Energy Efficiency Measures In Buildings Research Articles

Critical Analysis of Institutional and Regulatory Framework for Building Stock Energy Efficiency and Transition in Pakistan

Climate change has emerged as a global focal point, notably affecting vulnerable countries like Pakistan. The country faces heightened risk, prompting concern among many due to its susceptibility to climate-related hazards. An imperative challenge arising from this phenomenon is the necessary shift towards sustainable energy, particularly concerning energy consumption within the building sector. Buildings significantly contribute to daily energy usage and subsequent GHG emissions. In Pakistan, transitioning to energy-efficient building stock holds pivotal importance in mitigating climate change impacts. This hinges on establishing a robust institutional framework and regulatory structure centered around energy efficiency. While Pakistan possesses policies and national guidelines advocating for energy-efficient buildings, their practical enforcement and application remain inadequate. The inception of the Building Energy Code of Pakistan in 1990, based on ASHRAE 90.1 standards, marked a step forward. However, obstacles rooted in institutional weakness and limited capacity building have impeded its effective adoption and adherence. Although the Energy Provisions of 2011 introduced modifications, their scope remained confined mainly to commercial structures. This paper conducts an extensive assessment of Pakistan's existing institutional and regulatory framework for building energy efficiency and transition. Drawing on literature insights and stakeholder perspectives, an in-depth understanding of prevailing policies and institutions uncovers underlying reasons for non-compliance and limited implementation. Additionally, input was gathered from stakeholders through interviews, aiming to identify barriers obstructing the reinforcement of building energy efficiency measures in Pakistan. Discourse and narrative analysis, informed by literature and stakeholder interviews, revealed the significance of awareness, participation, coordination, capacity building, technical expertise, finance, and resources as key factors contributing to deficient compliance and implementation of existing codes and policy guidelines. This paper also proposes actionable recommendations to expedite the transition towards a sustainable, energy-efficient building stock in Pakistan.

Feasibility and performance analysis of a net-zero energy residential building in tropical climates: A case of Congo-Brazzaville

Current building techniques in developing countries have become extremely critical. The net-zero energy concept has emerged as an essential strategy for minimising energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. However, its implementation, particularly in developing countries, remains a critical challenge. The purpose of this work is to assess the feasibility of achieving a net-zero energy building by combining energy-efficient design practices and renewable energy systems under the climatic conditions of the Republic of Congo. To achieve the stipulated objectives, DesignBuilder software was utilised for building modelling, energy load assessment and multiobjective optimisation of building energy efficiency measures, and the multicriteria energy optimisation was carried out using the HOMER tool. The optimisation results showed that the implementation of energy efficiency measures resulted in 39.15% energy savings, 43.45% thermal load savings and 55.68% discomfort hours reduction. Furthermore, the renewable energy system can provide 100% of the building’s energy load and a total savings of 3341.84 kgCO2eq/year. The system’s levelised cost of energy was estimated at 0.256 $/kWh, with a net present cost of $20,231, while the overall life cycle cost was calculated at 188.91 $/m2.

Evaluating the capabilities of a simplification algorithm for Urban Building Energy Modeling in performing building-level Multi-Objective Optimizations at district scale

Since Urban Building Energy Modeling and Multi-Objective Optimization require large computational resources, both could benefit of simplification techniques able also to make them more affordable to professionals. In this work, the capabilities of a simplification algorithm for urban scale application are assessed in the context of the optimization of energy efficiency measures for buildings. A group of buildings from different districts were selected along with a set of energy efficiency measures and four objectives, such as heating and cooling needs, thermal comfort, and costs. The performance of the simplification was assessed by using precision, recall and F1-score as metrics to check whether the simplified models could obtain the same optimal solutions as the detailed ones. Overall, the simplification produced adequate results with an F1-score greater than 0.8 for 85 % of the cases considered in all climates, allowing the simulation time to be reduced up to 15.7 times.

