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There is a rising demand for energy-efficient and low-carbon buildings that is driven by the energy consumption in the building sector, global population growth, and high standards of comfort. Integrating contemporary energy-efficient technologies is crucial for tackling this issue. In this study, thermal energy storage (TES) technologies are investigated, particularly phase change materials (PCMs), by using them in buildings and in order to improve energy efficiency. Paraffin-based PCMs are the main focus and are known for their advanced thermal storage capacity and compatibility with building materials. The work focuses on embedding these PCMs into building components such as roofs and walls in order to maximize energy efficiency. Key data, including thermal conductivity (varying from 0.063 W/mK to 0.175 W/mK) and solar reflectance (ranging from 42.7% to 70.31%), were taken with a Hot Disc TPS1500 and a UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer and used as inputs for EnergyPlus calculations. The results show that PCM-enhanced materials greatly increase thermal regulation and energy efficiency. Gypsum boards 30% PCM-enhanced used in buildings achieved up to 12.8% annual energy consumption reductions (106.1 kWh/m2) and 22.3% net annual energy consumption savings (52.2 kWh/m2) when compared to baseline scenarios. The study indicates that PCM integration can significantly cut energy usage while improving indoor thermal comfort, underlining its potential for widespread use in sustainable building design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant portion of the energy consumed in our country is used for heating and cooling processes in buildings. To reduce this energy consumption, proper energy utilization and effective insulation are essential. This study was conducted with the aim of minimizing heat loss through windows and enhancing thermal insulation. Two types of calculations were performed: experimental and numerical. Various glass samples were used for these calculations. Numerical calculations were conducted using Comsol Multiphysics 5.4 and the Heat Transfer Module, while experimental measurements of thermal conductivity coefficients were carried out in accordance with TS EN 12667 standards using the HFM Fox-314 measurement device. Based on the measurements and comparisons conducted for Isparta province, it was determined that the three-layered 16 mm gas-filled argon gas Solar Low-e coated glass with a thermal conductivity coefficient of 0.113 W/mK, a thermal transmittance coefficient of 0.388 m2K/W, and a thermal transmittance coefficient of 1.1 W/m2K is the most ideal application. Furthermore, it was observed that 10 samples outperformed the TS 825 standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need to implement measures to mitigate the buildings electricity consumption in the country led to the creation of the RTQ-C in 2009. Although Brazil has many naturally ventilated buildings, the RTQ-C is strongly oriented towards buildings that have air-conditioned systems. In 2021, the Brazilian Government published an improvement to the RTQ-C, renaming it to INI-C which, among other changes, presents a simplified method for evaluating the percentage of hours in thermal comfort (PHOCt) for naturally ventilated spaces. In this research the aim is to analyze the applicability and possible limitations of this method, using UFMG’s buildings located in Pampulha campus as a case study. For this purpose, the possibility of applying the method in buildings of different geometries was evaluated and the results of this method was compared with results obtained through simulation with EnergyPlus software. The 82 buildings considered of interest for the study were divided into three groups according to the applicability of the method: 1) applicable, 2) applicable with adjustments, and 3) not applicable. It was observed that 16% of the buildings belong to group 1, 61% to group 2 and 23% to group 3. If limits of cover thermal transmittance and absorbance and variation between APP are also taken into account, only 1 building would meet the limits of the metamodel (1.2%). Buildings in group 1 had their PHOCt evaluated with results ranging between 53% and 97%, and the buildings with higher occupancy densities and smaller indoor spaces tended to have worst results and those with lower thermal roof transmittance tended to have the best results. In addition, the simplified method was applied with modifications in 3 buildings from group 2 and the results were compared with computer simulations. The percentage differences in the PHOCt ranged between 2% and 6%, which was considered a satisfactory result for the simplified method, even with the necessary adjustments. For now, the new method is considered capable of promoting a general assessment of natural ventilation solutions in buildings, but for that, acceptable adjustments in its input parameters must be evaluated to expand its application

This editorial discusses the contributions of the papers belonging to the virtual special issue (VSI) of Energy Reports dedicated to 16th Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) Conference held in Dubrovnik on 10–15 October, 2021. Original research articles presented at the SDEWES Conference relevant to the Journal are included in this VSI for a total of 27 accepted papers among those invited by the Guest Editors. Accepted papers deal with key research topic related to the scope of the conference, such as energy, water, and environmental systems, meeting the aim and scope of Energy Reports. The main topics of this VSI cover innovative and renewable energy technologies, building-plant design solutions and simulation tools for the early design of sustainable buildings and communities, energy management strategies, clean fuels and energy conservation measures. The latest advancements and challenges to accelerate the mitigation of climate change towards a net zero energy economy are discussed in detail. The VSI collects the most relevant contributions of researchers committed to develop novel energy solutions and multidisciplinary approaches towards the sustainable development, crucial to ensure a just energy transition and, simultaneously, to reduce sources of conflict and iniquity typical of geopolitical tensions. The final goal of the effort of academia, industry and institution is to support the sustainable development towards a cleaner environment, energy security, and social equity.To this goal, the Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) Conference represents a platform for the development of inter-sectoral collaborations among scientists and stakeholders. The SDEWES Conference brought together around 630 scientists, researchers, and experts in the field of sustainable development from 58 Countries. According to the papers published in the VSI of Energy Reports dedicated to 16th SDEWES Conference, the editorial is split in several sections based on the relevant topics dealt by the VSI paper, such as: energy efficiency in buildings: measures and methods, solar based technologies for building applications, development and use of building energy performance simulation tools, energy communities and urban modelling, clean fuels and sustainable use of natural resources and energy saving practices.

