Energy Conservation In Residential Buildings Research Articles

Paper: Modeling and scenario analysis of residential building energy conservation in cities of different weather

Building models are used to predict energy consumption and CO2 emissions under current and future conditions and serve as a basis for building design. The most important energy saving potentials in buildings can be achieved by improving the thermal performance of building and the efficiency of the district heating system. This study investigated energy savings in buildings in cold and hot regions of China and Africa and developed a modeling approach for energy savings in heating and cooling of residential buildings. We have provided an overview of long-term scenarios for energy demand and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Using the industry-renowned software RETScreen, parameter simulations and optimizations are performed over the three time periods (currently 2030 and 2050). As a result, it was found that energy consumption has also increased and the comfort level of high-rise houses is about 10–21% higher than that of cold regions. The comfortable temperature range in these different cities is between 20°C and 29°C. We have showed the difference between the observed values and the model simulations (model bias) for HDD and CDD in cold and hot regions of China and Africa. This model represents spatial patterns and scales observed in Harbin, Shenzhen and South Africa. These features are characterized by an increased north-south gradient in eastern China, a topographically dependent distribution in western China and an associated increase in average temperature. The most commonly used types of heating in residential areas are heat pumps (31%) and district heating (21%). This is also the preferred case for condensing boilers (17%). In non-residential areas, heat pumps (32%), district heating (27%) and condensing boilers (11%) are the most commonly used heating systems. The total energy demand in Africa and China will be increased from 2020 to 2050. It is expected that the total demand for primary energy in China will be 8770 Mtoe in 2050, which corresponds to an increase in demand for primary energy of 1.9%, while Africa will see an increase of 2.7%. Final energy consumption in China and Africa will be 5776 Mtoe and 970 Mtoe respectively.

Optimisation method of residential building energy conservation in hot summer and cold winter areas: particle swarm optimisation

Optimisation method of residential building energy conservation in hot summer and cold winter areas: particle swarm optimisation

The Potential of Green Engineering Solutions for Energy Conservation in Residential Buildings Towards Sustainability: A Case Study of Saudi Arabia

Developing countries in hot climate regions such as Saudi Arabia have witnessed rapid population growth, which has led to greater resource consumption as a result of the increased demand for new buildings. This research proposes a multi-objective evaluation of the potential green engineering solutions to conserve energy using a building within the ROSHN housing project, which is one of the mega projects in Saudi Arabia, as a case study for this paper with the aid of simulation software, taking into consideration the context of the sustainability concept. The results showed that traditional passive architectural design, whether courtyards or Mashrabiya, had the nearly greatest influence, with percentages ranging from −4% to −5.15% for varied parameters and designs compared to the base case energy usage. Furthermore, energy efficiency solutions for the building envelope’s external insulation and finish system (EIFS) enabled a drop in the U-value that lowered energy usage to −5.40%. However, the wall insulation thickness beyond 300 mm in this system has no substantial influence on energy savings. This research’s most clear finding is that a P2P system for PV panels on a district scale can supply enough energy to meet its needs after implementing the optimal strategy of the other proposed solutions.

Residential Building Energy Conservation in Mediterranean Climate Zone by Integrating Passive Solar and Energy Efficiency Design Strategies

Residential buildings have a list of functions, and one of the top priories is the thermal comfort of its occupants. Thermal comfort can be one of the measurements of successful building performance, and it can be addressed in various ways to provide a good quality indoor climate. The way to address the need for thermal comfort determines the consumption and conservation of energy. Adapting passive strategies and thermal mass to a building can reduce energy consumption significantly. Applying these strategies to a building does not need additional investment from the initial capital, and renovating a building to implement the strategy will cut the energy usage of a building and save the additional financing of new technology for heating and cooling, ventilation, and so on. In this study, two residential buildings located in North Cyprus with the same geographical location, climate zone, and different construction materials were studied. The study aimed to make a technical test to reduce energy consumption and improve energy conservation in the building by applying passive solar and energy efficiency design strategies (PSEEDS). The thermal mass has been used and discussed as an improbable energy technique alongside other insulation materials and shading devices. The article discusses and compares the energy consumption and thermal comfort of traditional Mediterranean houses with contemporary houses. The study uses 2D drawings, 3D modeling, and energy simulation programs to evaluate energy consumption in both real and assumed scenarios. The study finds that traditional Mediterranean homes, with their thick walls and built-in shading mechanisms, require less energy for heating and cooling than contemporary houses. The implementation of passive solar energy efficient design strategies (PSEEDS) significantly reduces energy consumption in both types of houses, but traditional Mediterranean houses still show more efficiency due to their higher thermal mass. The research demonstrates that improving windows, examining the orientation of the structure, altering shade devices, and decreasing infiltration rates can reduce overall energy consumption by up to 34.71% To sum up, in this study, PSEEDS, the performance of thermal mass, and pre-design measures significantly decrease energy consumption. In addition, implementing passive strategies during a renovation of a building also compensates for the investment and lifecycle cost of new technologies and energy usage.

