Building Energy Demand Research Articles

Near-, medium- and long-term impacts of climate change on the thermal energy consumption of buildings in Finland under RCP climate scenarios

The building sector is critical in climate change mitigation by reducing its energy consumption. At the same time, warming climate requires adaptation measures from buildings, making it necessary to study the future thermal energy demand of buildings. This paper studies the impact of climate change on the thermal energy demand of buildings in a heating dominated climate of Finland, under “representative concentration pathway” (RCP) climate scenarios in near- (2030), medium- (2050) and long-term (2080) horizon. Additionally, the impact of the thermal performance level of the buildings is investigated. The thermal energy demand calculation is based on overarching standards from the European “energy performance of buildings” directive. The weather scenarios present both typical and extreme weather years, applied through morphing and future weather data from the Finnish Meteorological Institute. The results show that annual thermal energy demand in Finland in 2080 can decrease up to 74.6kWh/m2. In addition, the decrease in heating demand will be higher than the increase in cooling demand. Cooling can become the dominant peak in long-term evaluations, especially in South Finland (Vantaa) with passive buildings under RCP8.5 climate scenario. Renovation is the most efficient action to decrease energy intensity, the earliest it is done the better.

Decreasing the energy demand in public buildings using nature-based solutions: case studies from Novi Sad (Republic of Serbia) and Osijek (Republic of Croatia)

BackgroundNature-based solutions (NBS) in urban areas offer an opportunity to improve environmental conditions and to reduce CO2 emissions towards establishing climate-neutral cities in the next few decades. Furthermore, the implementation of NBSs—vertical or horizontal green infrastructures on public facilities—could in particular improve both climate, including outdoor thermal conditions on a micro-scale (especially during the summer season) and the energy demand of buildings as well as save heating energy during the winter period.ResultsOn both selected buildings, extensive green roofs were implemented as an NBS intervention. The analysed data were obtained using the monitoring systems (from 2019 to 2022) installed on two public buildings in Novi Sad (Republic of Serbia) and Osijek (Republic of Croatia), with a focus on climate/bioclimate characteristics and thermal transmission capacities. Four automatic weather stations (AWS) were used for microclimate monitoring, along with the heat flow meter (HFM) method, to measure the alterations in the thermal transmittance (U value) of a flat concrete roof before and after energy refurbishment and the installation of a green roof. The outcomes of this study show that the air temperatures (Ta) and globe temperatures (Tg) near the green roof are lower by 0–3 °C for Ta and by 0–16.5 °C for Tg than the values captured by the AWSs at other locations. An even more interesting fact is that the green roof has a constant cooling potential during tropical nights, and based upon this research, the cooling value is around 2 °C for Tg (the Ta value is not distinct). The thermal transmittance results show that more savings can be achieved by applying a green roof with an 8 cm thick substrate: U values decreased by 50–69%, as measured by two different heat flux sensors.ConclusionsNature-based solutions, such as the implementation of an extensive green roof, have positive effects on diverse aspects of urban environments and building energy savings, which are particularly evident in extreme seasons, both summer and winter. Applying the proposed monitoring and assessment system could help local communities in their efforts to reduce carbon-based emissions. This paper provides a good example of the implementation of NBSs on a local- and a micro-scale.

Feasibility study with EnergyPlus simulation for solar chemical heat pump unit introduced into building as next-generation energy supply system

From the viewpoint of rising energy demand and energy costs in buildings, there is an urgent need to develop next generation building energy supply systems characterized by improved resource efficiency and environmental friendliness. The solar chemical heat pump (SCHP) unit can provide heating and cooling in buildings with high efficiency and sustainability, positioning it as a potential candidate. A feasibility study is conducted to introduce the SCHP units into a building in Chiba, Japan, to evaluate the operating characteristics and energy-saving potentials. The building and its HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) system featuring the SCHP unit are introduced into the building energy simulation through EnergyPlus software for the first-step examination. 3E (energy, environment, economy) analysis of the distinctions among conventional, chemical heat pump (CHP), and SCHP systems is conducted to enhance the efficiency of building energy supply systems. Furthermore, the effects of different climate zones and heat and electricity storage equipment on operation characteristics are studied. The study reveals that the SCHP system demonstrates a 75% lower energy consumption, 72% decreased CO2 emissions, and 73% reduced running costs than the conventional system in Chiba City. Moreover, it is shown that integrating the heat storage tank and the electricity storage battery into the SCHP system can reduce reliance on external energy, significantly enhancing the system efficiency.