Calculating the optimum window-to-wall ratio according to daylight factor and thermal performance in Mediterranean climate

Energy is a significant part of socio-economic development of modern societies. Increasing fossil fuel consumption is almost the main source of energy throughout the world. Thus, it is essential to search for more sustainable alternatives or a method to decrease this huge amount of usage. On the other hand, the building industry is known as one of the biggest energy consumers. Among building energy efficiency measures, openings are playing a key role in declining energy consumption, especially in the hot summers of Cyprus. Therefore, this study carries out a field measurement of various opening sizes in the case study in order to make a satisfactory situation both from energy efficiency and visual comfort considerations. Meanwhile, a studio in a faculty of architecture, Famagusta, North Cyprus, has been selected as an experimental examination to show the effectiveness of the method. In order to analyze its energy performance, the calculation simplified method is chosen. Outcomes are intended to illustrate the benefits of the calculation method and to authorize opening size comparisons to display the differences in energy conservation measures inherent in the various compliance methods allowable by the regulations. Finally, the results obviously display that by decreasing the window-to-wall ratio, the heat loss significantly reduces. But, by considering the daylight factor (DF) in the standard defined range and applying 750lux as an essential lighting requirement for the studio, finding the minimum WWR seems more meaningful. Therefore, according to the mentioned criteria in this special case, an optimum amount of WWR can be considered in the range of 10 to 20%, which gives architects some flexibility to apply in their designs.

Profile of Hard-to-Reach Energy Consumers: Definitions, Needs and Barriers

According to the European Union, household energy consumption accounts for up to 30% of total energy consumption. Therefore, the household sector has great potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The introduction of energy efficiency measures and the renovation of multi-apartment buildings are important solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving climate neutrality in Latvia. However, this potential is not being fully exploited because the renovation process in the multi-apartment building sector is extremely slow. One of the reasons for this is the lack of interest and willingness of residents to engage and agree on the implementation of energy efficiency measures in buildings. The study examines the main groups of energy consumers, their definitions, needs, as well as the most common obstacles and barriers that prevent energy consumers from fully engaging in the implementation of energy efficiency measures. To get an idea of the groups, publicly available information on the characteristics of hard-to-reach consumers was analysed, media content was analysed and interviews with energy experts were conducted. The results showed that the literature mentions different definitions, audience characteristics, barriers, and needs of hard-to-reach energy consumers. These definitions, barriers, and needs vary across countries and research contexts. There is a strong focus on overcoming barriers, but little research on the needs of the groups. Defining the audience accurately and studying the needs of the groups in depth are essential steps in developing and implementing appropriate policies for engaging hard-to-reach energy consumers. These findings highlight an important knowledge gap in this research field.

Hygrothermal Impacts of Building Energy Efficiency Measures: The Role of Evolving Building Energy Codes

Hygrothermal Impacts of Building Energy Efficiency Measures: The Role of Evolving Building Energy Codes

Application of McKinsey Curve in Building Emission Reduction Technology

In order to promote the application of McKinsey energy reduction cost curves in buildings, This paper introduces the concept of McKinsey abatement cost curves, the current application status of building abatement measures and abatement cost data, makes an analysis for the economic characteristics of different energy efficiency measures in retrofit projects, and presents the retrofit measures, annual energy savings and investment costs used in retrofit programs by taking the example of energy efficiency retrofits in office and commercial buildings in the past 2 years, discloses the data changes in abatement costs for some energysaving retrofit technologies contrastingly, and suggests that dates should be iterated based on McKinsey abatement cost curves. The McKinsey abatement cost ctuve is usefill for guiding the selection of building energy efficiency measures. The curve is economical and visualized compatibly and is a good reference for making abatement decisions through timely updating the data of retrofit technologies and influencing factors.

What we talk about when we talk about EEMs: using text mining and topic modeling to understand building energy efficiency measures (1836-RP)

Energy Efficiency Measures (EEMs) play a central role throughout the building energy efficiency industry, and lists of EEMs therefore exist in a variety of resources. However, each of these use different conventions for describing and organizing measures, which presents a major challenge for aggregating information across these resources. The goal of this study is to discover trends in how existing resources describe and organize EEMs using topic modeling and other text mining methods. A unique dataset of 3,490 EEMs from 16 different documents was compiled and analyzed using frequency analysis, part of speech tagging, and topic modeling. The results showed three major trends. First, a typical EEM contains six words and is phrased in verb-noun format, although these characteristics varied widely. Second, there are words and bigrams commonly used across many EEMs, and these include action words, specific building components, broader building systems, and descriptor terms. Third, there are thematic similarities between the EEM lists, which in some cases highlight the ways in which these lists are derived from one another. These findings provide insight into the nature of EEMs and can be used as the basis for developing a standardized system for organizing and describing EEMs.