Energy Conservation of Residential Buildings in Extreme Climates with Phase Change Material-Aluminum Radiation Reflector Cool Roof

ABSTRACT In arid locations, global warming raises the indoor air temperature and energy utilization of residential and commercial buildings. Developing effective passive cooling solutions is critical for lowering room air temperatures and improving building energy consumption. The phase change materials (PCMs) based thermal energy storage (TES) roofing systems have received more attention in recent years due to their ability to decrease the energy consumption of the buildings. The PCMs were used in different ways, such as encapsulated PCM systems, free cooling applications, air-conditioning systems, and sorption cooling systems. The results of various studies have revealed that a decrease in indoor air temperature of approximately 1–3°C was obtained. Integration of PCMs with other cooling techniques may further improve the building cooling effects. The current study attempts to improve the cooling effect by integrating a PCM with a double-skin aluminium radiation reflector (ARR) in the summer seasons of an arid region like the Sultanate of Oman. Field investigations indicated that the double skin PCM-ARR cool roof room had a substantial drop in room air and roof surface temperatures than a standard bare concrete roof. The experimental investigation revealed that the room air, interior, and exterior roof surface temperatures of the double skin PCM-ARR roof model were reduced by 3.63°C (9.08%), 12.68°C (30.1%), and 16.92°C (37.3%) than the reference roof model, respectively. The corresponding average reduction in the heat flux was 18 W/m2. The presence of dynamic air between PCM and ARR resulted in the roof’s superior thermal resistance (convective heat flux). The experimental research has shown that during the summer seasons, the double skin roof PCM-ARR substantially lowers temperatures of interior air and roof surface of buildings.

Energy conservation in residential buildings by incorporating Passive Solar and Energy Efficiency Design Strategies and higher thermal mass

In this study, two types of a detached residential house with two floors and four bedrooms in Sydney were analysed using a building energy simulation program. Several scenarios were built based on various parameters, such as Passive Solar and Energy Efficiency Design Strategies (PSEEDS) and different external walls and floor systems, to determine their influence on the total energy required to achieve thermal comfort in the house. This study shows that the total energy required for heating during winter is reduced by 37% and 36% using Passive Solar and Energy Efficiency Design Strategies for constructing standard fibro and brick veneer houses, respectively. On the other hand, increasing the thermal mass (building materials with higher R values) through utilizing different walls and flooring system, by replacing fibro house with brick veneer house and applying the PSEEDS, total energy requirement could be reduced by up to 58%. Thus incorporating PSEEDS and higher thermal mass in the construction of residential buildings can yield significant savings in energy costs over the considered lifetime of 50 years period. Energy consumptions obtained through simulation were verified with the real data and found to be within the tolerance limit of 16%.

Clustering and statistical analyses of air-conditioning intensity and use patterns in residential buildings

