Multi-Objective Optimization Approach for Improving Performance of Building

The GCC’s path to a sustainable future: Navigating the barriers to the adoption of energy efficiency measures in the built environment

Among other pieces of architectural historical heritage in Sarajevo, and Bosnia-Herzegovina in general, the Austro-Hungarian architecture has preserved its original architectural, artistic and engineering characteristics. Both residential and public representative urban blocks, streets and squares are of distinguishable ambience in the architectural and urban image of the city and are testifying about our architectural past. A number of buildings is valorised and protected by law in terms of their architectural, artistic and historical value. In addition, these buildings have a distinct functional, ambiental, historical, and even aesthetical value. To make them last longer, refurbishment of these buildings is challenging and presents potential and multiple benefits for the city, and beyond. Refurbishing built environment through functional reorganizing, redesign and energy efficiency measures applications could result in prolonged longevity, architectural identity preservation and interior comfort improvement. Besides, implemented measures for energy efficiency, through the refurbishment process, should optimize the needs for energy consumption in treated buildings. This paper defines options in comfort improvements and redesign, without implying risks to the building longevity, analyses interventions and energy efficiency measures which would enable potential energy saving assessment in the refurbishment process of masonry buildings. This paper also discusses the different techniques that can be adopted for conservation and preservation of historical masonry buildings from the Austro-Hungarian period dealing with energy efficiency. The works were preceded by historical research and on-site investigations. This paper describes a methodology to quantify their vulnerability. A scheme of structural retrofitting is suggested following the research conducted. Revitalization of the building consisted in the reconstruction of the old building structure, creating the inner courtyard and covering it with a glass roof.

Energy Conservation Strategy Research for Residential Building Refurbishment in Urban area of China

From policy to practice: The role of national policy instruments and social barriers in UK energy efficiency adoption in households

It is widely recognized that the building sector largely contributes to the total European energy consumption with a 40% influence on the total assessed energy uses. To this regard the EPBD recast Directive promotes nearly zero energy buildings (nZEB) for the public and the private sector as a mandatory requirement by 2020. Given the low energy efficiency of old buildings, concerns about the state of the existing building stock should be seriously considered as most of the energy consumption is attributable to the existing buildings. Additionally, residential buildings are often seen as long-term assets, setting thus a low replacement rate, approximately 1% per year in Europe, of old buildings by new ones. To this regard, larger energy savings can be achieved with the energy retrofitting of the existing building stock, rather than with the construction of relatively small proportion of new high performing buildings. Therefore, the refurbishment of the existing building stock has to be primarily planned and accomplished in order to achieve a timely reduction on the buildings energy consumption. Concerning this, the EPBD recast, as policy driver for reducing European energy use in buildings, has been representing the first and main legislative reference. According to it Member States must ensure that minimum energy performance requirements are set with a view of achieving at least cost-optimal levels for buildings, building units and building elements by means of a comparative methodology framework applied to new constructions and existing buildings undergoing major renovations. The methodology specifies how to compare energy efficiency measures in relation to their energy performance and to the cost attributed to their implementation, and how to apply these to selected reference buildings with the aim of identifying cost-optimal levels of minimum energy performance requirements. A cost optimal level is defined as the energy performance level, which leads to the lowest cost during the estimated economic lifecycle of the building. A measure is considered cost-effective when the cost of implementation is lower than the achievable benefits, during the expected life of the measure. This type of analysis allows defining energy renovation scenario based on their energy and economic optimum. Within the complex scenario described above, this Ph.D. thesis aims to provide a methodology for the definition of energy retrofit scenarios to be applied to existing buildings, based on the use of dynamic building simulation models. The methodology targets the existing building stock given the large energy savings that can be achieved from existing buildings. It builds on an energy and economic assessment of energy efficiency measures applied to different building typologies. The energy and economic assessment are respectively carried out by means of dynamic building simulation and a cost-optimality approach. The cost optimal analysis was chosen for the aim of this study for its systematic approach in defining energy retrofit interventions based on their energy and economic optimum. The term scalable is used for defining the methodology as the studied energy retrofit scenarios can vary depending on the of the study. Two main scales of buildings can be distinguished: building stock or single buildings. When retrofit interventions are studied to be applied to wide portion of the building stock, as for example at national level, representative building models are used. They correspond to reference buildings representative of a certain building typology, construction age and geographic location. Within this thesis, a methodology for their definition was defined and various reference buildings for the Italian context were created. On the contrary, when it is necessary to study specific and customized retrofit measures, a single existing building is modelled. In this case, compared to the case of the reference buildings, larger quantity of data and a higher degree of detail are necessary. These building models are customized based on the existing buildings characterization (e.g. building envelope, system, etc) and when applicable, based also on data from monitoring. To this regards, when detailed information about the building real operation from monitoring is available, the building model need to be calibrated based on measured data. For a model to be calibrated, the building energy consumption predicted by the simulation program, has to match the consumption measured from monitoring. Calibrated models can be used for comparing the baseline situation of the building (calibrated and not retrofitted) with other simulation results relative to the application of building renovation interventions. To this regard, within this Ph.D. thesis, a literature review on the most common calibration techniques currently in use for the calibration of building models was conducted. Additionally two case studies were calibrated by means of two different approaches: a trial and error approach and an optimization-based calibration. For both scale of buildings (building stock and single buildings), dynamic building simulation was employed for the energy assessment. Building simulation application has expanded since mid-‘70s building simulation as an attempt to emulate reality. To date, it is much more common to employ building simulation in post construction or advanced building design phases rather than in early phases. In particular building simulation is frequently used for the prediction of energy savings by assessing energy retrofit interventions on existing buildings. To this regard, given its wide application and the high level of detail of the analysis performed (dynamic analysis), building simulation was chosen within this thesis, as a tool for the energy assessment of buildings and of the relative energy renovation interventions. Finally, the economic assessment of the energy retrofit measures was carried out by means of the cost optimal methodology, as defined by the EPBD recast. The methodology allowed defining energy renovation interventions based on their economical and energy optimum. The Directive requires to define different packages of energy efficiency measures, which can be applied to reference representative buildings but also to single and existing building for energy and economical assessments. The energy assessment of a building can be carried out with analytical or simplified methods, but dynamic building simulation is strongly suggested, as performed within this thesis. For the economic assessment, the global cost method was employed based on the calculation method of the Standard EN 15459 as advised by the EBPD. The global cost method considers, for each energy efficiency measure, the initial investment, the sum of the annual costs for every year (including energy costs) and the final value, all with reference to the starting year of the calculation period. In order to define different energy retrofit solution and set the minimum energy performance requirements, within the Ph.D. thesis, the cost optimal approach was applied to both the considered scale of buildings: to the building stock scale with three reference buildings, and to the single buildings scale with two calibrated buildings. A set of energy efficiency measures was defined and applied to the case studies for evaluating the financial and energy performance gap between the cost-optimal solutions and nZEB levels, respectively. For the building stock, different energy retrofit solutions are defined as final outcomes. Given the use of representative models (reference buildings), the retrofit solutions can be replicated to several buildings, among the same building typology. In this sense, different energy retrofit solutions can be established. On the other hand, for single buildings, the energy retrofit solution studied is specific and customized barely to the analyzed case study