There is a rising demand for energy-efficient and low-carbon buildings that is driven by the energy consumption in the building sector, global population growth, and high standards of comfort. Integrating contemporary energy-efficient technologies is crucial for tackling this issue. In this study, thermal energy storage (TES) technologies are investigated, particularly phase change materials (PCMs), by using them in buildings and in order to improve energy efficiency. Paraffin-based PCMs are the main focus and are known for their advanced thermal storage capacity and compatibility with building materials. The work focuses on embedding these PCMs into building components such as roofs and walls in order to maximize energy efficiency. Key data, including thermal conductivity (varying from 0.063 W/mK to 0.175 W/mK) and solar reflectance (ranging from 42.7% to 70.31%), were taken with a Hot Disc TPS1500 and a UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer and used as inputs for EnergyPlus calculations. The results show that PCM-enhanced materials greatly increase thermal regulation and energy efficiency. Gypsum boards 30% PCM-enhanced used in buildings achieved up to 12.8% annual energy consumption reductions (106.1 kWh/m2) and 22.3% net annual energy consumption savings (52.2 kWh/m2) when compared to baseline scenarios. The study indicates that PCM integration can significantly cut energy usage while improving indoor thermal comfort, underlining its potential for widespread use in sustainable building design.

This editorial discusses the contributions of the papers belonging to the virtual special issue (VSI) of Energy Reports dedicated to the series of four SDEWES Conferences on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems held in Cologne (Germany), Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Gold Coast (Australia) and Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 2020. High quality review papers and original research articles presented at the SDEWES Conferences relevant to the Journal are included in this VSI for a total of 20 accepted articles invited by the Guest Editors. Published papers deal with key research topic related to clean energies, advance energy technologies, building-plant design solutions, energy management measures, policies and regulations capable to ensure that all countries and regions develop and implement expertise and technologies to tackle climate change and make progress towards a net zero energy economy. Such a complex goal poses some major challenges and calls for the effort of scientists and stakeholders to commit to develop and carry out multidisciplinary approaches towards the sustainable development of modern cities for a decarbonized economy. This process is also crucial for achieving a successful and just energy transition, necessary to reduce sources of conflict and iniquity typical of geopolitical tensions, to avoid causes of uncertainty in the long run to the sustainable development Agenda, towards energy security, environmental protection, and the affordability of energy.In this framework, the Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems Series Conference represents a platform for the development of inter-sectoral collaborations among scientists and stakeholders and it promotes the development and improvements of advanced energy technologies and systems for the sustainable and just transition. The SDEWES Conferences brought together around 1000 researchers from all over the world working in the field of the sustainable development. According to the papers published in the VSI of Energy Reports dedicated to SDEWES Conferences, the editorial is subdivided in several sections based on the relevant topics on which the VSI papers are focused: renewable technologies for the energy efficiency of buildings and communities, advanced technologies and tools for the energy efficient design of buildings and systems, challenges and opportunities of policies and regulations to support the energy transition and meet the sustainable development targets.

