Evaluation of energy performance of the most prevalent housing archetypes in Jordan

The residential sector is responsible for the consumption of 46% of the building’s total primary energy consumption in Jordan. Despite the Jordanian government’s commitment to significantly reduce national emissions by 2050, building Operational Carbon (OC) has been under-researched in the Jordanian context. This study aims to present the development of an archetypes-based housing stock model. The model is then used to evaluate the impact of a series of suggested refurbishment scenarios, to reduce the stock’s operational carbon impact. First, the most prevalent dwellings are identified and categorized into ‘archetypes’ based on the analysis of a housing survey database on Jordanian dwellings. Subsequently, the performance of these archetypes is evaluated in terms of OC. Finally, the improvement scenarios are investigated, and their impact on OC is evaluated

Greening Archives: Mitigating the Environmental Impact of the Archives with Designated Storage for Photographic Materials

In 2015, 196 countries adopted the Paris Agreement to reduce global warming in order to fight against climate change. Its overall goal was to limit warming to no more than 2°C by 2050¹. However, commitments made by governments to date fall far short of what is required and if we stick to the current national climate plans submitted, it would lead to an increase of almost 14% in global carbon emissions by 2030, compared to 2010 levels². We need the whole world; Global, Governmental, Organisational and Individuals’ commitments to take bold steps towards reducing emissions as soon as possible to have any chance of meeting the 2°C goal. Collecting institutions such as Archives and Museums are facing difficult choices between lowering carbon footprint and preserving collections. Early photographic materials are particularly known for their high dependency on low temperature and low RH storage environment. Therefore, institutions with historical photographs need to plan the step carefully, as allowing collections to deteriorate in sub-optimal environmental conditions would be a significant loss to the humanities and to society. It is crucial for institutions to make realistic changes and integrate sustainable energy use practices by Collection Care and Facilities Management staff working together to manage the environment closely to reach both preservation and energy saving goals. This research will explore the sustainable update options for existing purpose built archive buildings that hold vulnerable historical photographic materials with HE Archive as the main case study

A Participatory Life Cycle Assessment: Case Study of a London Estate

The operational energy performance is one of the main metrics in decision-making over regeneration scenarios of housing estates. The assessments in many cases do not include the overall carbon footprint and other environmental impacts of different regeneration scenarios. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the methodology used to calculate the environmental impacts over the lifecycle of buildings. The current practice of building LCA is regularly conducted less effectively, and the uncertainties such as the limited scope of the framework and the variable system boundaries can produce considerably contrasting outcomes which can also be interpreted subjectively. This paper aims to explore a participatory approach to conducting LCA for options appraisal of estate regeneration schemes. The study employs a mixed methods design consisting of primary and secondary data collection and rapid ethnographic observations. The research includes a case study of a Housing Estate in London under threat of demolition. The community’s refurbishment and extension proposal has been developed through knowledge mobility and co-design workshops with the members of the community and University College London (UCL) design team, who are the stakeholders involved in conducting the participatory LCA. LCA of different regeneration and redevelopment scenarios have been explored. The results of the research provide convincing evidence in favour of the refurbishment scenarios over the redevelopment scenario. The findings can make a case for a participatory assessment framework for the evaluation of estate regeneration schemes and highlight the necessity of including other aspects beyond CO2 emissions in the assessment criteria. This study can assist researchers in preparing a framework for participatory integration of broader environmental and socio-economic impacts and including different stakeholders in decision-making over regeneration projects in different contexts

A multilevel window state model based on outdoor environmental conditions that captures behavioural variation at room and apartment levels

Occupants’ use of windows can influence the building energy demand, thermal conditions and indoor air quality. Researchers have made substantial efforts to develop probabilistic models to predict the window open/closed state. However, the hierarchical data structure and the heterogeneity in occupant behaviour have been generally neglected in previous modelling efforts. Multilevel modelling can provide an appropriate framework to handle this type of data structure and variability, but this method has rarely been used in the field. This study investigated room- and apartment-level variations in the effects of outdoor environmental variables on the window open state in low-energy apartment buildings in the UK using a multilevel modelling approach. The results showed that the room-level, rather than apartment-level, variation was statistically significant. Meanwhile, the room type (i.e., living room or bedroom) did not significantly affect the relationship between outdoor environmental variables and the window open state. The strength of this study is that the modelling accounted for the hierarchical structure of the data by simultaneously considering room-and apartment- level behavioural variations. By quantifying the significant diversity of occupant behaviour in the natural ventilation of residences, future research can more accurately estimate the variation in building energy and indoor air quality impacts

Improving indoor air quality and occupant health through smart control of windows and portable air purifiers in residential buildings

Indoor exposure to PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm) has a substantial negative impact on people’s health. However, indoor PM2.5 can be controlled through effective ventilation and filtration. This study aimed to develop a smart control framework that (1) combines a portable home air purifier (HAP) and window control system to reduce indoor PM2.5 concentrations whilst maintaining thermal comfort; (2) evaluates the associated health impacts and additional energy use. The proposed framework was demonstrated through a simulation-based case study of a low-energy apartment. The simulation results showed that joint control of HAP and window openings has great potential to not only maintain thermal comfort but also achieve effective PM2.5 removal which, consequently, can lead to considerable health benefits at a low additional energy cost. Compared to similar previous studies, the strength of the proposed control framework lies in combining window operations and HAPs in the same system and including both thermal comfort and indoor PM2.5 as the control targets. This work also introduces a novel concept of linking a building control system with a health impact assessment, an important and innovative step in the creation of holistic and responsive building controls. Practical application: This study proposes a novel control framework that jointly controls portable home air purifiers (HAPs) and windows to maintain thermal comfort and achieve effective PM2.5 removal. The simulation results suggest that such a hybrid control strategy can result in considerable health benefits at low additional energy costs