High-rise Office Buildings Research Articles

Characterization and energy performance of flexible photochromic window films

Windows are considered the weakest components in the building envelope, driven by their low thermal resistance and static transmittance to solar gains. Consequently, innovative coatings are often proposed to promote energy saving performance of windows. This article investigates several flexible photochromic window films capable of reversibly modulating solar gains based on the abundance of ultraviolet radiation. The peel-and-stick films are applied to the internal glazing surface, making them suitable for window retrofits without interrupting building occupancy. The optical properties of the photochromic films are experimentally characterized at various solar radiation intensities. The results are then used to numerically evaluate the energy-saving potential of the different films for a representative room in a high-rise office building located in Tokyo’s warm climate. The results of the experimental and numerical investigations are discussed to show the potential of photochromic films for window-retrofit applications.

Daylighting Performance of Integrated Venetian Blinds with Horizontal Light Pipe System for Deep Plan High-Rise Office in Tropical Climate

A substantial amount of daylight is received by tropical countries like Malaysia. There are advantages and disadvantages to using this renewable resource in a high-rise office building. Such buildings' deep plan spaces make it difficult to create a uniform daylight distribution across the space. A solution for this issue is the usage of an integrated Venetian blind (VB) with a horizontal light pipe (LP). Using an overcast and intermediate sky in South orientation, seven (7) distinct types of VB angle configurations were simulated using the Integrated Environment Solution Virtual Environment (IESVE) to evaluate how well they performed in daylight with an integrated LP. The findings demonstrated that the daylight uniformity throughout the room was improved by the integration of the VB and LP systems. When compared to a room with only a LP installed, VB with 0o and -15o angles had the best performance. The combination of LP and VB allowed for the shading of the front portion of the space and at the same time, illuminating the rear portion of the space. The results of this study encourage building designers to utilise the integrated VB and LP in the deep open-plan high-rise office building and reduce the use of non-renewable energy resources.

Inter-building effect on building energy consumption in high-density city contexts

Inter-building effect (IBE), which refers to the shading effect from surrounding buildings, plays an important role in building energy use in high-density cities. However, it is customary to neglect the IBE during energy simulation. Four issues are observed on previous research: 1) it has been controversial whether the IBE significantly affects energy consumption, 2) most studies used low-rise or medium-rise residential buildings as references, 3) most studies were conducted with hypothesised buildings, 4) most studies did not consider window blinds effect on IBE. These issues inhibit the theoretical understanding of high-rise building energy performance in cities and jeopardise the achievement of accurate simulation. This paper thus aims to investigate the IBE on the energy use of high-rise office buildings in Hong Kong as a typical high-density city. The IBE of ten selected real-life office buildings in their real-life communities was analysed. Four scenarios were compared, namely, simulation of building with both IBE and window blinds (base case), simulation of building with IBE but no window blinds, simulation of isolated building with window blinds, and simulation of isolated building without window blinds. The results show that the IBE influences the total energy use by up to 13.1%. Compared with the base case, heating, ventilation, air-conditioning (HVAC) and the lighting consumption deviation with different scenarios fluctuated largely, ranging from −11.8% to 18.8% in HVAC consumption, and from 0.1% to −27.6% in lighting consumption. An offset effect was found between the decreased lighting consumption and the increased HVAC consumption. From the floor-level analysis, with real communities, lighting energy use decreased with height among all the buildings generally. A multi-variant regression model was established to evaluate the relationship between IBE variables and building energy deviation caused by IBE. In addition, the results conclude that shading blinds cannot be overlooked when examining IBE on building energy use. These findings reveal the importance of considering IBE on building energy consumption in high-density contexts on a case-by-case basis.

Research on Test Method for Low Altitude Wireless Network Signal

Objective: In recent years, with the large-scale construction of large venues, high-rise office buildings, residential quarters, and the development of networked UAV, the demand and complaints of users for air network coverage are increasing. The existing road test instruments are designed for ground coverage based on the mobile app and PC software, which is not suitable for low altitude signals. In order to shorten the test cycle of low altitude network signal and improve the test efficiency, a new low altitude network signal test method is proposed, and a test system suitable for low altitude network signal coverage and quality detection is developed. Methods: The present study investigated a system that uses airborne measuring instrument to complete data acquisition, and returns real-time data to the processing cloud platform through 5g cellular network. The signal quality and capacity of low altitude network are detected on the cloud platform. Results: The test results show that the proposed method and the developed airborne measuring instrument can complete the low altitude network signal test work and effectively improve the test efficiency. Conclusion: The research on test method for low altitude wireless network signal plays an important role in the optimization of low altitude network and fine management of tower base station information.