This paper presents possible applications of heat pumps in buildings during the energy transformation and decarbonization of a country whose energy sector is highly centralized and based on coal. Contemporary cities are spreading beyond the existing borders and new areas cannot be supplied by the existing centralized district heating system. The only form of energy that is available on the outskirts of cities is electricity, which means that it must be used for all energy needs, including heating. In such a case, the use of heat pumps is perfectly justified in terms of energy, economy and environment, especially when they are coupled with photovoltaic systems. Hypothetical micro housing estate energy systems based on photovoltaics and heat pumps are analyzed in the paper. New options for configuration and operation of the energy systems are considered. Results of a simulation study show that by creating a common local electricity network and a local heating network powered by a central heat pump, the direct use of electricity generated in the local photovoltaic systems increases from 25% to at least 35%, thanks to enabling more even storing and consuming of solar energy during a day, compared to the independent operation of energy systems at individual houses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The market of energy services for the residential sector in Europe is very limited at present. Various reasons can be argued such as the high transaction costs in a highly fragmented market and the low energy consumption per dwelling. The rather long payback time for investments render Energy Services Companies' (ESCOs) services financially unattractive for many ESCOs and building residents, thus hindering a large potential of energy savings in a sector that is responsible of almost half of Europe's energy consumption. If the ambitious 2030 and 2050's decarbonisation targets are to be met, the EU's residential sector must be part of the solution. This paper offers insights about novel ESCO business models based on intensive data-driven Artificial Intelligence algorithms and analytics that enable the deployment of smart energy services in the domestic sector under a Pay-for-Performance (P4P) approach. The combination of different sources of energy efficiency services and the optimal participation of domestic consumers in aggregated demand response (DR) schemes open the door to new revenue streams for energy service providers and building residents and reduce the hitherto long payback periods of ESCOs services in the sector. Innovative business models for ESCOs and demand flexibility Aggregators are thoroughly described. Especially customised Performance Measurement and Verification protocols enable fair and transparent P4P ESCO contracts. The new human-centric energy and non-energy services increase the energy consumption awareness of building users and deploy behavioural and automated responses to both environmental and market signals to maximise the economic benefit for both energy service providers and consumers, always respecting data protection rules and the consumers' comfort preferences. The new hybrid business models of P4P energy services make traditional EPC more attractive to energy service providers, with low cost data collection and treatment systems to bring payback periods below 10 years in the residential building sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In assessing the energy performance of buildings, the thermal performance of the structural components and building materials is crucial. Although reference catalogs are used to determine the thermal properties of construction materials, the use of novel materials or non-homogeneous mixtures, particularly with biomaterials, demands the development of new instruments that are capable of performing rapid, accurate and cost-effective thermal characterization. This study introduces the ambient hot-box, a new tool for measuring the thermal properties of construction components and heterogeneous materials. The paper provides a methodology for measuring a sample's benchmark and fresh materials using a streamlined hot-box-based instrument. Utilizing samples as a benchmark material, the new instrument is assessed, yielding transmittance values with errors below 4%. The electronic circuits, measurements techniques and instrument implementation are all described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in dynamic energy simulation tools enable the definition of energy performance in buildings at the design stage. However, there are deviations among building energy simulation (BES) tools due to the algorithms, calculation errors, implementation errors, non-identical inputs, and different weather data processing. This study aimed to analyze several building energy simulation tools modeling the same characteristic office cell and comparing the heating and cooling loads on a yearly, monthly, and hourly basis for the climates of Boston, USA, and Madrid, Spain. First, a general classification of tools was provided, from basic online tools with limited modeling capabilities and inputs to more advanced simulation engines. General-purpose engines, such as TRNSYS and IDA ICE, allow users to develop new mathematical models for disruptive materials. Special-purpose tools, such as EnergyPlus, work with predefined standard simulation problems and permit a high calculation speed. The process of reaching a good agreement between all tools required several iterations. After analyzing the differences between the outputs from different software tools, a cross-validation methodology was applied to assess the heating and cooling demand among tools. In this regard, a statistical analysis was used to evaluate the reliability of the simulations, and the deviation thresholds indicated by ASHRAE Guideline 14-2014 were used as a basis to identify results that suggested an acceptable level of disagreement among the outcomes of all models. This study highlighted that comparing only the yearly heating and cooling demand was not enough to find the deviations between the tools. In the annual analysis, the mean percentage error values showed a good agreement among the programs, with deviations ranging from 0.1% to 5.3% among the results from different software and the average values. The monthly load deviations calculated by the studied tools ranged between 12% and 20% in Madrid and 10% and 14% in Boston, which were still considered satisfactory. However, the hourly energy demand analysis showed normalized root mean square error values from 35% to 50%, which were far from acceptable standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat cost allocation is commonly used in existing buildings supplied by centralized sources of heating/cooling and provided with individual metering systems. However, this process is not always fair for the users, since "fairness" strongly depends on the methods established to allocate variable and fixed costs among the dwellings. That is why unrealistic cost for heating may be allocated for specific flats. However, there is a lack of evidence about procedures as to how maximum and minimum variable cost of heating may be calculated for specific flats in multifamily building for a specific heating season. This paper presents different methods for estimation of maximum and minimum variable cost of heating of flat in multifamily buildings, the use of which depends of the availability of input data for specific buildings. Evaluation of the proposed methods is made on the example of a case study multifamily building located in Poland. It was shown that the maximum variable costs of heat purchase for specific flats in the analyzed building were in the range from 169% to 256% of the average unit cost of heat, depending on the method used. The recommendation about the accuracy of proposed methods is also provided by the authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) is increasingly recognized as a vital sustainable practice in urban environments, aimed at enhancing water conservation and reducing energy consumption. This study introduces an innovative integration of nano-composite materials as Silver Nanoparticles (AgNPs) into RWH systems to elevate water treatment efficiency and assess the resulting environmental and energy-saving benefits. Utilizing a regression analysis approach with Support Vector Machines (SVM) and K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), this study will reach the study objective. In this study, the inputs are building attributes, environmental parameters, sociodemographic factors, and the algorithms SVM and KNN. At the same time, the outputs are predicted energy consumption, visual comfort outcomes, ROC-AUC values, and Kappa Indices. The integration of AgNPs into RWH systems demonstrated substantial environmental and operational benefits, achieving a 57% reduction in microbial content and 20% reductions in both chemical usage and energy consumption. These improvements highlight the potential of AgNPs to enhance water safety and reduce the environmental impact of traditional water treatments, making them a viable alternative for sustainable water management. Additionally, the use of a hybrid SVM-KNN model effectively predicted building energy usage and visual comfort, with high accuracy and precision, underscoring its utility in optimizing urban building environments for sustainability and comfort. • Machine learning enhances urban water management for carbon neutrality. • Sustainable integration of rainwater harvesting systems in urban buildings. • Silver Nanoparticles boost water treatment efficiency, reducing energy consumption. • Significant reductions in microbial content and chemical usage in water systems. • Hybrid SVM-KNN model optimizes energy usage, promoting sustainable urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous development of energy-saving doors and windows, energy-saving glass has gradually developed from a single-cavity insulating glass to a multi-cavity insulating glass. In order to improve the thermal insulation properties of doors and windows and reduce the weight of insulating glass system. A new double suspension film insulating glass system with three cavities composed of two pieces of glass, two layers of film was designed, which based on the structure of four-glasses three-cavities insulating glass. Using polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film as a diaphragm to replace the heavier glass in the middle of the four-glasses three-cavities structure. The key performance of the glass system was analyzed. Firstly, the expressions of stress and strain were derived. Secondly, the film stretching process was analyzed based on ABAQUS. Then, the advantages of the new double-suspension film insulating glass system were compared from the aspects of the whole window quality, thermal performance and cost. Finally, the design was proved to be feasible by variable temperature environment experiment. The analysis results show that compared with the four-glass three-cavity insulating glass system, the overall quality of the double-suspended insulating glass system is 47.5% lower, the cost is reduced by 87.5%, and the heat transfer coefficient is slightly higher by 6.67%, but the heat transfer coefficient is lower than that of the single-cavity insulating glass system. It is 63.7%, which effectively solves the problem of heavy weight of multi-glass insulating glass, and has better thermal insulation performance than single-cavity insulating glass and lower cost. This innovative structure is more advantages in engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of building characteristics indicates that there are some uncertainties influencing its energy performance: Environment, volumetry or operating conditions. It is important to have a low-cost system that performs this analysis and energy management by optimizing the coupling between production and consumption. Knowing the relationship between the annual thermal needs with different construction parameters can help to define this system and allow understanding the expected heating and cooling consumption based on easily available information. In this work, a numerical methodology has been applied to estimate the thermal loads of a building without internal gains. For this purpose, a simulation environment has been developed to execute a sensitivity analysis through the interconnection between TRNSYS 16.1 and GenOpt programs. Volumetry, building materials according to Spanish regulations and percentage of external windows are evaluated as analysis variables of the parametric study. Heating, and cooling loads have been calculated to quantify their influence: Older regulations imply higher annual loads; the increase in building height and area reduces the annual thermal loads and higher percentages of glazing on the external façades imply higher annual demands, particularly in the east and west orientations; the variation of the envelope results in the most influential factor. Finally, a statistical study has been performed to assess the annual trends: Heating trends point to more stability with two defined intervals, while cooling trends are more asymmetric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This work describes the project submitted to the University-Society-Business 2021 call for proposals whose aim is to integrate the knowledge and university practices in the field of energy in buildings into secondary school students. The aim is to define the energy strategies to be implemented to strengthen the relationship between secondary education and university studies, by means of a "pilot project" at a secondary school, as well as to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) scientific vocations in young people, with particular emphasis on the female gender. The project will carry out an energetic study at a school developed by university research staff and secondary school students. The aim is to motivate and confirm the qualities of people in STEM teaching, to arouse interest and closeness as well as to promote education in the subject of energy efficiency in buildings

