Sustainable Residential Building Research Articles

Net zero energy analysis and energy conversion of sustainable residential building in Muscat, Oman

The building sector is the predominant consumer of primary energy globally. The building sector accounts for around 40% of global energy production.Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) are highly suggested by energy experts as an effective option to alleviate the strain on primary energy sources caused by the building sector. The disparity between energy performance predictions provided during the design phase and the actual energy performance of residential buildings is mostly attributed to a limited comprehension of the components that influence energy consumption and the constraints of whole building simulation software. The objective of this research was to perform a comparison analysis of the expected and actual energy consumption of a prototype net-zero energy house built at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Muscat. The Hourly Analysis Programme (HAP V4.2) was utilised to forecast the energy consumption of a Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB) at HCT, taking into account the availability of an Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) and the absence of an ERV. The newly built house underwent a one-month testing phase to fulfil many duties according to competition regulations. One of the main goals was to generate on-site energy through photovoltaic panels, producing an amount proportional to the energy consumed by the house. Upon comparing the actual energy consumption data with the simulated result, it was noticed that the actual energy demand of the house was around 20% lower than the prediction made by the simulation tool.

A Sustainable Residential Building Model in North Iraq by Considering Occupant Behaviour, Sociocultural Needs, and the Impact on Energy Use

Sustainable design, which aims to reduce energy consumption and mitigate climate change, is a primary concern of developing countries. Hence, it reduces CO2 emissions. Residential buildings in North Iraq account for approximately 69% of all electricity consumed. To mitigate this issue, this article investigates the design of a sustainable model by considering the local climate, building design occupant behaviour, and sociocultural needs in the region and their impact on energy use. This study used mixed research methods to develop a sustainable single-family house model in semi-arid climates, specifically Erbil (North Iraq), the process consisted of three phases. Phase One saw the collection of all data from analysed literature, observation, worship, case study simulations of the base, and an improved model. Phase Two defined the guidelines for creating sustainable model dwellings based on the main findings in Phase One. Phase Three created a prototype to evaluate the sustainable model, primarily focusing on meeting people’s design preferences while avoiding privacy concerns. In addition, DesignBuilder Software simulation was used to examine the impact of occupancy behaviour (based on local culture and traditions) on the building’s energy performance throughout two phases. In the first step, three occupancy profile types are compared with real-life study bills. These profiles were the base case, which came from an actual case; the statistical profile from surveys; and the international standard ASHRAE 90.1, which was used as the default. The second phase compared the base model with an improved model and developed a sustainable prototype that satisfies local climate and sociocultural needs. The result indicated that the standard occupant profile significantly differs from the actual bill by 40%, whereas the statistical profile and base case reduce the gap to 11% and 4%, respectively. The sustainable prototype model can enhance operative temperature by 4 °C and decrease total energy use by 50% compared to the base case model. Data also showed that occupants keep lights on even when rooms are unoccupied. Therefore, when designing sustainable dwellings, it is crucial to consider occupant behaviour and their sociocultural needs, as they have a significant impact on energy use as a result of their activity patterns and schedules. These factors should be considered in the local code.

Introducing a novel method for simulating stochastic movement and occupancy in residential spaces using time-use survey data

In the context of growing concerns over energy consumption and sustainability, accurate modelling of occupancy patterns within residential buildings is critical. In this study, a novel stochastic occupancy model is introduced for simulating human behaviour within residential buildings by employing Time Use Survey (TUS) data and utilising Markov chains and probabilistic sampling algorithms. The novelty of this research lies in its approach to represent the dynamic nature of occupancy across different functional spaces and age groups, a gap not yet adequately addressed in existing studies. The model's accuracy is ascertained through ten-fold cross-validation, achieving an average R2 value of 0.91 across key functional rooms (bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room), indicating a high degree of precision. Applied to a case study of a two-story detached house in the UK, the model effectively reflects varied behaviour patterns and room occupancy among different age groups. For instance, the average daily appliance energy consumption for occupants aged 8–14 ranged from 0 to 3.77 kWh (median 1.71 kWh), for ages 15–64 from 0 to 4.93 kWh (median 2.61 kWh), and for over 65 from 0.87 to 5.65 kWh (median 3.60 kWh). This model, with its scalability and accuracy in capturing the inherent randomness of human behaviour, is a valuable tool for improving energy consumption simulations and contributing to sustainable residential building design and management.

