Design of the Building Envelope: A Novel Multi-Objective Approach for the Optimization of Energy Performance and Thermal Comfort

Fabrizio Ascione,Rosa De Masi,Nicola Bianco,Gerardo Mauro,Giuseppe Vanoli

doi:10.3390/su70810809

Fabrizio Ascione, Rosa De Masi + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su70810809

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Abstract

According to the increasing worldwide attention to energy and the environmental performance of the building sector, building energy demand should be minimized by considering all energy uses. In this regard, the development of building components characterized by proper values of thermal transmittance, thermal capacity, and radiative properties is a key strategy to reduce the annual energy need for the microclimatic control. However, the design of the thermal characteristics of the building envelope is an arduous task, especially in temperate climates where the energy demands for space heating and cooling are balanced. This study presents a novel methodology for optimizing the thermo-physical properties of the building envelope and its coatings, in terms of thermal resistance, capacity, and radiative characteristics of exposed surfaces. A multi-objective approach is adopted in order to optimize energy performance and thermal comfort. The optimization problem is solved by means of a Genetic Algorithm implemented in MATLAB®, which is coupled with EnergyPlus for performing dynamic energy simulations. For demonstration, the methodology is applied to a residential building for two different Mediterranean climates: Naples and Istanbul. The results show that for Naples, because of the higher incidence of cooling demand, cool external coatings imply significant energy savings, whereas the insulation of walls should be high but not excessive (no more than 13–14 cm). The importance of high-reflective coating is clear also in colder Mediterranean climates, like Istanbul, although the optimal thicknesses of thermal insulation are higher (around 16–18 cm). In both climates, the thermal envelope should have a significant mass, obtainable by adopting dense and/or thick masonry layers. Globally, a careful design of the thermal envelope is always necessary in order to achieve high-efficiency buildings.

Highlights

The recent European Directives—in matters of rational use of energy for a low carbon future and a sustainable development—aim at a building sector characterized, in the years, by high-energy performance concerning both new and renovated constructions.Starting from the first version of the EPBD 2002/91/EC (Energy Performance of Building Directive [1]), for the first time in history, all EU Member States tried to define a common journey for reducing the energy and environmental impact of the building sector
In order to provide a comprehensive set of procedures and calculation methods, together with the emanation of the EPBD, the CEN (European Committee for Standardization) was called to provide a wide set of suitable standards, harmonized according to the prescriptions of the so-called umbrella document [2]
The selection of EnergyPlus is due to its authoritativeness and to the possibility of defining building energy models by means of text-based inputs and outputs. This allows the coupling with MATLAB®, in which a Genetic Algorithm (GA) is implemented in order to solve the optimization problem

Summary

Introduction

The recent European Directives—in matters of rational use of energy for a low carbon future and a sustainable development—aim at a building sector characterized, in the years, by high-energy performance concerning both new and renovated constructions. Starting from the first version of the EPBD 2002/91/EC (Energy Performance of Building Directive [1]), for the first time in history, all EU Member States tried to define a common journey for reducing the energy and environmental impact of the building sector. It has six floors above the ground, each one with four apartments This typology is quite common in all European countries where, starting from the reconstruction following the end of the Second World War, a large use of reinforced concrete has characterized the new texture of the cities. A further investigation could consider the same optimization in a dense urban context, and by evaluating the role played by the presence of surrounding buildings (inter-building effect) and urban vegetation

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