Climate adaptation of design scheme for energy-conserving high-rise buildings—Comparative study of achieving building sustainability in different climate scenarios

Given the climate-sensitive interactions between buildings and the immediate environment, an insight into the impact of design parameters on building energy performance under specific climate environments is crucial for the sustainable development of green buildings. The following study imparts a distinctive view of the performance-based effect of architectural and engineering design parameters on high-rise office buildings by exploiting the advantages of climatic features in different climate environments. Therewith, the study identifies and compares the major sensitive design parameters on the energy performance of high-rise buildings in different climate contexts. Furthermore, the most applicable passive strategies to attaining stipulated building sustainability criteria are established. The results indicate that the energy performance in a certain climate environment is highly sensitive to the design characteristics, such as plan ratio, core position and atrium effect. In a cold climate environment, a high-rise building with a rectangular building plan (plan ratio = 1:1.44, with vertical split-core in the absence of an atrium), satisfies the Passivhaus engineering criteria on air-tightness and fabric insulation; and adopts double-glass curtain walls, presented the best energy performance. Whereas, a square building plan (with vertical split-core and no atrium) that complies with the air-tightness and fabric insulation criteria under Passivhaus engineering standards, minimizes east- and west-bound window exposures, and adopts double-glass curtain walls exhibited the best energy performance in the hot climate zone. However, it requires renewable energy systems as an additional energy source to attain the stipulated building sustainability criteria.

Energy Efficiency in High-rise Office Buildings: An Appraisal of its Adoption in Lagos, Nigeria

High-rise office buildings are naturally energy-intensive as energy is required in large quantities to run modern building services and to power equipment needed for a hitch-free operation of the buildings. It was found in studied literature that maintaining good indoor environmental quality through air-conditioning, lighting and powering of office equipment contribute the most to an office building’s total energy consumption. Hence, over time, various strategies have been employed to reduce the intense energy demand in high-rise office buildings. This paper adopted the use of both literature review and case study methods. The paper identifies the key energy efficiency strategies that have been successfully deployed in high-rise office buildings using the literature review approach. Also, case studies were conducted on three relatively new high-rise office buildings in Lagos, Nigeria by evaluating them against the background of the best practices in energy efficiency. The study found that deployment of energy efficiency strategies in high-rise office buildings in the study area is still very low especially in the areas of building orientation, building envelope design and the use of renewable energy. However, the use of day-lighting techniques and sustainable lighting systems are quite prominent in the office buildings studied. The study underscores the need to make high-rise office buildings more sustainable through energy efficiency strategies across the whole building life cycle of design, construction, use and end of life.

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GREENHOUSE GASES Reactions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail C&EN, 2022, 100 (28), p 4August 15, 2022Cite this:C&EN 100, 28, 4Letters to the editorClimate benefits of remote workIt seems that this is such a mundane topic, but during the pandemic, data showed that carbon dioxide levels were reduced significantly because there were fewer people on the road. As the pandemic expanded, the workplace continued to include those working at home. The Zoom tool showed itself as the model to work remotely. Eliminating high-rise office buildings and urban office environments appears to be relevant in the global business environment. It seems to me the logic shows that if people stay home and work from home, their CO2 footprint will be smaller. The CO2 reduction during the pandemic was so significant that it should be taken as a signal to change the way we do business.The American Chemical Society should encourage remote work space and reduced urban work spaces in favor of working at home. ACS policy should support enterprise stewardship in encouraging remote working to passively reduce CO2 emissions.Martha DibbleePortland, OregonACS members’ contributions to glyphosate researchGlyphosate has been the subject of one American Chemical Society Division of Agrochemicals (AGRO) symposium (2016), put together by Stephen O. Duke. Although the presentations were never published in an ACS Symposium Series, the participants contributed to a special issue of Pest Management Science published in 2018 ( DOI: 10.1002/ps.4902). As editor of ACS Symposium Series volume 1099 and member of the Editorial Board of Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (RECT), I contacted Dr. Duke and requested he organize RECT volume 255 using presentations from the ACS AGRO symposium on glyphosate. The editor of RECT asked me to edit volume 255 on glyphosate. The volume includes four chapters: “Glyphosate Uses Other than in Glyphosate-Resistant Crops, Mode of Action, Degradation in Plants, and Effects on Non-target Plants and Agricultural Microbes,” “History and Outlook for Glyphosate-Resistant Crops,” “Evaluation of Glyphosate-Resistant Weeds,” and “Ecotoxicology of Glyphosate, Its Formulants, and Environmental Degradation Products.” Table i of the last chapter reviews key publications on the carcinogenicity of glyphosate.I believe RECT 255 should be mentioned in C&EN’s recent article on glyphosate (June 27, 2022, page 15), as it represents the work of ACS AGRO members and their contributions to herbicide chemistry.James B. KnaakFort Myers, Florida

