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Mongolia is experiencing unprecedented urbanization along with recent economic growth. Ulaanbaatar is known to be the coldest capital in the world and heating demand is very high during the long winter season. Due to the increase of coal burning to provide heat, there is an urgent need to improve housing and to reduce energy use and air pollution. Currently, there is a revitalization of the Ger area of Mongolia and this presents a good opportunity to redevelop the region into an ecologically designed district with sustainable housing. Such a redesign will result in energy saving and air pollution reduction. With this goal in mind, a pilot project called Create Accord Living Environment (CALE), was developed to demonstrate living conditions with a new house design that is cost effective for Mongolia. This paper presents the house performance using an energy simulation and the results are correlated with measurement data taken during the wintertime. The average energy use intensity (EUI) for 5 CALE houses was found to be 112 kWh/m2/yr. This is a 71% energy savings compared to a typical detached house with a modern and efficient house design. If it is possible to redevelop 1000 houses in the Ger area, an estimated 6.5 kton/yr in carbon emission can be saved. In addition, a parametric study was conducted to investigate the impact of different construction materials, craftsmanship quality, and occupants' behavior on the house's energy efficiency. The proposed housing structures, which provide a comfortable living space with significantly reduced energy utilization, serves as a potential model for development both within Mongolia as well as for other similar climates.

This paper presents the results for the operating energy performance of the smart operation for a low carbon energy region (SOLCER) house. The house design is based on a &lsquo, systems&rsquo, approach, which integrates the building technologies for electrical and thermal energy systems, together with the architectural design. It is based on the concept of &lsquo, energy positive&rsquo, buildings, utilising renewable energy systems which form part of the building envelope construction. The paper describes how the building energy model HTB2, with a range of additional &lsquo, plugins&rsquo, has been used to simulate specific elements of the design and the overall energy performance of the house. Measurement data have been used in combination with the energy simulation results to evaluate the performance of the building together with its systems, and identifying the energy performance of individual components of the building. The study has indicated that an energy-positive performance can be achieved through an integrative systems approach. The analysis has indicated that the house, under normal occupancy, needs to import about 26% of its energy from the grid, but over the year its potential export to import ratio can reach 1.3:1. The paper discusses the performance gap between design and operation. It also considers the contribution of a transpired solar air collector (TSC) to space heating. The results have been used to gain a detailed understanding of energy-positive performance.

During winter-time in Mongolia, the air pollution is so severe that it threatens the citizens’ health. Ulaanbaatar is the capital city of Mongolia, and its population represents about half of the total population of Mongolia. The majority of people in the Ger area, approximately 50% of population of Ulaanbaatar, rely on direct coal burning to generate the required heat to maintain a comfortable environment in the cold season. The heavy reliance on coal leads to catastrophic air pollutant emissions including carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, which leads to global warming, climate change and human health. As it is identified that building insulation retrofit is one of the best ways to reduce the reliance on coal consumption due to the improved heat retention and air tightness, a tool, named “FIXIT” has been developed to quickly quantify the impact from insulation retrofit. This paper presents how “FIXIT” was developed and is applied to help house owners to understand their building performance. Not only can “FIXIT” be applied for individual houses, it can also be used to estimate the reduction of air pollution from coal burning due to insulation retrofit. With “FIXIT”, it is estimated that about 530 ktons of carbon emissions reduction can be targeted by applying building insulation retrofit, if around the 100,000 detached houses in Ulaanbaatar apply insulation retrofit. By highlighting the advantages on the building performance, “FIXIT” can encourage more house owners to improve their house insulation quality and thus contribute to the air quality, creating a cleaner and healthier environment and saving on fuel use.

A number of innovations in building envelope technologies have been Received 9 August 2016 implemented recently, for example, to improve insulation and air Accepted 24 September 2017 tightness to reduce energy consumption. However, growing concern KEYWORDS over the embodied energy and carbon as well as resource depletion, is Adaptability; energy beginning to impact on the design and implementation of existing and conservation measures; novel building envelope technologies. Biomimicry is proposed as one ecological design; intelligent approach to create buildings which are resilient to a changing climate, building; green building; embedded in wider ecological systems, energy efficient and waste free. biomimicry; biomimetics; However, the diversity of form and function in biological organisms and adaptable facade; plant cell therefore potential applications for biomimicry, requires a holistic wall approach spanning biology, materials science and architecture. It is considered timely to re-examine opportunities to learn from nature, including in the light of recent understanding of how plant form and function are determined at the cellular levels. In this article, we call for a systemic approach for the development of innovative biological and living building envelopes. Plant cell walls are compared to building envelopes. Key features of cell walls with the potential to inform the development of design principles of biological and living building envelopes are identified and discussed.

