Optimising Residential Courtyard in Terms of Social and Environmental Performance for Ghadames Housing, Libya

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Vernacular architecture comes from a wealth of knowledge and experience of humans who were able to adjust to the surroundings and adapt to even extreme climate conditions. In fact many old traditional settlements may fail to functionally provide high indoor quality according to the modern building standards. However, these buildings are still seen as a good example of serving the purpose of locals’ social life and their ability to effectively respond to outdoor climate. Therefore, this work recognises the need to develop the courtyard concept to meet the social and environmental requirements of today’s housing conditions taking the advantage of traditional architecture of Ghadames. The work carried out methods of descriptive and simulation analysis to investigate the environmental performance of existing and proposed residential courtyards employing natural ventilation system in terms of thermal comfort conditions. The optimisation process of the courtyard design not only relied on methods of observation but also householders and professionals’ views were considered. Householders and professionals agreed that courtyard houses might be often linked to lower social classes but still serve most of social and climate purposes. The dynamic thermal simulation showed that indoor comfort temperature in a traditional courtyard was found to be at 34˚C. An optimisation design process was conducted to a courtyard building resulted in reducing the indoor comfort temperature to about 28˚C. Further results showed that the new design has improved the daylighting performance at 2.9% of average daylight factor. The work also outlined the applicability of using locally sourced building materials and their capacity to achieve high thermal performance particularly with reference to the use of organic date-palm fibre. It can conclude that the proposed design has integrated the passive climate design strategies to help achieving acceptable indoor comfort conditions and also sustainable features to further enhance locals’ social life

Solar energy technology and its roles in sustainable development.

Solar energy is environmentally friendly technology, a great energy supply and one of the most significant renewable and green energy sources. It plays a substantial role in achieving sustainable development energy solutions. Therefore, the massive amount of solar energy attainable daily makes it a very attractive resource for generating electricity. Both technologies, applications of concentrated solar power or solar photovoltaics, are always under continuous development to fulfil our energy needs. Hence, a large installed capacity of solar energy applications worldwide, in the same context, supports the energy sector and meets the employment market to gain sufficient development. This paper highlights solar energy applications and their role in sustainable development and considers renewable energy's overall employment potential. Thus, it provides insights and analysis on solar energy sustainability, including environmental and economic development. Furthermore, it has identified the contributions of solar energy applications in sustainable development by providing energy needs, creating jobs opportunities and enhancing environmental protection. Finally, the perspective of solar energy technology is drawn up in the application of the energy sector and affords a vision of future development in this domain

Simulation of Traditional and Contemporary Dwellings in Ghadames, Libya

A rise in temperature over summer in hot countries, such as Libya, may lead to thermal discomfort and profligate use of energy sources as a result of mitigation efforts. Buildings account for almost 45% of global energy consumption, and approximately 60% of primary energy use in Libya. The use of air conditioning systems have resulted in a sharp rise in energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Traditionally, bioclimatic design concepts have been applied and integrated into buildings in hot climates to reduce the demand of energy consumption, but increasingly less adapted designs of housings developed elsewhere are prevalent. This results in energy being excessively used in order to achieve human thermal comfort requirements. The purpose of this work is to investigate the environmental performance of naturally ventilated (NV) and air conditioned (AC) dwellings in Ghadames and the impact of bioclimatic concepts on energy use for future housing development. A range of EnergyPlus simulations were carried out to predict the indoor climate conditions and energy consumption of typical NV and AC dwellings considering different scenarios including the case of electrical power cuts. Findings revealed that traditional dwellings consume 66.1% less energy than contemporary dwellings. The thermal comfort surveys of Ghadames housing indicated that comfort temperature in NV buildings ranges between 24˚ to 32˚C and 22˚C to 26˚C in AC buildings in summer. Further findings from simulation showed that building fabric and form of traditional dwellings perform far better than contemporary dwellings in terms of solar heat gains, thermal performance of materials, land use and natural ventilation. The study concluded that consolidation of certain passive design features found in traditional dwellings of Ghadames and use of appropriate architectural design and elements can help achieve zero energy housing, taking into account local community needs and future developments

Development and pilot evaluation of an online retrofit decision-making tool for homeowners.

