Green Design Strategies Research Articles

A Framework for Green Interior Design and Simulation Using Immersive VR Technology

The green decoration indoor environment design method has become the main trend in recent years with the rising awareness of environmental protection. The green design strategy emphasizes the reduction of production materials, packaging materials, recycling of waste products, and material recycling. Generally, green interior design is a kind of cognition of friendly treatment to the environment. Considering the future use and development of space to adopt flexible strategies, the design process should incorporate the possibility of future changes. The flexible strategies can reduce the future part of the change and can redecorate waste. In the process of creativity and design, the design objectives should be clearly defined, and the frequency of modification should be reduced. This research introduces a framework for green interior design and simulation using immersive VR technology. The concept of regeneration is used to achieve maximum utilization and minimum damage. It improves the efficiency of using resources; on the other hand, it reduces the impact of interior design on human health and environment.

THE POST-OCCUPANCY DILEMMA IN GREEN-RATED BUILDINGS: A PERFORMANCE GAP ANALYSIS

ABSTRACT The traditional construction industry has a significant and far-reaching impact on the environment, economy, and society. Green-certified buildings, with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), DGNB (Deutsches Gütesiegel Nachhaltiges Bauen), or other certifications during the design stage, have great potential for increasing the effective use of resources and energy, reducing pollution, etc., and so their number has increased greatly in recent years. The post-occupancy evaluation (POE) of green buildings involves assessing whether they meet expected performance during the in-use phase and comprises four steps: (i) carrying out the research purpose/goal; (ii) determining the research objectives; (iii) conducting data collection, analysis, and visualization; and (iv) obtaining the results and drawing conclusions. However, there is a lack of reviews of POE research and analysis of reasons for actual performance gaps. In response and through a comprehensive literature review/analysis, this article summarizes the actual performance gaps of various greencertified projects, analyzes the reasons for failures, and proposes potential solutions. It is found that 74%, 12%, and 14% of the projects perform better, similar, and worse, respectively, than their non-green counterparts. Future POE green building projects can be optimized from the perspective of the building, user, and POE system. To optimize green building actual performance, it is important to ensure the sufficient education of installation and maintenance personnel and occupants’ green behavior, while interior design and decoration, the impact of user demographics, and POE performance indicators are key factors to be considered in green building design strategies and lifecycle evaluation systems.

Evaluation and Analysis of Quantitative Architectural Space Index Based on Analytic Hierarchy Process.

With the continuous development of the social economy, the urban residential structure is also changing, and people have higher and higher requirements for the living environment. Moreover, the landscape construction of public spaces in cities is an important part of the city. It is easy to neglect the comprehensive consideration of historical development and regional culture in architectural projects. The overall lack of individuality in urban design, the lack of characteristics of adapting measures to local conditions, and the blind emphasis on architectural landscaping have led to a serious lack of regional cultural characteristics and spiritual culture in public places. Therefore, in terms of the problems of insufficient landscape construction quality and green concepts being insufficient in the construction environment of cities, an evaluation method system is established in the paper to further study the shortcomings of the scenic area architecture. What is more, relying on the personal experience of the users in the scenic spot and understanding the real needs of the public space landscape environment around the scenic spot, scientific methods and a complete system are applied to make an overall assessment of the public space in the built residential area. Besides, according to the data analysis of the simulation experiment, the advantages and disadvantages of the public space in the residential area are extracted. Combined with the current research status, the green concept design strategy of the public space landscape environment in the scenic spot is summarized. Lastly, according to the data analysis of the simulation experiment, the evaluation satisfaction of the activity atmosphere, plant configuration, and overall layout is improved by 4.2%, 3.7%, and 3.1% compared with other methods, which proves that this study has a more reasonable planning program to meet the various needs of public open space. The development of urban landscape design provides a valuable reference.

Revising green roof design methods with downscaling model of rainfall time series.