With around 1-2% annual replacement of the UK’s housing stock, housing retrofit must play a major role in reducing future energy use and CO2 emissions. This paper presents a whole-house approach for energy retrofit for five houses located in South Wales. This ‘systems based’ approach combines reduced energy demand, renewable energy supply and battery storage. The paper describes a combination of energy modelling, using the building energy model HTB2, and field measurements to analyse the performance of the houses before and after retrofit. The results indicate that significant reductions in energy use, CO2 emissions and energy costs can be achieved using a whole house approach, combining energy efficiency with building integrated renewable energy generation and energy storage. CO2 emission reductions are estimated to be in the range of 50-75%, with cost savings of £402 to £621 per year. The cost of carrying out the retrofitting ranges from £23,852 to £30,510. Although retrofits are still relatively expensive in relation to their annual cost savings, there are multiple benefits relating to reducing fuel poverty, reducing electricity grid stress and contributing to national CO2 emission reduction targets. Also, as costs of measures are further reduced and energy prices likely to rise in future, the cost balance will change more in favour of whole house retrofit. The paper demonstrates the advantages in using a combination of energy simulation and field monitoring to investigate the performance of buildings in use, which in this case concerns the impact of carrying out energy retrofits in housing.

Due to global warming and energy exhaustion, building retrofitting has attracted increasing attention worldwide. With 67.1 billion square meters of existing building area, China normally targets separate defect remedies to improve building energy efficiency in conventional renovation practices rather than taking a holistic approach to optimize whole building performance.\ud \ud This article presents a working procedure that is employed in the decision-making process of domestic retrofits in China from an architect’s perspective, combining building-sculpt redesign with the overall performance targets. This study examines three representative residences of different ages and dimensions as case studies to demonstrate a simulation-based holistic approach of integrating form, fabric and system strategies to improve environmental performance and reduce house-hold energy consumption without compromising building aesthetics in retrofit design. Different retrofit routes and corresponding priorities should be applied towards different conditions for different purposes. The simulation results indicate that within the service life, the older the residence, the greater the retrofit potential. For the 1981 residence, a holistic approach could achieve an energy savings of 78.1% and a CO2 savings of 92.6%. For the 1995 case, the holistic approach could reduce energy consumption by 66.6% and CO2 emissions by 76.6%. When designed properly, a 36.9% reduction in energy consumption and a 44.6% reduction in CO2 emissions could be achieved for the 2002 residence.

An on-site renewable energy system is developed and presented in this paper to supply electricity usage of potato cold stores in a UK food park. The system is designed to use the mass of the potatoes to store surplus power from PV when there are days of high solar radiation. It can also be charged from the grid during off-peak time when there are longer periods of overcast conditions. The paper presents results to show energy generated by the PV that can be used in the cooling system, and the storage potential of the potatoes in offsetting grid supply. The dynamic thermal model HTB2 with an energy system extension is employed to design the energy system. The base case representing the existing scenario is validated with previous weekly metering data. The system performance is examined in terms of annual energy performance and long-term cost-effectiveness. The simulation results indicate, 1) the cold store with potato storage is able to maintain the required temperature ranges for most periods when cooling is only powered by electricity from PV during peak-time, and it contributes to energy cost savings and electricity import reduction, but almost no cooling reduction; 2) the system combination of solar PV and off-peak cooling can be paid back within its lifespan, with the most optimal case taking only 11 years. The outcome of the research demonstrates the benefits of the optimized renewable energy system, which provides free or cheap energy supply, reduces industry-related CO2 emission, and contributes to overall energy cost savings. This technique might be applied to other type of food storage, where the thermal mass can contribute to thermal storage.