Energy conservation in residential buildings has gained increased attention due to its large portion of global energy use and potential of energy savings. Occupant behavior has been recognized as a key factor influencing the energy use and load diversity in buildings, therefore more realistic and accurate air-conditioning (AC) operating schedules are imperative for load estimation in equipment design and operation optimization. With the development of sensor technology, it became easier to access an increasing amount of heating/cooling data from thermal energy metering systems in residential buildings, which provides another possible way to understand building energy usage and occupant behaviors. However, except for cooling energy consumption benchmarking, there currently lacks effective and easy approaches to analyze AC usage and provide actionable insights for occupants. To fill this gap, this study proposes clustering analysis to identify AC use patterns of residential buildings, and develops new key performance indicators (KPIs) and data analytics to explore the AC operation characteristics using the long-term metered cooling energy use data, which is of great importance for inhabitants to understand their thermal energy use and save energy cost through adjustment of their AC use behavior. We demonstrate the proposed approaches in a residential district comprising 300 apartments, located in Zhengzhou, China. Main outcomes include: Representative AC use patterns are developed for three room types of residential buildings in the cold climate zone of China, which can be used as more realistic AC schedules to improve accuracy of energy simulation; Distributions of KPIs on household cooling energy usage are established, which can be used for household AC use intensity benchmarking and performance diagnoses.

Tunable infrared radiation properties of hybrid films co-assembled with semiconductor quantum chips and exfoliated ultra-thin LDH nanosheets

The controllability of glass surface radiation is of great significance on regulating temperature for applications in energy conservation in residential buildings. In this work, nano-scale hybrid films with tunable surface radiation are successfully prepared via layer-by-layer assembly of exfoliated layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets with In2O3 quantum chips covering the surface of glass substrates. In this hybrid system, the ultra-thin LDH nanosheets are exfoliated from hexagonal plate-like particles of Mg-Al-NO3- LDH nanosheets after anion-exchange of Mg-Al-CO32- LDH nanosheets. And In2O3 semiconductor quantum chips are obtained after an annealing treatment from In(OH)3 nanosheets which are prepared in sodium oleate/indium chloride hydrothermal system. The prepared LDH nanosheets and In2O3 quantum chips are assembled layer-by-layer onto glass substrates to form the multilayer films. Morphological and structural evolution of the hybrid films is investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV–vis absorption spectra. The characterization results show that the hybrid films exhibit ordered tunable structures, which predicts that the infrared emissivity can be adjusted throughout the infrared spectrum. The surface radiation properties of the hybrid films are studied, and the results show that the number of the layers has a significance influence on the surface radiation properties of the films. Attractively, the hybrid films possess thickness-dependent surface radiation properties with the lowest infrared emissivity of 0.420. The nano-scale hybrid films obtained in this work show great tunability on infrared emission and illustrate to be good candidates for saving energy in the field of energy conservation buildings and smart windows.

EVALUATING THE PERFORMANCE OF ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS FOR ENERGY CONSERVATION IN SALMIYA AND FARWANIYA AREAS, KUWAIT

The study aims to evaluate the performance of architectural design for energy conservation of residential buildings in Salmiya and Farwaniya areas due to the importance of energy and decrease of oil production, by time. Residential dwellings in Salmiya (coastal area) and Farwaniya (internal area) were considered a study case. Previous studies about energy conservation in residential buildings by architectural methods were reviewed. The study was carried out in two slected areas usingc Climate Consultant program was implemented to provide climatic variables of both areas. These variables were introduced to Ecotect program. All architectural design methods were collectively and separately applied, where the performance of architectural design was evaluated in terms of rationalizing energy. The architectural design methods that achieved the highest rate of rationalization were signposted. These methods were collectively applied to the residential buildings in both areas. The Results reveald that integrating three architectural methods, collectively (i.e. nocturnal ventilation, natural ventilation and cooling by direct evaporation) achieved the best performance of architectural design for energy conservation in both regions with 96% and 98%, (i.e. relative to integrating the 6 architectural design methods collectively), for Salmiya and Farwaniya regions, respectively. The study recommended that the integration of the three methods collectively is efficient, in terms of Engineering practice and economy. As for future research, the study recommended proposing innovative methods and testing them to choose the best performing method.

A survey on energy consumption and energy usage behavior of households and residential building in urban China

Building performance, equipment efficiency, and occupant behavior play important roles in China urban residential building energy conservation. An online survey was conducted in 2015 to study the urban residential energy and usage behavior. A total of 4964 Chinese urban households participated in the survey, answering questions about their family composition, buildings, energy use and conservation behaviors, and reactions to specific energy conservation policies. The results suggest that the general trend in Chinese urban households is larger unit sizes (on average, 109m2 per household) and smaller families. The average electricity consumption of urban residential buildings is 1690kWh per year per household in 2015 and it continues to grow as home electronics become more widespread and the demand for higher quality of life increases. China urban residential buildings energy use has the following characteristics: steady growth in size and energy consumption of the buildings associated with rapid urbanization, decentralized and individual equipment with diversified energy usage behavior, and relatively low energy consumption level compared to other countries. In addition to the current energy efficiency programs, China should focus on energy consumption and intensities target of building sector, and the key for urban residential building energy efficiency is to retain traditional behaviors and lifestyles, as well as promoting outcome-based energy conservation policies and technology systems to improve indoor environment and comfort.