This study evaluates the productivity of energy efficiency (EE) measures taken at the regional level employing a set of non-parametric statistical methods. The first aspect is investigating the impact of various energy efficiency measures. A high proportion of the population lives in apartment buildings, with limited opportunities to manage their own energy efficiency. The second research aspect of this paper is the study of the effectiveness of various energy efficiency measures in the context of low energy prices. Our analysis indicates that only two tools exert a long-term positive effect on reducing the economy’s energy intensity for all regions. This is the use of combined heat sources in large cities and implementing ISO 50001 in large companies. These two energy efficiency measures work even under low energy prices, which do not sufficiently stimulate the introduction of innovative energy-saving technologies.

Sustainable Business Models for Deep Energy Retrofitting of Buildings: State-of-the-art and Methodological Approach

The industry should take further efforts towards increased energy efficiency, that is a major contributor to improve industrial sustainability performance, by implementing energy efficiency measures (EEMs). However, the rate of adoption of these measures is still quite low. Hitherto, EEMs and barriers to their adoption have been evaluated almost exclusively from the viewpoint of energy efficiency decision-makers, not accounting for the broader sustainability perspective. This work aims at understanding whether an industrial sustainability perspective can better address issues related to EEMs adoption, analyzing the question through different viewpoints and insights offered by industrial decision-makers of different industrial sustainability areas within a firm. By doing this, we aim at offering a contribution in the understanding of the low rate of adoption of EEMs. As case studies, we investigated 12 firms from Northern Italy. In comparison to previous literature, results show that an industrial sustainability perspective can better explain the real decision-making process of adopting an EEM. Indeed, people knowledgeable about different industrial sustainability areas may perceive different barriers about the same EEM. EEMs may be negatively affected by reasons related to other areas of industrial sustainability, while positive reciprocal impacts may exist among areas of industrial sustainability; thus, EEMs may have effects on areas other than energy efficiency, and these effects may be perceived only by such areas. The study concludes with some remarks for policy and industrial decision-makers and advice for further research.

