Unsteady natural convection in a triangular enclosure under isothermal heating

The fluid flow and heat transfer inside a triangular enclosure due to instantaneous heating on the inclined walls are investigated using an improved scaling analysis and direct numerical simulations. The development of the unsteady natural convection boundary layer under the inclined walls may be classified into three distinct stages including a start-up stage, a transitional stage and a steady state stage, which can be clearly identified in the analytical and numerical results. A new triple-layer integral approach of scaling analysis has been considered to obtain major scaling relations of the velocity, thicknesses, Nusselt number and the flow development time of the natural convection boundary layer and verified by direct numerical simulations over a wide range of flow parameters

Upper Sioux Indian Community Trip Report: Assessment of Mold and Moisture Conditions

Paul Francisco from the Building Research Council (BRC) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Robert Nemeth from Magna Systems, Inc. conducted a site visit at the Upper Sioux Indian Community Housing Department (USICHD) on April21-23, 2004. The USICHD administers the housing program for the Upper Sioux Indian Community. The site visit provided technical assistance to the housing department in assessing mold and moisture conditions in housing units. This report summarizes activities and issues addressed while on site. A detailed analysis of findings and recommendations is found in PART II: Upper Sioux Indian Community Housing Department Technical Housing Assessment Report: Examining Mold and Moisture Conditions of Homes for the Upper Sioux Indian Community.U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Native American Program

St. Regis Mohawk Trip Report: Assessment of Mold and Moisture Conditions

Kate Brown of the Building Research Council at the University of Illinois and Paul Knight of Magna Systems, Inc. conducted a site visit at the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation on December 9-11, 2002. The purpose of the site visit was to conduct onsite assessments of mold and moisture conditions in homes located on the reservation. This is a summary report of activities and issues identified while on site. A detailed analysis of the findings and recommendations is found in the attached report, titled: Technical Housing Assessment Report: Examining Mold and Moisture Conditions of Homes on the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation.U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Native American Program

Functional Potential of the Novosibirsk Urban Region in Russian Federation

The research presented in this article focuses on the urban region of Novosibirsk, which is one of the most industrialized part of Siberia and the Asian part of Russian Federation. The research was based on two methods of determining the functions of cities in the national settlement system: a research programme concerning the genesis of functional development and a research programme of specialized functions, the purpose of which is to determine the economic base of territorial units. To show relationships between the core of the region and its peripheral area there was provided a case study analyzing the territorial units forming the southern settlement belt along the Novosibirsk-Cherepanovo regional railway line over a distance of approx. 100 km. The presented results have shown the general tendencies in the transformations of the Novosibirsk urban region both in long-term perspective and in contemporary circumstances

Passive cooling of buildings with phase change materials using whole-building energy simulation tools: A review

Buildings contribute to climate change by consuming a considerable amount of energy to provide thermal comfort for occupants. Cooling energy demands are expected to increase substantially in the world. On this basis, technologies and techniques providing high energy efficiency in buildings such as passive cooling are highly appreciated. Passive cooling by means of phase change materials (PCM) offers high potential to decrease the cooling energy demand and to improve the indoor comfort condition. However, in order to be appropriately characterized and implemented into the building envelope, the PCM use should be numerically analyzed. Whole-building energy simulation tools can enhance the capability of the engineers and designers to analyze the thermal behavior of PCM-enhanced buildings. In this paper, an extensive review has been made, with regard to whole-building energy simulation for passive cooling, addressing the possibilities of applying different PCM-enhanced components into the building envelope and also the feasibility of PCM passive cooling system under different climate conditions. The application of PCM has not always been as energy beneficial as expected, and actually its effectiveness is highly dependent on the climatic condition, on the PCM melting temperature and on the occupants behavior. Therefore, energy simulation of passive PCM systems is found to be a single-objective or multi-objective optimization problem which requires appropriate mathematical models for energy and comfort assessment which should be further investigated. Moreover, further research is required to analyze the influence of natural night ventilation on the cooling performance of PCM.The work is partially funded by the Spanish government (ENE2015-64117-C5-1-R (MINECO/FEDER) and ENE2015-64117-C5-3-R (MINEDO/FEDER)). The authors would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation g iven to their research group GREA (2014 SGR 123). This project has received funding from the European Commission Seventh Framework Program (FP/2007-2013) under Grant agreement Nº PIRSES-GA-2013-610692 (INNOSTORAGE) and from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant ag reement No 657466 (INPATH-TES). Alvaro de Gracia would like to thank Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad de España for Grant Juan de la Cierva, FJCI-2014-19940

Weatherization Assistance and Low-Income Households

Weatherization is one of the most efficient affordable housing tools available to communities and residents. Weatherization is defined as the practice of protecting a building from the elements (such as sunlight, precipitation and wind) and modifying the building to reduce energy consumption and maximize energy efficiency. Traditionally, weatherization processes have focused on heating and cooling as methods to conserve energy. Currently, however, weatherization is expanding and beginning to focus on “whole house” approaches to incorporate advanced technology. The new methods address energy usage in a comprehensive manner, with a focus not only on heating and cooling, but on environmental impact, health and safety, and economic benefits. Weatherization technologies are evolving from traditional methods in an effort to provide greater energy savings for consumers and to contribute to the economic and environmental health of communities

Housing outcomes: an assessment of long-term trends

This paper was presented at the conference "Unequal incomes, unequal outcomes? Economic inequality and measures of well-being" as part of session 2, " Affordability of housing for young and poor families." The conference was held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on May 7, 1999. The authors examine trends in housing outcomes by income group. Orr and Peach indicate that there has been a substantial improvement in the physical adequacy of the housing stock over the past few decades, particularly for households in the lowest income quintile. Neighborhood quality for all income groups has also improved, although sharp differences in quality continue to exist across the groups. In one important respect, however, lower income households are worse off than before - housing costs now absorb a larger share of their income.Housing ; Housing - Finance

Hygrothermal performance of building envelopes in the tropics under operative conditions : condensation and mould growth risk appraisal

Poor indoor hygrothermal performance increases the risk of indoor moisture problems and deterioration due to mould growth, corrosion and damage to archival materials. Hence, proper control of indoor thermohygric intensity abates indoor moisture and its associated problems. This paper presents the results of envelopes hygrothermal performance assessments in a hot and humid climate building with varying operational profile between adjacent spaces. The case-studied building runs on 24hrs cooling mode in one part against natural and/or mechanical supply-exhaust fan means on the other. In-situ experiments were combined with hygrothermal analytical methods to assess the envelope thermal quality together with the operative conditions against condensation and mould growth risks. The results show that the building is overcooled leading to poor envelope hygrothermal performance with associated condensation and mould growth problems on non-airconditioned sides of the envelopes