Retrofit Projects Research Articles

Monroe County, Florida A Case Study in Sustainable Energy Management

ABSTRACTMonroe County, FL, includes the Florida Keys and a small portion of the Everglades. Due to its vulnerable location and low-lying islands, the county is aggressively pursuing sustainability initiatives to combat the adverse impacts of climate change. For example, the county obtained grant money from the state of Florida's energy office which was used to fund a very successful energy retrofit project at their “Jackson Square” government facilities in Key West. HDR Engineering, Inc., served as the engineer of record and provided services including an energy audit, bid package development, construction support and development and execution of a measurement and verification plan.This article provides information on the project with an emphasis on how the project team used, and continues to use, elements of the Plan-Do-Check-Act continuous improvement cycle, found in ISO 50001:2011 Energy Management Systems. Example elements include an energy review and baseline development, identification of significan...

기존말뚝과 보강말뚝의 하중분담 특성에 관한 실험적 연구

최근 공동주택 수직증축 리모델링 사업 등 기초구조물을 보강하기 위한 기술적 수요가 증가하고 있다. 본 논문에서는 기존 구조물을 지지하는 기존말뚝에 보강말뚝을 추가로 설치할 경우 추가하중에 의한 기존말뚝과 보강말뚝의 하중분담 특성을 연구하였다. 정사각형의 기초판에 설치된 기존말뚝 4본에 허용하중을 재하한 후, 기초판 중앙에 보강말뚝 1본을 추가로 설치하고 추가하중을 재하하였다. 실험결과로부터 기존말뚝에 재하되는 하중이 허용지지력을 초과한 이후에 기존말뚝과 보강말뚝이 하중을 균등하게 분담하는 것으로 분석되었다. 기존말뚝에 허용하중 재하 후, 허용하중 대비 60 %, 80 %, 100 %까지 제하(unloading)하고, 보강말뚝을 설치한 후 추가하중을 재재하(reloading)하는 실험을 수행하였다. 연구 결과 제하 하중의 양이 증가함에 따라 재재하 시 기존말뚝과 보강말뚝이 하중을 균등하게 분담하는 재재하 하중이 감소하는 경향을 파악하였다. Recently, there are increasing technical needs for foundation retrofit project such as vertical extension of apartment building. This paper focuses on the load distribution characteristics of existing and reinforcing piles when reinforcing pile is installed to the existing foundation. Allowable bearing load was initially applied on the foundation slab supported with four existing piles and then, one reinforcing pile was installed at the center of foundation slab and additional load was applied. The experimental results showed the Load Distribution Ratio (LDR) between existing and reinforcing piles converged after the applied load exceeded allowable bearing capacity of all piles. Laboratory tests were also performed for the cases of 60 %, 80 %, 100 % unloading level of allowable bearing load. After unloading step, one reinforcing pile was installed at the center of foundation slab and additional load was applied. The results showed that reloading load level at which LDR between existing and reinforcing piles converged decreased as the amount of unloading load increased.

Critical factors for waste management in office building retrofit projects in Australia

Office building retrofit is a sector being highlighted in Australia because of the mature office building market characterised by a large proportion of ageing properties. The increasing number of office building retrofit projects strengthens the need for waste management. Retrofit projects possess unique characteristics in comparison to traditional demolition and new builds such as partial operation of buildings, constrained site spaces and limited access to as-build information. Waste management activities in retrofit projects can be influenced by issues that are different from traditional construction and demolition projects. However, previous research on building retrofit projects has not provided an understanding of the critical issues affecting waste management.This research identifies the critical factors which influence the management of waste in office building retrofit projects through a literature study and a questionnaire survey to industry practitioners. Statistical analysis on a range of potential waste issues reveals the critical factors, as agreed upon by survey respondents in consideration of their different professional responsibilities and work natures. The factors are grouped into five dimensions, comprising industry culture, organisational support and incentive, existing building information, design, and project delivery process. The discussions of the dimensions indicate that the waste management factors of office building retrofit projects are further intensified compared to those for general demolition and construction because retrofit projects involve existing buildings which are partially operating with constrained work space and limited building information. Recommendations for improving waste management in office building retrofit projects are generalised such as waste planning, auditing and assessment in the planning and designing stage, collaboration and coordination of various stakeholders and different specialists, optimised building surveying and BIM technologies for waste analysis, and new design strategies for waste prevention.

