Low/Zero-Carbon Buildings for a Sustainable Future

Fossil fuel-based energy consumption is still dominant in the world today, and there is a consensus on the limited reserves of these energy resources. Therefore, there is a strong stimulation into clean energy technologies to narrow the gap between fossil fuels and renewables. In this respect, several commitments and codes are proposed and adopted for a low energy-consuming world and for desirable environmental conditions. Sectoral energy consumption analyses clearly indicate that buildings are of vital importance in terms of energy consumption figures. From this point of view, buildings have a great potential for decisive and urgent reduction of energy consumption levels and thus greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Among the available retrofit solutions, greenery systems (GSs) stand for a reliable, cost-effective and eco-friendly method for remarkablemitigation of energy consumed in buildings. Through the works comparing the thermal regulation performance of uninsulated and green roofs, it is observed that the GS provides 20°C lower surface temperature in operation. Similar to green roofs, vertical greenery systems (VGSs) also reduce energy demand to approximately 25% as a consequence of wind blockage effects in winter. Therefore, within the scope of this chapter, GSs are evaluated for a reliable and effective retrofit solution toward low/zero carbon buildings (L/ZCBs)

Performance analysis of a novel solar desalination system - Part 1: the unit with sensible energy storage and booster reflector without thermal insulation and cooling system

Cuce, Erdem/0000-0003-0150-4705; Saxena, Abhishek/0000-0001-9253-6774WOS: 000514838400003Solar desalination systems have a promising potential to meet the clean water demand at global scale in a cost-effective and eco-friendly manner. Therefore, in this research, a novel solar distillation unit with sensible energy storage medium and passive booster reflector is devised, fabricated and experimentally analysed. Within the scope of first part of this research, solar desalination system is not thermally insulated, and there is not any cooling system considered for the aperture glazing to accelerate the distillation process. the tests are conducted for a one-week period in July for a characteristic continental climate. the total water productivity is observed to be 2197.4 ml, which is notable. However, it is concluded that water productivity performance highly depends on the existence of an effective cooling system for the aperture glazing and thermally resistive structure for the external body

Sustainable ventilation strategies in buildings: CFD research

Sher, Farooq/0000-0003-2890-5912; Cuce, Erdem/0000-0003-0150-4705WOS: 000496955300026Developing technology and architectural design techniques have affected the field of architecture to a great extent. As a result, human comfort has become increasingly important in recent years. A natural ventilation cooling strategy which serves as the alternative to the air-conditioning system has been effectively employed in high-rise office buildings in western countries. This paper discusses the possibility of using natural ventilation strategy in school buildings. It evaluates some of the key issues associated with natural ventilation design and school buildings, including its the types, its working principles and limitations of passive ventilation, its effects and forms of natural ventilation when used in libraries, offices, auditoriums and dormitory buildings. This work also evaluates and how does the effects of architectural design on the passive ventilation such as orientation, depth of room, the atrium and solar chimney. Based on case studies on Queens building at de Montfort University, Liberty tower of Meiji University and simulation regarding ecological dormitory building in China. These three buildings have been selected to operate as simultaneously in different climatic and thermal comfort conditions. It is concluded that single-side ventilation and cross-ventilation can have good effect on cooling and improving air quality in school buildings with different functions as long as the height and depth of rooms are properly designed. Solar wall and solar chimney can also be employed to enhance natural ventilation performance based on the principle of stack effect