This paper presents possible applications of heat pumps in buildings during the energy transformation and decarbonization of a country whose energy sector is highly centralized and based on coal. Contemporary cities are spreading beyond the existing borders and new areas cannot be supplied by the existing centralized district heating system. The only form of energy that is available on the outskirts of cities is electricity, which means that it must be used for all energy needs, including heating. In such a case, the use of heat pumps is perfectly justified in terms of energy, economy and environment, especially when they are coupled with photovoltaic systems. Hypothetical micro housing estate energy systems based on photovoltaics and heat pumps are analyzed in the paper. New options for configuration and operation of the energy systems are considered. Results of a simulation study show that by creating a common local electricity network and a local heating network powered by a central heat pump, the direct use of electricity generated in the local photovoltaic systems increases from 25% to at least 35%, thanks to enabling more even storing and consuming of solar energy during a day, compared to the independent operation of energy systems at individual houses.

Controlling active and passive systems in buildings with the aim of optimizing energy efficiency and maintaining occupants' comfort is the major task of building management systems. However, most of these systems use a predefined configuration, which usually do not match the occupants' preferences. Therefore, occupancy detection is imperative for energy use management mainly in residential and industrial buildings. Most works related to data-driven-based occupancy detection have used batch learning techniques, which need to store first and then train the data. It is not appropriate for a non-stationary environment. Therefore, this work sheds more light on the use of non-stationary machine learning techniques. To this end, three machine learning algorithms for stream data processing are presented, tested, and evaluated in term of accuracy and resources performance (i.e., RAM, CPU), with the aim of predicting the number of occupants in smart buildings. A platform architecture that integrates IoT technologies with stream machine learning is implemented and deployed. The experimental results show the effectiveness of this approach and illustrate that the number of occupants can be predicted with an accuracy of more than 83% and without resource wasting (i.e., time of CPU use varied between 0.04s and 3.85 ⋅ 10−11 GB of RAM could be exploited per hour). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lightweight construction is experiencing a significant market implementation with sustained growth both for new buildings and retrofitting purposes. Despite the acknowledged advantages of this type of construction, their reduced thermal inertia can jeopardize indoor thermal comfort levels while leading to higher energy consumption due to high indoor temperature fluctuations and overheating rates. The incorporation of phase change materials (PCMs) into constructive solutions for lightweight buildings is a promising strategy to guarantee adequate thermal comfort conditions. Particularly, the utilization of mortars embedding PCMs as an indoor wall coating for new and existing buildings represents a solution that has not been widely explored in the past and needs further development and validation efforts. This work pursues the analysis of the thermal regulation effects generated by two thermally-enhanced mortars incorporating microencapsulated PCMs with different operating temperature ranges. To that end, an experimental campaign was conducted in Valladolid (Spain) to address the investigation of the proposed solution under a real-scale relevant environment. The proposed mortars were applied as an indoor coating to the envelope of a single-zone lightweight construction that was monitored (under different weather conditions along 1-year monitoring campaign) together with an identical building unit where the mortar was not added to the constructive base layer. The analysis of indoor temperature fluctuations under free-floating operating mode as well as the energy consumption of HVAC equipment under controlled-temperature operation was specifically targeted. Results derived from the continuous monitoring campaign revealed lower temperature fluctuations during summer and shoulder seasons, reducing indoor temperature peaks by 1–2 °C, and producing a time delay of 1–1.5 h into the temperature wave. A clear reduction in energy use due to the incorporation of the PCM-based indoor coating panels is also observed. Thus, this experimental research contributes to proving that the use of innovative mortars incorporating embedded PCMs enables the development of high-end efficient building solutions with innovative materials towards a sustainable built environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In assessing the energy performance of buildings, the thermal performance of the structural components and building materials is crucial. Although reference catalogs are used to determine the thermal properties of construction materials, the use of novel materials or non-homogeneous mixtures, particularly with biomaterials, demands the development of new instruments that are capable of performing rapid, accurate and cost-effective thermal characterization. This study introduces the ambient hot-box, a new tool for measuring the thermal properties of construction components and heterogeneous materials. The paper provides a methodology for measuring a sample’s benchmark and fresh materials using a streamlined hot-box-based instrument. Utilizing samples as a benchmark material, the new instrument is assessed, yielding transmittance values with errors below 4%. The electronic circuits, measurements techniques and instrument implementation are all described.

