Thermal and economic windows design for different climate zones

Window design, especially glazing choices, is a critical factor for determining the effectiveness of passive solar design. Windows are like a knife has two side; one is useful and the other is harmful. In this paper the effects of windows’ U-value, window orientation and windows size on annual heating and cooling energy demand is studied considering the both energy and investment costs. The study has been performed for three different climate zones; Amman, Aqaba and Berlin. Four types of windows have been studied; single glazed, double glazed L, double glazed H and triple glazed.The results show that heating load is highly sensitive to windows size and type as compared with cooling load. Also, it is shown that with a well-optimized glazed window energy saving can be reached up to 21%, 20% and 24% for Amman, Aqaba and Berlin, respectively.     

Optimization of cooling load for a lecture theatre in a composite climate in India

A lecture theatre with dimension 16 m × 8.4 m × 3.6 m located at Roorkee (28.58°N, 77.20°E) in the northern region of India, is selected to calculate the monthly and annual cooling load (kWh) and cooling capacity of air conditioning system by a computer simulation. The paper also presents the results of a study investigating the effect of different glazing systems on windows and the reduction in building cooling load. DesignBuilder software has been used for the computer simulation for calculating the cooling load. The paper aims to investigate the reduction in thermal gains and cooling load requirements by varying the U-values of different glazing types, insulating the ceiling, providing cool roofs, interior and exterior insulation on walls, and replacing the conventional fluorescent tube lamp (FTL) by energy efficient compact fluorescent lamp (CFL). Installation of false ceiling, wall insulation, different glazing types and lighting systems are cost effective with normalized annual saving ranging from 17% to 19.8% from this retrofitting project. Furthermore, the study also highlights the potential of reducing the emission of CO₂ and equivalent carbon credit. Retrofitting techniques strongly influence the level of energy saving, although the payback period is generally quite long of order 8 years.     

不同气候条件下复合墙体节能率对比研究

不同同护结构对应建筑物不同负荷。本文采用冷负荷系数法分析了四种围护结构类型在北京和上海两地区的空调冷负荷变化特征及保温墙体对节能率的贡献。结果表明：保温墙体较未保温墙体对应的空调冷负荷幅值有较大降低,而且,取得极值的时刻也不相同;不同的复合墙体所形成同护结构对应的逐时冷负荷变化趋势基本一致;同一类型同护结构在北京和上海对节能率的贡献差异很小,这为开发新型围护结构的跨区域推广应用提供了理论支持。     

Optimum insulation thicknesses for building walls with respect to cooling and heating degree-hours in the warmest zone of Turkey

Thermal insulation is one of the most effective energy conservation measures for cooling and heating in buildings. Therefore, determining and selecting the optimum thickness of insulation is the main subject of many engineering investigations. In this study, the determination of optimum insulation thickness on external walls of buildings is comparatively analyzed based on annual heating and cooling loads. The transmission loads, calculated by using measured long-term meteorological data for selected cities, are fed into an economic model (P₁−P₂ method) in order to determine the optimum insulation thickness. The degree-hours method that is the simplest and most intuitive way of estimating the annual energy consumption of a building is used in this study. The results show that the use of insulation in building walls with respect to cooling degree-hours is more significant for energy savings compared to heating degree-hours in Turkey's warmest zone. The optimum insulation thickness varies between 3.2 and 3.8 cm; the energy savings varies between 8.47 and 12.19 $/m²; and the payback period varies between 3.39 and 3.81 years depending on the cooling degree-hours. On the other hand, for heating load, insulation thickness varies between 1.6 and 2.7 cm, energy savings varies between 2.2 and 6.6 $/m², and payback periods vary between 4.15 and 5.47 years.     

Harmonic analysis of building thermal response applied to the optimal location of insulation within the walls

The analysis of heat transfer through building walls using Fourier transforms and the matric method are briefly reviewed. The formalism is applied to a simple one-room building. By making a few simplifying assumptions and by considering only one- or two-layer walls and roofs, the equations are kept sufficiently short to preserve the insight of the reader into the effects of a few construction features upon the building's thermal response. Such construction features, mainly the placement of insulation inside or outside the main wall mass, are extensively discussed, with an eye on their potential energy savings.The results are: (1) the placement of insulation outside the wall masonry reduces the amplitude of the internal temperature swing caused by weather conditions and by internal heat gains. If the inside temperature is left free to oscillate within a few degrees, the amplitude of the heating or cooling load is greatly reduced, allowing for substantial energy savings. However, the building is thermally sluggish and inefficient durign thermostat setbacks because of its large wall heat storage. (2) Inside placement of insulation increases the room temperature response to weather conditions and to internal heat gains. Thus, heating or cooling is needed for temperature peak-shaving. In return the building's response to a thermostat setting change is quick and the heat stored in the walls, lost during a setback, is relatively small.     

