Assessing energy use and overheating risk for retrofitting a residential tower block prototype in Northern Cyprus

This study evaluates the energy performance of a residential tower block (RTB) development in Northern Cyprus in providing thermal comfort for its occupants. Severe summer temperature conditions in the coastal city of Famagusta includes significant daily oscillations in air temperature (14°C-45°C) and high levels of solar radiation, which contributes to the overheating of thermally inefficient building envelopes. Notably, 43% of the domestic buildings in Northern Cyprus are RTBs. As could be expected in residential buildings located in a hot and humid climate the cooling and heating comprise the largest part of the total energy consumption (73%). The aim of this is to investigate the applicability of passive design elements for the case study using three representative residential tower blocks (RTBs) each representing a different orientation (south-west, south-east and north-west). The research adopts a ‘quantitative’ research design; primarily building performance evaluation using modelling and simulation. The selected three RTBs are modelled using Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) software where extensive dynamic thermal simulations have been produced to test passive design measures applied to improve thermal comfort and energy performance. This paper presents an analysis of the thermal performance of the three RTBs before different retrofit scenarios are applied to optimize the buildings energy performance and occupants’ thermal comfort. According to the results of the dynamic thermal simulation, cooling energy consumption saving of around 81% are achieved. The findings demonstrate the necessity to consider passive design strategies for effective retrofitting of existing RTB developments in Northern Cyprus

Passive cooling design strategies for retrofit of residential tower blocks in Northern Cyprus

This research investigates potential passive design strategies for improving the thermal performance of existing residential tower block (RTB) in Famagusta, Northern Cyprus. In a Mediterranean island that experiences hot and humid temperatures throughout the year, residential buildings need to be adaptable to the climate in order to improve the thermal comfort of occupants. The current housing stock includes a prevalence of high density, medium and low-rise residential tower block developments without implementing any insulation materials. The objective of this study is to develop and test passive cooling design strategies into retrofitting ill-performing residential tower blocks in the coastal city of Famagusta. As an initial step, the performance of a case study was modelled and simulated via employing Integrated Environmental Solutions Virtual Environment (IES-VE) software add-ins Apache-Sim Dynamic Thermal Simulation. The results from the base case model were analyzed according to the adaptive comfort of CIBSE Technical Memorandum 52 guidelines: The Limits of Thermal Comfort - Avoiding Overheating in European Buildings. The spaces studied (living room and bedrooms) within the case study sample flats were observed to exceed the acceptable limits of thermal comfort; particularly living rooms with this zone exceeding the upper limit for overheating by up to 9 hours daily. The main reasons for the problematic thermal performance were identified as resulting from: infiltration through the building fabric, the lack of sufficient ventilation through the living spaces and excessive heat gains through the large areas of glazing. The internal operating temperatures of the simulated flats remain high throughout the day and night in a typical summer day, ranging from a maximum of 36.5 ̊ C to a minimum of 28.5 ̊ CThe study also analyses the effectiveness of two basic passive cooling strategies (shading and night ventilation) of 3 sample flats sharing the same orientation, and floor plan but located at different levels within the RTBs. Furthermore, the implications in the seasonal cooling and assessment when considering the adoption of climate-related set-point temperatures (i.e. adaptive comfort approach), beyond the assumed common standard, are also evaluated

An innovative energy efficiency application development: through the evaluation of occupants’ behavioural issues and its impact on domestic energy consumption in the UK

The research investigates the reason why low-carbon retrofit programmes always may not meet expectations. It is explored by focusing on a series of 'hard-to-quantify' factors, especially the energy-related behaviours and their impact on energy performance. The research assumes that the abovementioned parameters have not been thoroughly taken into consideration for optimising domestic energy performance. This is also the cause of the phenomena of 'Building Performance Gap (BPG)'. To cope with this issue, the correlations between occupants' behaviours and energy performance are investigated by adopting a mixed research methodology where questionnaire survey and the review of energy efficiency tools were carried concurrently to collect and analyse quantitative and qualitative data. The data collected is mainly quantitative but supplemented by qualitative data from a few open questions and in-depth interviews. This paper primarily focuses on the research survey design and how the required data was collected and analysed to help achieve the research aim. The preliminary data analysis was also presented in order to draw a general picture of the conditions of social housing in London. The issues encountered during the distribution of the questionnaire were alsodiscussed in order to inform relevant future studies. At the end, the found correlations could help to form an innovative smart phone application in order to adjust occupants' energy-related behaviours and provide incentives in taking up the low-carbon retrofit projects. Thus, reducing the BPG and increase energy efficiency in the UK housing sector

Home energy use, lifestyle, and behaviour: a community energy saving programme (CESP) survey in Aspley, Nottingham