Analysis of Three Generations of Recycled Concrete: an Approach Using LCA and Weighted Sum Model

This extensive study conducted a thorough life cycle assessment of a closed-loop of recycling concrete by considering six vital criteria encompassing technical aspects (short and long-term compressive strength), environmental concerns (impacts on human health, ecosystem quality, climate change, and resource usage), and economic considerations (cost). To comprehensively assess these criteria, one potent multi-criteria decision-making technique, namely the weighted sum model (WSM) expertly employed. Two diverse weighting methodologies were utilized, the equal performance method, and the entropy method, to optimize for a range of construction applications, with a particular focus on sustainable residential buildings and housing. The results derived from this study showed that reusing concrete as a third generation of recycled concrete with 20% fly ash and 12% silica fume not only reduced costs by approximately 15% but also significantly mitigated the overall environmental impact, achieving a remarkable reduction of up to 38.5%, While reaching superior strength to the first and second generations at 28, 90, and 180 days of testing.

Predicting and Optimizing the Energy Efficiency of Sustainable Residential Buildings Using Machine Learning Method

Predicting and Optimizing the Energy Efficiency of Sustainable Residential Buildings Using Machine Learning Method

A multi-criteria evaluation and stationary analysis of value management implementation barriers for sustainable residential building projects

Over the past 20 years, value management (VM) has become a well-established technique, while in underdeveloped countries; informal methods are used for VM-related activities. This study aims to examine the barriers to VM deployment. These barriers are categorized into environment and culture, workshop dynamics, knowledge and stakeholders and standardization. A review of prior research is conducted to identify these barriers, which are further categorized through a semi-structured interview. The significance of these barriers is determined through 335 structured surveys with building specialists. The four categories of barriers are then assessed using fuzzy synthetic evaluation and weighted aggregated sum product assessment—technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution methods. In addition, a stationary method is used to evaluate the incorporation of VM barriers into residential projects. According to the findings, the most significant category of barriers that hinder the widespread use of VM is knowledge and stakeholders. Among these categories, the most influential barriers that constrain the VM implementation are workshop decision-maker participation issues. This research provides a roadmap for effective VM adoption in developing countries by helping stakeholders in the residential building industry understand VM barriers and leverage them to enhance the value of their projects.

Study on innovative residential buildings concept for economically weaker sections

Every day, more buildings are incorporating sustainable architectural principles, but it is crucial that these principles remain accessible to low-income families. The primary objective of this project is to design a sustainable residential building, specifically a single storey structure, to accommodate four individuals from the economically backward section of society. The proposed design emphasizes the use of environmentally friendly materials and strives to achieve high energy efficiency by considering the natural environment of the site and minimizing both operational and embodied energy. In order to enhance the indoor environment quality and minimize the negative impacts of cement and steel, this design prioritizes the surrounding natural environment. Additionally, a life cycle assessment was performed to determine the building’s design life. Key sustainable building parameters, such as daylighting and ventilation, have been incorporated into the design to reduce operational energy consumption. Furthermore, a cost analysis was conducted to compare the proposed design with conventional construction methods. The results indicated that the proposed design not only boasts a lower cost but also integrates the use of environmentally friendly materials, aligning with sustainable objectives.

From Technological Sustainability to Social Sustainability: An Analysis of Hotspots and Trends in Residential Design Evaluation

Residential design should not only meet the growing demand for habitation but also reduce the negative impact on the natural environment. Therefore, the sustainability of residential buildings has become increasingly important in residential design evaluation. Taking the core database of the Web of Science platform as its source of information, this paper uses bibliometrics to visually analyze the current research status of residential design evaluation and its development trends, as well as hotspots of research from the perspectives of the annual distribution of publications, research fields and institutions, keywords, and highly cited articles. The results demonstrate the following: the number of publications on residential design evaluation has shown an overall upward trend and has grown rapidly over the past five years. Furthermore, due to the emergence of social issues, such as the aging population, social polarization, and rising urban poverty levels, scholars in the field have attached importance to the comprehensive evaluation of residential senior-friendliness, fairness, health, and quality, thereby expanding the connotation of residential sustainability from the technological dimension toward the social dimension. This paper can help researchers to identify future research directions in this field.