Exploration of building adaptations and retrofitting challenges in Ghana

Purpose – The Ghanaian banking industry has over the last 20 years witnessed tremendous growth to the extent that rural banks are now expanding their activities into urban centres. Hitherto, rural banks operated in rural and peri-urban areas in Ghana, but nowadays, there is an upsurge of rural banks activities in the urban centres of Ghana; and, they operate from rented premises, most of which are existing buildings in the urban areas. To meet the banking demands and the urban banking competitions such as the introduction of new technologies and regulations, the rural banks endeavour to expand (refurbish) the old/existing buildings with inherent adaptation and retrofitting challenges. Even though, adaptation and retrofit projects may not be popular in Ghana at large scales, this paper through combined methodology of constructive dialogue, case studies and condition survey approaches presents rural banks projects in Ghana as case studies of refurbishment and maintenance to “unearth” and resonate some key challenges of managing adaptation and retrofits in Ghana for future effective projects management solutions during their conception and execution. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Through combined methodology of constructive dialogue, case studies and condition survey approaches this paper presents rural banks projects in Ghana as case studies of refurbishment and maintenance to “unearth” and resonate some key challenges of adaptation and retrofit projects. Findings – The condition survey revealed unprecedented infrastructural drive by rural banks throughout Ghana and their desire to penetrate the urban areas as well. However, this drive unfortunately as it appeared, is not informed and carried out within the confines and dictates of existing legislations in Ghana. Again, it was found that adaptations and retrofitting will improve and integrate the rural banks in the urban economy through prudent project management practices. Research limitations/implications – Availability of local researches and literature on adaptations and retrofitting as project management practices in Ghana. Practical implications – Retrofitting and adaptation projects in Ghana is crucial for project management practices on low-impact building as Ghana faces energy challenges. Social implications – This research brings to bear realistic programme to build capacity of personnel to strategically integrate the rural banks into the central banking system of Ghana as well as project management practices through better and effective monitoring for social, ethical and equity impacts of their project managers. Originality/value – Apparently, adaptation and retrofit projects are not be popular in Ghana at large scales and this is the first time an academic paper of a kind has been written to guide and manage future adaptation and retrofit projects during their conception and execution as well as project management practices in general.

Key challenges of managing building adaptation and retrofit projects

Key challenges of managing building adaptation and retrofit projects

Economic impediments to successful seismic retrofitting decisions

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine why building owners are often reluctant to adopt adequate mitigation measures despite the vulnerability of their buildings to earthquake disasters, by exploring the economic-related barriers to earthquake mitigation decisions.Design/methodology/approach– A case study research method was adopted and interviews chosen as the method of data collection.Findings– Critical economic-related impediments that inhibited seismic retrofitting of earthquake-prone buildings were revealed in this study. Economic-related barriers identified include perception about financial involvement in retrofitting, property market conditions, high insurance premiums and deductibles, and the high cost of retrofitting. The availability of financial incentives such as low interest loans, tax deductibles, the implementation of a risk-based insurance premium scale and promoting increased knowledge and awareness of seismic risks and mitigation measures in the property market place are likely to address the economic-related challenges faced by property owners when undertaking seismic retrofitting projects. The provision of financial incentives specifically for seismic retrofitting should be introduced in policy-implementation programme tailored to local governments’ level of risks exposure and available resources.Practical implications– The recommendations provided in this study suggest strategies and answers to questions aimed at understanding the types of incentives that city councils and environmental hazard managers should focus on in their attempt to ensure that property owners actively participate in earthquake risk mitigation.Originality/value– This paper adopts a holistic perspective for investigating earthquake risk mitigation by examining the opinions of the different stakeholders involved in seismic retrofit decisions.

Case study of integrated decision-making for deep energy-efficient retrofits

Purpose – This paper aims to focus on the decision-making process of integrated system design. Buildings can benefit from different system integration working toward the unified goal of providing the needed conditions and improving the comfort level of occupants. It is important to engage all system needs and priorities in the design by keeping goal into consideration. Even though there is vast potential in the coordination of system design decisions, there is a need to increase the transparency of the decision-making process by developing methods to incorporate multi-dimensional design attributes. Design/methodology/approach – This is achieved by considering all system design priorities with respect to decision attributes, as well as the inter-system inputs based on information and knowledge. Data were collected through interviews, collaboration meetings and design document reviews, which helped to facilitate triangulation. Findings – This paper presents the findings of a case study of deep retrofit design process that seeks to reduce energy consumption through integrated system decisions with several system combinations. In addition, such design decisions highlighted the fact that the values need to be flexible at the system level. Research limitations/implications – This paper presents an in-depth analysis of a single case study. Multiple case studies are being investigated for the future of this research. Practical implications – This paper presents the methods used for integrated design process priorities that will enable design teams to make decisions that lead to improved energy performance in retrofit projects. Originality/value – The case study building in this paper is a showcase building with cutting edge technologies and techniques, as well as a scalable and collaborative design process. It is an example of a best-in-class retrofit process designed through whole building design principles within the target budget. The paper demonstrates system design selection criteria that are embraced by value prioritization.