Historically, green infrastructure for stormwater management has been event-based designed. This study aims to realign the green infrastructure design strategies with principles for robust decision making, through the example of green roofs design with the variational method and exemplified using the Norwegian context of the 3-step approach (3SA) for stormwater management. The 3SA consists of planning solutions to handle day-to-day rain at site scale through infiltration (step 1) and detention (step 2), and extreme events with safe floodways (step 3). An innovative framework based on downscaling of rainfall timeseries is suggested as follows: (i) long duration continuous simulation for retention variation and day-to-day discharge, corresponding to step 1 in the 3SA; (ii) intensive sampling of local extreme events to estimate reliability and robustness of solutions, corresponding to steps 2 and 3 in the 3SA. Comparing the traditional variational method to Highly-Informed-Design-Evaluation-Strategy (HIDES), it was found that the variational method possibly leads to incorrect decisions while the suggested novel approach was found to give more informed and reliable results by suggesting a design based on both operating mode and failure mode. It allows to embed solutions within the urban water system by facilitating the link between the steps of the 3SA. Such a framework was found to be data-wise applicable in the Norwegian context.

Application of Green Design and Manufacturing in Mechanical Engineering: Education, Scientific Research, and Practice

Green design and manufacturing strategies are necessary to cope with the current resource, energy, and environmental problems of the manufacturing industry. To meet various enterprises’ needs for green design and manufacturing, colleges and universities should integrate these concepts into their curricula. This study discusses the application of green strategies in the mechanical engineering field from the viewpoints of teaching, scientific research, and practical education. Based on its development and a basic connotation analysis, this study highlights the challenges and urgency of incorporating green concepts into teaching and research modules of mechanical engineering, as well as methods and implementation strategies to incorporate them in professional curricula using teaching method reform and the teaching and research integration method. An experimental training course of advanced manufacturing processes at the authors’ institution was amended to emphasize the integrated application of green design and manufacturing. This integration not only enriches the field of mechanical engineering but also provides scientific research directions and methods to educators, along with new ideas to imbibe students with mechanical talents for their technical development. These efforts lay the foundation for the sustainable development of China’s manufacturing industry.

Optimal Pricing and Green Product Design Strategies in a Sustainable Supply Chain Considering Government Subsidy and Different Channel Power Structures

Green product design is a vital measure to support sustainable development in a circular economy era. This paper studies the multi-product pricing and green product design strategies under different supply chain structures and government subsidy strategies. Considering different channel leadership, we establish the centralized (C), manufacturer-led (MS), and retailer-led (RS) supply chain models, respectively. By applying a game-theoretical approach, corresponding equilibrium pricing, green product design, and government subsidy decisions under different supply chain structures are obtained. Through comparison and numerical analysis, we find that: (1) the different subsidy strategies of the government have an important impact on green product development. When the government provides a uniform subsidy strategy, a RS supply chain can bring greener product, more market demands, more profit, and more social welfare; (2) when the government provides a differentiated subsidy strategy, MS and RS supply chain structures can bring greener product and more market demand than the centralized supply chain. They can also bring the same social welfare and the same product to the green design level. However, the MS supply chain structure can bring more profit for the firm; (3) the consumers’ green awareness positively impacts the design and development of green product. Therefore, it is beneficial for the firm to adopt reasonable measures to boost the environmental awareness of consumers in order to realize the sustainable development of our society.

The Use of Green Design Strategies for Achieving Thermal Comfort (Applying PMV as a Measurement Tool)

Improving outdoor thermal comfort is a key parameter in achieving the vitality and functionality of urban spaces. In order to build a thermally comfortable outdoor space, designers must consider suistainable urban, architectural, and landscape design solutions. The main problem is that most of recent developments in Egypt didn’t consider the use of green design strategies which resulted in human outdoor thermal discomfort. In this research, a case study in Egypt, characterised by hot arid climate is used to discuss and quantify the impact of green design strategies on urban microclimate and human sense of thermal comfort. The methodology used is based on Envi-met simulation to measure the four climatic parameters and PMV index. The outcomes indicated that significant enhancement in thermal comfort was achieved with the trees coverage, Where Using the maximum tree coverage showed the best improvement in PMV values with a drop of 2.48 at peak hours when compared to the base case. The results showed that the use of trees is an important strategy to improve the micro-climatic conditions and human thermal comfort in open spaces due to the shading effect as they block out excessive solar radiation.