Field measurement and numerical investigation of natural cross-ventilation in high-rise buildings; Thermal comfort analysis

The importance of climate change mitigation and energy efficiency as a growing global concern has intensified the development of techniques to reach and improve thermal comfort and energy efficiency of buildings. The study of the effect of the height of the openings on the internal natural airflow in one-story buildings can be found in many studies; However, studies on the effect of this important factor on providing thermal comfort in high-rise buildings equipped with DSF are not available. This paper focuses on natural-ventilated buildings based on wind-driven and buoyancy-driven forces. The aim of this study is to use passive strategies in high-rise office buildings in hot and dry climates. In this research, two methods of field studies and numerical modeling have been used in order to provide accurate results. In order to achieve optimal patterns in the design of natural-ventilated buildings; CFD simulation and PMV thermal comfort index have been used in the evaluation of various configurations. The results of the present study show that although the cooling energy demand in high-rise buildings in hot climates is high and the use of natural ventilation systems is beneficial, but these systems alone are not able to provide thermal comfort conditions. However, the accurate and correct location of the openings is effective in improving thermal comfort by increasing the volume flow.

Daylighting Performance of Integrated Light Shelf with Horizontal Light Pipe System for Deep Plan High-Rise Office in Tropical Climate

Tropical countries such as Malaysia receives a significant amount of daylight. The utilisation of this renewable resource in a high-rise office building leads to opportunities and challenges. Deep plan spaces in such buildings provide challenges to create a uniform daylight distribution across the room. An integrated light shelf (LS) with horizontal light pipe (LP) offers a solution to cater to this problem. Seven (7) different types of LS angle configurations were simulated through Integrated Environment Solution Virtual Environment to assess their daylight performance with integrated LP using overcast and intermediate sky with four orientations. The results showed that the integration of LS to LP improved the daylight uniformity across the room. LS5 with an angle of -15° performed best when compared to a room with only LP installed for all the design days and orientations. The integration of LP and LS5 was able to shade the front portion of the room while providing illumination at the rear spaces. The findings of this study promote the use of integrated LS and LP in deep open-plan high-rise office buildings for building designers.

High rise office building makeovers—Exploiting architectural and engineering factors in designing sustainable buildings in different climate zones

The high rate of urban densification has facilitated the vertical expansion of cities, with 75% of high-rise buildings designated as office buildings. To promote building energy conservation, management and sustainability, it is essential to establish during the design phase the major impactful elements on the building energy performance. Hence, this study investigates the performance-based effect of architectural and engineering elements of high-rise office buildings in different climate environments. Thereafter, the most sustainable building model was developed using the assessment results obtained from exploiting the advantages of the climate features. The results demonstrate that the building performance varies with its characteristics such as plan ratio, core position and atrium effect under different climates. While a rectangular building plan (1:1.44 plan ratio, split-core position and central atrium) presented the best performance in the warm-summer-cold-winter (WSCW) climate zone, a square building plan (with a split core and no atrium) displayed the best performance in the hot-summer-mild-winter (HSMW) climate zone. Furthermore, by exploiting the advantages of the building and climate characteristics, a mix of passive strategies was established to be suitable for attaining sustainability and comfort standards in the WSCW zone. Contrarily, active strategies are required for buildings in the HSMW zone.

