Alternative Building Designs Research Articles

Whole-building life-cycle analysis with a new GREET® tool: Embodied greenhouse gas emissions and payback period of a LEED-Certified library

Embodied greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of building components and buildings operations need to be quantified to holistically address building sustainability. To evaluate embodied GHG emissions of buildings and to provide insights on building materials and building design decisions toward decarbonization, we have recently created a building life-cycle assessment (LCA) module in the widely used Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies (GREET®) LCA model. We applied the GREET building LCA module to examine embodied GHG impacts and the payback period of a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified public library in Chicago, USA. We developed localized, detailed life-cycle inventories to address individual building materials used in the library. We expanded the LCA system boundary to include the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing system, as well as refrigerant impacts, which are often ignored in previous studies. Results show that the total embodied GHG emissions are approximately 817 metric tons, or approximately 538 kg/m2. Sensitivity analysis highlights the positive role of increasing the use of recycled materials for reducing embodied GHG emissions. Sensitivity analysis on embodied GHG emissions payback periods shows the need to benchmark the embodied and operational carbon performance of buildings for comparison to alternative building designs and sustainability practices. This analysis demonstrates that building LCA models, such as the GREET building LCA module, which addresses embodied and operational GHG emission impacts of whole buildings holistically, could empower building architects, technology developers, manufacturers, and general contractors to address embodied and operational impacts holistically for building sustainability.

Modelling the energy performance of residential buildings using advanced computational frameworks based on RVM, GMDH, ANFIS-BBO and ANFIS-IPSO

Modelling the heating load (HL) and cooling load (CL) is the cornerstone of the designing of energy-efficient buildings, since it determines the heating and cooling equipment requirements needed to retain comfortable indoor air conditions. Advanced and specialised modelling tools for energy-efficient buildings may provide a reliable estimation of the effect of alternative building designs. However, implementing these tools can be a labour-intensive task, very time-consuming and dependent on user experiences. Hence, in this study, four advanced computational frameworks including relevance vector machine (RVM), group method of data handling (GMDH), hybridization of adaptive neuro-fuzzy interface system (ANFIS) and biogeography-based optimisation (BBO), i.e. ANFIS-BBO, and hybridization of ANFIS and improved particle swarm optimisation (IPSO), i.e. ANFIS-IPSO, are proposed as novel approaches to predict the heating load (HL) and cooling load (CL) of residential buildings. Obtained results from the proposed models are compared using several performance parameters. In addition, several visualisation methods including Taylor diagram, regression characteristic curve, a novel method called accuracy matrix and rank analysis are used to demonstrate the model with the best performance. Furthermore, Anderson–Darling’ Normality (A-D) test and Mann–Whitney U’ (M − W) tests are studied as non-parametric statistical test for further investigations of the models. Obtained results indicate the excellent ability of the applied models to map the non-linear relationships between the input and output variables. Result also identified RVM as the best predictive model among four proposed models. Finally, two equations are derived from the RVM model to address the HL and CL of residential buildings.

Reducing the impacts of weather variability on long-term building energy performance by adopting energy-efficient measures and systems: a case study

This case study uses whole-building simulation software to investigate the ability of alternative sets of energy conservation measures to limit the sensitivity in energy use and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) peak electricity demands by residential buildings due to weather variability. Four alternative building designs are considered: a net-zero energy design based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) net-zero energy residential test facility (NZERTF), a comparable, yet less efficient design built according to the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), and two low-energy designs at varying levels of energy-efficiency. The findings from this study reveal which measures best ensure robust annual energy performance and occupant comfort by low- and net-zero energy homes given weather variability, as well as how much resulting energy performances vary across the sets of conservation measures considered in this work.

Developing a method to improve the energy efficiency of modern buildings by using traditional passive concepts of resource efficiency and climate adaptation

Around the world, humans have adapted building forms over the course of centuries to fit external, locally specific parameters such as climate, topography and available building materials. Thus, these structures are generally erected using locally available resources and adapted to fit the regional climate. These concepts were critical in the time before industrialization when neither the building materials, nor the energy and technology necessary for mechanical climate control systems, were available. Even though numerous studies on the concepts of traditional passive climate control exist, the applicability of these concepts in modern buildings is generally not explored. This study addressed this gap in the research by developing a method as a tool to improve the energy efficiency of modern buildings by integrating traditional passive concepts into the planning process. The paper describes an exemplary investigation of traditional residential buildings in the Upper Town of Thessaloniki, which has been the basis for developing the tool. The results of this case study showed that adding traditional concepts to the current legal requirements would improve indoor comfort and thus building energy performance. The tool could also be used for educational purposes to make students of the built environment aware of the great diversity of energy efficient heating, cooling and ventilation methods present in tradi tional buildings. This presents them with the opportunity to practice applying such alternative building designs and make comparisons with the alternatives.

Projections of design implications on energy performance of future cities: A case study from Vienna

Abstract This paper presents the results of a research project involving a new urban development project in the city of Vienna. Given the expected long life-cycle of this project, the developers requested scientifically-based information concerning the projected extent of the microclimatic changes in the development area and their potential ramifications for open urban spaces and the planned buildings’ energy and thermal performance. To address this inquiry, the first stage of the research involved capturing both the current state and future projections of the climatic conditions of the area. As a next step building performance simulation models were used to evaluate alternative building designs (specifically various surface and layout design options and degrees of vegetation) in view of their mitigation effectiveness vis-a-vis climate change projections. The simulated implications of the assumed climate change trend suggest that the future heating loads will be lower, whereas cooling loads will significantly increase. The results help providing qualified estimations of the extent to which certain surface and building design features influence future cooling and heating loads. Furthermore results show the importance of taking microclimatic conditions of the relevant area into account.