Towards more sustainable residential buildings in New Cairo, Egypt: A case study assessment using energy efficiency simulations.

Towards more sustainable residential buildings in New Cairo, Egypt: A case study assessment using energy efficiency simulations.

Sustainable residential building energy consumption forecasting for smart cities using optimal weighted voting ensemble learning

In recent times, smart-built environments have gone through an incessant transformation, becoming more independent and sensitive ecosystems which can balance energy consumption and user comfort, whilst also achieving higher order of safety for users. The consumption of a high volume of energy in buildings has resulted in numerous environmental issues which have adverse effects on human survival. The estimation of building energy use becomes necessary to conserve energy and enhance decision-making in reducing energy usage. In addition, constructing energy-efficient buildings will help to reduce the total energy utilized in newly constructed buildings. The machine Learning (ML) technique was regarded as the most suitable method to produce favourable results in forecasting tasks. Therefore, in numerous studies, ML was implemented in the domain of energy utilization in operational buildings. This article introduces an Improved Moth Flame Optimization with Weighted Voting Ensemble Learning (IMFO-WVEL) model for Energy Consumption Forecasting in Residential Buildings. The presented IMFO-WVEL model majorly aims to forecast energy utilization in residential buildings. To accomplish this, the presented IMFO-WVEL model follows the initial stage of data preprocessing to make it compatible with further processing. To forecast the energy consumption in residential buildings, the WVEL technique comprises three DL models namely stacked autoencoder (SAE), deep neural network (DNN), and bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) is used. Finally, the IMFO algorithm is derived by the integration of MFO with the Levy flight (LF) strategy and is applied for the hyperparameter tuning process. The experimental validation of the IMFO-WVEL technique is performed under distinct aspects. The comparison study exhibited the promising performance of the IMFO-WVEL technique over recent approaches in terms of several performance measures.

A Platform of Critical Barriers to Socially Sustainable Residential Buildings: Experts’ Perspective

The concept of sustainable cities and communities is endorsed as one of the seventeen goals of sustainable development. Since buildings represent an essential element of the city, they play a primary role in achieving the social, economic, and environmental sustainability of cities. Previous studies have pointed to the lack of emphasis on the social aspect of buildings. Aiming to fill the gap, this research is focused on identifying barriers that hinder the adoption of social sustainability (SS) measures and practices in residential buildings, as a first step in overcoming these barriers and enabling faster achievement of SS goals. The initial platform of barriers was derived from a comprehensive review of the published literature, international reports, and green building rating systems. For the selection of critical barriers, the Delphi method was used with the participation of 60 international experts. Of 58 barriers initially identified from the literature and experts’ suggestions, 29 were selected as important and classified into five groups. Further, in each of these groups three barriers were singled out, the overcoming of which would facilitate and speed up buildings’ SS to the greatest extent. These results provide insight into barriers to SS for policy makers, developers, and planners, invite further studies on this topic, and provide a starting point for other researchers to identify the most relevant barriers in different contexts, i.e., countries and regions with their specific characteristics. This will further create the conditions for the elimination of barriers to SS by focusing on the most critical issues.