Preparation and thermal performance study of a novel hydrated salt composite PCM for space heating

In order to effectively address the mismatch between thermal energy supply and demand in buildings, latent heat storage (LHS) based on phase change material (PCM) stands out as a key technology. While hydrated salt has emerged as a promising PCM, it encounters common issues such as substantial supercooling, phase separation, and low thermal conductivity, hindering its development. To mitigate these limitations, this study focused on modifying Ba(OH)2·8H2O by incorporating various nucleating agents and thickening agents to reduce supercooling, enhancing the composite PCM's thermal properties by introducing expanded graphite (EG) to elevate thermal conductivity. Subsequently, the thermal stability of the PCM was evaluated through accelerated thermal cycling tests, encompassing the assessment of critical thermal parameters, including supercooling degree, enthalpy, and thermal conductivity of the composite PCM. Experimental findings unveiled the effectiveness of incorporating 2 wt% BaCl2·2H2O and 1 wt% CMC to Ba(OH)2·8H2O, effectively diminishing the supercooling degree from 14 °C to 1.42 °C. Further integration of 3.5 wt% EG led to a substantial decrease in the supercooling degree to 0.24 °C. Simultaneously, the addition of EG resulted in an improvement in thermal conductivity, elevating it from 0.62 W/(m·K) to 1.03 W/(m·K), while the enthalpy decreased from 283.68 J/g to 252.81 J/g. Notably, the composite PCM exhibited notable thermal reliability with a latent heat drop of 15.9 % following 1000 accelerated cycles of testing. Moreover, the composite PCM demonstrated superior thermal storage density, measuring at 2.36 times that of traditional paraffin wax, yet with a thermal storage cost merely a quarter of paraffin wax, rendering it more favorable for extensive deployment in building energy systems.

Radiation shielding properties of heavy-weight concrete and heavy-weight geopolymer concrete incorporating nano-ZnS

The population growth and the subsequent increase in energy demand for buildings require the widespread use of sustainable materials in the construction industry. Therefore, geopolymer concretes (GPC) are expanding with the ability to emit less greenhouse gases (GHG) compared to conventional concrete. In this study, the effect of adding different content of Zinc sulfide nanoparticle (nano-ZnS) 0, 1.5, 3, 4.5, and 6 % by weight of cement on density (ρ), compressive strength, gamma ray radiation protection characteristics, and microstructure based on scanning electron microscope (SEM) is investigated in heavy-weight concrete (HWC) and heavy-weight geopolymer concrete (HGC). The results have shown that nano-ZnS nanoparticles improve the strength and gamma ray shielding properties of HWC and HGC by modifying the microstructure so that by adding the optimal amount of 6 % nano-ZnS, the maximum compressive strength for HWC and HGC was obtained by 57.4 and 41.5 %, respectively. In addition, the highest linear attenuation coefficient (µ)was obtained with the addition of 4.5 % nano-ZnS for HWC and HGC, 12.8 and 8.9 %, respectively.Furthermore, the life cycle assessment (LCA) of the three phases of raw material production, transportation and concrete production has revealed that HGC has emitted 41.5 % less CO2 compared to HWC. In general, HGC in the presence of the optimal amount of nanoparticles has shown a more visible improvement in compressive strength and gamma ray shielding properties. In addition, HGC as an environmentally friendly material, has significantly reduced the emission of CO2.

