Evaluation of green building rating systems for Egypt

The average life of most structural types of buildings is fifty years. This projected lifespan will accordingly have an impact not only on the current inhabitants but also on the future generations. Therefore, nowadays, the subject of environmental conditions, and how our actions affect it, is of considerable consideration. The Egyptian economy was previously dependent on the agricultural, industrial, and transportation sector. Today, the construction industry plays an important role in the economic growth of the country, which is the key to developing our quality of life. Despite the difficult conditions and political instability facing Egypt in the last four years, the construction sector attained a growth of over 5% in 2013 against 3.3% in 2012 (Central Bank of Egypt-Egypt Economic Report). According to Egypt’s Vision 2030: Sustainable Development Strategy; it is forecasted that the population in Egypt will reach to 140 million by 2050; which will consequently necessitate an increase in the percentage of the planning and built-up areas leading to the use of more construction sites, land areas to cover this alarmingly rapid demographical increase. In parallel, there will be more demand for materials, energy, and water resources to accommodate this fast growth in population and urban growth. Additionally, buildings contribute significantly to the amount of disposed municipal, and construction and demolition waste. Consequently, there is an urgent need to provide guidelines and strategies for the development of the construction sector as a catalyst to green building. Thus, the various developed green building rating systems worldwide such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM) in order to assess the potential impacts of the building on the environment, economy and society, play a vital role in defining the level of sustainability in the construction industry. This research evaluates various green building rating systems through a quantitative and qualitative comparative analysis. The basis of this analysis was on an explicit criteria framework. The assessed rating systems are: Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology New Construction (BREEAM NC 2014); Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency (CASBEE 2014) for Building New Construction; Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies by the International Finance Corporation (EDGE IFC) Homes v1.1, Pearl Rating System (PRS) Design and Construction by ESTIDAMA v1.0; Green Pyramid Rating System NC (GPRS); Global Sustainability Assessment System Building Typologies (GSAS v2.0); Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design NC (BD and C) (LEED v4.0); and TARSHEED Residential v1.0. The selection of rating systems relied on an explicit criterion. The next phase included the selection of a case study (new construction) in order to measure its performance using three rating systems, namely, LEED, TARSHEED, and GPRS. The outcome of this research is a set of recommendations to Egypt Green Building Council committee for the development of future versions TARSHEED rating system

BIM-oriented data mining for thermal performance of prefabricated buildings

The use of energy efficiency procedures is a typical practice in building construction process that creates a huge amount of data regarding the building. This is particularly valid in structures which include complex collaborations, for example, ventilation, sunlight-based increases, inner additions, and warm mass. This paper proposes a new approach for automating building construction when improving their energy efficiency, aiming to foresee comfort levels based on Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning (HVAC), constructive systems performance, environmental conditions, and occupant behavior. More specifically, it presents a research work about thermal performance of prefabricated construction systems developed by an Argentine enterprise called Astori, using two Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) processes to extract knowledge. In this context, Building Information Modeling (BIM) will give data to support the calculation to outline goal levels of a sustainable building performance concerning classification systems. The data were collected from a project in Uruguay referring to the construction systems and the energy efficiency of the building. The data mining tool SPMF was used to test the performance of classification and its use in prediction. Particularly, FP-Growth Algorithm and Clustering methodologies were used to analyze a combination of ambient conditions, in order to compare them using Revit© software. The results generated by these methods can be generalized for a set of buildings, according to the objective to be achieved concerning the thermal building performance

Can Public Construction and Demolition Data Describe Trends in Building Material Recycling? Observations From Philadelphia

There is a significant amount of waste generated during construction and demolition (C&D) activities, but few data to understand the sources, age, spatial origin, and its fate following entry into the waste management system. With few public records that track C&D waste flows, we turned to industry and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) to quantify C&D data and meta-data using material flow analysis (MFA). LEED databases are not normally used to build life cycle inventories or material flow accounts because they do not house sufficiently detailed data. We propose using the geo-referenced data on reused C&D waste in LEED databases to source parameters needed to build MFA models that support a circular building materials economy. By quantifying the change in C&D waste flow over years 2007–2017 and the diversion of materials from landfills from buildings in the United States City of Philadelphia, we found that, on average, 81% of total incoming waste was diverted from landfill and recycled into secondary materials markets. From LEED spatial data, we found that 77% of buildings sampled diverted C&D waste activities and installed building materials with recycled content. Although these findings describe material reuse metrics from different system boundaries in the built environment that cannot be statistically validated, they provide complementary data to describe C&D recycling performance benchmarks and incentive for future data collection to study and track trends in building material reuse. This case study highlights observations of C&D recovery and reuse from two separate but related operations, which could suggest that policies that incentivize C&D material reuse could promote a circular flow of building materials