Residential building energy conservation and avoided power plant emissions by urban and community trees in the United States

Urban trees and forests alter building energy use and associated emissions from power plants by shading buildings, cooling air temperatures and altering wind speeds around buildings. Field data on urban trees were combined with local urban/community tree and land cover maps, modeling of tree effects on building energy use and pollutant emissions, and state energy and pollutant costs to estimate tree effects on building energy use and associated pollutant emissions at the state to national level in the conterminous United States. Results reveal that trees and forests in urban/community areas in the conterminous United States annually reduce electricity use by 38.8 million MWh ($4.7 billion), heating use by 246 million MMBtus ($3.1 billion) and avoid thousands of tonnes of emissions of several pollutants valued at $3.9 billion per year. Average reduction in national residential energy use due to trees is 7.2 percent. Specific designs to reduce energy use using urban trees could increase these values and further reduce energy use and improve air quality in the United States.

Toward residential building energy conservation through the Trombe wall and ammonia ground source heat pump retrofit options, applying eQuest model

The aim of this research is to apply the eQuest model to investigate the energy conservation in a multifamily building located in Dayton, Ohio by using a Trombe wall and an ammonia ground source heat pump (R-717 GSHP). Integration of the Trombe wall into the building is the first retrofitting measure in this study. Trombe wall as a passive solar system, has a simple structure which may reduce the heating demand of buildings significantly. Utilization of ground source heat pump is an effective approach where conventional air source heat pump doesn't have an efficient performance, especially in cold climates. Furthermore, the type of refrigerant in the heat pumps has a substantial effect on energy efficiency. Natural refrigerant, ammonia (R-717), which has a high performance and no negative impacts on the environment, could be the best choice for using in heat pumps. After implementing the eQUEST model in the said multifamily building, the total annual energy consumption with a conventional R-717 air-source-heat-pump (ASHP) system was estimated as the baseline model. The baseline model results were compared to those of the following scenarios: using R-717 GSHP, R410a GSHP and integration of the Trombe wall into the building. The Results specified that, compared to the baseline model, applying the R-717 GSHP and Trombe wall, led to 20% and 9% of energy conservation in the building, respectively. In addition, it was noticed that by using R-410a instead of R-717 in the GSHP, the energy demand increased by 14%.

Real-Time Recognition Non-Intrusive Electrical Appliance Monitoring Algorithm for a Residential Building Energy Management System

The concern of energy price hikes and the impact of climate change because of energy generation and usage forms the basis for residential building energy conservation. Existing energy meters do not provide much information about the energy usage of the individual appliance apart from its power rating. The detection of the appliance energy usage will not only help in energy conservation, but also facilitate the demand response (DR) market participation as well as being one way of building energy conservation. However, energy usage by individual appliance is quite difficult to estimate. This paper proposes a novel approach: an unsupervised disaggregation method, which is a variant of the hidden Markov model (HMM), to detect an appliance and its operation state based on practicable measurable parameters from the household energy meter. Performing experiments in a practical environment validates our proposed method. Our results show that our model can provide appliance detection and power usage information in a non-intrusive manner, which is ideal for enabling power conservation efforts and participation in the demand response market.