Urban heat mitigation through improved building energy efficiency

Buildings play a significant role in indoor and outdoor exposure to heat in urban areas. In this study, we quantify the heat mitigation potential of typical building energy efficiency measures that are often not considered as urban heat mitigation strategies, such as added insulation. We combined whole-building energy and urban climate simulations to compare indoor and outdoor (pedestrian-level) heat exposure with different levels of energy efficiency and under different climate timeframes in a soon-to-be-built public housing project in Phoenix, AZ. We found that improved energy efficiency reduces indoor and outdoor exposure to heat while climate change increases both. Considering the 2018 version of the energy code as the baseline, the mitigating impact of upgrading energy efficiency on indoor exposure to heat (as defined by% of year Tindoor > Tcooling setpoint +1 °C) exceeded the increase caused by climate change. Our estimates show a 6.6% increase caused by climate change vs. 20.7% reduction due to improved efficiency. Furthermore, our results indicate that energy upgrades may also have an impact on outdoor heat exposure (as defined by% of year with Toutdoor> 40 °C) due to reduced heat emitted from the buildings and their HVAC systems. We found a 2% increase in exposure caused by climate change vs. 1.4% reduction due to by improved efficiency. This suggest that upgrading energy efficiency of buildings may at least partially offset the impact of climate change on outdoor exposure to heat in the modelled urban canyon.

Analysis of Algerian energy efficiency measures in buildings for achieving sustainable development goals

The building sector is among the most energy consumer with 42 %, it absorbs 44% of the total final energy consumption, the major part of housing, which currently exceeds eight (8) million homes, are "obsolete" in terms of energy efficiency, As a result, energy demand for residential buildings are of a very high level, Unfortunately Algeria faces to major energy challenges, his dependence of fossil resources oil and gas price drop, and the increases of the consumption. The needs of the building sector will be multiplied by 2.7 while the tertiary sector will increase its power consumption by 3.2 ,an increase of 40% relative to current consumption, The policy of energy efficiency in Algeria was concretized by adoption of the new renewable energy program and energy efficiency by 2030, program Eco-bat, the aim is reducing the high consumption in this sector, a new version of thermal regulation for buildings 2016 to introduce a minimum requirement for new buildings, to optimize their heating and cooling needs while improving the high quality of comfort, launching a labelling certificate for equipment’s, the building sector represents an energy saving potential of 38%,there are a lot of options to improve efficiency in building , focus to use of renewable energy in heating, cooling and electricity, improvement to the building envelope ,including materials ,natural ventilations and delighting, As a result, this indicates the urgent need to adopt a policy and strategy to reduce the excessive use of energy in buildings. In the light of the current global challenge of energy which calls for the development of sustainable economies, this paper analyses the approach efficiency policy in the Algerian building, and suggest improvement to reduce the gap between the policy of government and the real situation.

Optimal strategies for a cost-effective and reliable 100% renewable electric grid

This paper explores cost-optimal pathways to 100% renewable power systems for the U.S. building stock. We show that long-duration misalignments of supply and demand, spanning from multi-day to seasonal timescales, present a dominant challenge that must be addressed to meet real-time 100% renewable targets. While long-duration misalignments can be addressed through energy storage, we show that alternative and readily available solutions that are more cost-effective should be considered first. Through a techno-economic analysis, we identify cost-optimal, region-dependent, supply-side, and demand-side strategies that reduce, and in some U.S. regions eliminate, the otherwise substantial capacities and associated costs of long-duration energy storage. Investigated supply-side strategies include optimal mixes of renewable portfolios and oversized generation capacities. Considered demand-side strategies include building load flexibility and building energy efficiency investments. Our results reveal that building energy efficiency measures can reduce long-duration storage requirements at minimum total investment costs. In addition, oversizing and diversifying renewable generation can play a critical role in reducing storage requirements, remaining cost effective even when accounting for curtailed generation. We identify regionally dependent storage cost targets and show that for emerging long-duration energy storage innovations to achieve broad adoption, their costs will need to compete with the decreasing cost of renewables. The findings of this research are particularly important given that most long-duration storage technologies are currently either uneconomical, geologically constrained, or still underdeveloped.