Design-based natural ventilation cooling potential evaluation for buildings in China

Natural ventilation is generally accepted as an innovative green building design strategy and an effective sustainable option. The purpose of the study is to identify where and when the use of natural ventilation cooling can be considered in the predesign programming stage and conceptual building design stage in China. Quantitative evaluations are valued during these stages because the building form determines, in no small measure, the performance of natural ventilation. An ISO-standardized energy performance calculator incorporating a dedicated controllable ventilation model is then proposed as a “pre-evaluation” tool before the design performance modelling stage. Six scenarios in 100 cities under five standards are analysed, including hybrid ventilation with a night-purge ventilation strategy and pure natural ventilation with a window opening strategy. The potential is estimated based on weather, relative humidity, target air change rate, fresh air supply mode, building configuration, and set point schedule which considering night and weekend indirect cooling. For an annual hybrid ventilation conditioned building, Kunming is proposed as a top priority for building site selection among 100 cities. During particular seasons, different climate zones show stark cooling effectiveness, and 60–100% of the cooling demands can be satisfied. For a purely natural-ventilated building, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Yunnan-Kweichow Plateau and the east of Inner Mongolian Plateau are recommended. Three of 35 observed cities can be satisfied totally by natural ventilation cooling. The necessary generic provisions in terms of control logic are derived and can be used to guide specific design choices. The findings also provide guidelines for adapting Chinese building codes to raise awareness of natural ventilation options.

Comparison of Green Design Strategies in Five Traditional Malay Houses

The traditional Malay house architecture is undoubtedly one of the ideal green ideal design concepts that can be applied in Malaysian housing development for sustainability. Not only does it have unique features that symbolize national identity, but it is also an important example with various design strategies for habitable space based on local climate and sociocultural aspects. Nowadays, Malaysia’s construction sector has changed due to modernization and being replaced and disintegrated by modern influences. Thus, it erodes the values of the existing green design approaches commonly found in the design of traditional Malay house architecture, that respond well to the local sociocultural and climate conditions. The objective of this study is to identify the green approaches in traditional Malay houses in Malaysia. This study used a qualitative approach, which is a combination of literature studies and site observations. For the site observations approach, it limited to traditional Malay houses from five out of eleven states in Peninsular Malaysia. The investigated traditional Malay houses are from Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Terengganu, and Kelantan. The findings of the study show that the architecture of these traditional Malay houses have many green design strategies which prove the sustainability aspect exist in all investigated traditional Malay houses. Thus, this study lists 22 of typically found green design strategies in traditional Malay houses and it can be used as reference or guideline for designing homes in Malaysia.

Green and stable piezoresistive pressure sensor based on lignin-silver hybrid nanoparticles/polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel

Hydrogel-based piezoresistive sensors have high practical value in many revolutionary applications, such as intelligent and electronic devices. However, with existing hydrogels, it is very difficult to achieve a combination of good mechanical properties, stable conductivity, and simple/green fabrication method. In this study, hybrid organic-inorganic nanoparticles (lignin-silver hybrid nanoparticles, Lig-Ag NPs) were synthesized by using alkaline lignin as the organic component and silver nanoparticle (Ag NPs) as the inorganic component. Interaction between the lignin and Ag NPs leads to the composite of hybrid nanoparticles that not only decreased the release of Ag NPs but also generated dynamically stable semi-quinone radicals in lignin. After compositing with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix, Lig-Ag NPs provided strong sacrificial hydrogen bonds and facilitated the delivery of electronic. Benefiting from these structural features and the pore-forming effect of ammonia (from Lig-Ag NPs solution), the PVA/Lig-Ag NPs hydrogel exhibits outstanding compressibility, pressure sensitivity, and stability of signal response. This study provides a green and simple design strategy for piezoresistive pressure sensors based on nanocomposite hydrogel.

Research on Green Design Strategy of Office Building

Green building design refers to reducing the energy consumption of buildings through the use of energy-saving and environmentally-friendly technologies during the design and construction of buildings. The consumption of water resources and electric energy in office buildings is significantly higher than that of ordinary residential buildings, which has a greater impact on the environment during the construction process. Therefore, the use of green building design in the design of office buildings plays an important role in reducing building energy consumption. This article takes an office building in Chongqing as an example to explain the green optimization design and provide support for subsequent related constructions.