The Use of Double-Skin Façades to Improve the Energy Consumption of High-Rise Office Buildings in a Mediterranean Climate (Csa)

Engineers use double-skin façades (DSF) to lower the energy consumption of buildings as they can potentially control incoming wind speeds and the amount of solar heat gain. The purpose of this present study was to (1) evaluate the use of DSFs, (2) its efficacy in improving the energy performance of high-rise office buildings in the hot, dry summer climate of the Mediterranean, and (3) to develop an optimum DSF model for this climate based on industry standards and recommendations for high-performance DSF parameters. In order to determine the efficiency of DSFs, two distinct variables, building orientation and the number of DSFs used, were taken into consideration. This study adopted an experimental (generate and test) research design and used Autodesk® Ecotect® Analysis software to develop computer simulations with which to assess 15 single façades, juxtaposed façades, three façades, and four façades on cardinal orientations. The recorded energy consumption and savings were then compared with that of the reference model. The results indicated that the three DSF model, i.e., the S14 model, reduced energy consumption during heating by 28% and by 53.5% when cooling a high-rise office building located in the hot, dry summer climate of the Mediterranean (Csa).

Multi-Skin Adaptive Ventilated Facade: A Review

Multi-skin ventilated facades with integrated building elements that respond to climatic conditions (mechanized openings and automatic shading with intelligent control) present the potential of improving overall annual energy savings by adapting the thermal properties of buildings. This paper presents a literature review on multi-skin adaptive ventilated facades. Additionally, this article presents a literature review on building envelopes that contain inner-air layers. The operation modes of the air layer used in building enclosure structures are classified and summarized and the thermal performance and benefits of climate-adaptive facades are discussed and reviewed. The existing operation modes of the air layer used in building envelopes are summarized, outlined and roughly classified into the following types: the enclosed type, the naturally ventilated type and the mechanically ventilated type. One of the sustainable development trends is the investigation and application of energy-efficient climate-adaptive facades. In this study, the energy modeling of a high-rise office building was calculated using the Green Building Studio. The annual energy, the annual CO2 emissions, and life cycle energy for the following three types of facade were estimated: a single-layer facade made of three-layer glass with argon, a double ventilated facade, and a triple ventilated facade with a double chamber. The calculation results show that the annual energy of the building with an adaptive triple-skin facade could be reduced by 15% compared with buildings with a single skin facade.

Performance trade-off in high-rise office building envelope design

Abstract The optimization of high-rise office buildings' envelope and the application of energy-efficient measures have become a priority nowadays. Therefore, this investigation aims to assess the role of the façade's geometry design factors, e.g., folded façade perforation, window orientation, and window-to-wall ratio on building comfort and energy performance. The energy simulations were performed using IDA ICE 4.8 thermal simulation program to evaluate the thermal and visual comfort and the energy consumption of various façade test models. The optimization resulted in a façade model with a great level of thermal and visual comfort as well as a total energy reduction of 14%, representing a good compromise solution in the trade-off between thermal and visual comfort as well as energy efficiency.

Reducing Plastic Waste by Visualizing Marine Consequences

Plastic pollution has become a major global conservation challenge. To reduce the generation of plastic waste, we designed and tested several behavioral interventions in a randomized control trial to reduce plastic waste in a high-rise office building. We randomly assigned eight floors in the building to four conditions: (1) simplified recycling signage, (2) signage with a marine animal trapped in plastic debris, (3) signage with a pledge that invited people to be plastic wise to protect ocean life, and (4) control. We found that the signage with the animal reduced plastic waste by 17%, the largest effect among the other conditions. After implementing the signage to the entire building, we found an overall reduction in plastic waste over 6 weeks. The current study demonstrates the effectiveness of visualizing marine consequences of plastic waste and provides a behavioral solution connecting disposal actions and the downstream consequences for plastic waste reduction.

Simulation-supported design of high-rise office building envelope

Abstract The reduction of energy consumption is a major issue nowadays that should be considered during the design process. High-rise buildings represent a building type with significantly high energy consumption. They serve typically as offices with fully glazed façades, generating considerable energy demand. This study aims to optimize the envelope and the shading systems of a high-rise office building (Middle Europe). For this purpose, multiple façade variants were tested by assessing the thermal and visual comfort, as well as energy demand. The IDA ICE 4.8 building energy simulation program was used for thermal and lighting modeling and to carry out building physics calculations. Results revealed the best performing, optimized façade configuration in terms of comfort and energy efficiency.