A Hybrid Simulation Model to Predict the Cooling Energy Consumption for Residential Housing in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, buildings consume 90% of the electricity generated and over 60% of the city’s carbon emissions are attributable to generating power for buildings. In 2018, Hong Kong residential sector consumed 41,965 TJ (26%) of total electricity generated, with private housing accounting for 52% and public housing taking in 26%, making them the two major contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, air conditioning was the major source consuming 38% of the electricity generated for the residential building segment. Strategizing building energy efficiency measures to reduce the cooling energy consumption of the residential building sector can thus have far-reaching benefits. This study proposes a hybrid simulation strategy that integrates artificial intelligence techniques with a building energy simulation tool (EnergyPlus™) to predict the annual cooling energy consumption of residential buildings in Hong Kong. The proposed method predicts long-term thermal energy demand (annual cooling energy consumption) based on short-term (hourly) simulated data. The hybrid simulation model can analyze the impacts of building materials, construction solutions, and indoor–outdoor temperature variations on the cooling energy consumed in apartments. The results indicate that using low thermal conductivity building materials for windows and external walls can reduce the annual cooling energy consumption by 8.19%, and decreasing the window-to-wall ratio from 80% to 40% can give annual cooling energy savings of up to 18%. Moreover, significant net annual cooling energy savings of 13.65% can be achieved by changing the indoor set-point temperature from 24 °C to 26 °C. The proposed model will serve as a reference for building energy efficiency practitioners to identify key relationships between building physical characteristics and operational strategies to minimize cooling energy demand at a minimal time in comparison to traditional energy estimation methods.

Оптимізація вибору заходів з підвищення енергетичної ефективності будівель та споруд на основі техноценологічного підходу

Оптимізація вибору заходів з підвищення енергетичної ефективності будівель та споруд на основі техноценологічного підходу

Building Envelope Thermal Defects in Existing and Under-Construction Housing in the UAE; Infrared Thermography Diagnosis and Qualitative Impacts Analysis

The built environment accounts for the highest share of energy use and carbon emissions, particularly in emerging economies, caused by population growth and fast urbanization. This phenomenon is further exacerbated under extreme climatic conditions such as those of the United Arab Emirates, the context of this study, where the highest energy share is consumed in buildings, mostly used in the residential sector for cooling purposes. Despite efforts to curb energy consumption through building energy efficiency measures in new construction, substantial existing building stock and construction quality are left out. Construction defects, particularly in the building envelope, are recognized to affect its thermal integrity. This paper aims, first, to detect through thermography field investigation audit construction defects bearing thermal impacts in existing and under-construction residential buildings. Then, through a qualitative analysis, we identify the resulting energy, cost, and health impacts of the identified defects. Results indicate that lack or discontinuity of insulation, thermal bridging through building elements, blockwork defects, and design change discrepancies are the recurrent building and construction defects. The qualitative review analysis indicates substantial energy loss due to lack of insulation, thermal bridging with cost and health implications, while beneficial mitigation measures include consideration of building envelope retrofitting, skilled workmanship, and the call for quality management procedures during construction.

Review on Solar Space Heating - Cooling in Libyan Residential Buildings

This review paper focuses on documenting and studying published papers and works in the field of solar heating and cooling air space in residential buildings. The goal of this survey and documentation is to find out the most important flashing results and conclusions specifically in fields of using solar energy for space heating, cooling and ventilation of local residential buildings in Libya. This covers using active and passive solar systems in, achieving thermal human comfort in such buildings leading to reduce electrical energy consumption. This paper also concentrates on applying energy efficiency measures in buildings; planning, design, and construction stages with the use of the principles of energy conservation in buildings. There are several studies comparing traditional with modern house designs in several local cities including both famous old cities of “Ghadames” and “Gharyan”. Several conclusions and recommendations are summarized within the text of this paper.