With increasing concern over national green house gas (GHG) emissions, combined with the widespread economic impact of global commodities such as coal, natural gas and oil and their effect on energy prices, improving household energy efficiency can be seen as a key vehicle against which both energy emissions can be reduced and domestic GHG emissions curtailed. It is argued that factors that form the basis of choices, habits and values of individuals dictate an individual's decision to either adopt environmentally sustainable behaviour or not. This research reflects on how this specific area of energy policy is being enacted through policy and regulation, notably through one of the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) schemes, rolled out by the UK government in 2009. Although Government can play a pivotal role helping people foster more sustainable behaviour, it must do so in a manner that engages individuals and the public at large. As such, the aim is to adopt a more long term outlook towards encouraging sustainable energy use. The research reflects therefore on the results of a two-phase survey questionnaire administered to the residents of a CESP scheme in Aspley, Nottingham. The questionnaire sought to identify how tenants of energy-inefficient homes tend to behave with respect to domestic energy consumption and how their dwellings performed. This was augmented by quantitative data comprising utility bill figures gathered from the homes under investigation. This study adopts a mixed method strategy where the researcher combines both quantitative and qualitative data in order to provide comprehensive analysis of the research problem. In this research, 'before-and-after design' survey design is set up to explore the associations between variables under study. The field work survey was performed in one of the pilot CESP schemes currently under delivery in the Aspley area of Nottingham. Designed and executed in two survey phases, the first phase sought to understand residents' attitudes and behaviour and explore how this related to home energy use and performance prior to extensive energy-related upgrades to their dwellings. The second survey phase sought to examine changes - if any - in users' energy consumption behaviour and dwelling performance after their homes were upgraded to higher energy efficiency standards. This second phase also explored the possible reasons for any behavioural change depicted; whether it was due to policy uptake, information provided or means of communicating energy saving advice. The Aspley area in Nottingham is identified as one of the most deprived areas in Nottingham, besides the number of inefficient solid wall houses that are 'hard to heat'. Thus, assessing the effectiveness of policy interventions requires a clear understanding of consumer behaviour and motivations across all income groups so that the most appropriate approaches are developed. As such, it is possible that government aspirations to reduce energy consumption will go unheeded if they are inconsistent with the social and physical context of real life. Financial costs, past behaviour, social values and physical infrastructure are considered some of the most difficult barriers to changing energy behaviours. Policies need not only inform people about technological improvements that can be installed in their homes, but should also strongly encourage and incentivise them to use them efficiently. The users' energy consumption behaviour and the policy interventions will make the difference between promising policy, and policy which in fact delivers on its aims for energy efficiency and sustainability

Building performance optimisation for the retrofit of a council tower block in London

This study aims to optimise the building performance of a 22-storey tower block in London Borough of Newham (LBN) using energy efficient retrofitting strategies. Initial studies show that the water ingress issues within the tower block are mainly caused by a combination of inefficient building envelope and occupants' patterns of energy consumption in their homes. The first phase of this research analysed the performance of the tower block through indoor monitoring, occupants' interviews and building simulation in the winter season. The second phase of this project, the focus of this paper, studies two retrofit approaches of the tower block by applying EnerPHit standard, and the potential retrofit approach considered by LBN. The study builds on the results from the first phase by using building simulation to examine the reduction of heating loads and the improvement of indoor thermal comfort in the winter season when applying each retrofit strategy. The results showthat improving the building envelope by using EnerPHit standard through significant improvement of the building fabric and incorporating Mechanical Ventilation and Heat Recovery (MVHR) systems, decrease the building heating energy loads to more than half of the actual energy consumption while keeping the indoor thermal environment within the standard comfort range. In addition, using LBN suggested thermal insulation material as the potential retrofitting strategy to improve the External Wall Insulation (EWI), reduces the energy consumption of the building to nearly half of the original heating energy loads, nearly similar to the first retrofitting approach in this study

Home energy use, lifestyle, and behaviour: a community energy saving programme (CESP) survey in Aspley, Nottingham

With increasing concern over national green house gas (GHG) emissions, combined with the widespread economic impact of global commodities such as coal, natural gas and oil and their effect on energy prices, improving household energy efficiency can be seen as a key vehicle against which both energy emissions can be reduced and domestic GHG emissions curtailed. It is argued that factors that form the basis of choices, habits and values of individuals dictate an individual's decision to either adopt environmentally sustainable behaviour or not. This research reflects on how this specific area of energy policy is being enacted through policy and regulation, notably through one of the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) schemes, rolled out by the UK government in 2009. Although Government can play a pivotal role helping people foster more sustainable behaviour, it must do so in a manner that engages individuals and the public at large. As such, the aim is to adopt a more long term outlook towards encouraging sustainable energy use. The research reflects therefore on the results of a two-phase survey questionnaire administered to the residents of a CESP scheme in Aspley, Nottingham. The questionnaire sought to identify how tenants of energy-inefficient homes tend to behave with respect to domestic energy consumption and how their dwellings performed. This was augmented by quantitative data comprising utility bill figures gathered from the homes under investigation. This study adopts a mixed method strategy where the researcher combines both quantitative and qualitative data in order to provide comprehensive analysis of the research problem. In this research, 'before-and-after design' survey design is set up to explore the associations between variables under study. The field work survey was performed in one of the pilot CESP schemes currently under delivery in the Aspley area of Nottingham. Designed and executed in two survey phases, the first phase sought to understand residents' attitudes and behaviour and explore how this related to home energy use and performance prior to extensive energy-related upgrades to their dwellings. The second survey phase sought to examine changes - if any - in users' energy consumption behaviour and dwelling performance after their homes were upgraded to higher energy efficiency standards. This second phase also explored the possible reasons for any behavioural change depicted; whether it was due to policy uptake, information provided or means of communicating energy saving advice. The Aspley area in Nottingham is identified as one of the most deprived areas in Nottingham, besides the number of inefficient solid wall houses that are 'hard to heat'. Thus, assessing the effectiveness of policy interventions requires a clear understanding of consumer behaviour and motivations across all income groups so that the most appropriate approaches are developed. As such, it is possible that government aspirations to reduce energy consumption will go unheeded if they are inconsistent with the social and physical context of real life. Financial costs, past behaviour, social values and physical infrastructure are considered some of the most difficult barriers to changing energy behaviours. Policies need not only inform people about technological improvements that can be installed in their homes, but should also strongly encourage and incentivise them to use them efficiently. The users' energy consumption behaviour and the policy interventions will make the difference between promising policy, and policy which in fact delivers on its aims for energy efficiency and sustainability