Transitional spaces have been widely applied in building designs. They may account for 10–40% of total volume in different types of buildings. Maintaining an acceptable level of thermal comfort for transitional spaces poses challenges to building designers and engineers. However, there is not in general a recommended acceptable comfort range for transitional spaces, nor are there specific thermal comfort prediction methods. This paper aims to investigate the thermal environmental performance and people's adaptive comfort in transitional spaces, by conducting field studies, which include on-site questionnaire surveys and physical measurements. Field studies were carried out for three selected case study buildings in Cardiff, each having some forms of transitional space. They were the National Assembly for Wales Senedd, the Hadyn Ellis Building and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. The total responses from the questionnaire surveys were 736 and 580, for all buildings, during the summer period in 2017 and the winter period in 2018 respectively. This paper first presents the findings from the field studies, followed by in-depth analysis of human adaptability to thermal environment. Strong correlations were identified between clothing value and indoor operative temperature. People's adaptability to the thermal environment is confirmed, with nearly 80% of the respondents opting for self-adaptive actions to overcome uncomfortable situations. The identified 90% acceptability comfort band (−0.5 < TSV< +0.5) were 4.0 °C and 4.2 °C for the summer period and the winter period respectively, implying that a fine control of the indoor temperature to maintain an acceptable comfort level is not necessary.

Several studies analyze the thermal performance of vegetated roofs, presenting either mathematical models or experimental quantifications of heat transfer process through them, also showing the effect of vegetation and soil parameters on the thermal and energy performance of this type of roofing system. However, presently the level of availability of these parameters, has not been enough considered. This work intends to investigate this underestimated issue of the green roofs’ thermal modeling, through the consideration of the availability of parameters pertinent to the shortwave radiation exchange, which are adopted by models based on leaf area index (LAI) and on the fractional vegetation coverage (σf). From the analysis of these models, the importance of a precise knowledge of such parameters arises, despite the availability of their values is still limited. In addition, the absence of a proper database including several green roof plant species and information on their stage of growth, to which a technician possibly will refer in the case of lack of field data, represents quite a worthwhile matter because it may lead to inaccurate estimations of the thermal loads for climatization of buildings equipped with green roofs. In this respect, the manuscript reports an estimation of the errors potentially occurring when not specific vegetation data are used. This evaluation is based on simulations, performed with the DesignBuilder© software, showing the energy effects produced by different assumptions in the green parameters (that is by adopting experimental data revealed by authors and a potential mix of the literature available parameters). Thus, the mission of the paper is to enlighten a difficulty that a technician possibly will encounter when performing an energy and thermal simulation of a green roof; therefore a strong call for making the current database more tailored on green roofs has also arisen.

European governments have set ambitious retrofitting targets driven by the commitment to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050. The United Kingdom has the oldest housing stock in Europe, with over 2/3 of dwellings built before 1976, when building regulations started to include energy efficiency. This raises concerns over carbon emissions, health, comfort and running costs, and government’s set targets and initiatives for significant improvements. Deep retrofitting by using innovative technologies with respect to aesthetics has considerable and measurable benefits, while it can be a costly and challenging process. This study examines a combination of measures undertaken in a pre-1919 dwelling in south Wales, including reduction of energy demand and the application of renewable energy supply and energy storage. A whole house performance and a systems breakdown evaluation is presented comparing the pre and post intervention status. Both monitoring and modelling tools where used, and the performance gap is also discussed. An annual reduction of 34% in space heating and 78% in electricity import was monitored with an additional electricity export of 3217kWh. This represents a total annual cost saving of £1115, at 2019 UK gas and electricity prices. The total cost of the retrofit was £55K.

Since the energy crisis of the mid and late 1970s, society has been aware of the need for a built environment that uses less fossil fuel energy. Although the built environment accounts for a large proportion of global fossil fuel use, it may be argued that the energy and buildings agenda is not being addressed at the depth or scale needed to meet global and national CO2 emission-reduction targets. Most actions to reduce energy use in the built environment have mainly used a ‘top-down’ decision-making approach, from government and industry, with little end-user engagement. Greenhouse gas emission-reduction targets will not be met without providing the technological and socio-economic pathways for achieving them. The paper is divided into three parts. Firstly, it discusses the need to reduce fossil fuel use and the apparent failure to transition policy goals and aims into practice. Secondly, top-down and bottom-up approaches are reviewed, advocating a greater emphasis on a ‘whole-system’ bottom-up approach in delivering multiple benefit solutions. Thirdly, the concept of ‘smart’ is considered in relation to bottom up with its implementation at a regional scale.

To improve energy efficiency of office buildings in Tianjin, we select a prototypical high-rise office tower as an example and focus on the effect of geometric factors on building energy performance. These factors include the orientation, plane shape, floor area, plane shape factor (the ratio of the plane length to the plane width, only as regards to a rectangle-shaped plane), floor height, floor number and window-to-wall ratio. The simulation is performed in DesignBuilder, which integrates artificial lighting with instantaneous daylight during the energy simulation process. The geometric factors of the defined prototype are examined in both single-parameter and multi-parameter evaluations. As to the multi-parameter results, the energy saving rate can vary by up to 18.9%, and reducing the floor height is observed to be the most effective means of reducing annual total end-use energy consumption, followed by increasing the plane shape factor and reducing the floor area. The results can serve as a reference for passive design strategies related to geometric factors in the early design stage.