Studio-analysis of the buildings of the University Center for Energy Efficient Buildings (UCEEB) and justification of the conditions of energy efficiency (Buštěhrad)

Trabajo Fin de Máster de intercambio académico. Czech Technical University in Prague (Czech Republic) | Ceské vysoké ucení technicke v Praze (Česká republika).[EN] A zero energy building or net zero energy building is a term applied to buildings with a net energy consumption close to zero in a typical year. In other words, the energy that comes from the building using renewable energy sources must be equal to the energy required by the building. A conventional building is a building that does not follow the rules of environmental or bioclimatic approach. The proposal for this work is based on the two previous concepts, it is the adequacy of a conventional building belonging to the Czech Technical University in Prague, setting it to become zero-energy one. Although zero energy buildings remain uncommon in developed countries, are gaining in importance and popularity. Proximity to mass zero energy buildings implies a potential solution to a range of social and environmental problems, including reducing CO2 emissions, reducing dependence on fossil energy to run heating/air conditioning systems, imports oil and oil products, and rational use of fossil fuel for other uses improve supply problems in a scenario of energy crisis, rising costs and fossil resource depletion. There will be a study of the possible technologies to use, and then a selection of the most suitable for the building depending on the functionality, use, geographic location, and finally, the economic aspect. These technologies range from all of the same facilities (plumbing, sanitation, electricity and heating/air conditioning), also issues such as thermal and acoustic insulation. Following the above in the description, the objectives of this Final Master Project will analyse the performance of a building to help reduce CO2 emissions which in turn reducing the use of fossil material for installations of the same building partially capable or able to produce on their own the energy needed for proper operation. It must be stressed that this is a building without building; therefore, the work in question is a preliminary study on how to do an efficient building. The project is structured in two parts: the state of affairs on the building, art history, and gathering information from all existing technologies for the realization of this project, and a second experimental part, where we first define studied housing, construction characteristics and methodology. And then develop energy requirement studies inside a space representative, at different times of year. Ending with a conclusion.[ES] Un edificio convencional es una construcción que no sigue las normas del enfoque ambiental o bioclimático. Este Trabajo Fin de Máster (TFM) trata de la adecuación de un edificio convencional perteneciente a la Czech Technical University in Prague, ambientándolo para convertirlo en uno de energía cero. Aunque los edificios energía cero sigan siendo infrecuentes en los países desarrollados, están ganando poco a poco en importancia y popularidad. La posibilidad de hacer edificaciones masivas de energía cero en un futuro inmediato implica la búsqueda de una solución potencial a una variada gama de problemas sociales y ambientales, incluyendo la mitigación de las emisiones de CO2, la reducción de la dependencia de la energía fósil para el funcionamiento de los sistemas de climatización, las importaciones de petróleo y derivados, y el uso racional de combustible fósil para otros fines, mejorando los problemas de abastecimiento en un escenario de crisis energética, precios crecientes y agotamiento de los combustibles fósiles. Se hará un estudio de las tecnologías que pueden ser utilizadas y, a continuación, una selección de las idóneas para el edificio, dependiendo de la funcionalidad, el uso, la situación geográfica, y por último, el aspecto económico. Estas tecnologías abarcan todas las instalaciones del mismo (fontanería, saneamiento, electricidad y climatización), y también aspectos como el aislamiento térmico y acústico. Tras lo expuesto en la descripción, los objetivos del presente Trabajo serán analizar la realización de una edificación que ayude a la reducción del dióxido de carbono atmosférico y limite el uso de material fósil en las instalaciones, a la vez que sea capaz o parcialmente capaz de producir por sus propios medios la energía necesaria para su correcto funcionamiento. El Trabajo está estructurado en dos partes: un estado de la cuestión sobre la edificación y recopilación de información de todas las tecnologías actualmente existentes para la realización de este proyecto; y una segunda parte experimental, donde en primer lugar se definirá el edificio objeto de estudio y sus características constructivas. Y a continuación, se desarrollaran los estudios de requerimiento energético en el interior de un espacio representativo, en diferentes épocas del año, finalizando con una conclusión.Brocos Rivas, CD. (2014). Studio-analysis of the buildings of the University Center for Energy Efficient Buildings (UCEEB) and justification of the conditions of energy efficiency (Buštěhrad). http://hdl.handle.net/10251/49193.Archivo delegad

The Impact and mitigation of Climate Change on the building performance of nonresidential buildings: Case studies of typical UK supermarkets