Energy Saving of the Domestic Housing Stocks: Application Development as a Plug-In for Energy Simulation Software

The research investigates energy conservation in the UK domestic housing sectors. The UK government has been dedicated to saving energies from domestic sectors through the implementation of low-carbon retrofit schemes. The paper focuses on the future of energy simulation software and its impacts on a more successful delivery of low-carbon retrofit with respect to the concept of ‘Parallelism’. An obvious problem in the current market is that, for Post-Occupancy Evaluations (POE), the simulated energy performance result does not reflect the actual energy performance. It is widely recognized that the energy conservation of the domestic stock is not only subject to housing physical improvements, but is also related to a series of social, financial and behavioural issues. Among those factors, occupants’ behaviour has the most significant impacts on housing energy performance. The overestimations of those issues decrease the efficiency of low-carbon retrofit in the UK. The solution could be the development of an application that addresses all/most aspects concerned with energy performance variables as a plug-in within a conventional energy simulation software – Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP). To fulfil the research aim, Modelling has been created to examine the impacts of people’s lifestyle patterns, age groups, ethnic groups, etc., towards energy simulation results. A detailed questionnaire will be implemented into the research design. With the collaborations of Newham Council, survey questionnaires are expected to be carried out towards occupants’ behaviour, household profiles and housing conditions. The expected findings will conclude that people with different backgrounds will differently operate the dwellings differently. The collected data will be analysed in order to find the correlations between energy performance and the abovementioned social, financial and behavioural variables. The data analyses will be conducted by implementing Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS)

The importance of occupancy and energy use patterns on predicting building energy performance : a case study of a residential building in London

This paper studies a building energy performance of a council housing tower block in London, which was found to consume significant energy for heating. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of the occupancy and heating energy use schedules of the building units in predicting the building performance using DesignBuilder (DB) dynamic simulation tool. This study adopts a quantitative research design based on a survey questionnaire, and dynamic simulation modelling and analysis. The predicted building performance using the dominant occupancy and energy use profiles was compared against the simulation outputs using the approved benchmark methodologies. The results show that the building’s physical issues including damp and mould, as well as the occupants’ patterns of operating their homes have a considerable impact on the heating energy use in the winter season and demonstrate the importance of incorporating the exemplary occupancy and energy use schedules into the building simulation tools to predict feasible building performance

The impact of occupants' energy use behaviour on building performance : a case study of a tower block in London

This study assesses the building performance of a residential high-rise tower block in London, which, through preliminary studies was found to consume significant energy for heating. The aim of the study is to explore the effect of the dominant occupancy and heating schedules of the building on predicting the heating energy consumption of the building in the winter months in comparison to the benchmark profiles. A series of questionnaire-based survey and building simulation analysis were performed to understand the occupants’ energy use behaviour and its effect on building energy use. The results show that buildings’ physical issues including damp and mould caused in-efficient building envelope. To reduce the dampness and condensation effect and increase the thermal comfort, the occupants use considerable heating energy and as a result, the actual energy use patterns of the building are different from the benchmarks profiles, which caused uncertainty in predicting the building performance

Improving the building performance and thermal comfort of an office building to reduce overheating risk

In recent decades, efficient design of office buildings has become increasingly important due to its direct impact on occupants’ health, wellbeing, and productivity. Research found that issues within the indoor environment of the workplace, such as poor ventilation, lighting, and high levels of harmful gases and air borne particles has a significant influence on reduced productivity. This study aims to investigate the issues of overheating and propose strategies for retrofit of a modern office building in London as a case study. To achieve the research aim; a quantitative research methodology is adopted comprising three methods of data collection and analysis; a survey questionnaire, indoor data monitoring, and dynamic thermal modelling and simulation. The results show a significant improvement in the building thermal performance by retrofitting the building roof envelope where the indoor air temperature reduced from 29.3 to 26.9°C hence potential improvement of occupants’ thermal comfort