A Building Energy-Saving Method of Small High-Rise Office Building Based on BIM Model

Building green energy-saving is an important area of current architectural application research. Artificial intelligence algorithm can effectively improve the design of building energy-saving digital, intelligent level. Therefore, this paper proposes the use of BIM model based on genetic algorithms to optimize the application of building energy conservation research. In this paper, the basic structure of genetic algorithm and advantages and disadvantages of the algorithm are described. According to the need of optimal design of building energy-saving integration, multiobjective optimization function is introduced and a multiobjective optimization genetic algorithm is established to improve the prediction effect of building energy efficiency model. Finally, results of analysis of some of the influencing factors and the simulation test of building energy-saving integrated optimization algorithm in small high-rise office building show that the improved genetic algorithm can effectively improve the effect of energy-saving integrated optimization and has good application prospects.

Impact of Building Integrated Photovoltaics on High Rise Office Building in the Mediterranean

Impact of Building Integrated Photovoltaics on High Rise Office Building in the Mediterranean

A techno-economical study of a solar-assisted under-floor air distribution system for buildings in the tropics

Malaysia solar irradiation’s climates located at 3°08′N 101°42′E have been studied as a representative of tropical climates in the present work. The feasibility of a solar-assisted under-floor air distribution system was studied comprehensively in Malaysian weather. Based on the study of cost and payback period calculation of the solar photovoltaic under-floor air distribution system, the payback periods for 1 kW and 5 kW solar photovoltaic under-floor air distribution systems are 10.6 years and 8.3 years, respectively. The return on investments in 21 years for 1 kW and 5 kW is 3.13% and 4.3% respectively for the solar photovoltaic systems. The investment of the solar photovoltaic system on the under-floor air distribution system is reasonable from the economic aspect as the annual return on investment for the 1 kW of solar PV system is 3.13%, while the 5 kW of solar PV system is 4.30%. However, the 5 kW solar photovoltaic system needs a space of about 49 m2 for solar panels, and it can only supply for one AHU as revealed in the present study. Thus, the finding suggests that space is a major concern when it comes to the application on high rise office buildings where space is limited.

동절기 고층건물에서 연돌효과로 인해 발생하는 엘리베이터문을 통한 기류 유입 및 외피를 통한 침기 저감을 위한 공조가압방안의 적용

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate optimization of mechanical pressurization using HVAC system to reduce airflow outflow of elevator doors and infiltration through envelopes due to stack effect in high-rise buildings in winter Method: For this study, air leakage rate into office room through elevator door and building envelope in a high-rise office building were calculated through simulations in several pressurized and de-pressurized conditions. With a network simulation model(CONTAM 3.1), the effect of pressurization/de-pressurization positions was evaluated. As results of simulations, the pressurization method with differential pressurized air volume from the top floor to the final pressurized floor was concluded as the best solution to reduce the pressure difference across the elevator doors. Result: As a result of applying the differential pressurization method for each floor, the amount of inflow of indoor air flow through the elevator door before and after pressurization was reduced by 77% and the amount of infiltration through the skin by 92% under the design outdoor air condition in winter. However, it was found that the amount of additional outdoor air introduced through the air conditioner increased by 39% compared to the previous one, resulting in an increase in the cost of air conditioning heating energy.

Design Optimisation of Fixed and Adaptive Shading Devices on Four Façade Orientations of a High-Rise Office Building in the Tropics

Optimisation of shading devices in buildings is a broadly investigated topic; however, most studies only focus on a single façade orientation, since the observed buildings are typically located in high latitude regions. However, in tropical regions, optimisation of all façade orientations is required due to the relatively high solar radiation and long sunshine duration. While adaptive shading devices are a promising solution, they are not without disadvantages, and as such a combination of adaptive shading devices and a fixed shading device shall be considered. This research therefore aims to design the optimum internal shading devices on four façade orientations of a high-rise office building in a tropical city, considering fixed and adaptive shading design options, and to determine the impact on annual daylight performance using computational modelling and simulation. The simulation is carried out under: (1) fixed design option, focusing on the numbers and width of slats; and (2) adaptive design option, focusing on the slat angle on various conditions. It is found that both sDA300/50% and ASE1000,250 are only influenced by the orientation. Under the fixed design option, the sDA300/50% and ASE1000,250 targets can be achieved only on the north and south façades, and accordingly the adaptive design option shall be implemented on the east and west façades. Overall, this study contributes to knowledge regarding the optimisation of shading devices in high-rise buildings in the tropics, considering the daylight admission from the four cardinal orientations.