Many retrofit projects went wrong in the UK principally because of the application of inappropriate retrofit solutions, which resulted in damp issues, with some leaving houses in worse conditions than pre-retrofit. Various online tools were developed to inform homeowners about the benefits of retrofitting. Prior to this study, little was known about users' evaluation of these tools and the effects of calculator use. Furthermore, no retrofit tool aims to raise the awareness of homeowners about moisture risks in a retrofit project. The originality of this study is to develop and evaluate an online moisture-safe retrofit decision-making tool for homeowners. The adopted methodology consisted of two phases. Phase one aimed to develop the tool. In phase two, semi-structured interviews were conducted to evaluate the tool. The results indicate that the tool has been well received by homeowners. The tool significantly increased participants' awareness of moisture risks related to a retrofit project. Most participants considered the tool an eye-opener, while few of them found it scary. However, the tool did not result in an increased willingness to invest in energy efficiency measures. The discouragement was related to high investment costs and long payback periods of some retrofit measures. Based on our findings, we formulate a set of design recommendations to improve the proposed tool and help retrofit calculators, in general, overcome challenges

Predicting energy savings of the UK housing stock under a step-by-step energy retrofit scenario towards net-zero.

The UK has one of the least energy-efficient housing stocks in Europe. By 2030, the emissions from UK homes need to fall by at least 24% from 1990 levels to meet the UK's ambitious goal, which is reaching net-zero emissions. The originality of this paper is to apply the building typology approach to predict energy savings of the UK housing stock under a step-by-step energy retrofit scenario, targeting the Passive House Standard for refurbishments of existing buildings, namely the EnerPHit "Quality-Approved Energy Retrofit with Passive House Components." The typologies consist of twenty reference buildings, representative of five construction ages and four building sizes. The energy balance of the UK residential buildings was created and validated against statistical data. A building stock retrofit plan specifying the order in which to apply energy efficiency measures was elaborated, and energy savings were calculated. The predicted total energy demand for the UK residential building stock for the year 2022 is 37.7 MTOE, and the carbon emissions estimation is 65.33 MtCO2e. The energy-saving potential is 87%, and carbon reductions are about 76%, considering all the steps of renovation applied. It has been demonstrated that the step that provides the biggest savings across the housing stock is the one that involves replacing windows, draught-proofing, and installing mechanical ventilation with heat recovery

Control of Daylight and Natural Ventilation in Traditional Architecture of Ghadames, Libya

Housing energy consumption accounts for almost 36% of total primary energy use in Libya of which cooling and lighting are the main source of demand. This study reviews passive control methods employed in traditional dwellings of Ghadames that highly contribute to enhance indoor thermal and visual comfort. Designing for natural ventilation and daylighting in harsh environment poses a greater challenge to building designers. Twenty one traditional dwellings were surveyed to assess building designs and performance in terms of daylight and natural ventilation interoperability. The study conducted field surveys comprising measurements of indoor/outdoor temperatures while concurrently investigating inhabitants’ thermal feeling through both direct semi-structured interviews and questionnaire. In addition, drawings were made to demonstrate the design elements and techniques used to minimize extreme outdoor temperatures and best make use of daylight. Findings indicate that skylight openings play an important role in promoting day and night ventilation. The opening’s position and size have to be carefully studied to prevent excessive direct solar heat gains and induce air movement across internal spaces. The field surveys showed that occupants were thermally satisfied in naturally ventilated dwellings having considered that fixed ceiling fan is used at late afternoon when indoor temperature starts to rise gradually. Also the use of light color roofs and walls is recommended which is approved to enhance interior lighting and increase the outdoor albedo ratio. Embedding passive design measures in traditional dwellings can be very effective and cheap in reducing the cooling and lighting demand; the impact on future housing development is also discussed