Heat cost allocation is commonly used in existing buildings supplied by centralized sources of heating/cooling and provided with individual metering systems. However, this process is not always fair for the users, since “fairness” strongly depends on the methods established to allocate variable and fixed costs among the dwellings. That is why unrealistic cost for heating may be allocated for specific flats. However, there is a lack of evidence about procedures as to how maximum and minimum variable cost of heating may be calculated for specific flats in multifamily building for a specific heating season. This paper presents different methods for estimation of maximum and minimum variable cost of heating of flat in multifamily buildings, the use of which depends of the availability of input data for specific buildings. Evaluation of the proposed methods is made on the example of a case study multifamily building located in Poland. It was shown that the maximum variable costs of heat purchase for specific flats in the analyzed building were in the range from 169% to 256% of the average unit cost of heat, depending on the method used. The recommendation about the accuracy of proposed methods is also provided by the authors.

Some incentives and arrangements have been made with regard to the use of renewable energy sources in order to prevent the rapid consumption of our energy resources and to minimize their environmental damage. However, it was realized that it was more important to use the energy we used more efficiently. Energy efficiency studies have been carried out in many areas. In this study, the building of the Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University (MAKÜ) Faculty of Engineering and Architecture has been examined. Energy efficiency studies in the building will consist of short-term transactions which will give quick results and do not cost extra. As a result of the inspections carried out in the building, some advice and suggestions were made. As a result of the detailed study about the building lighting, it was determined that the LED fluorescent lamp could be saved more than 8.5 million TL instead of the fluorescent lamp.

This data article refers to the paper “Assessing Nearly zero energy buildings (NZEBs) development in Europe” [1]. Data linked with this article relate to collected best practices NZEBs throughout Europe. Data on building geometry, year of construction or renovation, primary energy consumption, saving percentages, renewable production, heating demand are provided.Data allow an overview of the status of most commonly implemented efficiency measures and renewables in NZEBs. In particular, data are available in relation technologies, such as heating, domestic hot water, lighting, renewable sources, ventilation, cooling. Heat recovery efficiency data are also collected. U-values are detailed for roofs, walls, floors, windows. Further data can be visualized in relation to technologies costs, cost of construction and maintenance.

The analysis of building characteristics indicates that there are some uncertainties influencing its energy performance: Environment, volumetry or operating conditions. It is important to have a low-cost system that performs this analysis and energy management by optimizing the coupling between production and consumption. Knowing the relationship between the annual thermal needs with different construction parameters can help to define this system and allow understanding the expected heating and cooling consumption based on easily available information. In this work, a numerical methodology has been applied to estimate the thermal loads of a building without internal gains. For this purpose, a simulation environment has been developed to execute a sensitivity analysis through the interconnection between TRNSYS 16.1 and GenOpt programs. Volumetry, building materials according to Spanish regulations and percentage of external windows are evaluated as analysis variables of the parametric study. Heating, and cooling loads have been calculated to quantify their influence: Older regulations imply higher annual loads; the increase in building height and area reduces the annual thermal loads and higher percentages of glazing on the external façades imply higher annual demands, particularly in the east and west orientations; the variation of the envelope results in the most influential factor. Finally, a statistical study has been performed to assess the annual trends: Heating trends point to more stability with two defined intervals, while cooling trends are more asymmetric.

Decarbonising the energy sector is crucial to reach future climate and energy goals. As established by the Energy Performance of Building Directive recast, Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) are the mandatory building target in Europe for all new buildings from 2021 onwards. In the light of the approaching deadline, this paper assesses the development of NZEBs in Europe based on the most recent collected data and information.This paper provides an overview of the implementation of national definitions and energy performance values for new, existing, residential, and non-residential buildings in Member States. It evaluates the differences with the established European benchmark and cost-optimal levels. An overview of the most commonly implemented technologies in NZEBs is given together with costs and the relative projections over next decades. Finally, quantitative data on the NZEBs diffusion in Member States are given as recently assessed. The evolution of the NZEB concept and the future NZEBs role is also forecasted.The results assume a strategic value in the light of future targets for the building sector, showing the progress made by Member States in relation to different NZEBs aspects. They provide a comprehensive analysis of the European NZEBs implementation depicting a positive overall progress improvement for NZEBs definitions, uptake, technology development, and energy performance levels. Next challenges and barriers are outlined and appear mainly related to NZEBs retrofit.