Debottlenecking of condensate stabilization unit in a gas refinery

The increase in throughput or reduction in the operational costs is the common example of change in production criteria in retrofit projects. In this study, the condensate stabilization unit of a gas refinery, which is one of the most energy consuming units in natural gas refineries, is considered for analysis and retrofitting study. This unit comprises of a two-stage compressor and a side-reboiler associated with the stabilization column that uses HP steam as hot utility. It is shown that by applying the optimum pressure drops method for debottlenecking of this unit, after 20% increase in throughput, utility consumption can be maintained at existing level, if 1554 m2 of additional heat transfer area is installed.

The Application of ACF Inorganic Fibers Wool Board as External Thermal Insulation for Energy-Efficient Retrofit Project

This paper introduces the composition, function, system construction and construction technology of ACF Inorganic Fibers Wool Board External Thermal Insulation System (Abbreviation: ACF System), and also evaluated its properties. Results showed that all the performance indexes of this system meet the requirement of company standard. The good effect has been achieved in its application in energy-efficient retrofit in existing building of Xicheng District, Beijing. It demonstrates that the ACF System not only satisfies the building energy efficiency requirements but also owns a good fire resistance property as a new building fire-resistant insulation system. It possesses a prospect market and extending significance.

A Critical Interpretation and Quantitative Extension of the Sama-Szargut Second Law Rules in an Extended Exergy Perspective

Twenty-five years ago, Gaggioli, Sama and Qian published a series of 10 “second law guidelines” for design and process engineers, nicknamed at that time “the Gaggioli-Sama rules”. These guidelines, some of them previously published by Sama between 1980 and 1983, are a compilation of “second law errors” to avoid in the design of energy conversion systems. The list was rearranged several times, until a revised version containing 21 rules was published by Sama and Szargut in 1995. Ever since, these guidelines came to be known as “the Sama-Szargut rules”. The rules are a series of well-formulated and insightful suggestions that reflect a thermodynamicist’s idea that the “best design” is the one that minimizes the overall irreversibility in a process or plant, under the prescribed technological constraints. Characteristically, the concept of “optimal system” is completely absent, the emphasis being on the extensive inclusion of second law reasoning into design decisions. A critical analysis of the rules would suggest that all of them be routinely implemented both in new designs and most important in retrofit projects. A survey of some of the current most common energy conversion installations shows that, quite on the contrary, most of the rules are disregarded in practical applications. This paper argues that the reason for this incongruency is the neglection in the engineering design decision of the real cost of installation, operation and decommissioning of a plant, and proposes a rephrasing of the rules in an extended exergy perspective: if the production cost, including the externalities, is measured in units of equivalent primary exergy, the Sama-Szargut rules can be directly interpreted in this sense, and abidance by the rules results in the reduction of the resource cost for any given objective.

Retrofit strategy for the site-wide mitigation of CO2 emissions in the process industries

The combustion of fossil fuels for providing heat and power in the process industries is a major contributor of CO2 emissions. Heat integration methods have been widely used for energy-saving retrofit projects to improve the energy efficiency of process plants, reducing fuel consumed and consequently CO2 emissions. It is not straightforward to identify the most appropriate strategy for CO2 emissions reduction, as a wide range of options are available, including fuel switching, reducing energy demand through efficiency improvements, retrofit of heat exchanger networks, etc. The economic impact and design constraints of each option need to be considered. A systematic approach is presented to allow evaluation of trade-offs between the cost of emissions reduction options and the effect on overall CO2 emissions. The approach applies a hierarchical conceptual design procedure. The proposed procedure is applied to a case study to demonstrate how an economic retrofit solution to reducing site-wide CO2 emissions can be systematically developed and evaluated.

