Abstract
Buildings demand a significant amount of energy during their life cycles, hence, effective design measures need to be adopted to ensure efficient energy usage and management in buildings. This study proposes a framework based on various performance parameters to enable decision-makers utilizing standard procedures and software to empower the process of sustainable energy use and management in buildings, through a parametric analysis in different climatic conditions. Experimental design is adopted within the framework via the use of various performance parameters related to the building design (i.e., construction materials for exterior walls and roofs, as well as a set of window-to-wall ratios). Results indicate that climate data plays a fundamental role in the choice of design factors that are best suited for effective energy consumption in buildings. In particular, sub-type climate classifications, as opposed to the primary climate group, have a minor influence. Around 15% improvement in the energy consumption in buildings is noticed due to changes to the design factor such as the window-to-wall ratio. Insights that can be gleaned from this study include the impact of space area, exterior openings and material thickness and choice for the envelope of the building in all climate classifications, aiding in the design of low-energy buildings.
Highlights
The construction industry consumes significant energy and natural resource levels and is commonly known as “the industry of the 40%” [1], due to the fact that buildings produce nearly 40% of overallCO2 emissions, 40% of overall waste generation and consume 40% of overall natural resources over their entire lifespans [2]
The Energy Use Intensity (EUI) is evaluated, taking into consideration the building components that comprise the envelop of buildings, relevant measures including the window-to-wall ratio and of the energy consumed for heating, cooling, lighting and equipment purposes
Mild Temperate Climates, which is covering more than 15% of the surface area, is subdivided into Humid subtropical climate (Cfa), Temperate oceanic climate (Cfb), Subpolar oceanic climate into Humid subtropical climate (Cfa), Temperate oceanic climate (Cfb), Subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc), Monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Cwa), Subtropical highland climate (Cfc), Monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Cwa), Subtropical highland climate (Cwb), Cold subtropical highland climate (Cwc), Hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa), (Cwb), Cold subtropical highland climate (Cwc), Hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa), Warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Csb) and Cool-summer Mediterranean climate (Csc)
Summary
The construction industry consumes significant energy and natural resource levels and is commonly known as “the industry of the 40%” [1], due to the fact that buildings produce nearly 40% of overallCO2 emissions, 40% of overall waste generation and consume 40% of overall natural resources over their entire lifespans [2]. The construction industry consumes significant energy and natural resource levels and is commonly known as “the industry of the 40%” [1], due to the fact that buildings produce nearly 40% of overall. BIM offers the opportunity to save time that is consumed by designers, engineers and architects to account for all building geometry and the necessary information to complete an energy analysis [11,12]. In the BIM approach, the modelling is multidimensional It incorporates all required design information over the entire life span of construction projects. Adopted forfor thethe designing process of creating graphical and BIM isisthe themost mostfamiliar familiardimension dimension adopted designing process of creating graphical non-graphical information that is that shared in a common data environment [17].
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