Design of a color neutral non‐patterned photovoltaic window based on luminescent solar concentrator

The necessity to fulfil buildings energy demand with different energy sources lead to an increasing integration between building components and renewable energy sources. The development of new BIPV technologies requiring less silicon solar cells for active area is particularly interesting especially from a circular economy perspective. This work describes the design of five neutral color photovoltaic windows based on large area (0.61 m2) luminescent solar concentrators, which were developed by the University of Ferrara and Eni S.p.A and were installed at the Eni “Renewable, New Energies and Material Science Research Centre” in Novara (Italy). The prototypes show a visible transmittance of 38.5% which represents an improvement with respect to commercial semi‐transparent photovoltaic technologies, moreover the evaluation of the window colorimetric properties highlights a color rendering index equal to 93.0, thus ensuring an excellent illumination quality of the building indoor. The panel electrical performance was measured indoor, at the end of the assembly process, and on‐site, showing a power production ranging from 1.2 W to 2.8 W and an efficiency between 0.23% and 0.48% depending on the illumination condition and the background reflectivity. Although the generated power is limited, it is already sufficient to power stand‐alone small appliances and smart systems.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Evaluating future building energy efficiency and environmental sustainability with PCM integration in building envelope

The energy demand in the building sector is anticipated to increase with climate change and the high energy consumption is responsible for releasing enormous amounts of CO2 into the environment, intensifying climate change. Phase change material (PCM) integration into the building envelope has a high potential to reduce the building's energy demand without compromising environmental sustainability. This research investigated the impact of PCMs (PCM 18–PCM 30) on building cooling, heating, and annual energy efficiency for future climate scenarios (2095) in 13 different climate zones worldwide. For this purpose, the Fanger comfort model was implemented and numerical simulations were performed using Energyplus. The performance of PCM was evaluated using novel Predicted Mean Vote fluctuation reductions (PMVFR), and the Total Predicted Mean Vote drop (TPMVD). Further, for the first time, a time series-forecasting model for the estimation of CO2 emissions originating from various energy production sources in the future was developed using gene-expression programming (GEP) algorithm. Finally, the two different maps showing the PCM efficiency for energy conservation and environmental sustainability at the global level are presented. The results evidence a maximum of 12.9% reduction in annual energy demand in the future with the integration of PCM. The GEP-based prediction model demonstrated good accuracy as determined by the statistical parameters and satisfied the external validation requirements. The environmental analysis exhibits that PCM integration can reduce carbon emissions up to 204 CO2-e Kg/year. Overall, the integration of PCM is regarded as a sustainable solution for building energy efficiency, considering climate change.

Optimizing battery energy storage prototypes for improved resilience in commercial buildings: Gaussian mixture modeling and hierarchical analysis of energy storage potential

The increasing energy demand in commercial buildings has led to the adoption of photovoltaic (PV) systems as a viable solution. However, the gap between energy consumption and PV capacity in commercial buildings remains uncertain, and there is limited research on the potential for energy storage in different commercial building types. This study utilizes Gaussian mixture modeling to extract energy consumption and PV capacity patterns from diverse commercial buildings, using datasets provided by the Department of Energy. By employing hierarchical analysis, we investigate the energy storage potential of various commercial buildings based on the disparities between energy consumption and PV capacity patterns. Moreover, this study introduces innovative battery energy storage system (BESS) prototypes tailored to the specific needs of different commercial building types. These prototypes determine the optimal BESS capacity and charging schedules, providing an effective means of improving electrical resilience in commercial buildings. The findings reveal that medium offices, warehouses, and secondary schools require BESS capacities of 410kWh, 838kWh, and 349kWh, respectively, and recommend charging time windows of 9:00–17:00, 8:00–18:00, and 9:00–14:00, respectively. Additionally, the cost recovery period for Li-ion phosphate and ternary Li-ion batteries ranges from approximately 2.5 to 7.5 years and 4 to 8.2 years, respectively. The developed BESS prototypes based on energy storage potential offer resilience to commercial buildings during power outages caused by natural disasters and emergencies, helping to improve their electrical resilience. This study provides valuable insights into the potential for energy storage in commercial buildings and promotes the wider implementation of BESS in the commercial sector, contributing to the achievement of effective demand-side management.