Impact of climate change on residential building envelope cooling loads in subtropical climates

Future trends of cooling load due to heat gain through the building envelopes in the residential sector in subtropical Hong Kong under different emissions scenarios in the 21st century were investigated. Predicted monthly weather data from five general circulation models were gathered and analysed. An increasing trend of building envelope cooling load was observed. The average annual cooling load during the 2009-2100 period would be 6.1% and 9.8% more than that during 1979-2008 for low and medium forcing, respectively. If only the last 30 years (2071-2100) were considered, the percentage increase would be much larger at 12.3% and 21.6%. Four mitigation or energy conservation measures - raising the indoor temperature, thermal insulation, double glazing and tinted glass - were considered. Among them, raising the indoor temperature has the best mitigation potential because there is a growing awareness and recognition of adaptive thermal comfort and it can be readily applied to both existing and new buildings at no extra cost.     

A parametric study of Trombe walls for passive cooling of buildings

Air movement in a naturally-ventilated room can be induced through the use of a solar chimney or Trombe wall. In this work Trombe walls were studied for summer cooling of buildings. Ventilation rates resulting from natural cooling were predicted using the CFD (computational fluid dynamics) technique. The renoramlization group (RNG) k-ε turbulence model was used for the prediction of buoyant air flow and flow rate in enclosures with Trombe wall geometries. The CFD program was validated against experimental data from the literature and very good agreement between the prediction and measurement was achieved. The predicted ventilation rate increased with the wall temperature and heat gain. The effects of the distance between the wall and glazing, wall height, glazing type and wall insulation were also investigated. It was shown that in order to maximize the ventilation rate, the interior surface of a Trombe wall should be insulated for summer cooling. This would also prevent undesirable overheating of room air due to convection and radiation heat transfer from the wall.     

高舒适度低能耗健康建筑构造与施工

锋尚国际公寓是我国首例大面积应用高舒适度低能耗健康建筑技术设计与施工的高档公寓建筑。该工程研究开发应用了天棚低温采暖制冷系统＋置换新风系统施工技术，其主要配套技术包括干挂饰面砖幕墙聚苯复合外墙外保温系统、屋面及地下保温系统和外窗及遮阳系统施工技术；辅助配套技术包括防噪声系统、中央吸尘与垃圾处理系统、水处理系统和建筑智能化系统施工技术。上述技术的应用最大限度地降低了能耗，在不使用传统空调暖气的前提下，提供了健康舒适的居住环境。     

内蒙古赤峰地区典型农村住宅被动式节能改造模拟

随着我国经济的发展,农村建筑能耗已成为我国建筑节能不可忽略的一部分,尤其是北方严寒地区,采暖能耗更为突出。本文针对内蒙古赤峰地区典型农村住宅,提出了两种被动式节能改造方案——附加被动式阳光房和增加外墙保温性能,利用DeST-h软件模拟分析了基准住宅在改造前后的室温变化和全年采暖负荷指标。结果表明:(1)加阳光房后卧室和厨房的温度降低,门厅温度升高,建筑整体采暖节能率只有6.59%;(2)墙体外保温方式可有效提高各房间温度,减少采暖热负荷,采暖节能率达31.52%;(3)严寒地区使用双层钢窗的农村住宅采暖节能改造不适合采用被动式阳光房方式,适合采用墙体外保温的方式。     

Investigation of long-term behaviour of thermal wall by finite element analysis

Energy foundations utilise the natural thermal energy stored underground for the space heating and/or cooling of buildings. This technology can be used for lowering carbon dioxide gas emissions. However, there has been very limited research on the effects of cyclic heating and cooling on the structural performance of thermo-active diaphragm walls (thermal walls). An investigation of the long-term behaviour of a thermal wall is conducted in this study by a finite element analysis. The complex thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) responses due to the operation of the thermal wall are analysed. With no operation of the thermal wall, the earth pressure and the wall movement change due to the dissipation of the excess pore pressure developing from the construction. However, there is only a small change in the bending moment of the wall. With the operation of the thermal wall, the thermal differential across the diaphragm wall induces thermal strain, and therefore, an increase in curvatures, resulting in an increase in the bending moment compared with no operation of the thermal wall. This study shows the necessity of examining the thermally induced effects of a thermal wall in the design, including variations in the bending moment of the wall, the cyclic changes in the earth pressure acting on the diaphragm wall, and the thermally induced soil shrinkage/expansion.     