A study on the energy rebound effect of China's residential building energy efficiency

China's building energy efficiency design standards have been always treated as the base of national energy conservation planning and industrial investment. However, they cannot fully achieve the expected benefits due to the energy rebound effect. This paper verifies the energy rebound effect in China's urban and rural residential buildings based on the LA-AIDS theory, and further estimates the building energy conservation by counterfactual analysis, catching the specific influences of rebound effect on building energy conservation and the corresponding residential building energy conservation potentials of China. The empirical results reveal that: (i) The rebound effect in the rural residential buildings is much larger than that in the urban residential buildings, where presenting the “back-fire” effect. (ii) The rebound effect in the rural residential buildings is weakening while it is enhancing in the urban residential buildings. (iii) Nationally, if energy policies including price polices, technological improvements as well as some other measures were implemented to avoid the rebound effect, we could have conserved about 20% electricity consumption in China's residential buildings each year. The magnitude increased by time to the highest level (107.66 GWh) in 2011, equivalent to the CO2 emission reduction of 0.1 billion tons.

Study on Energy Saving of Local Building Material

According to the research of city residential building energy conservation planning, design and technology application, this paper considers the influence of climate and energy saving design, determine the corresponding from the city planning, shape, envelope, Using the project management method, studies on the application of design energy-saving construction theory in the high-rise residential buildings and application of building energy saving technology in the architecture. How to strengthen the building energy-saving project quality supervision, to ensure the construction quality and construction process in the use of the premise of indoor thermal environment quality, make the high-rise residential energy-saving to 65% residential building standards; Through the research, the research of can provide technology guidance and decision-making reference for the construction of energy-saving work more extensive development, progress. Application of energy saving technology implementation, architecture in the architecture and how to strengthen the building energy-saving project quality supervision, to ensure the construction quality and construction process in the use of room

Analysis on the Development of Residential Building Energy Conservation

Building Energy Conservation, especially the research about residential building energy in face of the worldwide energy crisis is particularly urgent. At present, various countries have an in-depth study of the residential building energy to explore different methods, new building materials, and new technology(such as new thermal windows and doors), as well as the use of new energy has been put more attention to in energy conservation field. Comparing the residential buildings between domestic and overseas countries’ progress about related technologies, we could find some evolution and look to the prospects for the future in energy-saving field. We took a domestic project that used energy-saving technology as a practical example, and then made a simple overview of the current energy situation in China so as to get a glimpse of the development about residential building energy-saving. Finally, the article provided some comments about this topic in sustainable view.

Research on Energy Saving for the Case Analysis of Building Energy Conservation in Xichang City

Through the example of residential building energy conservation and emissions reduction of a residential district building project, the article analyses that building energy conservation can be considered from the aspects of construction site selection, layout; Retaining structure technology solutions; HVAC technology solutions; Electric system technology solutions; Water supply and drainage system technology solutions.

Research on Energy Optimization and the Effect Factors of Energy Consumption about Residential Buildings in Inner Mongolia

With the rapid development of national economy in china, the proportion of the building consumption in energy consumption is rising year by year. This paper will analyze energy influence factors of consumption of residential building in Inner Mongolia. According to these factors, it will optimize the energy consumption of residential building energy saving research . In the end , the thesis will put up some measures to optimization of conserve energy and provide guidance and help for residential building energy conservation in Inner Mongolia.

Development and validation of a simple estimating tool to predict heating and cooling energy demand for attics of residential buildings

The application of attic radiant barriers as a residential building energy conservation tool has received considerable attention in recent years. Quantifying the benefits of radiant barrier is complicated because the energy savings provided by this system depend on various factors including local climate, geometry, and other building parameters. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop a simple estimating tool that may be used by homeowners and designers to assess the effectiveness and economic benefits of radiant barrier under different climatic conditions in the US. The developed tool is based on transient three-dimensional finite element models that were validated based on the results of an experimental field study. The results of the finite element models were used to develop a set of regression equations to predict the thermal performances of radiant barriers under a wide range of operating conditions. Although the theoretical basis behind this tool is robust and accurate, the developed tool is simple, flexible, and user-friendly to encourage its use among practitioners and homeowners with minimal background about this system and heat transfer mechanisms. It is anticipated that the developed tool will facilitate the integration of energy efficiency in residential design and construction.

Residential Building Energy Conservation Status and Residential Low Carbon Technical Type’s Analysis

Series of low-carbon concepts, whose purpose is to make use of natural resources reasonably by reducing carbon emissions, innovating concepts, techniques and standards, are caused by sustainable development nowadays. From the perspective of residential construction, the author would discuss the feasibility of applying low carbon technology in buildings. Also he would give a specific analysis for different types of low carbon techniques to different residential buildings.