Rapidly growing energy consumption and associated carbon emissions from building clusters and transport activities have raised concerns. Predicting carbon emissions combing building clusters and transport activities due to buildings’ users is an effective way to getting a better understanding of their energy use and carbon emissions, and thus to control carbon emissions for low carbon development. The purpose of this paper is to quantify and compare operational energy consumption and associated carbon dioxide emissions from building cluster and transport activities due to the buildings’ occupants. The energy consumption and carbon emission features on building cluster and transport activities are then presented and analysed. Finally, relevant low-carbon development strategies in the built environment from building cluster and transport activities are outlined and discussed. The results of the case study have shown that: (1) Energy consumption and carbon emissions from building clusters are almost four times higher than transport carbon emissions due to buildings’ users in the unit of the square metre per year. Therefore, more focus on energy-saving should be emphasised on the buildings sector compared to the transport sector. (2) Different building types significantly varied in energy demands. Specifically, residential buildings have the highest heating demands, while public buildings in term of commercial, office and hotel buildings consumed more energy on cooling demands. (3) Transport-related carbon emissions due to mobility from buildings’ users by car and taxi are the primary sources of carbon emissions. The highest average carbon emissions come from private cars/ taxis. By contrast, public transport has the lowest average transport carbon emissions due to their per capita low carbon emission factor. Transit modes are the preferred low carbon travel modes, so these should be promoted.

This paper presents an evaluation of the economic and technical feasibility of a renewable-led low carbon house in the UK. A holistic systems-based approach to achieve energy positive house has been taken. Long-term economic and technical feasibility analysis have been carried out based on a validated thermal and energy model of the house. The economic analysis employs the Return on Investment (ROI) method and considers changes to government financial support and technology progress over time. Results show that the extra investment on the house, compared with that for building a standard social house of similar size, can be paid back within the system lifespan under both the old Feed-in Tariff and its proposed replacement with reduced financial support. Variants examined in the technical feasibility analysis include housing type, orientation and location. Results show that the house can be replicated to achieve an energy positive performance for all variant combinations. Among the variants, location has the highest impact on building performance including annual electricity import, CO2 emission and electricity self-sufficient ratio, with South UK performing better than North UK. This implies that more efficient or advanced technologies would be needed to achieve similar building or system performance in areas of unfavourable climate. The outcome of the research has demonstrated the affordability of the energy positive house, and the technical feasibility of its replication with different housing types, orientations and locations in the UK. This study supports the wide scale replication of this affordable systems-based approach in domestic building design and construction when incorporating appropriate technologies.

The significance of retrofitting the existing housing stock is considered for the policy commitment of delivering an 80% CO 2 emission reduction by 2050. Background issues of energy, legislation, potential and actual CO 2 savings, socio-economics (payback, fuel poverty, health impacts, employment stimulus, etc.) are discussed. Different potential retrofit strategies for the housing stock are presented. Three large-scale housing retrofit programmes in Wales, UK, are analysed for energy savings (using the Energy and Environmental Prediction Model), CO 2 reduction and costs. Two ‘whole house’ retrofit projects in Wales are also assessed, one of which has been the subject of long-term monitoring. Data are compared on a range of retrofit options: different strategies (elemental, multiple and whole-house measures), costs, actual CO 2 reductions and associated benefits. The findings indicate that as the cost of measures rise in relation to the predicted savings, reasonable paybacks will be difficult to achieve, particularly for finance packages such as the ‘Green Deal’. There are funding opportunities for installing ‘shallow’ elemental measures to reduce CO 2 emissions by 10–30%. However, the large-scale financing of ‘deep’ (60–80% reductions) whole-house packages of measures is not currently available and does not pay back.