Traditional data centres often require additional energy to drive air conditioning fans etc. to dissipate heat due to the serious power generation problems of servers, which in effect raises the economic costs. Seawater, with its high specific heat capacity and fluidity, offers a viable research direction for reducing economic costs, and this paper is based on this problem. The study shows that it is feasible to use containers as the main structure of the data centre. The number of servers n 860 that can be tolerated by the cooling capacity of the container without considering the limit of geometrical constraints is obtained by calculation. Secondly, in order to enhance the heat dissipation capacity of the data centre, the 6 cm straight ribbed crown fin heat dissipation enclosure is proposed to have the best heat dissipation capacity when comparing various heat dissipation enclosure configurations. A comprehensive assessment model of material properties was established, and the weights of each straight index were determined by analytic hierarchy process, and then the metals were ranked according to the specific scores of each index. The results show that nickel alloys and aluminium alloys are the most suitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve net-zero carbon emissions in a building's lifecycle, a comprehensive approach is required, addressing both embodied and operational carbon footprints. To support this goal, this study assesses the environmental, hygrothermal, and mechanical characteristics of different carbon-free adobe bricks bio-sourced with straw and evaluates their impacts on improving the energy performance of a one-story case study building located in a semi-arid climate. At the material scale, the mechanical performance, hydrothermal behavior, and durability of carbon-free straw-reinforced adobes, with weight percentages of 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4%, at different sizes: long straw (100–200 mm) and crushed straw (5–25 mm) were studied. The results show that incorporating straw into bricks increases porosity, enabling the production of lightweight bricks that comply with Moroccan standards for lightweight structures, possessing a density lower than the accepted limit of 1750 kg/m³. Furthermore, the thermomechanical properties of reinforced adobes were considerably improved compared to non-reinforced ones, with a gain in mechanical compressive and flexural strengths of 31.2% and 184%, respectively. However, it is important to note that in the case of adobe bricks reinforced with long straw (BLS), the findings revealed that, unlike other thermomechanical properties, long straw has a negative effect on compressive strength. Additionally, thermal conductivity decreased by 93.8% and 86.8% for a 4% inclusion of long and crushed straw, respectively. At the building scale, the indoor hygrothermal comfort was evaluated with respect the hot, semi-arid region in southern Morocco. The results show that the reinforced adobe material is able to reduce the indoor temperature of the case study building from 3 °C to 12 °C during the summer time, compared to the outdoor temperature, with a time lag of up to 5 h between the interior and exterior. Moreover, it successfully maintained diurnal indoor air temperature fluctuation within 2 °C. In addition, indoor relative humidity remained in the recommended 40%–65% by ASHRAE Standard 62.1–2022, over 78% during the monitoring period, even when the outside relative humidity fluctuated significantly (5–95%). Finally, a Morris-based sensitivity analysis was carried out on nine design parameters of the case-study building to assess the impact of varying the thermal properties of reinforced adobe bricks on cooling and heating energy performance, respectively. Thermal conductivity was found to have a significant impact on cooling energy demands and a lesser influence on heating demands. The study also indicates that straw-reinforced adobe bricks can improve cooling energy performance by up to 17.8% without compromising the overall embodied carbon of the building envelope. [Display omitted] • X-ray diffraction and MEB-EDS characterization of the extracted clay sample. • Physical, thermal and mechanical properties of adobes are studied. • Adobes reinforced with long straw show higher porosity than those with crushed straw. • Energy model validation with primary data from an existing Moroccan building. • Design parameters' impact on thermal energy using Morris's sensitivity analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work describes the project submitted to the University-Society-Business 2021 call for proposals whose aim is to integrate the knowledge and university practices in the field of energy in buildings into secondary school students. The aim is to define the energy strategies to be implemented to strengthen the relationship between secondary education and university studies, by means of a "pilot project" at a secondary school, as well as to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) scientific vocations in young people, with particular emphasis on the female gender. The project will carry out an energetic study at a school developed by university research staff and secondary school students. The aim is to motivate and confirm the qualities of people in STEM teaching, to arouse interest and closeness as well as to promote education in the subject of energy efficiency in buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indoor swimming pools are buildings with relatively complex energy systems and relatively high energy and water consumption. This paper presents a methodological approach to energy auditing of indoor swimming pool buildings based on ISO 50002. It also includes the application of a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method for ranking the proposed energy conservation measures. Since an MCDM method used in energy auditing should not be complex, the authors suggested using the weighted sum method (WSM). A simple ranking method was used for the selection of weights of performance. For the justification of this approach, the authors compared the results of the ranking method with the widely used AHP and fuzzy AHP that are more complex and time-consuming. The methodology was applied to a case study indoor swimming pool in Kragujevac (Serbia). Applying energy conservation measures that enable relatively fast payback period (less than 5 years), energy consumption in the swimming pool can be reduced by 29%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controlling active and passive systems in buildings with the aim of optimizing energy efficiency and maintaining occupants’ comfort is the major task of building management systems. However, most of these systems use a predefined configuration, which usually do not match the occupants’ preferences. Therefore, occupancy detection is imperative for energy use management mainly in residential and industrial buildings. Most works related to data-driven-based occupancy detection have used batch learning techniques, which need to store first and then train the data. It is not appropriate for a non-stationary environment. Therefore, this work sheds more light on the use of non-stationary machine learning techniques. To this end, three machine learning algorithms for stream data processing are presented, tested, and evaluated in term of accuracy and resources performance (i.e., RAM, CPU), with the aim of predicting the number of occupants in smart buildings. A platform architecture that integrates IoT technologies with stream machine learning is implemented and deployed. The experimental results show the effectiveness of this approach and illustrate that the number of occupants can be predicted with an accuracy of more than 83% and without resource wasting (i.e., time of CPU use varied between 0.04s and 3.85 ⋅ 10−11 GB of RAM could be exploited per hour).