PurposeThere is a great interest in developing eco-friendly operations as alternative uses of resources in the university campus, making the employment of technologies more sustainable. Practices such as energy management and efficiency initiatives have been encouraged to meet these sustainability goals. The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss the main features of the GENIIOT project, a system of energy management using Internet of Things applied in a Brazilian university campus to support energy education practices and to promote lasting energy efficiency measures. The focus of the study is directed at the energy consumption of the air-conditioning system, which is responsible for 40% of the total electricity consumption. In addition, this project also scrutinizes processes such as the building occupants’ comfort demands, lighting levels and energy waste control.Design/methodology/approachA case study at the Unicamp campus was conducted to illustrate the design procedures through qualitative description. This study comprises an overview of the physical plant, hardware and software development, energy data monitoring, management process and energy education.FindingsThe GENIIOT project enables energy efficiency actions by concerning the use of air-conditioning equipment based on monitored data, different types of monitored rooms, user’s behaviors and their feedback. This initiative requires the engagement, awareness and actions from users combined with investment in energy efficiency to achieve an efficient use of this type of equipment. The proposed approach can be applied in the future to similar situations, inside the Unicamp campus and at other university campuses. In addition, this project can contribute to building efficiency analysis by using the hardware structure developed to monitor facilities and carry out evaluations, providing valuable information for strategic initiatives in energy efficiency projects and research and development programs based on practical experience and promoting a discussion about sustainability aspects in the context of the university campus for energy efficiency.Originality/valueThe GENIIOT project is aligned with some of the sustainable development goals, among which sustainability and responsible consumption are identified. Considering the sustainability issues, the economic dimension can be evaluated through a cost–benefit analysis of energy efficiency projects with prudent investment, while the social attractiveness of the project is ensured by education and awareness practices for the community that interacts with the system and learns about a more efficient way of using resources in the campus. Furthermore, there is a more conscious use of natural resources by minimizing waste from the use of electricity and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. GENIIOT is part of Sustainable Campus Project, a living laboratory which aims at developing energy-efficiency-related research activities in the university campus to reduce costs in higher and federal institutions of education in Brazil.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review and evaluate energy use and performance, as well as existing energy efficiency policy and measures in the Latvian industrial sector, in order to highlight possible scenarios for energy efficiency improvements in the future.Design/methodology/approachThe paper takes the form of a literature review and data analysis.FindingsIt is concluded that the existing energy efficiency measures for the industrial sector in Latvia do not work effectively. Also, it is expected that the planned measures for energy efficiency improvements for the industrial sector will not reach the defined energy saving targets in the framework of the Latvian NEEAP. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a common strategy on energy efficiency in the industrial sector in Latvia. This should be accomplished by reviewing the existing literature and data, as well as drawing up new, well‐designed energy efficiency measures.Practical implicationsThe results of this study can be applied and used in the development of energy efficiency policy for the industrial sector in Latvia. The paper also points out the main weak points of existing policy measures that can be improved in order to meet the energy saving target for the Latvian industrial sector.Originality/valueIn this paper, the Latvian industrial sector's energy efficiency policy and related measures have been organized and evaluated for the first time. Also, the importance of energy efficiency improvements in the industrial sector has been highlighted. This is evident from the fact that, currently, almost no energy efficiency measure for the industrial sector in Latvia works sufficiently.

The purpose of the windows as a construction product is to provide the building with natural light and the opportunity to ventilate the interior and at the same time providing protection to the room against external influences such as wind and rain, as well as to prevent uncontrolled cooling or heating of the room or the whole building in which they are built in. A window is a complex product which is constructed of different parts that could be made of different materials. In addition to providing light and protection from external influences such as rain and wind, the window has a key part in the energy efficiency of buildings. Energy efficiency as a term is usually associated in with two separate approaches, energy effects of devices and energy efficiency measures. When it comes to an energy-efficient device, then it is the device that has a high degree of energy utilization, while measures related to energy efficiency are all that we can do to reduce energy consumption. In order to protect the energy of the buildings, among other things, well-chosen windows of good quality and their proper installation play a key role in it. This research is focused on how much the component parts of the window have an influence on the thermal conductivity of the entire window, in fact, how different combinations of profiles that are used and glass packages affect the coefficient of thermal conductivity of the windows.