Analysis of daylighting characteristics and optimization of space design dimensions in typical building corridors

Incorporating sufficient daylight is an effective and green design strategy to improve visual comfort, energy-efficiency and sustainable building developments. However, there are more artificial lighting consumption, more cooling load and less visual comfort in internal corridors of most buildings due to the shortage of daylight. In this paper, three methods comprising questionnaire survey, numerical simulation and field measurement were integrated to study the daylighting characteristics and the critical length of the corridor with an end window or an open room in daylighting design. It began with a questionnaire survey to understand the subjective perception of the building’s users on the lighting status, daylighting importance and daylighting preference in the internal corridor. Then the daylighting performance of the building corridors with the end window and the open room was simulated by Ecotect, and the analysis of the simulation data was performed through SPSS. Two models were developed for predicting the daylighting critical length of the corridors. Furthermore, a comparison of the field measurement data and the predicted results was carried out to validate the models. The results indicated that the developed models have the better accuracy and can be referred to as a guide for the initial daylighting design of buildings.

Can Green Building Promote Pro-Environmental Behaviours? The Psychological Model and Design Strategy

A green building has a long lasting benefit through cultivating the occupants’ energy and resource-saving behaviours. To understand how green buildings can cultivate occupants’ pro-environment behaviours, the research applied the value–belief–norm model to investigate 17 pro-environmental behaviours which are related to a variety of green building design strategies. Two green and two non-green certified office buildings in the city of Shenzhen in China were surveyed, based on which structural equation modelling was established to confirm the relationship between personal values, environmental beliefs and norms that lead to pro-environment behaviours. Green and non-green building occupants showed significant differences in altruistic values, environmental awareness, personal norms, and pro-environmental behaviours. Green building users had more frequent pro-environmental behaviours than those in non-green buildings. The strategies that require fewer additional efforts were more likely to be adopted as pro-environmental behaviours, such as meeting daily needs within walking distance and adjusting sunshades, while the strategies that need extra physical efforts (taking stairs) or knowledge (garbage sorting) were less likely to be adopted as pro-environmental behaviours. This study pointed out important intervention opportunities and discussed the possible design implications for green building guidelines and programmes to cultivate green occupants and their corresponding pro-environmental behaviours.

Green design strategies of competing manufacturers in a sustainable supply chain

In view of the intensive green product design race in manufacturing industry, we construct Stackelberg models (NMG, OMG, and TMG models) to study the green design competition between two manufacturers with one common retailer. Using analytical and numerical studies, we examine impacts of relevant parameters on optimal decisions and profit of supply chain members, and explore manufacturers’ green design strategy adoption and pricing strategy of supply chain members. Our results show that the ratio of green design’s depressing effect on rival’s demand over stimulating effect on own demand plays an important role. When it is sufficiently large, the prices of non-green product and profit of manufacturers can be counter-intuitively stimulated by green design cost parameter, and depressed by green design’s stimulating effect on own demand. A non-green manufacturer facing a non-green rival will not turn green only when he is much weaker than the rival in terms of market potential, and the adoption of green design is rather easy and has a large ratio between its two effects on demand. Also, a non-green manufacturer facing a green rival can benefit from strategically not adopting green design when demand stimulation is small. The retailer is most likely to be in favor of both manufacturers’ adoption. When a non-green manufacturer turns green, he will always adopt a higher wholesale pricing strategy. The other manufacturer fine tunes wholesale price hinging on the ratio between green design’s two effects on demand. The retailer follows suit when adjusting the retail prices.

Study on the design strategy of prefabricated steel structure green farm house in cold areas——taking a farm house design practice in shandong, china as an example

With the vigorous promotion of the development and construction of “beautiful countryside” in China, the irrationality of the functional space of rural farmhouses and the energy conservation and consumption reduction of farmhouses have become urgent problems. In this paper, the design practice of a green agricultural house with prefabricated steel structure in Shandong province was taken as an example. Based on a variety of factors such as environmental characteristics, regional characteristics, and technical conditions, design and application research were conducted from the aspects of building shape and functional space design, appropriate green building technology. What’s more, the energy consumption simulation software was used for its quantitative analysis of energy saving effects and indoor temperature, and a green farm house design strategy adapted to the characteristics of cold climate, regional characteristics, and future development trends was discussed, which was intended to provide a technical reference for the construction of beautiful countryside.

