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Study of Energy-Efficient Building Envelope Design for Climate Change
Published in Kailas L. Wasewar, Sumita Neti Rao, Sustainable Engineering, Energy, and the Environment, 2022
In warm and humid climate, the properties of excessive performances building envelopes which allow daylight inside the building from fenestration, preventing unnecessary solar heat gain, better thermal resistance and maximizing natural ventilation [13]. In the energy efficiency, daylight harvesting aims to increase natural lighting, and decrease artificial-lighting utilization and enhance indoor-environment excellence. Heat evaporation includes solar and thermal control during adequately designed shading device; balance glazing, efficient insulation so on. As we know, natural light and ventilation is a successful measure to save the source of energy consumed in buildings, but with climate change it is quite difficult to balance indoor ventilation and to recover indoor air-quality.
Hydroelectricity: Pumped Storage
Published in Brian D. Fath, Sven E. Jørgensen, Megan Cole, Managing Air Quality and Energy Systems, 2020
However, these two types of technology present a major challenge to the operators of utility systems: they only generate electricity when the wind blows or the sun shines but electric load and electric generation must be balanced at each instant from on-line generation. The system cannot absorb or provide extra energy beyond the generating resources operating at any given time. Thus, when the wind dies down or the sun goes behind a cloud, the electric utility must have another generation resource ready and able to provide backup electricity almost instantaneously. Due to the variability of the electric generation from these resources, solar and wind resources are often referred to as intermittent resources. Solar resources generate electricity during the daylight hours. However, the sun is most intense around noon whereas the peak demand for electricity generally occurs in the evening hours in the summer and in a bimodal manner (early morning/evening) in the winter. These patterns mean that the peak availability of solar energy does not occur at the same time as the utility peak; the term used for this by the industry is non-coincident.
Light and Effect
Published in Matt Fajkus, Dason Whitsett, Architectural Science and the Sun, 2018
Daylit spaces have been shown to increase user comfort while also helping to stabilize circadian rhythms, increasing sleep duration and quality, and conversely increasing work productivity. In addition to revenue increases for the workplace and reduced energy costs, daylight is more broadly important for human health. Daylight is important for improved metabolism and mood levels, all of which can have a compounding effect on wellbeing. These elements rarely enter the architectural discourse at the academic and professional levels, as design critiques are typically based more exclusively on proof of concept, programmatic functionalism, and formal aesthetics. However, it has been long established that vitamin D is critical to overall health, even if it is not routinely acknowledged in architectural and engineering design processes. Boubekri notes that the sun provides us with vitamin D, through the process of photosynthesis on our skin, and that although we can get vitamin D from other sources, these amounts are small when compared to the amount we get through photosynthesis. Vitamin D deficiency is related to a number of health concerns, including depression, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.5 Beyond these conditions and hormonal issues related to a lack of sunlight, it is also problematic to not have access to windows, which can lead to stress, especially in the workplace, where employees might have limited access to windows for a number of hours at a time. Studies have shown a correlation between stress caused by lack of windows and job burnout.6
Negotiating the city during the dark season: a study of recreational running
Published in Mobilities, 2023
Neva Lepoša, Hanna Peinert, Mattias Qviström
In this study, we employed diaries and diary-based interviews to explore how runners run in the changing outdoor environment (Zimmerman and Wieder 1977; Middleton 2009; Larsen 2018a; Qviström, Fridell, and Kärrholm 2020). We used our networks and social media to recruit outdoor recreational runners from different places in Sweden. Some of these runners live in the cities and others on the edge of the city or in the suburbs, reflecting the general trend towards living in or near urban areas. There is some variation in day lengths among places. However, in general, daylight becomes more limited in November and December until the winter solstice, after which, in January and February, the days start to get longer again. In the middle of Sweden, for example, the sun rises at around seven in the morning on the first day of November and sets around four in the afternoon. By mid-December, there is daylight from ∼9 am to 3 pm. Temperature also varies among places. For example, the average temperature in November 2020 was 8° Celsius in Malmö and Lund (southern Sweden), 6–7° in Uppsala and Stockholm, and 1–2° in Luleå and Piteå (northern Sweden) (SMHI 2022).
Using computer-vision sensors to study the impact of window views on occupancy and self-assessed productivity in flexible working environments: an intervention study
Published in Intelligent Buildings International, 2023
In the US, artificial lighting contributes 25–40% of the total energy consumption of commercial buildings. Organizations and building owners can use technology such as sensors, switches, and dimmers to harvest energy savings through daylight while benefiting from desired use outcomes such as improved human health and well-being when providing enough daylight (Al Horr et al. 2016). Empirical research suggests a broad range of beneficial impacts of daylight on sleep quality and reduced symptoms of myopia, eye strain, headache, and depression (see, e.g. Ko et al. 2020; Aries, Aarts, and van Hoof 2015; Li and Sullivan 2016). Measures of air quality, ventilation, thermal health, moisture, noise, cleanliness, lighting, and natural views are often stated to play a pivotal role in healthy environments with mitigating mood disorders and improved job satisfaction and productivity (Göçer et al. 2019; Zhang et al. 2020). In terms of productivity, daylight can benefit and hinder individuals from performing well visually. In contrast, daylight exposure and access to windows at work are associated with improved sleep duration and mood, reduced sleepiness, lower blood pressure, and increased physical activity. The lack of natural light was associated with physiological, sleep, and depressive symptoms (Aries, Aarts, and van Hoof 2015). The Whole Building Design Guide (WBDG), therefore, suggests designing windows in a way that allows daylight to penetrate as far as possible into a room and diffuse it to avoid glare and direct beam sunlight in workplaces.
Evaluation of the daylight conditions at early stages of an urban project
Published in European Journal of Environmental and Civil Engineering, 2019
Raphaël Nahon, Benoit Beckers, Olivier Blanpain
Daylight comes both from the sun (direct radiation) and sky vault (diffuse radiation). Beckers (2009) shows that the “sky factor”, the solid angle that embraces the visible sky normalised as a percentage of the complete sky vault, can be used to take into account the diffuse radiation in the architectural conception. Another static indicator is the “daylight factor”, defined as the ratio between the horizontal illuminance at the interior and the exterior of a building considering the overcast sky of the CIE (Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage), which is still the most used to characterise the access to daylight in an interior.