The UK Government's Climate Change Act (CCA) aims to achieve a net zero greenhouse gas emission by 2050. Supermarkets, being among the most energy-intensive non-residential buildings, play a pivotal role in this endeavour. This research delves into the influence of climate change on supermarket buildings, exploring methodologies to mitigate its impact and assessing its effects on operational energy and carbon emissions. The United Nations has emphasized the built environment's significant contribution to global CO2 emissions, necessitating urgent action. Using a quantitative approach, this study employs the TAS – EDSL software to simulate energy consumption, carbon emission, and building regulations for various supermarket case studies. The research also evaluates the performance of these buildings across different UK climates and emission scenarios, incorporating EU Zebra2020 tool metrics. The primary challenge encountered was the scarcity of literature specifically targeting the UK supermarket industry in the context of climate change. The research underscores the importance of balancing energy consumption, carbon emissions, and future climate adaptations, especially given the industry's nZEB target by 2050. The findings of this study serve as a beacon for all non-residential buildings, bridging the knowledge gap between climate change, building futureproofing, and emission reduction strategies. The research underscores the importance of long-term planning, continuous monitoring of energy-intensive buildings, and the holistic approach of reducing emissions across a building's lifespan. This research aims to guide policymakers and building designers in future-proofing structures, emphasizing the need for energy-efficient measures and the integration of renewable technologies. The overarching goal is to foster the creation of sustainable, climate-resilient buildings for future generations

Sustainability Assessment at the 21st century

The sustainability of the human society is endangered by the global human-ecological crisis, which consists of many global problems that are closely related to each other. In this phenomenon, the global population explosion has a central role, because more people have a larger ecological footprint, a larger consumption, more intensive pollution, and a larger emission of carbon dioxide through their activities.This book presents the current state of sustainability and intends to provide the reader with a critical perspective of how the 21st century societies must change their development model facing the new challenges (internet of things, industry 4.0, smart cities, circular economy, sustainable agriculture, etc.), in order to achieve a more liveable world

Sustainable Construction Engineering and Management

This Book is a Printed Edition of the Special Issue which covers sustainability as an emerging requirement in the fields of construction management, project management and engineering. We invited authors to submit their theoretical or experimental research articles that address the challenges and opportunities for sustainable construction in all its facets, including technical topics and specific operational or procedural solutions, as well as strategic approaches aimed at the project, company or industry level. Central to developments are smart technologies and sophisticated decision-making mechanisms that augment sustainable outcomes. The Special Issue was received with great interest by the research community and attracted a high number of submissions. The selection process sought to balance the inclusion of a broad representative spread of topics against research quality, with editors and reviewers settling on thirty-three articles for publication. The Editors invite all participating researchers and those interested in sustainable construction engineering and management to read the summary of the Special Issue and of course to access the full-text articles provided in the Book for deeper analyses

Sustainable design of built infrastructure and engineering services for South African universities

Published ThesisUniversities have made great strides in research and the development of new knowledge. They are known as centres of enlightenment. However, there is a need for universities to lead by example in other respects, in particular in limiting the environmental impact on cities. This is in respect of the sustainability of built infrastructure and the services provided on campuses, in the wake of challenges of climate change. Practical applications of research in the areas of high-performance buildings, can impact a city positively. Evidences from literature indicate that most of the South African cities were poorly designed from an ecological perspective and have large environmental impacts. New building standards have been recommended but are not comprehensive enough to address problems related to the performance of university buildings and infrastructure. Therefore, the aim of this research was to develop an appropriate model for building performance evaluation in higher education institutions based on assessment of parameters for achieving Energy Efficiency (EE), Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and Water Use Efficiency (WUE). The study was executed by multiple case study approach because it permitted case studies of three university campuses in South Africa. The target universities constituted the units of analysis and therefore provided opportunity for in-depth assessment of building parameters of size, orientation, fenestrations, building materials, type of ventilation, building function, type of lighting, and behaviour of occupants to determine their effects on the categories of EE, IEQ and WUE. Data collection included both qualitative and quantitative approaches, which were used to establish relationships between the various parameters and how they affect EE, which in turn is influenced by WUE which affects IEQ. A system dynamic model was used to determine causal relations of the building parameters EE, IEQ and WUE. This approach constitutes an innovative and pioneering contribution to building performance evaluation. The study has established a basic level of awareness and understanding among design- and construction practitioners of the importance of the use of System Dynamics in building performance evaluation, which can be used as a tool for delivering strategic objectives in the preliminary designs of educational buildings and infrastructure. The results of the study contribute to building guidelines for sustainable design of educational neighbourhoods for the transformation of campuses, which in turn can motivate beneficial changes for more sustainable performance of the built facilities