There is a global trend to deliver zero carbon buildings,\ud with European countries required to deliver near zero energy housing by 2020. This paper presents the results\ud of the simulation of the energy performance of the SOLCER house. The house was designed using a ‘systems’ approach to integrate the building technologies for thermal and electrical energy systems, based on the concept of buildings as power stations, using the renewable energy systems as part of the building envelope. The aim was to produce a house that achieves an ‘energy positive’ performance, which, on an annual basis, generates more energy than in consumes. The house is designed for wide-scale application, so, in addition to energy performance, the focus was also on affordability and ease of build. In order to assess the performance of the house a model was needed to assess the whole building energy performance of the building and its integrated energy systems. The paper describes the development of a simulation model based around the building thermal model, HTB2 (Heat Transfer in\ud Buildings: version 2). A number of sub-models were constructed to simulate the innovative heating, ventilation and power systems. Results are presented\ud relating to seasonal performance of the building, which\ud demonstrate that on an annual basis the building is around 70% self-sufficient in its energy needs, with a\ud grid export to import rate is 1.75.

Urban planning is a vital process in determining the functionality of future cities. It is predicted that at least two thirds of the world’s citizens will reside in towns and cities by the middle of this century, up from one third in the middle of the previous century. Not only is it essential to provide space for work and dwelling, but also for their well-being. Well-being is inextricably linked with the surrounding environment, and natural landscapes have a potent positive effect. For this reason, the inclusion and management of urban green infrastructure has become a topic of increasing scientific interest. Elements of this infrastructure, including green roofs and facades are of growing importance to operators in each stage of the planning, design and construction process in urban areas. Currently, there is a strong recognition that “green is good”. Despite the positive recognition of urban greenery, and the concerted efforts to include more of it in cities, greater scientific attention is needed to better understand its role in the urban environment. For example, many solutions are cleverly engineered without giving sufficient consideration to the biology of the vegetation that is used. This review contends that whilst “green is good” is a positive mantra to promote the inclusion of urban greenery, there is a significant opportunity to increase the contribution of plant science to the process of urban planning through both green infrastructure, and biomimicry.

Possible solutions for zero energy building design in UK are discussed in this paper. Simulation software (EnergyPlus and TRNSYS 16) are employed in this study, where EnergyPlus simulations are applied to enable facade design studies considering building materials, window sizes and orientations and TRNSYS is used for the investigation of the feasibility of zero energy houses with renewable electricity, solar hot water system and energy efficient heating systems under Cardiff weather conditions. Various design methods are compared and optimal design strategies for typical homes and energy systems are provided.

Conventional tropical building designs are experiencing a new paradigm in their environmental response to improve lighting ambiance and occupants’ visual comfort through the exploitation of daylighting. However, it is important for architects to understand that flaws in daylighting strategies could lead to disadvantages as they could hinder vision, cause discomfort, increase interior heat gain, and result in excessive energy demands. The objective of this study was to assess how occupants’ perceived their visual conditions through daylight ratio and luminance level measurements. Measurements were conducted throughout a 2-month period starting from 12th May to 3rd July 2007. Three case studies were conducted at typical Malaysian hostels located in the Klang Valley. Those selected were: the Twelfth Residential College, Universiti Malaya (H1); the Eleventh Residential College, Universiti Putra Malaysia (H2); and Murni Student Apartments, Universiti Tenaga Nasional (H3). The daylighting source in all these case studies were from side-lit windows. Overall, the findings suggested that occupants were at ease with the level of daylighting available in their rooms even though rooms that were shaded by projecting balconies (i.e.,: H1) were dimmer than the rooms that were not shaded (i.e.,: H2 and H3).

This study explores the interaction between perceived and calculated thermal comfort in Iranian office buildings. To achieve this, a questionnaire survey in six office buildings in Tehran (Iran) is conducted in conjunction with physical measurements. The study results reveal that there is a good agreement between perceived thermal sensation and calculated predicted mean vote (PMV) from the measurements for the majority of the offices (four out of six). This finding implies that the calculation of PMV is valid for the Iranian cultural situation in air conditioned and HVAC office buildings. The results also show that more than half of the studied offices are not in good compliance with the comfort levels suggested in ASHRAE Standard 55 and ISO Standard 7730.

Sustainability is deeply rooted in the built environment and is inherently holistic reaching across environmental, social and economic issues at local and global scales. There is therefore a need for cross disciplinary working to ensure a sustainable approach. Although industry and government recognise the need to develop a more sustainable approach the built environment, it is slow to be achieved in practice. This paper describes the development and operation of a computer based interactive guidance system that assists with the incorporation of sustainability in built environment policies, plans, programmes and projects allowing all stakeholders to be involved. PETUS was informed by the needs of practice and designed and developed to provide a mechanism for cross disciplinary working for sustainability.