Energy performance certificates (EPC) are obligatory for new and existing buildings in all European Union (EU) Member states, and provide not only the characteristics of individual buildings but are also useful for energy management and planning. However, despite the current widespread of EPC analyses in other European countries, the information of national EPC cadastre in Lithuania is hardly adapted in research studies. This paper presents an overview of the energy performance of Lithuanian residential building stock using data from the national EPC register. The results determine the current situation in Lithuanian residential buildings emphasizing CO2 emissions and their dependencies on different heating systems during latter 5 years. The findings of this research could be used as guidance for management of CO2 emissions in order to comply with the EU requirements by 2050. Moreover, the recommendations for the extended scope of national EPC content are also proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lightweight construction is experiencing a significant market implementation with sustained growth both for new buildings and retrofitting purposes. Despite the acknowledged advantages of this type of construction, their reduced thermal inertia can jeopardize indoor thermal comfort levels while leading to higher energy consumption due to high indoor temperature fluctuations and overheating rates. The incorporation of phase change materials (PCMs) into constructive solutions for lightweight buildings is a promising strategy to guarantee adequate thermal comfort conditions. Particularly, the utilization of mortars embedding PCMs as an indoor wall coating for new and existing buildings represents a solution that has not been widely explored in the past and needs further development and validation efforts. This work pursues the analysis of the thermal regulation effects generated by two thermally-enhanced mortars incorporating microencapsulated PCMs with different operating temperature ranges. To that end, an experimental campaign was conducted in Valladolid (Spain) to address the investigation of the proposed solution under a real-scale relevant environment. The proposed mortars were applied as an indoor coating to the envelope of a single-zone lightweight construction that was monitored (under different weather conditions along 1-year monitoring campaign) together with an identical building unit where the mortar was not added to the constructive base layer. The analysis of indoor temperature fluctuations under free-floating operating mode as well as the energy consumption of HVAC equipment under controlled-temperature operation was specifically targeted. Results derived from the continuous monitoring campaign revealed lower temperature fluctuations during summer and shoulder seasons, reducing indoor temperature peaks by 1–2 °C, and producing a time delay of 1–1.5 h into the temperature wave. A clear reduction in energy use due to the incorporation of the PCM-based indoor coating panels is also observed. Thus, this experimental research contributes to proving that the use of innovative mortars incorporating embedded PCMs enables the development of high-end efficient building solutions with innovative materials towards a sustainable built environment.

Being an important contributor to the final energy consumption, historic buildings built before 1945 have high specific heating energy consumption compared to current energy standards and norms. However, they often cannot be insulated from the outside due to their heritage and culture value. Internal insulation is an alternative. However internal insulation faces challenges related to hygrothermal behaviour leading to mold growth, freezing, deterioration and other risks. The goal of this research is to link hygrothermal simulation results with experimental results for internally insulated historic brick masonry to assess correlation between simulated and measured data as well as the most influential parameters. The study is carried out by both a mathematical simulation tool and laboratory tests of historic masonry with internal insulation with four insulation materials (mineral wool, EPS, wood fiber and granulated aerogel) in a cold climate (average 4000 heating degree days). We found disparity between measured and simulated hygrothermal performance of studied constructions due to differences in material parameters and initial conditions of materials. The latter plays a more important role than material parameters. Under a steady state of conditions, the condensate tolerating system varies between 72.7 % and 80.5 % relative humidity, but in condensate limiting systems relative humidity variates between 73.3 % and 82.3 %. The temperature between the masonry wall and all insulation materials has stabilized on average at +10 °C. Mold corresponding to Mold index 3 was discovered on wood fiber mat.

Buildings’ heating and cooling systems account for an important part of total energy consumption. The EU’s directives and engagements motivate building owners and relevant stakeholders in the energy and construction sectors towards net zero energy buildings by maximizing the use of renewable energy sources, ICT, and automation systems. However, the high costs of investment for the renovation of buildings, in situ use of renewable energy production, and installation of expensive ICT infrastructure and automation systems in small–medium range buildings are the main obstacles for the wide adoption of EU building directives in small- and medium-range buildings. On the other hand, the concept of sharing computational and data storage resources among various buildings can be an alternative approach to achieving smart buildings and smart cities where the main control power resides on a server. Unlike other studies that focus on the implementation of AI techniques in a building or separated buildings with local processing resources and data storage, in this work a corporate server was employed to control the heating systems in three building typologies and to examine the potential benefits of controlling existing buildings in a unified energy-savings platform. The key finding of this work is that the AI algorithms incorporated into the proposed system achieved significant energy savings in the order of 20–40% regardless of building typology, building functionality, and type of heating system, despite the COVID-19 measures for frequent ventilation of the buildings, even in cases with older-type heating systems.

The most important part of any project is to evaluate its profitability. The impact of the project's financing structure is usually not taken into account at the initial stage of the assessment. Interest rates on loans, taxes, grants, subsidies, etc. involved in the calculation of the profitability of the project. should be taken into account. Along with examples of energy efficiency in buildings, the main concepts of project profitability calculation standards are given and explained below: economic parameters; fundamentals of the economy; calculation of profitability. The purpose of calculating profitability is to determine the profitability of project units of the project and activities and their proper distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six test rooms each with different roof type (RCC roof; galvanized iron sheet roof; lawn over RCC roof; wet-sand bed over RCC roof; clay tile roof and thatched roof) under summer weather conditions are studied to analyze and quantify the role of roof element in reducing solar gain. The study also addresses the effects of roofing element on the test room temperatures. Results have shown that, lawn over the RCC roof could be the best choice among the considered. On the other hand, clay tile roof and thatched roof are found to be better than RCC roof as far as heat gain is considered. It is also observed that, clay tile roof providing better breathing effects as compared to thatched roof. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The concept of DC power distribution has gained interest within the research community in the past years, especially due to the rapid prevalence of solar PVs as a tool for distributed generation in DC microgrids. Various efficiency analyses have been presented for the DC distribution paradigm, in comparison to the AC counterpart, considering a variety of scenarios. However, even after a number of such comparative efficiency studies, there seems to be a disparity in the results of research efforts, wherein a definite verdict is still unavailable. Is DC distribution a more efficient choice as compared to the conventional AC system? A final verdict is absent primarily due to conflicting results. In this regard, system modeling and the assumptions made in different studies play a significant role in affecting the results of the study. The current paper is an attempt to critically observe the modeling and assumptions used in the efficiency studies related to the DC distribution system. Several research efforts are analyzed for their approach toward the system upon which they have performed efficiency studies. Subsequently, the paper proposes a model that may alleviate the shortcomings in earlier research efforts and be able to give a definite verdict regarding the comparative efficiency of DC and AC networks for residential power distribution.