Application of a Whole-Building Hygrothermal model in energy, durability, and indoor humidity retrofit design

A building shall be classified as high performance building if it is energy efficient and durable and at the same time provides comfortable and healthy indoor environment for occupants. To achieve this objective, the hygrothermal performance of alternative building designs should be evaluated based on the simultaneous analysis of these three functional requirements rather than separately. In this article, a Whole-Building Hygrothermal model is used for evaluation of various retrofit design parameters that potentially enhance the overall performance of an existing residential house. The retrofit options considered in this study include changes to the reference house’s ventilation rate and operation, windows, insulation level, and various combinations of these options. Energy efficiency, building envelope and moisture management potential, indoor humidity control, and window condensation potentials are considered to be the four performance indicators in searching for a retrofit option that delivers an optimal performance. The hygrothermal simulation results indicate that changing a design parameter to improve one of the design goals may result in less optimal results in the other one or both goals, or even in some cases result in severe negative consequences.

Uncertainty in Estimating the Fire Control Effectiveness of Sprinklers from New Zealand Fire Incident Reports

The current state of fire sprinkler effectiveness information has been found to be a limiting factor when comparing the fire risk for alternative building designs in New Zealand (Determination 2005/109: single means of escape from a high-rise apartment building. Department of Building and Housing, Wellington, 7). Data on the past performance of systems in real fires is one of the best sources of information to estimate future performance, but there has not been a detailed study on sprinkler effectiveness data from fire incidents in New Zealand published since Marryatt’s work (Fire: a century of automatic sprinkler protection-revised. Australian Fire Protection Association, Melbourne, 13), which was last updated in 1986 and included data from Australia. The current research looks at the quality and quantity of data available on sprinkler effectiveness from New Zealand Fire Service (NZFS) incident reports over the period of 2001 to 2010 to evaluate the data’s usefulness for risk-informed building fire safety design. A comparison is made between the number of sprinklers reported activated in the NZFS dataset, Marryatt’s study, guidance from PD 7974-7:2003 (PD 7974-7:2003: the application of fire safety engineering principles to fire safety design of buildings. Probabilistic Risk Assessment, London, 3), and NFPA data (U.S. experience with sprinklers and other automatic fire extinguishing equipment. National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, 12). Proposals to improve the collection and reporting process to increase the informative value of future NZFS data for risk-informed fire safety design are presented.

Making a Sustainability Business Case for Alternative Building Designs Using the LEED Requirements

Abstract Making an evaluation and selection of alternative building designs is a critical issue facing many organizations. The selection of greener building designs is an important aspect of this process. Making the wrong choice can prove to be very costly as organizations try to uncover a design's potential for success from an economic and sustainable perspective. Recently, the issue of green construction and building design has grown in interest. However, the topic of sustainable building design selection remains an area of lesser investigation that has not seen much progress in the field of sustainable building design. The purpose of this article is to help organizations more effectively select and evaluate the relative sustainability of building designs using a multi-criteria decision model, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) that has been applied to many areas of managerial decision making. More specifically, we structure a decision hierarchy for alternative sustainable building design selection ba...

Reconciling theory and practice of life-cycle costing

The notion of Life-Cycle Costing (LCC) is generally recognized as a valuable approach for comparing alternative building designs - enabling operational cost benefits to be evaluated against any initial cost increases. However, a host of practical difficulties conspire to limit its widespread adoption. This limited acceptance is particularly important in green building where many of the benefits of strategic choices can often only be understood and justified when cast in a life-cycle context. This paper identifies some of the critical gaps between the theory (and promise) and practice of Life-Cycle Cost analysis to discover strategies that encourage greater use. Il est généralement admis que la notion de coût du cycle de vie fournit une approche utile pour comparer les différentes stratégies de conception de construction car elle permet d'évaluer les avantages en terme de coût d'exploitation par rapport à toute augmentation du coût initial. Une foule de difficultés pratiques contribue néanmoins à limiter son adoption générale. Cette acceptation restreinte est particulièrement importante pour les bâtiments écologiques car de nombreux avantages des choix stratégiques peuvent uniquement être compris s'ils sont replacés dans un contexte de cycle de vie. Le présent document identifie plusieurs lacunes majeures entre la théorie (et la promesse) et la pratique de l'analyse du coût du cycle de vie, afin de découvrir les stratégies qui favoriseront une utilisation plus large.

Results from a cost-effective, decision-making model for building fire safety and protection

Presented in this paper are results obtained from the application of a cost-effective, decision-making system model that is used to appraise the level of fire safety and protection in office buildings. The effects of fire spread are calculated using two performance parameters; namely the fire-cost expectation and the expected risk to life. Designs in conformity with building code requirements and alternative building designs were considered. Following consideration of various risk assessment procedures, it was decided to adopt a decision criterion which identifies alternative designs that are equivalent (in terms of expected risk to life) to code-specified designs, and which achieve such performance at a lower fire-cost expectation. On the basis of the decision criterion described herein, alternative designs were identified that are shown to be more cost-effective than designs in conformity with building codes. For the selected alternative designs, it was found that whilst both the fire-cost expectation and the capital cost of building construction are significantly lower, a similar level of life safety is maintained for occupants, compared with designs in conformity with building code requirements. The system model can be used as a basis both to make immediate changes to current building code provisions, and for the introduction of a performance-based approach to design. In addition, the model can be used to identify those areas of research which have a major impact on the provision of cost-effective fire safety and protection provisions in buildings, and which accordingly are deserving of further investigation.