On the energy impact of cool roofs in Dubai

Urban warming can significantly increase the energy demand for building cooling. As temperatures rise, buildings require additional energy for air conditioning, which can lead to higher electricity demand and increased greenhouse gas emissions. This can create a positive feedback loop, as increased energy demand leads to increased waste heat and further exacerbates the urban warming effect. To solve this issue, this study integrates high-resolution meteorological data from the Weather Research and Forecasting coupled with Single Layer Urban Canopy Model (WRF/SLUCM) into CitySim for the first time to evaluate the building energy demands at various building types in Dubai metropolis. Examining how cool materials reduced cooling loads was achievable utilizing modified albedo in Dubai's downtown buildings. An increase of urban albedo from 0.2 to 0.8 significantly lowers the urban heating effect, as well as the building cooling needs. The study shows that for albedo scenario 0.8, Low-rise residential buildings experienced cooling load reductions of about 13.1 kWh/m2 and 6 kWh/m2 for buildings without insulation and those with insulation, respectively, compared to the base case. Additionally, high-rise residential buildings saw cooling load reductions ranging from 7.7 kWh/m2 to 11.7 kWh/m2 for buildings without insulation and a cooling load reduction of 3.6 kWh/m2 to 5.4 kWh/m2 for insulated buildings. This study provides a tool for regulating the energy impact of cool roofs in different urban settings using energy simulation, which could help policymakers control the energy needs in subtropical desert urban environments.

The Impact of High-Rise Building Shapes on Wind Flow Characteristics and Energy Potential

In recent years, wind energy has become a potential source of low carbon energy. The shape of a building is a significant factor in aerodynamics, providing an opportunity for wind power control and wind energy proliferation. This research project aims to study the design of high-rise buildings and investigate how wind affects energy absorption by developing an aerodynamic optimization procedure (AOP) and using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in COMSOL Multiphysics. This study aimed to optimize the building shape for wind energy exploitation. Optimizing the building shape in the early stages of design enables the control of wind-induced loads and responses and reduces the energy demand in high-rise buildings, where resource consumption is higher than that in low-height buildings. This study used a three-dimensional CFD simulation of wind loading on tall buildings to optimize the building shape. This research will provide valuable insights for architects, engineers, and building developers to design and optimize high-rise buildings for wind energy exploitation, reduce the carbon footprint, and improve the energy efficiency of buildings.

Impact of urban heat island on high-rise residential building cooling energy demand in Hong Kong

This study aims to investigate the impact of urban heat island (UHI) on cooling energy demand in high-rise residential buildings, with a primary focus on cooling-dominated regions. We take Hong Kong, a typical highly urbanised city with a humid subtropical climate, as a representative case. Multiple year-by-year EnergyPlus simulations were conducted using 20 years of actual meteorological data (1999–2018) from one urban site and one rural site for a typical 40-storey residential building. Cross-sectional analyses were performed in inter-annual, seasonal, and diurnal scales to comprehensively examine the temporal dynamics of cooling-relevant energy impacts of UHI. Regression analyses were conducted to reveal the relationship between UHI’s energy impact and UHI intensity (UHII). Results show that UHI causes an increase of 6.0% in cooling energy demand for high-rise residential buildings in Hong Kong. Such impact reaches a daily (intra-annual) minimum/maximum of −1.4%/+21.8% (+3.5%/+28.3%) at 5 pm/6 am (in summer/winter) and diminishes by an average rate of 1.7% per decade likely due to the urbanisation in rural regions. Each 1 °C increase in UHII causes an increase of 7.9%/16.1%/36.9% in seasonal cooling energy demand for summer/transitional seasons/winter, respectively. This study reveals that UHI's intricate temporal dynamics can lead to heterogeneous effects on building energy performance. Besides, distinct patterns of UHI-driven cooling energy profiles between high-rise and low-/medium-rise buildings are identified. Moreover, this study underscores the importance of employing multiple year-by-year meteorological data and addressing season-specific nonlinearity in building energy research to ensure the reliability of findings against the backdrop of climate change.