This paper reports on an in-depth analysis of the U.S. cement industry, identifying cost-effective energy efficiency measures and potentials. The authors assess this industry at the aggregate level (Standard Industrial Classification 324), which includes establishments engaged in manufacturing hydraulic cements, including Portland, natural, masonry, and pozzolana when reviewing industry trends and when making international comparisons. Coal and coke are currently the primary fuels for the sector, supplanting the dominance of natural gas in the 1970s. Between 1970 and 1997, primary physical energy intensity for cement production (SIC 324) dropped 30%,from 7.9 GJ/t to 5.6 GJ/t, while carbon dioxide intensity due to fuel consumption (carbon dioxide emissions expressed in tons of carbon per ton cement) dropped 25%, from 0.16 tC/ton to 0.12 tC/ton. Carbon dioxide intensity due to fuel consumption and clinker calcination dropped 17%, from 0.29 tC/ton to 0.24 tC/ton. They examined 30 energy efficient technologies and measures and estimated energy savings, carbon dioxide savings, investment costs, and operation and maintenance costs for each of the measures. They constructed an energy conservation supply curve for U.S. cement industry which found a total cost-effective reduction of 0.6 GJ/ton of cement consisting of measures having a simple payback period of 3 years or less. This is equivalent to potential energy savings of 11% of 1994 energy use for cement making and a savings of 5% of total 1994 carbon dioxide emissions by the U.S. cement industry. Assuming the increased production of blended cement in the U.S., as is common in many parts of the world, the technical potential for energy efficiency improvement would not change considerably. However, the cost-effective potential, would increase to 1.1 GJ/ton cement or 18% of total energy use, and carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by 16%.

This study deals with the integrated process of conservation and restoration of architectural heritage and sustainability. The objective of the research was to define adequate methodologies for the structural restoration of historic buildings, their re-use, and sustainable refurbishment in accordance with modern requirements and conservation standards while maintaining the original visual character by using natural stone as an authentic building material. The main research method was the in-situ observation of the historic structures during the restoration and adaptive re-use, the analysis, and evaluation of the research findings regarding energy efficiency improvements and energy saving in the Haybarn complex within the monastery Hilandar, Mount Athos, Greece. Due to its cultural and natural values, Mount Athos has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The research included the damaged and abandoned agricultural structures that belong to the Haybarn complex and the analysis of the obtained results after the restoration had finished and the abandoned premises had been turned into guest rooms for the visitors of Hilandar monastery. The result section states the findings of the research arranged as recommendations for historic building restoration and re-use, emphasizing their new function in accordance with modern comfort requirements and environmental protection standards. The main contribution of this study is the analysis of the research findings and the possibilities of energy refurbishment of the restored historic buildings, through the use of natural stone as authentic local construction material, in accordance with energy efficiency measures and principles, conservation requirements and cultural heritage conservation standards.

Not all industrial facilities have the staff or the opportunity to perform a detailed audit of their operations. The lack of knowledge of energy efficiency opportunities provides an important barrier to improving efficiency. Benchmarking has demonstrated to help energy users understand energy use and the potential for energy efficiency improvement, reducing the information barrier. In California, the wine making industry is not only one of the economic pillars of the economy; it is also a large energy consumer, with a considerable potential for energy-efficiency improvement. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Fetzer Vineyards developed an integrated benchmarking and self-assessment tool for the California wine industry called ''BEST''(Benchmarking and Energy and water Savings Tool) Winery. BEST Winery enables a winery to compare its energy efficiency to a best practice winery, accounting for differences in product mix and other characteristics of the winery. The tool enables the user to evaluate the impact of implementing energy and water efficiency measures. The tool facilitates strategic planning of efficiency measures, based on the estimated impact of the measures, their costs and savings. BEST Winery is available as a software tool in an Excel environment. This report serves as background material, documenting assumptions and information on the included energy and water efficiency measures. It also serves as a user guide for the software package.

This fact sheet describes the objectives of the U.S. Department of Energy Uniform Methods Project to bring consistency to energy savings calculations in U.S. energy efficiency programs. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is developing a framework and a set of protocols for determining gross energy savings from energy efficiency measures and programs. The protocols represent a refinement of the body of knowledge supporting energy efficiency evaluation, measurement, and verification (EM&V) activities. They have been written by technical experts within the field and reviewed by industry experts. Current EM&V practice allows for multiple methods for calculating energy savings. These methods were developed to meet the needs of energy efficiency program administrators and regulators. Although they served their original objectives well, they have resulted in inconsistent and incomparable savings results - even for identical measures. The goal of the Uniform Methods Project is to strengthen the credibility of energy savings determinations by improving EM&V, increasing the consistency and transparency of how energy savings are determined.