The effect of the built environment on the quality of life of its residents is of growing interest. To investigate this properly, a method for measuring the physical condition of residential areas is required and this paper describes the development of such a tool. The Residential Environment Assessment Tool (REAT) is designed as a survey instrument, to be completed by an independent observer, to produce a contextual measure of a neighbourhood, reflecting both physical aspects and also the extent to which residents have established territoriality over the area. The tool is based on 28 items which are aggregated to give a total score, ranging between 0 and 68, and subdivided into 5 different domains to reflect different aspects of the environment. Inter-observer comparisons show that the tool is reliable, with kappa coefficients for most of the item scores exceeding 0.9. To investigate its validity the results were compared with responses to a detailed survey of individual residents and significant positive associations were found between most relevant items. The tool is being used for studies involving common mental disorders in the community and should be valuable for local authorities in targeting interventions to improve the physical condition of their area.

Heat transfer process and natural ventilation driven by a solar chimney attached to a sidewall of building are investigated with CFD technique (MITFLOW) in detail. In this paper, conditions and par...

Two alternative modelling approaches, physical scale modelling and numerical simulation, have been applied to the design assessment of daylight and sunlight in, and around, high-density Hong Kong housing. The ability to include both self-shading and site obstructions is crucial to this application area, which severely constrains the methods used for both approaches. While physical scale modelling could assist in estate planning, it was not feasible to study both external and internal spaces at the same model scale, even in a large, advanced facility. Due to the need to include context surroundings, physical scale models in this application would be unlikely to be able to inform design on detailed internal conditions. Numerical simulations could effectively focus on both issues and the data produced could couple to detailed modelling of other aspects, e.g. the calculation of cooling load or peak internal temperatures. Numerical modelling at this level has significant drawbacks, however, including the investment in time and expertise necessary to achieve reliable results, and the requirement for rigorous testing and validation for general acceptance of results.

This paper describes a study of the assessment of pedestrian wind environment using two methods, namely, wind-tunnel scale modelling and numerical computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation. An estate of high-rise residential towers in Hong Kong is used as the test case. The two methods were found to yield broadly similar results in predicting wind-flow patterns through the complex. Wind factors of up to three times the free-site wind speed were predicted by both methods. There were, however, some disagreements in the detailed location and extent of the severe areas, which indicates further investigation and validation is required before CFD methods can be comfortably used in practice.

A clear definition of the responsibilities of the contracting parties is crucial to any contract. However, many building services maintenance contracts contain vague terms that are often causes of disputes, suspension of work, unsatisfactory performance and financial losses. Common vague contract terms include those that require the contractor to be responsible for any replacement and restoration work arising from “fair wear and tear” and “vandalism”. Reports the findings of a survey of maintenance practitioners’ interpretations of these terms, and their experience with the use of such terms in building services maintenance contracts in Hong Kong.

This paper discusses an overall strategy for reducing energy demand in non-domestic buildings, mainly focusing on office developments. It considers four areas: reducing internal heat loads; addressing passive design through the building construction; using efficient and responsive HVAC systems and focusing on chilled (heated) surface systems; integrating renewable energy supply systems into the building design. The impact on energy use and carbon dioxide emissions will be discussed. The paper will draw from a range of design projects carried out in Europe, where this integrated approach has been applied, and then explore the benefits in relation to applications in the Middle East and China. Energy modelling results, to inform the design process will be presented, using energy simulation for three case study locations, in Zurich, the Chongqing and Abu Dhabi.

Study objective: To develop a cross disciplinary literature search methodology for conducting systematic reviews of all types of research investigating aspects of the built environment and the health of the public. Design: The method was developed following a comprehensive search of literature in the area of housing and injuries, using 30 databases covering many disciplines including medicine, social science, architecture, science, engineering, environment, planning and psychology. The results of the database searches, including the type (or evidence) of research papers identified, were analysed to identify the most productive databases and improve the efficiency of the strategy. The revised strategy for literature searching was then applied to the area of neighbourhoods and mental health, and an analysis of the evidence type of references was carried out. In recognition of the large number and variety of observational studies, an expanded evidence type classification was developed for this purpose. Main results: From an analysis of 722 citations obtained by a housing and injuries search, an overlap of only 9% was found between medical and social science databases and only 1% between medical and built environment databases. A preliminary evidence type classification of those citations that could be assessed (from information in the abstracts and titles) suggested that the majority of intervention studies on housing and injuries are likely to be found in the medical and social science databases. A number of relevant observational studies (10% of all research studies) would have been missed, however, by excluding built environment and grey literature databases. In an area lacking in interventional research (housing/neighbourhoods and mental health) as many as 25% of all research studies would have been missed by ignoring the built environment and grey literature. Conclusions: When planning a systematic review of all types of evidence in a topic relating to the built environment and the health of the public, a range of bibliographical databases from various disciplines should be considered.