Urban microclimate differences in continental zone of China

In modern cities, the block geometry and land cover feature directly affect the heat transfer between ground surface and atmosphere, resulting in significant differences of local microclimate. Clarifying this difference will help to accurately predict regional building energy demand and optimize regional layout design. However, existing microclimate research mainly focuses on tropical, arid, and temperate climate regions, leaving continental areas virtually unexplored. To address this problem and clarify the interactions of the urban blocks and microclimate, the combination of the local climate zone (LCZ) scheme and fixed-point weather station monitoring is employed to investigate the variation characteristics of the thermal and humidity conditions of typical urban blocks in continental zone of China. Firstly, sixty-seven typical urban blocks with self-built, national and regional meteorological stations are selected as the object of study, and classified into twelve LCZ categories, according to their inherent features. Secondly, the spatial and temporal variation patterns of the thermal environment indexes of the twelve LCZ types are analyzed and compared. Additionally, correlation analyses and regression fittings are performed between the thermal environment indexes and the urban morphological parameters. The results indicate significant differences in thermal environment indexes among different LCZ types. The mean temperature of built types is 0.72 °C higher than land cover types. The temperature and humidity exhibit a parabolic relationship with height of roughness elements and building surface fraction respectively, while the humidity has strong negatively correlations with the impervious surface fraction and the height of roughness elements.

Energy consumption and thermal comfort assessment using CFD in a naturally ventilated indoor environment under different ventilations

The rising energy demands of modern buildings necessitate the proper balance between occupant comfort and energy efficiency. This study numerically evaluates the effect of different inlet and exhaust vent profiles on indoor IEQ and energy consumption in well-validated, occupied office buildings for a cold climate conditions. Using ANSYS products, the research evaluates the impact of different ventilation configurations on occupant comfort using different comfort parameters such as, PMV, PPD, air temperature, temperature gradient, fluid flow velocity. The study also analyze how different ventilation configurations affect the thermal load on the radiator for indoor thermal comfort. The findings reveal a significant effect of ventilation profiles on both IEQ and energy consumption. Inadequate ventilation configuration selection can lead to a significant increase in radiator heat load, potentially increase up to 117.3%. Conversely, the adoption of an optimized ventilation strategy can simultaneously reduce energy consumption and improve indoor occupant thermal comfort. Indoor occupant comfort with minimal radiator heat load can be achieved using vertically oriented, rectangular inlet and exhaust vents with a perimeter ratio of 0.611. This research contributes to the development of sustainable buildings and describes indoor comfort design for cold climate conditions.

Relationships between ground motion parameters and energy demands for regular low-rise RC frame buildings

AbstractThe present study aims to analyze the correlation between ground motion parameters and energy demands of low-rise RC buildings without shear walls. Two regular 4- and 7-story residential buildings were seismically designed to represent low-rise RC buildings. In order to establish the requirements of single degree of freedom (SDOF) systems as well as multi degree of freedom (MDOF) systems, the dynamic features of “equivalent” SDOF systems were defined by using MDOF systems. The correlation of 20 ground motion parameters (GMPs) of 44 records with the energy demands obtained from a total of 176 nonlinear time history analyses was examined for the SDOF and MDOF systems within the scope of this study. The ground motion parameters (GMPs) were taken as intensity measures (IMs). In contrast, maximum input energy was used as a demand measure (DM) and these energy values were normalized with the masses of the buildings for cases, where the buildings were evaluated together. Parameters related to acceleration and velocity are generally found to yield better results in comparison to the ones related to frequency and displacement. Velocity Spectrum Intensity (VSI) and Arias Intensity (Ia) were obtained to have the highest correlation values as a single parameter. This study suggested new equations by combining multiple ground motion parameters for SDOF and MDOF systems to better reflect damage potential than a single parameter. The use of multiple parameters in combination results in better correlation coefficients.