Review of Existing Energy Retrofit Decision Tools for Homeowners

Energy retrofit tools are considered by many countries as one of the strongest incentives to encourage homeowners to invest in energy renovation. These tools help homeowners to get an initial overview of suitable retrofit measures. Although a large number of energy retrofit tools have been developed to inspire and educate homeowners, energy renovation by individual homeowners is still lagging and the impact of current tools is insufficient as awareness and information issues remain one of main obstacles that hinder the uptake of energy retrofitting schemes. This research extends the current knowledge by analysing the characteristics of 19 tools from 10 different countries. The selected tools were analysed in terms of energy calculation methods, features, generation and range of retrofit measures, evaluation criteria, and indications on financial support. The review indicates that: (1) most toolkits use empirical data-driven methods, pre-simulated databases, and normative calculation methods; (2) few tools generate long-term integrated renovation packages; (3) technological, social, and aesthetic aspects are rarely taken into consideration; (4) the generation of funding options varies between the existing tools; (5) most toolkits do not suggest specific retrofit solutions adapted to traditional buildings; and (6) preferences of homeowners in terms of evaluation criteria are often neglected

A review on the energy retrofit policies and improvements of the UK existing buildings, challenges and benefits.

There are inherited challenges and barriers the UK government faces in meeting the 80% carbon reduction target by 2050 compared to 1990 baseline. Technically research shows great opportunity to achieve this target through strategic mass-scale plan to include new and retrofit building schemes. This study aims at reviewing the current retrofit schemes and policies UK adopted since committed to reduce carbon emissions, with an emphasis on existing challenges and potential benefits brought to the construction industry. This will help identifying the gap performance between legislations, standards, and actual/anticipated deliverables. The review adopted secondary research method to allocate scientific research data published in journals and reports on building retrofits. Literature indicated insufficient guidance and information on existing UK housing stock to enable the decision-makers to implement realistic and achievable plans for reducing carbon emissions. The study signifies the understanding and dealing with individual cases as generic retrofitting packages will likely fail to address the complexity of the UK context. Great attention should be paid to some other factors such as social sustainability with great emphasis on using low embodied carbon and energy products. The review will be useful for homeowners and other stakeholders involved in decision-making or people interested in building retrofits

Learning from bioclimatic desert Architecture: A case study of Ghadames, Libya

This chapter illustrates the use of mixed methodological strategies combining both quantitative and qualitative approaches. These include surveys, interviews, observational techniques, architectural modelling, computer simulation and physical measurements. These methods are all illustrated using a Libyan case study as an example of bioclimatic desert architecture. Energy usage in domestic buildings is responsible for approximately 31% of the total energy consumption in Libya, with the provision of comfortable space conditions forming the major part of this consumption. Contemporary buildings in Ghadames, Libya adopt air-conditioning systems, which have been recognised as energy-intensive solutions in hot climates. In addition, traditional buildings embrace sustainable features and employ natural ventilation systems to minimise energy consumption. The proposed methodology allows contextualising technical work on thermal comfort, architectural modelling and computer simulation under hot climatic and distinctive sociocultural conditions. It also reviews the results from field surveys undertaken in 2013 and 2014. It shows how 100 residents of Ghadames responded to the environmental conditions and personal well-being, and how such data, together with objective surveys, interviews and observation, can inform architectural modelling, giving a full understanding of the building’s dynamics, explaining the compactness of traditional houses’ urban morphologies, and demonstrating the sociocultural and environmental aspects of the design. These buildings are then tested using computer simulation with EnergyPlus to evaluate the environmental performance and show good agreement with the actual measurements. It was through the use of surveys and interviews that sociocultural attributes could be deciphered and complemented by the physical measurements taken, together developing the new conceptual framework for future housing design