Oversized equipment is one of the key factors for poor energy performance of commercial buildings in Hong Kong. Similar situations exist also in many buildings in different parts of the world. The use of realistic design criteria has been identified as an effective method to reduce the equipment oversizing problem. A set of realistic design criteria for lighting power density, occupation density, and appliances' load-intensity for various types of premises have been established based on data obtained in walk-through surveys of energy end-uses in 31 Hong Kong office buildings. Potential electricity savings through the use of realistic design criteria were estimated to be 6–22% of the electricity consumption of Hong Kong, which corresponds to an annual cost of HK$12.2–44.7 billion.

The main aim of the energy and environmental prediction (EEP) model is to provide an auditing tool for quantifying energy use and emissions in cities to assist in planning for sustainable development. The EEP model can be used as a planning and policy tool that will allow local government to select sites for development that will assist in the drive for sustainability. It can also be used as an impact assessment tool to determine the impact of proposed developments by assessing likely travel patterns and energy use. The computer-based model provides an integrative method for domestic, commercial, industrial process and transport sectors of the built environment to predict and account for energy use within a region so that plans can be made to reduce carbon dioxide and other emissions.

Many buildings in Hong Kong are equipped with oversized chiller plants, which often run at low part-load efficiency. In the paper, the conventional cooling load calculation method for plant sizing and the design criteria used in the calculation are reviewed. Factors that would contribute to overestimation of the required plant capacity are highlighted. With reference to six existing commercial buildings, design peak cooling loads estimated by using the conventional design load calculation method are compared with peak cooling loads predicted by detailed computer simulation, and with the capacities of the existing plants. In addition, the predicted energy use of the chillers based on their installed capacities are compared with the predicted energy use when the capacity of the plants are adjusted to the design cooling load determined using the conventional method, and to the peak load obtained by detailed simulation. It was found that the peak cooling load determined from a detailed simulation on the basis...

In order to inform the design of a building or a group of buildings in relation to their potential energy efficiency, the main impact will be at the initial concept design stage. Variations and interactions of parameters need to be considered quickly as the design develops. This paper describes the development of a ‘sensitivity tool’ based around the established building energy model, HTB2. An example case study from China is given to illustrate the process.

This chapter discusses the need for energy and environmental modeling at an urban scale. It stresses the importance of carrying out such modeling at an early masterplanning stage of a new development. It also considers modeling the existing built environment at urban scale and how this can inform retrofit programs. A variety of modeling methods are introduced, from simple annual energy calculations, to how more complex energy models developed for individual building simulation can be applied at an urban scale. The use of physical-scale modeling for environmental predictions is also discussed. The chapter uses a range of urban case studies to illustrate the modeling applications. Finally, a general framework for sustainable urban-scale masterplanning is introduced. The work is based on the development of urban-scale modeling tools and processes from a range of research and design projects. Learning outcomes: On successful completion of this chapter, readers will be able to: (1) explore the need for urban-scale energy and environmental modeling; (2) discuss methods of urban-scale energy and environmental modeling; (3) understand the application of modeling through case studies; and (4) appreciate the wider aspects of sustainable masterplanning.

The thermal conductivity of lime/cement stabilised hollow and plain earth blocks, produced from Sudanese soil with the Brepak Press, has been measured using the Guarded Hot Box method. The results give thermal conductivity values for oven dry samples at (0.1–0.5%) moisture content by volume of 0.25–0.55 W/mK. For each soil type, the conductivity is highest for cement stabilised soil building blocks. The results compare to existing leading standards for masonry and earthen products. Ingersolls' algorithm was used to calculate the specific heat capacity of the blocks. This gave values around 836 J/kg °C, which again compares favourably to reported results for stabilised soil building blocks.

Building on the extensive research in Virtual Reality (VR), we are proposing a new dynamic prototype for modelling and simulating carbon emissions in a virtual village called VIRVIL. VIRVIL is a simulated settlement for the assessment of the impact of low and zero carbon technologies and measures in the built environment. The prototype will focus on the impact on the community as a whole, as well as on individual buildings, and will bring together current state-of-the-art simulation capabilities to provide the most comprehensive and credible modelling software. Compared with conventional methods, our approach has the advantage of being capable of realistically visualising buildings in a geometrically interactive 3D environment, of analysing carbon emissions in real-time and dealing with very large-scale data for modelling and visualisation.

