Abstract
Responsive building envelopes (RBEs) are central to developing sustainability strategies for zero emission/energy buildings (ZEBs). RBEs are a large group of complex technologies and systems, which is why multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods are helpful to navigate sustainability assessments considering various performance indicators. This article first provides a literature review of assessment criteria and key performance indicators for RBEs and an analysis of existing robustness-based MCDM methods. Then, a methodological approach to assess RBE designs in ZEB projects is proposed as an extension of a novel robustness-based MCDM method that normalizes the objective functions according to defined targets and combines them into one comprehensive indicator (MT-KPI), thereby eliminating the need to weight objectives. The proposed methodological approach is finally tested on a case study of a Norwegian ZEB, where five competitive RBE designs (including building integrated photovoltaics, phase change material, and electrochromic windows) and eight occupancy and climate scenarios are investigated considering three main performance areas: energy use, thermal comfort, and load matching. The results in the case study show that with the proposed MCDM approach the different designs have MT-KPI values between 1.4 and 12.8, where a lower value is better. In this specific case, the most robust building RBE alternative was identified as the one with electrochromic windows and a control based on incident solar radiation and indoor air temperature.
Highlights
IntroductionImproving the building sector is central to achieving the sustainability development goals and creating positive environmental, economic, and social impacts [1]
This paper investigates the use of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) for analysing Responsive building envelopes (RBEs) designs in zero emission/energy buildings (ZEBs) projects by addressing the following research questions:
Most publications on performance criteria and key performance indicators (KPIs) for RBE dealt with assessments at material level, whereas studies focusing on building or neighbourhood level performance are limited [23]
Summary
Improving the building sector is central to achieving the sustainability development goals and creating positive environmental, economic, and social impacts [1]. Zeroenergy/emission building (ZEB) continue to be investigated worldwide as a pathway to decrease energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in future buildings, reduce future energy-related costs, and improve indoor comfort [2,3]. The scope of ZEBs was progressively extended from a micro-level of independent single buildings to a meso-level that includes clusters of interconnected buildings and services such as neighbourhoods [4]. The concept of zero- energy/emission neighbourhoods (ZEN). Is increasingly explored as a way to achieve very low to null GHG emissions and energy use during the neighbourhood’s lifetime [5,6,7].
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