This document focuses on the building envelope of office spaces in the UK climate. Analyses a case study typical office to explore strategies and design solutions for thermal and daylight comfort and energy savings. Detailed thermal simulation has highlighted an effective solution for providing thermal comfort, in terms of glazing and solid ratios of the faade. Daylight level analysis was also carried out in order to determine the effectiveness of the proposed faade and identify possible improvements.
Wood construction presents numerous advantages on the environmental impact. Envelopes of wood frame houses already have air gaps. We wish to use them in systems aiming at to reduce the energy loads in winter and to improve the thermal comfort in summer. We so decided to couple a faade integrated solar air collector with a heavy and ventilated internal wall. The envelope of wood frame houses being light, it is possible to store solar energy in the internal wall.
In idyllic ATHENS of the 5th century B.C. while gazing out at the Aegean Sea, ARISTOTLE codified the theory of the presocratic philosophers on the value of the 4 basic elements FIRE(SUN), AIR. WATER, EARTH and the 4 basic qualities WARM-COLD, DRY-WET.
Cooling buildings, more than a generalized need, is a reason for concern because of a paranoia provoked inter alias by an aggressive marketing of HVAC, relatively inexpensive equipment and the anticipation stimulated by the media of climate change effects. But, as a matter of fact, there are many and, in some cases, sound reasons for cooling buildings. The purpose here is to propose to discuss the cooling issue starting from the point that there is not a general need for cooling everywhere in the World.
The purpose of this paper is to provide a multicriteria approach in order to develop and to assess several architectures of controllers for hybrid ventilation. Indeed, there is nowadays a great interest in hybrid ventilation as an energy efficient strategy to achieve thermal comfort and indoor air quality. To reach those targets and manage hybrid ventilation systems, advanced control strategies based on hierarchical fuzzy controllers have been therefore developed at the LASH laboratory.
One of the first passive energy standard office buildings in Europe was extensively monitored to analyse the summer performance of highly insulated, well sun-shaded and mechanically ventilated buildings. During typical German summer conditions with less than 160 hours outside air temperatures above 25C these buildings perform excellently during summer, even if the internal loads are rather high. If ambient air temperatures are significantly higher like in summer 2003 with more than 3K higher average temperatures, nearly 10% of all office hours are above 26C.
The most diffuse standards which define a low energy building focus their attention to the reduction of consumptions during the heating period. This approach, which can pay in a heating dominated climate, leads to straightforward guidelines for reaching this purpose and to very few indications to avoid the overheating during the rest of the year. In a context where both the heating and cooling demand play a comparable role there is a need of clear targets and strategies for all the year as the mentioned standards do for the heating season.
This paper assesses the role of design and operational parameters in a night ventilated library building that has been designed for a maritime type climate. The design rationale behind the building is elaborated and decisions associated with the various design parameters discussed. A model of the building is created using the ESPr simulation program which after experimental validation is used to carry out parametric and sensitivity studies on the building.
This work describes a study aiming to establish the coupled impact of the increase of the insulation of the building envelope and the adoption of night ventilation upon the thermal performance of buildings. A particular emphasis is placed upon the consequences in terms of increased temperatures in summer, potentially leading to increased needs for installation of airconditioning. The methodology is based on parametric studies obtained through simulations. The requirements to avoid air-conditioning, in terms of window shading for each level of insulation, are presented.
REVIVAL is an energy demonstration project supported by the European Commission under the THERMIE programme. There are six demonstration sites in five EU countries. Ventilation and cooling of non-domestic buildings, even in northern Europe, is one of the main issues and REVIVAL contains both naturally and mechanically ventilated and cooled buildings. It also has a strong emphasis on architecturally important buildings and how changes can be made without damaging the appearance.
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