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Dear Colleagues,

There is an abundant and growing scientific literature on the energy behavior of buildings, both new and refurbished. However, this monograph seeks to go further by proposing to delve into the current relationships, and especially future ones, between the different systems that form a building, since buildings are increasingly complex entities in which a part cannot be described without taking into account the set of interactions with the rest of the components or systems.

This issue includes, among others, the following approaches, but also other equivalents that allow revealing new visions, solutions, and technologies in the future of energy efficiency with architecture:

- Energy efficiency of buildings in relation to the urban environment in which they are located;

- Systems for the generation, storage, and use of electrical energy;

- HVAC systems;

- Real scale prototypes;

- Simulations and monitoring;

- Renewable energies in relation to the systems that power the building;

- Description of technologies that are expected to be used in the future in the medium and long term in the building;

- Energy efficiency in residential buildings, hospitals, offices, sport facilities, etc.

In all cases, in addition to the scientific objective, the inclusion of economic parameters that allow assessing the cost of integrating the elements, systems, and methodologies in buildings will be examined.

Prof. Dr. César Martín-Gómez
Prof. Dr. Amaia Zuazua-Ros
Guest Editors

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Keywords

energy systems design
renewable energies’ integration
HVAC systems
advanced prototyping
future technologies

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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31 pages, 7928 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Performance Analysis of the Developed Air Source Heat Pump System at Low-to-Medium and High Supply Temperatures for Irish Housing Stock Heat Load Applications

by Muhammad Abid, Neil Hewitt, Ming-Jun Huang, Christopher Wilson and Donal Cotter

Sustainability 2021, 13(21), 11753; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132111753 - 25 Oct 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2418

Abstract

Decarbonization of the UK residential heating sector is crucial to cut the carbon emissions and meet the legal binding of the Climate Change Act, 2008. The current progress with residential building sector carbon neutrality is slow and, hence, acceleration in action is required. The heat pump (HP) technology was found to be a potential candidate for sustainable development instead of fossil fuel-based oil/gas boilers, but improvement in its coefficient of performance (COP) is essential to compete with the lower gas/oil unit energy cost. The number of studies found in the literature were very limited, with the customized prototype development in the context of Northern Ireland, but without considering the simultaneous impact of heat supply temperature and operating mode of control for performance improvement in different property types. It is evidenced in the literature that the variable speed capacity control approach could improve the annual performance, but the literature has not looked into the compressor efficiencies challenges. In this study, steady state testing with a range of fixed constant heat loads (3–18 KW), done by varying compressor speed and its impact on COP, compressor efficiencies, and inverter losses, was established. The HP performance was measured and evaluated at low (35 °C)-to-medium (45 °C) and high (55 °C) heat supply temperature levels under the controlled laboratory conditions over the experienced ambient temperature. According to the result the COP values varies according to heat supply temperature, ambient temperature conditions, and heating capacity. The HP annual performances with Irish housing stock were evaluated in two modes of control and three case studies (C1, C2, C3) based on the experimentally validated model. The heat load demand in five property types with four age periods were considered in the analysis. The system could meet the required heat load demand for all property types in VSM with different percentage improvements in performance in comparison to FSM depending on the considered case level of the heat supply temperature (C1, C2, C3). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Performance and Efficiency in Buildings)

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Review

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17 pages, 1805 KiB

Open AccessReview

The Status of Embodied Carbon in Building Practice and Research in the United States: A Systematic Investigation

by Ming Hu and Nora Wang Esram

Sustainability 2021, 13(23), 12961; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132312961 - 23 Nov 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4079

Abstract

The building construction industry accounts for 5% of global energy use and 10% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A primary source of these emissions is the manufacture of building construction materials such as steel, cement, and glass. As aggressive building energy codes push new construction towards net-zero-energy and net-zero-carbon operations, corresponding efforts to reduce embodied energy and carbon from building construction materials must be pursued to achieve the decarbonization goals of the building sector. In the past few decades, progressive building energy codes as well as the underlying research on reducing the operational energy and its related greenhouse gas emissions have stimulated changes of practice in building design and operation. In contrast, strategies to reduce embodied carbon in the substitute remaining life-cycle stages of a building are less defined and studied. The selection of building materials and systems is largely unregulated, as long as minimum health, safety, and performance standards are met. In addition, it is unclear whether we have adequate knowledge infrastructure to incorporate embodied carbon into national model codes. This study provides a comprehensive review of the current state of knowledge of existing methods, databases, and tools on embodied carbon studies, and identifies the knowledge gaps. It provides a basis for the governments, academia, industry, and other institutes to collaboratively fill in these gaps and develop standards and codes to decarbonize buildings and their interface with other sectors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Performance and Efficiency in Buildings)

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