Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Young Ki Kim, Lindita Bande, Kheira Anissa Tabet Aoul, Hasim Altan
Summary: The study showed that the energy performance gap in buildings is a common issue, and building energy audit and post occupancy evaluation play a crucial role in reducing this gap and improving indoor environmental quality. Dynamic simulation and model calibration can effectively identify and address the energy performance gap in buildings.
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Saul Nkini, Erik Nuyts, Gabriel Kassenga, Ombeni Swai, Griet Verbeeck
Summary: The study compares the energy performance of green and non-green office buildings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and reveals that traditional office buildings consume less energy than green-certified and modern office buildings. The study concludes that building classifications, HVAC types, and window-to-wall ratio significantly affect energy use. The findings provide valuable research-based data for architects, engineers, property managers, and policymakers in East Africa to enhance the energy efficiency of buildings.
ENERGY AND BUILDINGS
(2023)
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Pablo Hernandez-Cruz, Catalina Giraldo-Soto, Cesar Escudero-Revilla, Juan Maria Hidalgo-Betanzos, Ivan Flores-Abascal
Summary: The energy consumption of social housing buildings shows significant variability, with user behavior strongly impacting the efficiency of centralized systems. The overall energy consumption in these buildings is considerably lower than regional and national averages. Additionally, the measured final energy consumption differs from predicted calculations.
ENERGY AND BUILDINGS
(2023)
Article
Polymer Science
Michal Ganobjak, Samuel Brunner, Joerg Hofmann, Verena Klar, Michael Ledermann, Volker Herzog, Beat Kaempfen, Ralf Kilian, Manfred Wehdorn, Jannis Wernery
Summary: Silica aerogels are high-performance thermal insulation materials that can be used in limited space in building envelopes. The first Aerogel Architecture Award was held in Switzerland in 2021, recognizing outstanding uses of silica aerogels in improving energy efficiency and heritage conservation.
Review
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Ardeshir Mahdavi, Christiane Berger, Hadeer Amin, Eleni Ampatzi, Rune Korsholm Andersen, Elie Azar, Verena M. Barthelmes, Matteo Favero, Jakob Hahn, Dolaana Khovalyg, Henrik N. Knudsen, Alessandra Luna-Navarro, Astrid Roetzel, Fisayo C. Sangogboye, Marcel Schweiker, Mahnameh Taheri, Despoina Teli, Marianne Touchie, Silke Verbruggen
Summary: The expected energy use of buildings often differs from actual observations, a phenomenon known as the energy performance gap. While various factors can contribute to this gap, there is ongoing debate about the extent to which occupants play a significant role. Current evidence does not sufficiently support the claim that occupants are the main cause of the energy performance gap.
Article
Economics
Dorothee Charlier
Summary: This research aims to identify energy consumption profiles using latent profile analysis (LPA) to explain the discrepancy between actual and theoretical energy consumption in the residential sector. The study shows that under-consumption of energy compared to theoretical measures is partly due to behavior related to poverty and deprivation. Preventive measures focusing on renovation or social housing for the poorest households are recommended, and attention should be paid to households with the highest energy consumption to avoid biases in energy forecasting models.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Xia Wang, Jiachen Yuan, Kairui You, Xianrui Ma, Zhaoji Li
Summary: The International Energy Agency (IEA) emphasizes the importance of using real building energy use data (RBEUD) to reflect the actual condition of buildings and inform policy-making in order to reduce carbon emissions. However, there is a lack of RBEUD in regional and national building stock data, particularly in China, which limits our ability to address the energy performance gap (EPG). This study aims to gather and analyze RBEUD to understand the role of occupants' behavior in explaining the EPG of energy-efficient residential buildings in China.
Review
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Guofeng Qiang, Shu Tang, Jianli Hao, Luigi Di Sarno, Guangdong Wu, Shaoxing Ren
Summary: Green building (GB) strategies are crucial for reducing energy wastage in the building sector. Building Automation Systems (BAS) play a significant role in improving energy efficiency in GB. This study reviews articles published from 2008 to 2022, highlighting BAS applications, challenges, and future research directions in the BAS-GB domain. The findings emphasize the need for comprehensive integration of BAS and GB, considering uncertainties, long-term prediction, sustainability goals, and privacy and security concerns.
RENEWABLE & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY REVIEWS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ranran Ji, Kai Wang, Mengran Zhou, Yun Zhang, Yujia Bai, Xian Wu, Han Yan, Zhuoqun Zhao, Hong Ye
Summary: The building sector plays a significant role in global energy consumption and carbon emissions. Reducing energy consumption in buildings can play a major part in achieving carbon neutrality. Green space is recognized as a natural way to improve microclimate and reduce building energy consumption and carbon emissions. However, the optimal distance and configuration of green space for reducing such emissions are not well known.
Article
Economics
Wenhua He, Pei Liu, Borong Lin, Hao Zhou, Xuesheng Chen
Summary: The study finds that green financial instruments have a significant impact on promoting the development of green buildings in China, with green fiscal investment playing a critical role. The combination of green fiscal investment, insurance, and credit shows the best supporting effect. However, the current green finance market is still government-driven and needs to shift towards a market-driven pattern.
Review
Construction & Building Technology
Yuanyuan Li, Min Li, Peidong Sang, Po-Han Chen, Congcong Li
Summary: This paper visually analyzes the literature on stakeholders' studies of green buildings from 2007 to 2021 and identifies current research hotspots and future trends. The study found that the current hotspots include the risks, drivers, and obstacles of GB stakeholders, occupants' satisfaction and willingness to pay for GBs, and the decision-making process of GB stakeholders. Future research should focus on extending the studies to cover all GB stakeholders, shifting emphasis to operation and demolition stages, investigating green commercial buildings, and exploring innovative research methods.
JOURNAL OF BUILDING ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Thermodynamics
Moncef Krarti
Summary: This paper evaluates the potential energy efficiency benefits of dynamic sliding exterior shades for windows in different climates in the United States. The study determines the optimal positions and operation strategies for the shades to minimize energy demand, and the results show significant energy savings especially for large and single-pane windows.
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Chuen Hon (Alex) Koh, Dimitrios Kraniotis
Summary: Straw bale is a low embodied energy and technically acceptable thermal insulation material. This study systematically explores the hygrothermal and energy performance of straw bale buildings in different climate conditions and emphasizes the importance of material selection and climate adaptation. Overall, properly designed straw bale buildings show robust hygrothermal performance and achieve minimal energy use with low embodied emissions.
ENERGY AND BUILDINGS
(2021)
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Moncef Krarti
Summary: This study evaluated a novel dynamic overhang system for controlling solar heat gains in US residential buildings, finding that dynamic overhangs can significantly reduce cooling energy consumption in hot and mild climate zones.
ENERGY AND BUILDINGS
(2021)
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Nadia Balvedi, Thalita Giglio
Summary: This study aimed to analyze the impact of green roof systems on the energy performance of buildings and their surroundings in different Brazilian climates. The results showed that in temperate climates, a combination of low leaf area index, high substrate thickness, and low thermal transmittance can lead to energy savings and high heat transfer. In semi-humid tropical climates, high leaf area index, intermediate substrate thickness, and high thermal transmittance result in energy savings. However, in equatorial climates, green roofs consume more energy compared to cool roofs, suggesting that low thermal mass systems are more suitable for climates with low temperature fluctuations.
JOURNAL OF BUILDING ENGINEERING
(2023)