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Energy performance gap
Published in Jane Powell, Jennifer Monahan, Chris Foulds, Building Futures, 2015
Jane Powell, Jennifer Monahan, Chris Foulds
Numerous influences underlie the performance gap, including those associated with commissioning, energy modelling and building construction, as well as occupation itself (e.g. hours of occupation, the rebound effect). The causes of the performance gap are therefore based not only on physical factors associated with the buildings themselves, including the quality of design and construction, the technical systems and local climate, but also on how the buildings are practically commissioned and used. It is not surprising that there can also be inaccuracies in the energy modelling of buildings. The difficulty of representing a complex system such as a building using a relative simple model is very likely to lead to uncertainty.
Future BIM
Published in Jonathan Ingram, Understanding BIM, 2020
However, there is a caveat, in particular, the performance gap. Performance analysis is rarely performed in depth, according to “Evaluating Optional Energy Performance”7 low energy buildings usually use more energy than the designers expected. The UK Government view is that “The performance of low energy designs is often little better or sometimes worse, than that of an olderbuilding they have replaced, or supplemented” which has become known as the performance gap.8
Innovations in the Financing of Energy Efficiency
Published in Karen Wendt, Sustainable Financial Innovations, 2018
The performance of an energy-efficiency project can be driven by intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Intrinsic factors include things like poor design and modelling, equipment failure (relative or absolute); whereas extrinsic factors include the weather and patterns of use which can differ from those assumed in the investment case. Energy efficiency projects can suffer from a ‘performance gap’, with savings being different from the projections.
Thermal comfort perception in naturally ventilated affordable housing of India
Published in Advances in Building Energy Research, 2022
Indoor thermal comfort plays a substantial role in determining building energy but is often neglected in policies and regulations for energy efficiency. This study provides an understanding of thermal comfort requirement for affordable housing occupants which could aid in sustainability and livability within future affordable housing stock through design guidelines and recommendations. Further, it could also help in reducing the building performance gap, thereby leading to energy efficiency. As Pérez-Fargallo et al. identify comfort as an economic and cultural issue and advocates its articulation through building standards (Pérez-Fargallo et al., 2018), this study would serve as a stepping stone in this direction, particularly for the resource-constrained communities of Global South. The results would enable the development of a novel adaptive comfort model for low-income population in view of the socio-cultural and economic dimension of comfort. Future effort should include field studies in different low-income regions to explore the effects of fuel poverty on thermal adaptation and comfort ranges in different contextual and climatic settings.
Connecting BIM and IoT for addressing user awareness toward energy savings
Published in Journal of Structural Integrity and Maintenance, 2018
Considering the performance gap often registered between as-designed and as-delivered buildings, the main causes of the gap are related to the fact that generally occupant requirements are not brought forward in the design process. Currently, buildings are primarily designed based on several common assumptions about occupant requirements, which are often incorrect and result in inefficiencies during the building operational phase. However, nowadays, benefits of an improved information management can be derived by different stakeholders. Designers collect and analyze information on occupant behaviors, examining the influence of different design features on end-user behaviors (preferences and patterns) and performances (Heydarian, Pantazis, Gerber, & Becerik-Gerber, 2016). Managers access data to implement better performance and define maintenance plans and custom services. Owners promote a servitization of the assets for extended uses to increase income. Users enrich their experience when buildings react to their own behaviors.
Application of Soft Landings in the Design Management process of a non-residential building
Published in Architectural Engineering and Design Management, 2018
Victoria Gana, Renganathan Giridharan, Richard Watkins
The problem of underperforming buildings in terms of energy use has been highlighted in different studies over the past years (Bordass, Cohen, & Field, 2004; Fedoruk, Cole, Robinson, & Cayuela, 2015; Gupta & Gregg, 2016). Building performance reviews have found failings in essential requirements of the buildings such as energy targets and comfort for occupiers. The difference between estimated energy targets and actual energy usage is known as a ‘performance gap’ (Galvin, 2014; Gupta & Gregg, 2016; Johnston, Farmer, Brooke-Peat, & Miles-Shenton, 2016). These performance gaps can impact building owners and tenants negatively because the buildings end up costing more to operate and can lead to missing energy and carbon emission targets (Fedoruk et al., 2015). According to Axon, Bright, Dixon, Janda, and Kolokotroni (2012), this issue is most prevalent in non-residential buildings where activities and end users are almost certain to be different daily. The performance gap can be due to deficiency in design, construction and operation or a combination of these factors. (Way & Bordass, 2005); this gap can lead to projects missing their sustainability targets.