锋尚国际公寓高舒适度低能耗建筑综合施工技术

锋尚国际公寓工程按照欧洲高舒适度低能耗优化设计理论对建筑的采暖制冷、外墙外保温、屋面保温、外窗、室内新风和垃圾处理等进行了全面系统的环保优化设计，在施工中研究应用了由天棚低温辐射采暖制冷系统核心施工技术与干挂饰面砖幕墙聚苯复合外墙外保温主要配套施工技术，以及置换式健康新风系统、低辐射保温密闭外窗系统、中央吸尘系统、防噪声系统、水处理系统等多项系统技术。其技术特点是舒适、健康、节能、环保、经济和美化城市环境。     

Future trends of building heating and cooling loads and energy consumption in different climates

Principal component analysis of dry-bulb temperature, wet-bulb temperature and global solar radiation was considered, and a new climatic index (principal component Z) determined for two emissions scenarios – low and medium forcing. Multi-year building energy simulations were conducted for generic air-conditioned office buildings in Harbin, Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming and Hong Kong, representing the five major architectural climates in China. Regression models were developed to correlate the simulated monthly heating and cooling loads and building energy use with the corresponding Z. The coefficient of determination (R²) was largely within 0.78–0.99, indicating strong correlation. A decreasing trend of heating load and an increasing trend of cooling load due to climate change in future years were observed. For low forcing, the overall impact on the total building energy use would vary from 4.2% reduction in severe cold Harbin (heating-dominated) in the north to 4.3% increase in subtropical Hong Kong (cooling-dominated) in the south. In Beijing and Shanghai where heating and cooling are both important, the average annual building energy use in 2001–2100 would only be about 0.8% and 0.7% higher than that in 1971–2000, respectively.     

Application of latent heat thermal energy storage in buildings: State-of-the-art and outlook

Latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) is becoming more and more attractive for space heating and cooling of buildings. The application of LHTES in buildings has the following advantages: (1) the ability to narrow the gap between the peak and off-peak loads of electricity demand; (2) the ability to save operative fees by shifting the electrical consumption from peak periods to off-peak periods since the cost of electricity at night is 1/3–1/5 of that during the day; (3) the ability to utilize solar energy continuously, storing solar energy during the day, and releasing it at night, particularly for space heating in winter by reducing diurnal temperature fluctuation thus improving the degree of thermal comfort; (4) the ability to store the natural cooling by ventilation at night in summer and to release it to decrease the room temperature during the day, thus reducing the cooling load of air conditioning. This paper investigates previous work on thermal energy storage by incorporating phase change materials (PCMs) in the building envelope. The basic principle, candidate PCMs and their thermophysical properties, incorporation methods, thermal analyses of the use of PCMs in walls, floor, ceiling and window etc. and heat transfer enhancement are discussed. We show that with suitable PCMs and a suitable incorporation method with building material, LHTES can be economically efficient for heating and cooling buildings. However, several problems need to be tackled before LHTES can reliably and practically be applied. We conclude with some suggestions for future work.     

Energy performance evaluation of a novel evaporative cooling technique

High summer conditioning consumption is becoming a tough and critical issue and consequently there is a need to provide buildings with new technologies for energy saving. Current European and Italian legislation is also working in this direction. We present a preliminary experimental evaluation of the energy performance of a new technology which is capable of canceling conduction gains through walls: “water-evaporative walls”, which are not only able to prevent the entrance of energy fluxes from the exterior to the interior, but also to reduce wall temperatures to below the values found indoors. This solution basically suggests equipping standard ventilated façades with a proper water-evaporative system, which exploits the latent heat of water evaporation, in order to absorb summer cooling loads. From the technological point of view, it requires the insertion of a water spraying system and a proper insulating layer in the ventilated air chamber. The insulation will act not only as a standard insulating material, but also as a porous surface to store water sprayed by the system and then gradually release it when needed for cooling. The experimental analyses showed the effectiveness of this technology, which decreases the overall summer energy load in buildings by canceling conduction loads.     

夹芯复合节能保温墙体施工技术

夹芯复合节能保温墙体能够满足住宅节能65％的要求,该项技术将混凝土砌块承重结构层、聚氨酯保温层和外墙装饰保护层同时施工,一次成形,具有保温效果好、结构整体性强、经济美观、绿色环保的特点.保温板不承受外部荷载作用,抗外部荷载和抗负风压的性能较好,寿命长,可广泛适用于多层或中、低层的高档别墅、住宅、办公楼等公共与民用建筑的夹芯保温墙体施工.     

Thermal insulation of buildings in a newly built environment of a hot dry climate: The Saudi Arabian experience

Eight different types of thermal insulation materials were studied and evaluated, with respect to their thermal performance and their impact on space indoor temperature and space cooling and/or heating load in a hot-dry climate context. A predefined computer program, using the transient heat transfer method and thermal response factor method, was utilized as the main research tool for investigation. The study showed significant differences with respect to thermal performance when utilizing different thermal insulation materials of buildings to newly designed and/or retrofitted buildings.