Mitigation of Renewable Energy Source Production Variability in Residential Stock through Small-Scale Gas–Liquid Energy Storage Technology Application

Despite renewable energy source integration being a well-established requirement in international policies, energy systems still face some unresolved issues, including the intermittence of production. To tackle this problem, a viable solution could comprise the off-peak storage of electricity production excess, to be consumed later during peak-load hours. The transition from the diffuse pattern of centralized generation to the distributed model, involving energy communities, suggests an additional aspect to manage: the spatial constraints of systems for domestic applications. Compressed-air energy storage represents a promising Power-to-Power technology for small-scale energy integration. This study proposes the application of a gas–liquid energy storage system (GLES) in a residential building, using renewable energy excess from a photovoltaic (PV) array. The performance of the proposed system, whose operation involves the compression of the gaseous mass through a piston operated by mineral oil, was evaluated through energy analysis performed simulating the devices and their coupling with the load profiles of the building. The thermodynamic model of storage was validated using data from an experimental campaign on a prototype. A sensitivity study, acting on the features of the system, such as the compression rate and vessel size, allowed us to compare the absorbed PV energy excess, the coverage of the building energy demand during the expansion phase, and the electrical efficiency of a daily cycle. The results obtained, together with the related economic analysis, were used to quantify the market potential of the proposed solution, to be exploited as a mechanical alternative to conventional electric batteries in dwellings.

Study on the Influence of the Application of Phase Change Material on Residential Energy Consumption in Cold Regions of China

As the impact of climate change intensifies, meeting the energy demand of buildings in China’s cold regions is becoming increasingly challenging, particularly in terms of cooling energy consumption. The effectiveness of integrating phase change material (PCM) into building envelopes for energy saving in China’s cold regions is unclear. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of PCM integration in building enclosures for energy efficiency in these regions. The research monitored and recorded indoor temperature data from typical residential cases from May to September. This measured data was then used to validate the accuracy of EnergyPlus22-1 software simulation models. Subsequently, the calibrated model was utilized to conduct a comparative analysis on the effects of PCM on indoor temperatures and cooling energy consumption across these regions. The results of these comparative analyses indicated that PCM can alleviate indoor overheating to varying degrees in severe cold regions of China. Focusing on north-facing bedrooms, applying PCMs reduced the duration of overheating in non-air-conditioned buildings in severe cold regions of China by 136 h (Yichun), 340 h (Harbin), 356 h (Shenyang), and 153 h (Dalian). In terms of cooling energy consumption, the energy saved by applying PCMs ranged from 1.48 to 13.83 kWh/m2. These results emphasize that the performance of PCM varies with climate change, with the most significant energy-saving effects observed in severe cold regions. In north-facing bedrooms in Harbin, the energy-saving rate was as high as 60.30%. Based on these results, the study offers guidance and recommendations for feasible passive energy-saving strategies for buildings in severe cold and cold regions of China in the face of climate change. Additionally, it provides practical guidance for applying PCMs in different climatic zones in China.

Machine learning-based energy monitoring method applied to the HVAC systems electricity demand of an Italian healthcare facility

The buildings energy consumption is a great part of Europe's overall energy demand. The development of diagnostic methods capable of promptly alerting users in case of issues (e.g. mild and progressive decrease in systems components performance) is crucial for the smart management of buildings. Machine learning-based building energy monitoring is a reliable approach for identifying subtle anomalies in the building energy demand behaviour. This study presents the application of a systematic procedure to develop a reliable monitoring method based on machine learning predictive models, ensuring minimal user knowledge requirements. The proposed method applied to the electricity demand of various components of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system of a real Italian healthcare facility. The obtained models are exploited to apply the building energy monitoring method, assessing its capability to highlight mild changes in building energy demand behaviour. Considering that its application on specific system components implies an increased technical and economic effort to carry out data collection, the present work is aimed at assessing the benefits of such applications. Because of its high reproducibility and relatively simple integration into centralized building energy management systems, the proposed method offers a practical solution to enhance the smart management of building energy systems.

