China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Introduction
Published in Dorothy Gerring, Renewable Energy Systems for Building Designers, 2023
Looking at figure 1.4, you can see GHG emissions by economic sector in the USA in 2019, with the total emissions equaling 6,558 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent (CO2-eq).6 The transportation sector was responsible for 29% of the emissions, where over 90% of all fuel used is gasoline and diesel fossil fuels for cars, trucks, ships, trains, and planes. Electricity production accounted for 25% of emissions because the USA creates about 62% of all electricity from burning fossil fuels (coal and natural gas). Buildings use 76% of the electrical power. Industries producing goods from raw materials accounted for 23% of emissions. The commercial and residential sector of the pie chart shows 13% for heating, cooling, and power (except electricity) used for buildings. The 10% agriculture number accounts for emissions from livestock (such as cows), agricultural soils, and rice production. Buildings account for all the 13% emissions in the commercial and residential part of the chart. Transportation impacts carry into the building sector because of transportation of construction materials and commuting habits of workers. Some portion of the industrial emissions can also be attributed to the manufacture of building materials and systems. As you can see, buildings have a significant impact on GHG emissions, so improving building performance and changing to renewable energy sources will help slow climate change.
Improving the environmental performance of buildings
Published in Per Anker Jensen, Facilities Management Models, Methods and Tools, 2019
Once buildings are built, it is difficult to change decisions made in relation to their project design, such as building orientation, window/wall surface ratio, and location of technical installations. Environmental building performance focusses on the buildings’ environmental properties under actual operating conditions. Environmental building performance depends on several factors, such as building design, choice of building materials, building location and usage patterns. The literature study from 2016 shows that the processes during building operation and maintenance have much higher financial costs and environmental impacts than for the design and construction stage. For example, the findings show that 80%–90% of negative environmental effects occur during the building’s use stage, while 10%–20% of the environmental impacts relate to the manufacturing of building materials and the construction stage. The study also points out that environmental building performance can be improved with appropriate operational and maintenance activities, such as ongoing maintenance, building renovation and optimised operating hours.
A building performance indicator ontology
Published in Jan Karlshøj, Raimar Scherer, eWork and eBusiness in Architecture, Engineering and Construction, 2018
To approach the task at hand, a few preliminary observations could be useful: First, building performance has multiple and substantially varied facets, including but not limited to those related to indoor environment, energy and resources, building integrity, safety and security, structure, ecology, and economy. In the present treatment, we focus on indoor environmental factors (thermal, visual, air quality, acoustical) and energy-related building performance variables.Second, data underlying building performance indicators can be of different types. Here, we focus on two, namely quantitative (measurement) data and user-based evaluations (as long as they can be numerically expressed).Third, performance indicators can include both directly measureable parameters and derived variables (e.g., functions, rates). The ontology we seek to establish should cover both types.Fourth, some performance indicators are phenomenally relevant (e.g., temperature or glare rating), meaning they pertain to indoor environmental factors that can be perceived by inhabitants. Other indicators (e.g., heating and cooling demand) are perceptually irrelevant. Again, the ontological schema should cover both kinds.
A Machine-Learning-Based Seismic Vulnerability Assessment Approach for Low-Rise RC Buildings
Published in Journal of Earthquake Engineering, 2023
Niloofar Elyasi, Eugene Kim, Chul Min Yeum
Although the ML-based models developed in the previous section are able to directly predict the seismic vulnerability of low-rise RC buildings, they are region-specific and are not interchangeable between earthquakes. Many factors could affect building performance including building age, structural details, construction quality, and site conditions. However, these factors are difficult to determine in inventory surveys or for rapid preliminary assessment purposes. Outside of structural and site conditions for which no information was available for the buildings considered in this study, earthquake intensity is another key parameter that can help explain the differences in damage outcomes in the datasets. The addition of earthquake intensity measures as input features in the RF model could make the classifier more accurate and widely applicable.
Investigation of occupant-related energy aspects of the National Building Code of Canada: Energy use impact and potential least-cost code-compliant upgrades
Published in Science and Technology for the Built Environment, 2021
Ahmed Abdeen, William O’Brien, Burak Gunay, Guy Newsham, Heather Knudsen
Buildings are typically built to last for at least four to five decades, so any initial design and construction decisions determine operational costs for the building’s life cycle. Decisions that improve building performance may affect the building owner in terms of energy cost savings, and broader society in terms of energy security and lowering the environmental impact of energy consumption. As such, energy efficiency standards have become a compulsory integral part of most building codes; over 40 national and sub-national governments around the world now have building energy codes in place (Cox 2016). In general, building codes and their enforcement impact a significant proportion of energy use in buildings through efficient building design, technologies, and construction practices. Several studies found that building codes’ energy efficiency standards can achieve 5 to 20% energy savings for the building sector (Chirarattananon et al. 2010; Evans, Roshchanka, and Graham 2017; Jacobsen and Kotchen 2010).
A critical assessment of the place of post-occupancy evaluation in the critique and creation of socially responsible architecture
Published in Intelligent Buildings International, 2018
The buildings that architects design do not always function and perform as intended, or even as they should. Often, unanticipated technical issues may arise with the building’s structure, envelope, or even details such as joints and finishes. Flaws in the architectural design, construction, operation and/or maintenance of a building can create a variety of issues with building performance such as with energy efficiency or on-site water management. However, when such technical performance deficiencies occur, it is rarely because these issues were not extensively considered during the various stages of the project. In fact, so specific are the performance goals in these technical areas that these metrics can be directly tested after the construction and/or occupation of the building. Unfortunately, however, there remains an aspect of building performance that is under-addressed and often ignored: the social performance. Because critical social issues seem less commonly to be primary factors that drive the design, it becomes difficult to evaluate a building according to social metrics that were not present from its inception. The failure to recognize the essentially social nature of architecture – that architecture serves as a container for human activity – often leads to the creation of architectural spaces that underperform in providing optimal social interaction. Even more importantly, such architectural spaces are often socially perceived in different ways by different social groups so that the experience of these spaces is not as idyllic and utopian as depicted in the conceptual renderings.