Strategies for Realization of Socially Sustainable Residential Buildings: Experts’ Perspectives

Over the recent decades, the concept of social sustainability (SS) has been increasingly recognized as a key component of sustainable development incorporated in sustainable communities’ agendas. However, SS measures and practices have been insufficiently applied and underrepresented with regard to residential buildings. The aim of this paper is to employ experts’ perspectives to identify interdisciplinary, multilevel strategies/drivers for the integration of SS measures and practices into governmental and operational activities in relation to residential buildings. The selected strategies emerged from a detailed literature review and a two-round Delphi survey collecting responses from an expert panel, which were carried out in order to determine the relevancy of the proposed strategies. Of the 38 preselected strategies, 32 were deemed significant. In addition to a number of relevant strategies, the panelists especially recommended disseminating new concepts of growth that would contribute to breaking the link between materialism and social progress and to the adoption of new ways of life characterized by a more harmonious and healthy coexistence of people and the environment. They also suggested a gradual introduction of SS principles into value systems and their implementation in all aspects of personal and social life as an essential precondition for achieving the goals of sustainable development on a large scale. These results lay the groundwork for the incorporation and development of SS strategies by policy makers, developers, and planners and provide a starting point that will allow other researchers to identify the most relevant strategies in different contexts, i.e., countries and regions with their specific characteristics, which will further create the conditions for the more efficient implementation of SS measures and practices and contribute to the fulfilment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Towards closed-loop concrete recycling: Life cycle assessment and multi-criteria analysis

In this study, a wide-ranging life cycle assessment and multi-criteria analysis for close-loop cycling of concrete are conducted. Considering six performance keys in the technical (compressive strength at short and long ages), environmental (human health, ecosystem quality, climate change, resources), and economic (costs), a solid framework is created and analyzed by three multi-criteria decision-making techniques, namely, TOPSIS, VIKOR, and EDAS. The weight that must be taken into account for each of the applied criteria depends on the specific application and the demands of the user. Nevertheless, two different weighted methods, namely, the equal performance method and the entropy method, have been employed in this work to optimize for various construction-related applications, specifically sustainable residential buildings and residential housing. The findings demonstrate that the concrete mixtures produced with 20% FA+12% SF and MRCA incorporation are the best in terms of the criteria used for all applied techniques and the two weighted methods. This study demonstrates that multi-criteria decision-making techniques are simple to apply, requiring minimal time and effort and focusing on the finished result, allowing users to choose the best concrete mixtures. The proposed framework recommends the closed-loop recycling of concrete by introducing supplementary cementitious materials for sustainable, economical, and performance-based design applications.

Exploring the Adoption of Cyber (Digital) Technology for Sustainable Construction: A Structural Equation Modeling of Critical Success Factors

The concepts of sustainability should be incorporated at every level of the decision-making process during the construction of residential building projects. It will ensure maximum cost savings without compromising the residential buildings’ services. To understand these sustainability principles, this study was conducted to identify and investigate the critical success factors (CSFs) required for implementing cyber technology in residential building projects. These CSFs were obtained from existing studies that were contextually explored via a questionnaire survey involving construction experts in the Nigerian building industry. Based on the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) results, cyber technology CSFs were grouped into five distinct constructs: Governmental, Customer satisfaction, Time, Social safety, and Marketability of the construction product. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was adopted to develop the model for the CSFs. The study showed that the Governmental component possessed the highest effect on the model, further underlining this construct as a crucial CSF in implementing cyber/digital technology. The findings from this study will facilitate cyber/digital technology introduction in the Nigerian construction industry. It will aid decision-makers and construction professionals in seeking viable ways of reducing costs and improving sustainability. Thus, this study has developed a CSF model to showcase the adoption of cyber/digital technology, with other implications for facilitating the goal of achieving sustainable residential building projects.

Space Psychology for Sustainable Residential Buildings in the COVID-19 Era - Case Study: Egypt

In recent years, pandemics have altered humanity in various ways. Peoplewere quarantined in their homes due to COVID-19 to sustain their lives, whichnecessitated that they alter their views of their homes to be able to live comfortablyand healthily. During the long lockdown periods, homes were found to affect someof their users psychologically in a negative way. Some felt trapped, stressed, anduncomfortable in their homes. Thus, this paper aims at studying space psychologyand how it can affect the quality of the indoor environment for residential units.This will be achieved by demonstrating the houses' three main interior elements:materials, colors, and natural lighting. The paper will strive to illustrate furtherdimensions of those three elements with regard to functional, environmental,economic, and sanitization in relation to the psychological dimension. Furthermore,it will assess the space psychology impact on Egyptians during and after COVID-19 in relation to materials and colors. The study’s main finding was thatunexpectedly, personal preferences and costs still domain the materials’ selectionsin Egyptian society. As for colors, neutrals prevailed as an indication of culturaleffect and ease of usage.