Background: Rates of injuries may occur more frequently in different types of homes. Methods: Retrospective population-based cohort study utilizing three linked databases: a population register, an architectural assessment of homes in the area, and an emergency departmentbased injury surveillance system. Results: Over 58,000 homes were classified into 94 different types according to age, size, and built form. Among the 112,248 inhabitants, there were 18,044 emergency department attendances for treatment of an injury suffered in the home. Adjusted odds ratio of injuries for residents of purpose-built apartments was substantially elevated for all injuries (2.07; 95% confidence interval [CI]�1.87–2.30) and poisoning episodes (5.6; 95% CI�3.8–8.3). Conclusions: Residents of apartment buildings have substantially higher injury rates. Additional research is required to investigate the contribution of environmental hazards and behavioral factors underlying these high rates.

There are many technical challenges and opportunities ahead as sustainability in the built environment becomes a major economic force in relation to both building construction and energy supply. Climate change, the depletion of fossil fuel energy sources, and the security of future energy supplies are becoming a major concern for all countries. Materials and water are also becoming short in supply. All these issues are a clear indication that we are living in unsustainable ways. Many countries are developing at a rapid pace and the global rate of building construction is unprecedented, generally with little attention given to the impact that the construction and operation of these building will have on the environment, both locally and from a global perspective. In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported a 90% certainty that global warming is caused by human activity associated with greenhouse gas emissions. The increased CO2 level in the global atmosphere is now a major concern. The reports states that if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change, average temperature rises must be maintained within 28C which equates to carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere staying below 450 ppm. Perhaps the most alarming aspect of this is that we must take action within 10 years from 2007. That means we have only 8 years, not just to plan, but to act on the sustainability issues concerning the built environment. In the longer term the planet needs to achieve carbon neutrality. If we take the view of climate change modellers that we have a finite amount of CO2 that we can put into the atmosphere before the 28C limit is exceeded then we must budget this over a period of time. We might take the view that the carbon neutrality target is to be achieved by the end of this century and that the amount of emissions must be agreed globally, with some countries allowed to continue to increase their emissions, whilst other more developed countries begin to reduce sooner. At some stage all countries would emit the same per capita and then reduce to zero carbon. This is called the contraction and convergence principle. So what role should the built environment play in this? In a global context the built environment is said to be responsible for about 50% of emissions and 70% if we include transportation associated with mobility within the built environment. It is convenient to divide the built environment into new build, existing buildings and supporting infrastructures (for transport, water/sewage, waste and energy supply). Probably the easiest sector to deal with first is new build. As they are likely to be around for some time it is important that they perform well in relation to CO2 emissions. Many governments worldwide are developing policies to reduce CO2 emissions. In the UK, the government has set a target for all new houses to be ‘‘zero carbon’’ by 2016, and in some regions of the UK, for example Wales, the regional government has set a target for all new buildings to be zero carbonby2011.Thedefinitionofazerocarbonbuilding in its simplest form is that it has a reduced energy demand for thermal energy and power and that the supply is from renewable energy sources, integrated into the building

Eight factories have been monitored, two designed in compliance with current recommendations for thermal insulation (0.6 W m −2 °C −1 ) and air infiltration, and six designed with increased levels of thermal insulation (0.35–0.45 W m −2 °C −1 ) and reduced levels of air infiltration. Design energy targets are presented for the standard and “better insulated” factories. Results for measured U -values and air infiltration rates are presented and related to standard and recommended values. In general the measured U -value heat loss was found to be higher and the measured air infiltration rates were found to be lower than recommended design values. These measured values were used to calculate revised design energy targets which were then compared to the original design targets and measured operational targets. Operational energy targets for the better insulated factories were found to lie within 0.30 and 0.34 GJ m −2 yr −1 . The possibility of a “mismatch” between traditional heating system design and the heating requirements of low energy factories is discussed.

The Hong Kong Building Environmental Assessment Method (HK-BEAM), an environmental assessment method for air-conditioned office buildings, has been developed by the Real Estate Developers Association (REDA) for use in Hong Kong. Two versions of the scheme have been developed; one for new office premises and the other for existing office premises. HK-BEAM embraces a variety of issues related to the global, local and indoor environments. The efficient use of electricity forms a major part of the assessment. The basis for the energy performance assessment method, and the criteria for obtaining the relevant credits are described and discussed.