The influence of demographic structure on residential buildings' carbon emissions in China

In the process of advancing China’s carbon peak strategy, the residential building is a crucial sector for carbon mitigation. The energy demand for residential buildings, which is dominated by household consumption, is rapidly rising; coping with aging crisis and reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are two major challenges facing China. This study explores the complex relation between demographic structure and residential buildings' CO2 emissions, and then simulates the future carbon peaking trajectory based on scenario prediction model. The relevant results are fourfold. 1) The overall coupling coordination degree of demographic structure and residential buildings' CO2 emissions in China has entered the optimal state (i.e. high-quality coordination level) until 2020. 2) The increased household size and proportion of children population from 2010 to 2020 had an inhibitory effect on residential buildings' CO2 emissions, whereas increased population size and proportion of elderly population had a promotional effect. 3) Under the influence of demographic structure change, peak residential buildings' CO2 emissions are predicted to be delayed from 2030 to 2032 in China, and the peak value will increase by 3.56%, reaching 1.527 billion tons. 4) At the provincial degree, under the baseline scenario, Beijing will be the first to achieve peak CO2 emissions in 2026; under the aging scenario, Yunnan and Beijing will be the first to reach peak CO2 emissions in 2028. This study provides a reference for Chinese policymakers and other countries to incorporate demographic structure into future projections to advance carbon reduction targets' achievement in the building sector.

Incorporating Citizen Science to Enhance Public Awareness in Smart Cities: The Case Study of Balaguer

The concept of a smart city is becoming increasingly popular to improve citizens’ quality of life. Institutions are also committed to enhancing the sustainability of cities by implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper presents a Balaguer case study investigating energy demand monitoring, decreasing energy demand, and citizen acceptance in a municipality district. The study collected data from three sources: (1) quantitative data coming from on-site sensors; (2) quantitative data from a simulation of the area; and (3) qualitative data from questionnaires developed with a totem located in the city center. This study shows the importance of citizen science in contributing towards the increased awareness of energy demand, renewable energy, and climate change. But it also shows how citizen science can improve research quality involving the municipality authorities. This study also was instrumental in contributing to the increase in awareness among municipality authorities and capacity building on the topic. This activity may also contribute towards the implementation of actions to reduce the energy demand in public buildings and helping them in deploying policies to decrease energy demand in buildings, increase the use of renewable energy, and increase awareness among citizens. The government will use the information gathered to develop policies for citizen improvement.

Enhancing building energy efficiency through a climate adaptive design: Considering upcoming extreme climate conditions

Known as one of the significant sources of impacting building energy efficiency, climate change can drastically alter the long-term energy consumption patterns of buildings. It is widely acknowledged in the literature that designs based on conventional pathways relying solely on historical weather data disregard the effects of the changing climate and lose their intended energy performance over time. Several endeavors have been made to generate weather files capable of capturing the essence of the changing climate and carrying its variability. In line with these efforts, the synthesized weather files have emerged as a promising alternative to the commonly used morphing method for incorporating climate change variability into building energy designs. However, a comprehensive framework with a potential to accommodate this variability in this context is yet to be investigated. Addressing this gap, the present study aims to propose a novel framework that can facilitate dynamic design upgrades in response to the changing climate including the extreme climate conditions. This framework has been applied to a case study building in Australia and around 31% annual thermal load reduction, on average, has been achieved. Furthermore, the results showed that conventional design pathways are likely to leave buildings inadequately prepared against the upcoming climate conditions. Therefore, the proposed framework is capable of generating a dynamic design that not only maintains the expected energy performance by incorporating the changing climate into its structure but also draws a more realistic picture of the building energy demand pattern over time.