort, and a host of other amenities to their occupants, yet they are responsible for a large share of global negative environmental impacts. Understanding the need to reduce the negative impacts of buildings has led to an increase in both the quantity and popularity of green building rating schemes in recent years. Within most green building schemes, the common goal generally consists of an attempt at increasing aspects of the efficiency of resource use or environmental damage. Impact quantification is often reduced to modeled operational energy consumption, while the actual function is less simple to define or assess quantitatively. In many green building schemes, consideration of function is basically omitted from the assessment, except for the inclusion of a simple proxy metric. The dominant “function” metric that has emerged is floor area, carried over from commercial building assessments. Not only is floor area not a useful proxy for function provided by residential buildings, but placing it in the denominator of an eco-intensity metric results in a perverse ratio of two impacts. All else equal, increasing floor area gives the impression of increased efficiency, while masking the increased embodied and use-phase energy, GHG emissions, and materials use. This paper provides a review and initial inquiry into environmental assessment of residential buildings, addressing the utility of common metrics.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6959
Author(s):  
Najib Rahman Sabory ◽  
Tomonobo Senjyu ◽  
Adina Hashemi Momand ◽  
Hadya Waqfi ◽  
Nilofar Saboor ◽  
...  

Urbanization and technology have proven to be detrimental to the environment. Buildings contribute a significant portion of this damage. This issue motivated governments, builders, engineers, and architects to seek ways to reduce buildings’ environmental footprints. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), is one of the most widely used strategies to ensure energy efficiency and a clean environment in buildings. In Afghanistan, where there are no active regulatory frameworks for energy saving and efficiency for the building sector, it is imperative to promote the transformation of the building industry and practices towards sustainability. In this regard, the role of the residential building sector is of utmost importance due to its major share in the country’s energy consumption and GHG emissions profile. Thus, this study assesses the energy efficiency and environmental impact of existing buildings in Kabul city concerning the LEED rating system. This research suggests practical steps to improve the sustainability of the residential building stock in Kabul city. Robust sets of data on existing residential buildings in Kabul are collected, classified, evaluated, and compared to LEED standards. This research reveals and concludes that most of the existing buildings in Kabul city are in poor conditions and do not meet the minimum requirements to be a candidate for LEED certification. A detailed analysis of the results has led to recommendations on how these buildings could improve to meet the LEED criteria. This is the first study of its kind conducted for Kabul city residential building. Considering the cross-sectoral nature of the building industry, the findings of this study will contribute to many other areas such as water, transportation, ICT, health, energy and the environment.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 154-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Pushkar ◽  
Oleg Verbitsky

Four wall technologies used for residential building in Israel (concrete, lightweight concrete block, autoclaved aerated block, and concrete block) were evaluated for their total environmental damage. The production and construction (P&C) and operational energy (OE) stages were considered. Influences of the climate (the four climate zones of Israel), building type (regular and low-energy), and primary fuel source [natural gas and photovoltaic (PV) for energy production] on the selection of the best wall technology were analyzed. EnergyPlus software was used to evaluate building heating and cooling needs for the OE stage. The ReCiPe method was used for both the P&C and OE stages to evaluate environmental damage via human health, ecosystem quality and resource depletion damage categories. It was determined that both concrete block walls and concrete walls were the best choices when natural gas was used, while the concrete block and autoclaved aerated block walls were the best choices when PV was used. The following two conclusions were reached: wall technologies with high thermal mass are environmentally preferred when natural gas is used, whereas wall technologies with reduced cement quantity are environmentally preferred when PV is used.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
Halija Halija ◽  
Jufri Karim ◽  
Sawaludin Sawaludin