Economic viability of building energy efficiency measures: a review on the discount rate

How does the issue of the discount rate intersect the research on building energy efficiency and the topics into which it has branched? This contribution tries to answer the previous question through a comprehensive review of related studies. Those studies usually rely on two alternative assumptions. The first refers, explicitly or implicitly, to the notion of cost of capital and, hence, to the position of private stakeholders involved in the decision processes focusing on the adoption of energy-efficient measures in buildings. The second assumption relates to the notion of the social discount rate, which is meant to pursue intergenerational equity and environmental sustainability. As far as the results are concerned, the literature agrees that the discount rate is among the key parameters—possibly the most prominent—affecting the evaluation. However, despite the crucial role it plays, its calculation seldom relies on acknowledged methods and models. Furthermore, data sources sometimes lack consistency and accuracy. Some guidance and suggestions are provided as to the improvement of the discount rate estimation.

Effects of Building Energy Efficiency Measures on Air Quality at the Neighborhood Level in Athens, Greece

The high concentration of pollutant sources, complex topography, and regional meteorology are all factors that may contribute to air episodes in dense urban areas. Energy use in buildings is a significant source of pollution in the Greater Athens Area (GAA), Greece, where over 90% of the existing building stock has been classified below energy class B. The present study focuses on the potential effects that a realistic level of building energy efficiency upgrades will have on the air quality over the GAA. Results are expected to be relevant to similar urban areas. Furthermore, the study of primary pollutants’ dispersion is applied at a 1.2 × 1.2 km spatial resolution, providing significant local (neighborhood) level information. Numerical simulations were performed using EPA’s CALPUFF modeling system with wind field input from an independent numerical weather prediction using NCAR’s Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. In order to calculate emission rates from major roads, highways, shipping ports, residential heating installations, and major industrial facilities, data were taken from National and European statistics, demographics, and local topography. After validation, the modeling system was used to examine three building energy efficiency upgrade scenarios, implemented on 20% of the buildings. Ground level concentrations of SO2, NOx, CO, and PM10 were calculated and reductions of up to 9% were found for GAA maximum values but up to 18% for local values that were also close to or above the European safety thresholds.

Adoption of energy efficiency measures in the buildings of micro-, small- and medium-sized Portuguese enterprises

This paper seeks to analyse the adoption of Energy Efficiency Measures in non-residential buildings. Based on the concepts of agency theory and absorptive capacity, the propensity of Micro-, Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises in Portugal to adopt energy efficiency in lighting, insulation, and the replacement and operation of heating, was evaluated. To achieve this, an online survey was carried out, and the resultant data was treated using Probit models. The main findings suggest that absorptive capacity factors are a key reason for adopting more efficient and profitable technologies. Policymakers should provide assistance and information to the managers of these enterprises regarding the benefits of energy efficiency measures. Additionally, this paper shows that subsidiary enterprises are more likely to adopt energy efficiency measures. Although subsidiaries suffer pressures due to agency theory factors, they may also benefit from knowledge transfers from their parent enterprises. Most of the decisions and barriers considered by enterprises are not based on audits or the advice of energy management professionals, since more than 65% of the respondents have never performed an energy audit, and over 82% do not have an energy manager.

Modelling city-scale transient district heat demand by combining physical and data-driven approach

A city-scale hourly heat demand model for district heating (DH) is proposed by combining a physical and data-driven approach. The physical heat demand model is based on lumped building parameters of the city determined from easily available data. It enables to investigate the effects from activity, structural, and technology changes on heat demand, e.g. building energy efficiency improvements or climate change induced temperature changes. The RMSQ error was <19% and energy-weighted error <2% for two city cases. The model was applied to Helsinki (60°N) showing 415 GWh year-to-year changes in DH per 1 °C of yearly average ambient temperature change. The year 2050 district heat demand of Helsinki was estimated considering population growth, climate change, and building energy efficiency improvements. Activity-driven factors would increase the heat demand by 17% in 2050 from 2018 in spite of a warmer climate. Through building energy efficiency measures, this increasing trend could be reverted resulting in a 15–19% decrease in the DH demand by 2050, mostly during the peak load. The model enables to analyze changes in temporal demand, which could be useful for integration of renewable energy in cities and communities or for estimating the peak demand often with highest emissions.

Influence of Passive Design Parameters on Thermal Comfort of an Office Space in a Building in Delhi

Abstract Energy efficiency measures in buildings, along with maintaining indoor thermal comfort, are increasingly drawing attention. The most widely accepted indices, Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and ...