Multi-platform Interactive System of Sustainable Residential Building Design

Computer-Aided Design and Applications is an international journal on the applications of CAD and CAM. It publishes papers in the general domain of CAD plus in emerging fields like bio-CAD, nano-CAD, soft-CAD, garment-CAD, PLM, PDM, CAD data mining, CAD and the internet, CAD education, genetic algorithms and CAD engines. The journal is aimed at all developers and users of CAD technology to ptovide CAD solutions for various stages of design and manufacturing. The journal publishes all about Computer-Aided Design and Computer-Aided technologies.

Decision Making Model for Identifying the Cyber Technology Implementation Benefits for Sustainable Residential Building: A Mathematical PLS-SEM Approach

Sustainability principles should be implemented during all the phases of the decision-making process of constructing residential buildings to achieve maximum gains without compromising the function of such projects. This study identified and examined the benefits of implementing cyber technology in residential building projects, with a view to promoting the sustainability of such projects. The benefits of cyber technology were identified from previous studies, which were then contextually explored via survey questionnaires within the Nigerian building industry. The results from the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) technique showed that the cyber technology benefits could be categorized into five constructs, namely, planning, transparency, efficiency, productivity, and quality. In addition, partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to develop the benefits model. The results showed that transparency related benefits were crucial benefits for implementing cyber technology. The study’s results will serve as a reference for decision-makers looking to decrease costs and increase sustainability by using cyber technology in the Nigerian construction sector.

Land-Use Planning in Municipalities as a Driver for Sustainable Residential Building in Finland: A Regional Innovation System Approach

Land-Use Planning in Municipalities as a Driver for Sustainable Residential Building in Finland: A Regional Innovation System Approach

Exploring the 4IR Drivers for Sustainable Residential Building Delivery from Social Work Residential Perspective—A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

The advent of digitalization has brought many benefits to all sectors of the economy, including construction. When fully implemented, various Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) tools have the potential not only to improve project planning and execution, but also to enhance project performance. This study therefore investigated the critical factors for the adoption of 4IR technologies in the construction industry, with the aim of promoting sustainable construction project delivery. The study was conducted using a questionnaire sent to experts in the construction industry. The data collected were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and categorized into operational, management, and demographic variables. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used for model development using the four groups of data. In this way, variables that were not significant to the model were identified. Judging from the analysis, there is a need for proper user training in engineering tools in the construction industry. This is one of the drivers of the adoption of 4IR in the construction industry. In addition, the professionals, contractors, authorities, and other stakeholders responsible for managing projects in the architecture, engineering, construction, and operations (AECO) industry should ensure effective coordination and collaboration between participants in the construction industry.

Long Term Performance Assessment of a Residential PV/Thermal Hybrid System

The application of residential rooftop PV systems increased significantly in the last 10 years in many countries and became a major source of clean energy in dwellings besides traditional solar hot water technology. To optimise the performance of these green energy systems, the incorporation of PV/thermal hybrid systems is a future option for sustainable residential building designs. In this work, a novel design of PV/Thermal (PVT) hybrid panels, using heat pipe technology, is proposed with the aim of fulfilling the hot water and electricity demand of a house in Sydney. The heat pipe system is integrated into a traditional PV panel to transfer the heat stored within the PV panel material to a header that is connected to the household hot water cycle. A preliminary analysis of the test results for the proposed PVT system design under different weather conditions in Sydney is conducted, where the transient variation of the output water temperature as well as power production is investigated. The results show that the hot water temperature at the header outlet reaches around a maximum of 50 °C on a typical summer day and a minimum of 30 °C on a typical winter day. The daily heat delivered to the hot water tank is found to be in the range of 3.7–5.2 MJ per m2 of the PVT panel surface area. The results show that the energy efficiency of the adopted PVT panel design could reach more than 4 times higher than the traditional PV panel.