Abstrak: Penataan ruang kawasan pesisir harus dipandang sebagai upaya dalam peningkatan kualitas kawasan fisik dan kesejahteraan masyarakat.Permasalahan dalam penelitian ini, yaitu tidak berfungsinya drainase secara optimal belum terdapatnya sarana mandi, cuci, kakus (MCK) dan kondisi faktor fisik rumah yang masih berstruktur kayu dan semi permanan. Tujuan dari penelitian ini, yaitu: (1) menganalisis kondisi fisik permukiman kawasan pesisir; (2) menganalisis kualitas permukiman kawasan pesisir dan merumuskan strategi pemecahan masalah permukiman kawasan pesisir Kecamatan Marobo Kabupaten Muna. Metode penelitian ini, yaitu: (1) kondisi fisik permukiman diketahui dengan melakukan interpertasi citra satelit Google Earth:(2)kualitas permukimandiketahui denganpendekatan keruangan dengan menggunakan Sistem Informasi Geografi pada aplikasi ArcGIS dengan melakukan teknik analisis scoring. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa: (1)nilai kelayakan bangunan rumah hunian Desa Marobo, yaitu 70% dengan luas lantai >7,2, skor  5 bisa di kategorikan cukup luas, kemudian kelurahan Paroha 50 %, dengan luas lantai >7,2 skor  3,  Kelurahan Wadolau nilai kelayakan bangunan rumah hunian, yaitu 30% dengan luas lantai >7,2 skor  2  dan terakhir Kelurahan Tapi-Tapi nilai kelayakan bangunan rumah hunian, yaitu <10% dengan luas lantai>7,2 skor  1, sehingga bisa di kategorikan cukup kecil/sempit; (2) permukiman penduduk di Pesisir Desa Tapi-Tapi, Desa Wadolau, dan Desa Marobo didominasi oleh rumah nelayan, dengan luas pekarangan dan luas rumah tinggal cukup kecil/sempit.  Kondisi fisik rumah tinggal penduduk di Kecamatan Marobo termasuk kategori semipermanen yang tercermin dari jenis bahan dinding rumah yang mayoritas terbuat dari  papan kayu berkualitas sedang.Kata kunci: kondisi fisik, kualitas permukiman, kawasan pesisirAbstract: Coastal spatial planning must be seen as an effort to improve the quality of physical areas and the welfare of the community. The problem in this study are the drainage does not function optimally, among others there are no facilities for bathing, washing, latrines and the physical condition of the house which is still structured in wood and semi-permanent. The purpose of this study are: (1) to analyze the physical condition of the coastal area settlement in Marobo District Muna Regency; (2) to analyze the quality of coastal area settlements and formulate strategies for solving the problem of coastal area settlements in Marobo District Muna Regency. The research methods are: (1) the physical condition of the settlement is known by interpreting Google Earth satellite imagery; (2) settlement quality is known by spatial approach using Geographic Information Systems with ArcGIS by conducting a scoring analysis technique. The results of this study are: (1)the feasibility value of Marobo Village residential building is 70% with a floor area >7,2 score 5 can be categorized quite broadly, Paroha Village 50%, with a floor area >7,2 score 3 Wadolau Village the feasibility value of residential building is 30% with a floor area >7,2, score 2 and lastly the Tapi-Tapi Village feasibility value of residential buildings is <10% with a floor area >7,2 score 1 so that it can be categorized quite small/narrow; (2) the residential settlements in the Tapi-Tapi Village, Wadolau Village and Marobo Village are dominated by fishermen's houses, with a large yard area and a small/narrow residential area. The physical condition of resident houses in Marobo District belongs to the semi-permanent category, which is reflected in the type of wall material of the house which is mostly made of medium quality wood plasterKeywords: physical condition, quality of settlements, coastal area


Author(s):  
H. Harter ◽  
B. Willenborg ◽  
W. Lang ◽  
T. H. Kolbe

Abstract. Reducing the demand for non-renewable resources and the resulting environmental impact is an objective of sustainable development, to which buildings contribute significantly. In order to realize the goal of reaching a climate-neutral building stock, it must first be analyzed and evaluated in order to develop optimization strategies. The life cycle based consideration and assessment of buildings plays a key role in this process. Approaches and tools already exist for this purpose, but they mainly take the operational energy demand of buildings and not a life cycle based approach into account, especially when assessing technical building services (TBS). Therefore, this paper presents and applies a methodical approach for the life cycle based assessment of the TBS of large residential building stocks, based on semantic 3D city models (CityGML). The methodical approach developed for this purpose describes the procedure for calculating the operational energy demand (already validated) and the heating load of the building, the dimensioning of the TBS components and the calculation of the life cycle assessment. The application of the methodology is illustrated in a case study with over 115,000 residential buildings from Munich, Germany. The study shows that the methodology calculates reliable results and that a significant reduction of the life cycle based energy demand can be achieved by refurbishment measures/scenarios. Nevertheless, the goal of achieving a climate-neutral building stock is a challenge from a life cycle perspective.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen-Yi Sun ◽  
Yin-Guang Chen ◽  
Rong-Jing Wang ◽  
Shih-Chi Lo ◽  
Jyh-Tyng Yau ◽  
...  

