Abstract
Sustainable buildings tend to maximize power and information rather than efficiency. The multidimensional concepts and tools provided by systems ecology and thermodynamics aid the understanding of building performance and sustainability as part of the global and complex thermodynamic phenomena in living systems—energy is not concentrated, but it flows, increasing the flow rate of useful energy. From such an extended macroscopic perspective, this paper addresses holistic eco-systemic criteria of building performance evaluation, focusing on emergy (spelled with an "m") and information—the two critical indices of extensive and intensive analysis. Emergy aggregates the utmost and upstream energetic impacts, whereas information evaluates the structural pattern of the energy-flow distribution. These indices are theoretically correlated under the principles of ecological energy transformation and are often practically compatible. To clarify the definitions and appropriate scientific contexts of the new indices for environmental building studies, we review information theory, ecological theorems, and a few pioneering studies. Emergy and information have a great potential for advanced environmental building analysis, but building-scale implementation of emergy, information, and system principles remains a scientific challenge. The findings call for further research into the improvement of building-specific emergy/information data and reliable evidence of the analogy between building and open living systems.
Highlights
In most building studies and practices, saving energy and increasing efficiency form the foundational goals of designing, analyzing, and constructing sustainable buildings [1–3]
Current building performance metrics, such as the quantity of utility use or the ratio of energy efficiency measured within a limited site boundary, do not sufficiently indicate the holistic impact of building energy work
We reviewed ecological metrics of emergy and information for building applications, by revisiting system principles of energy and performance indices derived from ecosystems theories
Summary
In most building studies and practices, saving energy and increasing efficiency form the foundational goals of designing, analyzing, and constructing sustainable buildings [1–3]. In terms of building performance indication, such narrowed energy-oriented observations on the operational balance and efficiency are rooted in the first law of thermodynamics (FLT) and its limited use within the small physical boundaries of a building Under this principle, buildings are assumed to be stand-alone consumers of mass-produced energy and material, even though building processes rarely occur in isolation [4]. In current building practice, involving large-scale constituents is a rather delicate task because it calls for a different understanding of building sustainability, including the ecological rationale behind building sustainability and the extension of the energy principles to symbiotic building work and their ecological reasoning For substantiating this new approach, we have to consider that living things and designed environments share an identical energetic nature, in that “energy disperses and material flows” [4], as described in the principles of thermodynamics. As Braham [9,13] states, environmental building sustainability and performance are coherently and universally indicated with phenomenological accounts based on the causality of empirical systemic events in the bio-spherical context of building energies
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