Restoration of 1–24 hour dry-bulb temperature gaps for use in building performance monitoring and analysis—Part I

Building energy system retrofit and retro-commissioning projects present tremendous opportunities to save energy. Energy consumption in buildings, especially HVAC systems, is significantly impacted by weather conditions. However, short- or long-term climatic data are frequently missing because of data transmission problems, data quality assurance methods, sensor malfunction, or a host of other reasons. These gaps in climatic data continue to provide challenges for HVAC engineers in monitoring and verifying building energy performance. This article examines eight classical approaches that use Linear interpolation, Lagrange interpolation, and Cubic Spline interpolation techniques, and eleven approaches that use two newly developed methods, i.e., Angle-based interpolation and Corr-based interpolation, to restore up to 24 h of missing dry-bulb temperature data in a time series for use in building performance monitoring and analysis. Eleven one-year hourly data sets are used to evaluate the performance of these 19 different methods. Each method is applied to deal with artificial gaps that are generated randomly. In terms of the difference between estimated values and measured values, two types of comparisons are carried out. The first comparison is conducted with three evaluation indices: MAE, RMSE, and STDBIAS. The second comparison is based on the percentage of the total data that can be estimated by an approach within specific error thresholds, including 1°F (0.56°C), 2°F (1.11°C), 3°F (1.67°C), and 5°F (2.78°C), from measured values. The comparison results show that Linear interpolation performs best when filling 1–2 h gaps, Lagrange interpolation (Lag2L2R) outperforms other methods when gaps are 3–8 h long, and the Corr-based interpolation method (Corr1L1R24Avg) is a better technique for filling 9–24 h gaps. This article presents the first part of the research results through the ASHRAE 1413 research project. The second part of the results focuses on methods to filling long-term dry-bulb temperature gaps.

Integrating requirement analysis and multi-objective optimization for office building energy retrofit strategies

The existing office building stock is a key target for energy retrofits to substantially reduce adverse impacts on the environment, human health, and the economy. Success of an energy retrofit project is tied with the assessment and selection of energy efficiency measures that can satisfy stakeholders’ diverse, and often conflicting requirements. The current study establishes a model-based method to support design teams in making informed multi-criteria decisions for energy-efficiency solutions at the early design stage. The key feature of the hybrid framework is the integration of an analysis procedure carried out by a design team and a numerical procedure of optimization carried out by computer. Such an interaction is necessary as building design and retrofit requires many qualitative aspects that require human judgment. In contrast to previous approaches, this study provides a basis for embedding multi-objective optimization into the decision making on energy retrofit solutions, which considers the important role of stakeholders by carrying out the analysis procedure. An office building in Germany needing an energy retrofit serves as a case study to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed model.

Multi-objective optimization for building retrofit: A model using genetic algorithm and artificial neural network and an application

Retrofitting of existing buildings offers significant opportunities for improving occupants’ comfort and well-being, reducing global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. This is being considered as one of the main approaches to achieve sustainability in the built environment at relatively low cost and high uptake rates. Although a wide range of retrofit technologies is readily available, methods to identify the most suitable set of retrofit actions for particular projects are still a major technical and methodological challenge.This paper presents a multi-objective optimization model using genetic algorithm (GA) and artificial neural network (ANN) to quantitatively assess technology choices in a building retrofit project. This model combines the rapidity of evaluation of ANNs with the optimization power of GAs. A school building is used as a case study to demonstrate the practicability of the proposed approach and highlight potential problems that may arise. The study starts with the individual optimization of objective functions focusing on building's characteristics and performance: energy consumption, retrofit cost, and thermal discomfort hours. Then a multi-objective optimization model is developed to study the interaction between these conflicting objectives and assess their trade-offs.

Silver nanoparticulate enhanced aqueous silane/siloxane exterior facade emulsions and their efficacy against algae and cyanobacteria biofouling

Silver nanoparticulate enhanced aqueous silane/siloxane emulsions and their efficacy against biofouling mechanisms are presented within this study. Different concentrations of silver nanoparticulates were added into viscous shear-thinning aqueous treatments and key attributes required for facade remedial applications assessed. Water repellence, biofouling resistance, and aesthetical alteration were studied to assess key treatment attributes. In addition, assessment of the porosity, sorptivity, and treatment depth was used to identify penetration and facade protection efficacy and morphological alteration of the masonry substrate. Results showed that silver nanoparticulate incorporation did not impede treatment penetration, better water repellent attributes were achieved with increased concentration while effectively conserving the morphology and aesthetics of the substrate. It was concluded that the reduced bioreceptivity observed primarily stemmed from the silver nanoparticulates ability to sanitise the surface, and that only small concentrations (<0.5%wt) were required to attain significantly beneficial improvements. Treatments were deemed practically and commercially viable for retrofit and heritage projects.