The green building certification system of Taiwan, EEWH (Ecology, Energy Saving, Waste Reduction and Health), has been in operation for more than 20 years (since 1999). In order to understand the relationship between green building certification and the construction costs of residential buildings, this study obtained 37 green building-certified residential cases and 36 general residential cases available from public information and conducted a comparative analysis. The results of this study showed that the average construction cost of a green building certification residential building was only 1.58% higher than a general residential building, indicating that green building certification does not require a large increase in costs. However, for residential buildings, achieving a high-grade (gold-grade or diamond-grade) green building certification means an increase of 6.7% to 9.3% in construction costs. This shows that the pursuit of higher levels of green building certification does require higher construction costs. In addition, the results of this study can not only provide important references for the government in making green building policies, but also offer a practical strategy for developers for decision-making.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 6085 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Pálenský ◽  
Antonín Lupíšek

This paper deals with the problem that actual building regulations do not reflect the climate targets set by the Paris Agreement. To address this, a benchmark was developed for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of buildings on the basis of the Emissions Gap Report. We first applied an equal allocation of the GHG emission limit for 2030 among the forecasted population to calculate a virtual personal GHG emission limit. We took a proportion of this personal limit for the purpose of housing and extrapolated it for the whole building based on the number of occupants. We also undertook a case study of an actual multifamily residential building and compared its standard design to the benchmark using a simplified life cycle assessment (LCA) method in line with the national SBToolCZ method. The results showed that the assessed residential house exceeded the emission requirement by a factor of 2.5. Based on the assessment, six sets of saving measures were proposed to reduce the operational and embodied GHG emissions. The saving measures included change in temperature zoning, improvement of the U-values of the building envelope, exchange of construction materials for reduced embodied GHG emissions, exchange of heat source for biomass boiler, introduction of light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, use of mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, addition of vacuum solar collectors, and the addition of photovoltaic (PV) panels. Finally, the variants were compared and their suitability in the Czech conditions was examined.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-143
Author(s):  
James C. Smith

During the past two decades, a “green building movement” has emerged, at first concentrating on the “greening” of government and commercial building. More recently, the focus has turned to the greening of residential buildings. “Green homes” are increasingly popular in the United States and throughout the world. They consume less energy; reduce environmental impacts; and conserve land, water, and other natural resources. Now, thousands of homebuyers are willing to take into account green environmental considerations when making home purchase decisions. They are motivated economically (the prospect of lower utility bills) and altruistically (doing what is good for the environment).


Author(s):  
Atanes Papoyan ◽  
Changhong Zhan ◽  
Xueying Han ◽  
Guanghao Li

Abstract In this article the research is concentrated on defining the possibility and potentials of design to enhance the energy efficiency and refine the climate conditions in the existing residential buildings in Armenia. The digital model of existing residential building is used to calculate the annual energy consumption, by simulation software—Autodesk Green Building Student. The horizontal solar panel systems offered by local market leaders were applied to calculate the annual savings, the required installation area, prices, etc. Consequently, the actual efficiency of energy saving technological process of residential buildings in Armenia is estimated. Based on the applied strategies and obtained fact, some recommendations are made for residential buildings. This article is intended to help and to be stimulus for architects and constructors to consider and include green technologies in their new projects.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 4237
Author(s):  
Rosaliya Kurian ◽  
Kishor Sitaram Kulkarni ◽  
Prasanna Venkatesan Ramani ◽  
Chandan Swaroop Meena ◽  
Ashok Kumar ◽  
...  

In recent years Asian Nations showed concern over the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of their civil infrastructure. This study presents a contextual investigation of a residential apartment complex in the territory of the southern part of India. The LCA is performed through Building Information Modelling (BIM) software embedded with Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) of materials utilized in construction, transportation of materials and operational energy use throughout the building lifecycle. The results of the study illustrate that cement is the material that most contributes to carbon emissions among the other materials looked at in this study. The operational stage contributed the highest amount of carbon emissions. This study emphasizes variation in the LCA results based on the selection of a combination of definite software-database combinations and manual-database computations used. For this, three LCA databases were adopted (GaBi database and ecoinvent databases through One Click LCA software), and the ICE database was used for manual calculations. The ICE database showed realistic value comparing the GaBi and ecoinvent databases. The findings of this study are valuable for the policymakers and practitioners to accomplish optimization of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions over the building life cycle.


2013 ◽  
Vol 291-294 ◽  
pp. 976-979
Author(s):  
Hui Xing Li ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Guo Hui Feng

Green residential building is energy conservation, environmental protection, healthy and comfortable and stress efficiency. Green building respects the local natural and humanities, climate. Adjust measures to local conditions, use local materials, so there is no definite construction patterns and rules. In this paper a green residential buildings from Shenyang, focus on the analysis of the well insulated building envelope, radiant floor heating system with control system, solar hot water system in the building. At the same time, analysis of the energy saving technology can reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions compare with "Residential building energy saving design standards "at Liaoning area. The project gives some experience to other designers in the process of green buildings design and promotes it constructed in the northeastern regions.


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