Research on 3R Design of Straw Woven Living Products based on Green Design Concept

Explore the 3R design strategy of straw woven living products from the perspective of green design. By analyzing the characteristics of traditional straw weaving technology, based on the principles of reduction, reuse and recyclability of 3R design, the green design strategy of straw woven living products is put forward, and the product development and life cycle are divided into design stage, use stage and abandoned stage, and the ideas of reduction, reuse and recycling and the implementation strategies of each link are put forward. Traditional straw weaving technology conforms to the idea of green design. The introduction of the 3R design strategy not only opens up the development path for the contemporary inheritance of traditional straw weaving technology, but also provides ideas for the realization of the green design of modern living products. The integration of straw weaving technology and 3R design will have important practical significance for cultural heritage, product development, resource conservation and environmental protection.

Analysis of correlations between neighborhood-level vulnerability to climate change and protective green building design strategies: A spatial and ecological analysis

BackgroundThe health effects associated with extreme weather events are highly localized, because key characteristics of the built environment and the resident population change from one neighborhood to the next. Green building programs such as LEED incorporate design strategies that, if applied proactively, could enhance community resilience and public health by reducing the adverse effects of climatic events, particularly in vulnerable neighborhoods. MethodsThis exploratory spatial and ecological analysis assessed the spatial correlation between protective green building strategies and neighborhood-level vulnerability to two climatic events — extreme heat and flooding — in Austin, TX, and Chicago, IL, from 2001 to 2012. ResultsIn both locations, the frequency analysis found far fewer occurrences of LEED certified projects in neighborhoods with high densities of vulnerable populations. The hot spot and spatial autocorrelation analyses found no spatial correlation between clusters of protective green building strategies and clusters of vulnerable populations. ConclusionsGreen building projects were not used in Austin or Chicago from 2001 to 2012 as a tool to reduce neighborhood vulnerability to the health and environmental effects of two high-risk climatic events: extreme heat and flooding. However, green building design, construction, and operations and maintenance projects could use local vulnerability maps and spatial analysis techniques to support decisions prioritizing strategies that simultaneously reduce GHG emissions and protect building occupants from exposure to climatic events. Similarly, local policymakers could use spatial analysis to prioritize protective built environment policies in the neighborhoods where they would do the most good.

Green Design Strategy of Village and Town Residential Buildings under the Background of New Urbanization

Under the strategy of rural revitalization, how to promote the green development of village and township housing by taking the new road of urbanization development. On the basis of reviewing the status quo, Xue family of Lishuishan Village in Nanjing is taken as an example, the paper analyzes the green renewal design strategy of village and town housing from the three aspects of planning layout, single building design, energy saving and environmental protection. And this paper puts forward countermeasures and suggestions for the green planning and construction of villages and towns under the background of new urbanization.

Implementation of Green Design Strategies by Architects in Southwest Nigeria

In proposing new structures and renovating existing ones around the globe, environmental impact is becoming a major consideration. Among architecture professionals and other stakeholders in the building industry in Nigeria and globally, it is also becoming a major discussion topic. This has therefore brought about a need for a compromise between quality buildings and environmental responsibility. One important way of achieving this compromise is the use of green design strategies which seek to reduce the negative impacts buildings have on the natural environment and the health of the building occupants, while also being economically responsible. This study aims to investigate the level of implementation of green design strategies by practising professional architects in southwest Nigeria, identifying areas for further improvement. The methodology employed centres around the pragmatic research philosophy that uses a mixed method research approach to gather and analyze data. Data collection was carried out by textual analysis of relevant literature and the use of structured questionnaires to collect data from 60 respondents made up of practising professional architects in southwest Nigeria. Qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis, while the quantitative data was put through inferential statistical analysis. The result is presented using a descriptive approach. The study identified various green design strategies for achieving environmental sustainability in the study area. The study also found that a high level of awareness of environmental sustainability concepts exists among practising architects in the study area and provided appropriate recommendations for encouraging the implementation of green design strategies in Nigeria.

Analysis of Urban Design Methods Based on Eco-City Green Blocks

After entering the 21st century, the contradiction between urban construction development and the number, society, nature, environment and resources has become increasingly prominent. Building an ecological city has become a fundamental method for contradictions, and it is also a core issue of common concern in today’s society. The current urban ecological design must combine nature and adapt to natural development. The green block city design is the inevitable outcome of this trend. Based on this theory, the paper analyzes the current problems of eco-city, explores the timeliness of future eco-city planning, and proposes green street design strategies adapted to different ecological environments from climate, land, vegetation, water resources, etc., trying to make up for the current ecology. The inadequacies in urban planning and design are expected to build a scientific and effective green block planning system.