Finally, the study addressed the adoption of thermal insulation in newly-built buildings in the hot dry climate of Saudi Arabia from the viewpoint of the user.     

A survey of decorative materials on the energy consumption of mid-rise residential buildings in Mashad, Iran

Polyvinylchloride (PVC) panel is one of the most favorite decorative materials that has been popularly applied as finishing of ceiling in residential buildings. It is about five years that the people incline to redecorate the ceiling of old buildings with PVC panel in big cities of Iran, such as Mashad. In this study, the influence of ceiling PVC panel on the cooling and heating loads of studied apartment were determined by software DeST-h. In addition, the summer natural ventilation of the mentioned apartment is investigated by determining the wind speed into the apartment through the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. The evaluation of environment indoor wind velocity showed that most of the apartment space is a comfortable zone. The results of studied building analyses demonstrated that using PVC panel on the ceiling can decline the energy consumption of the penthouse (fifth level) of the investigated building, which is about 3.7% and 7% for studied methods of without and with air layer, respectively. In addition, although the existence of air layer can decline the cooling and heating loads, the increase in air layer thickness did not show significant decrease on building energy consumption. However, the PVC panel is expensive and is not suitable to be used for ceiling thermal insulation, but adding a thin layer of air between ceiling and PVC panel can be a good step toward sustainable building, when the people are inclined to utilize it as a decorative ceiling.     

Influence of thermal insulation position in building envelope on the space cooling of high-rise residential buildings in Hong Kong

At the present time, thermal insulation is almost not used in fabric of tall residential buildings in Hong Kong, as their fabric slabs usually comprise concrete layer covered on each side by plaster layers. This study investigates into the influence of an existence of the thermal insulation layer in the outside walls on the yearly cooling load and yearly maximum cooling demand in two typical residential flats in a high-rise residential building by employing HTB2, detailed building heat transfer simulation software. During the investigations, the thermal insulation layer up to 15 cm thick was placed either at the inside, or at the outside, or at the middle part of the outside wall structure. Then, the concrete layer was up to 40 cm thick. The simulation predictions indicate that the highest decrease in the yearly cooling load of up to 6.8% is obtained when a 5 cm thick thermal insulation layer faces the inside of the residential flat. The highest decrease in the yearly maximum cooling demand of 7.3% is recorded when a 5 cm thermal insulation layer faces either the outside or the inside of the flat; this depends on the flat orientation. However, much weaker reductions in the yearly cooling load and yearly maximum cooling demand are found when the thickness of thermal insulation is increased above 5 cm and the thickness of concrete is increased above 10 cm.     

Detailed energy saving performance analyses on thermal mass walls demonstrated in a zero energy house

An insulated concrete wall system¹ was used on exterior walls of a zero energy house. Its thermal functions were investigated using actual data in comparison to a conventional wood frame system. The internal wall temperature of massive systems changes more slowly than the conventional wall constructions, leading to a more stable indoor temperature. The Energy10 simulated equivalent R-value and DBMS of the mass walls under actual climate conditions are, respectively, 6.98 (m² °C)/W and 3.39. However, the simulated heating energy use was much lower for the massive walls while the cooling load was a little higher. Further investigation on the heat flux indicates that the heat actually is transferred inside all day and night, which results in a higher cooling energy consumption. A one-dimensional model further verified these analyses, and the calculated results are in good agreement with the actual data. We conclude that the thermal mass wall does have the ability to store heat during the daytime and release it back at night, but in desert climates with high 24-h ambient temperature and intense sunlight, more heat will be stored than can be transferred back outside at night. As a result, an increased cooling energy will be required.     

Options to reduce the environmental impacts of residential buildings in the European Union—Potential and costs

A typology of buildings representative of the building stock for the EU-25 was developed characterizing 72 building types in terms of their representativity, geographical distribution, size, material composition, and thermal insulation. The life cycle impacts of the building types were calculated for different environmental impact categories both at building and EU-25 level. The use phase of buildings, dominated by the energy demand for heating is by far the most important life cycle phase for existing and new buildings. The environmental impacts were allocated to single building elements. Ventilation, heat losses through roofs and external walls are important for a majority of single- and multi-family houses. Three improvement options were identified: additional roof insulation, additional façade insulation and new sealings to reduce ventilation. The measures yield a significant environmental improvement potential, which, for a majority of the buildings types analyse represent at least 20% compared to the base case. The major improvement potentials at EU-level lie with single-family houses, followed by multi-family houses. Smaller reductions are expected for high-rise buildings due to the smaller share in the overall building stock. For both roof insulation and reduced ventilation, the measures were shown to be economically profitable in a majority of buildings.