A study of the green retrofit industry chain

Existing building area in China is about 46billion m2 accounted for a large proportion of the total building area. Therefore, green retrofit for existing building plays an important role in the development of green building construction. However specialists involved in existing building retrofit projects, such as designers, consultants and all other relevant partners are accustomed to work separately in China. And it has been recognized that this kind of working states have several demerits, thus a exploration of effective working methods allows no delay. This study is to explore such operation modes and combine them into a chain to solve related problems in existing building retrofit projects, along with further analyses in its economical, environmental and social benefits.

Negotiating Green Retrofitting Standards in Danish Urban Renewal :- The Case of Copenhagen

The City of Copenhagen aims to become the first carbon neutral capital in the world by 2025. Ten per cent of the total CO2-reduction target is to be achieved through energy retrofitting of existing buildings in the city. This article reports from an action research study in the urban renewal section in Copenhagen City Council where planners struggle to promote more and better energy retrofitting projects in the urban renewal scheme. The study finds that planners in fact approach green retrofitting as a ‘wicked problem’ that requires new solution strategies targeting the complexity of developing new retrofitting standards and solutions in the existing urban renewal framework. The analysis shows how planners’ strategic responses are challenged by competing worldviews concerning the role of urban renewal and the problems and potentials of green retrofitting in practice.

Virtual Retrofit Model for aging commercial buildings in a smart grid environment

Abstract The economic and environmental benefits of building retrofits have been acknowledged. However, there is a series of barriers that threaten to impede implementing successful retrofit projects such as: lack of funding, lack of interoperability, and unstructured decision making. This paper aims to address these barriers by providing the framework of the Virtual Retrofit Model (VRM), an affordable computational platform that supports streamlined decision making for building retrofit projects. An occupant survey was implemented to identify the primary requirements and perceptions from different types of stakeholders of the buildings. The responses were analyzed to identify the most important criteria of the future retrofit projects to focus on if it were to be renovated in the future. A case study approach was used to describe the outcomes from a year-long demonstration project that has been conducted at an aging commercial building. The research activities focused on integrating theories and technologies of Building Information Modeling (BIM), energy simulation, agent-based modeling, multi-criteria decision support system, and software application that can be employed and adopted in building retrofit projects. The software prototype is designed to connect buildings to a smart grid environment where building energy data should be shared for intelligent decision making.

Improvements to longitudinal Clean Development Mechanism sampling designs for lighting retrofit projects

An improved model for reducing the cost of long-term monitoring in Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) lighting retrofit projects is proposed. Cost-effective longitudinal sampling designs use the minimum numbers of meters required to report yearly savings at the 90% confidence and 10% relative precision level for duration of the project (up to 10years) as stipulated by the CDM. Improvements to the existing model include a new non-linear Compact Fluorescent Lamp population decay model based on the Polish Efficient Lighting Project, and a cumulative sampling function modified to weight samples exponentially by recency. An economic model altering the cost function to a net present value calculation is also incorporated. The search space for such sampling models is investigated and found to be discontinuous and stepped, requiring a heuristic for optimisation; in this case the Genetic Algorithm was used. Assuming an exponential smoothing rate of 0.25, an inflation rate of 6.44%, and an interest rate of 10%, results show that sampling should be more evenly distributed over the study duration than is currently considered optimal, and that the proposed improvements in model accuracy increase monitoring costs by 21.4% in present value terms.

A retrofit framework for Total Site heat recovery systems

Heat Pinch Analysis retrofit projects are typically performed by evaluating and maximising the heat recovery potentials within the individual process units. Once the potential improvements from the individual units have been assessed, the Total Site (TS) Heat Integration analysis is performed. Such approach may steer designers away from the promising retrofit opportunities and to lead towards suboptimal heat exchanger networks (HEN). This paper presents an effective retrofit framework for a TS system to determine the most cost-effective retrofit options and maximise the potential savings. Instead of performing the typical unit-wise process retrofit, the strategy is to determine the baseline total site consumption and benchmark targets, and to identify retrofit options from the TS context. This TS retrofit framework has been tested on a case study involving a petrochemical plant comprising of multiple process sections. The results of the analysis show that significant energy savings can be realised when both direct and indirect heat recovery retrofit options are evaluated. Further energy savings can be achieved via the Plus–Minus Principle that helps pinpoint the correct locations of heat surpluses and deficits and lead to the appropriate TS retrofit solution. As a conclusion, energy retrofit projects should be approached from the TS context, followed by the unit-wise retrofit (i.e., retrofit of the individual process sections).