Given the massive scientific progress on near zero-energy targets, occupant behavior has become a key variable affecting building energy performance. In this view, the paper builds upon previous contributions to analyze real occupancy of an office building with peer occupants monitored for 2 years. After assessing that peers do not behave the same and do not control equivalently the indoors, acknowledged occupancy models and field-collected data are compared through dynamic simulation on daily and annual bases. To this aim data-driven occupancy models are developed based on the collected data. Moreover, neural response tests are performed on selected occupants to study their emotional status. The estimation of annual energy need highlights the influence of building occupancy. In fact, the simulated building energy consumption can vary by up to 20% by only selecting the occupancy simulation scheme. Moreover, non-negligible discrepancies in terms of value gap and time schedule daily profiles are still found between predicted and measured variables when considering the data-driven models, since they do not take into account multi-physical and non-physical (personal) stimuli. The first results of neural experiment show the role of personal non-physical factors in the inconsistent reaction to thermal stimuli, as key driver for the associated behavior. • Occupant behavior long-term data-driven models are developed for office buildings. • Standard occupancy and data-driven models are compared via dynamic simulation. • Neural response tests are used to correlate occupants' emotions to environmental conditions. • Building final energy need significantly varies with varying occupancy model. • Understanding human-centered non-physical drivers leads to more reliable models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The design, sizing and operation of thermal systems in buildings are optimized. • Simple, flexible and efficient linear programming-based model is developed. • The proposed method is validated by comparing optimum to a real plant. • The method provides better results than rough methods used in the design phase. • A useful tool for the viability analysis of thermal plants in the project phase. The hybridization of energy systems is based on the combined integration of both renewable and non-renewable technologies and thermal energy storage. These hybrid installations improve cost effectiveness and energy efficiency when they are correctly designed and the operation strategy is suitable. Despite the relevance of achieving the optimal configuration, sizing and control strategy of hybrid thermal systems, there is no simple and generic methodology which allows this type of installations to be optimized in the project phase. In response to this issue, in this work, a mixed integer linear programming-based simple model is carried out with the aim of obtaining the optimal design, sizing and operation of thermal energy systems in residential buildings. To do so, a superstructure is defined that includes the main technologies commercialized for thermal energy systems in buildings. Technical, economic, environmental and legal constraints are determined in the proposed generic model. In order to validate the method, it is applied to a central space heating and domestic hot water installation of a residential building located in a cold climate in Spain. Optimal solutions are obtained considering three different perspectives —economic, environmental and multicriteria— and are compared to the current installation. According to the results, the overall cost of the economic optimal configuration is reduced by 15%, whereas the greenhouse gas emissions decrease by 56% in the environmental optimal solution. It is thus demonstrated that the proposed generic and simple model is a useful tool for determining the optimal hybridization of the plant and for analysing the technical, economic and environmental feasibility of these systems in the project phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trend in energy consumption, with a particular focus on heating and cooling demand, is an issue that is relevant to the promotion of new energy policies and more efficient energy systems. Moreover, heating and cooling energy demand is expected to rise in the next several decades, mainly due to climate change as well as increasing incomes in developing countries. In this context, the building sector is currently a relevant energy-intensive economic sector in Morocco; it accounts for 33% of the country’s total energy demand (as the sector with the second highest energy demand, after the transport sector), with the residential sector accounting for 25% and the tertiary sector accounting for 8%. Aiming to reduce energy dependence and promote sustainable development, the Moroccan government recently issued a comprehensive plan to increase the share of renewables and improve energy efficiency. This strategy includes novel thermal building regulations promoted by the Moroccan Agency for Energy Efficiency. This paper analyzes the thermal behavior and heating-cooling energy demand of a residential building located in Tangier (Morocco) as a case example, based on the country’s new thermal regulations and considering specific climatological conditions. A comparison with common Moroccan residential buildings as well as with those in nearby countries with similar meteorological conditions but significant differences in terms of energy demand regulation and requirements, such as Spain, is also included. Simulations were carried out using the DesingBuilder and EnergyPlus Software packages. According to the results, the last building thermal regulation requirements in Morocco need to be revised and extended in order to achieve the energy efficiency objectives established by the Moroccan government for 2030.

Ventilation, heating and air conditioning systems are the main energy consumers in building sector. Improving the energy consumption of these systems, while satisfying the occupants’ comfort, is the major concern of control and automation designers and researchers. Model predictive control (MPC) methods have been widely studied in order to reduce the energy usage while enhancing the occupants’ comfort. In this paper, a generalized predictive control (GPC) algorithm based on controlled auto-regressive integrated moving average is investigated for standalone ventilation systems’ control. A building’s ventilation system is first modeled together with the GPC and MPC controllers. Simulations have been conducted for validation purposes and are structured into two main parts. In the first part, we compare the MPC with two traditional controllers, while the second part is dedicated to the comparison of the MPC against the GPC controller. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the GPC in reducing the energy consumption by about 4.34% while providing significant indoor air quality improvement.