High performance low-energy buildings

The era of legislation and creditable methods towards producing sustainable buildings is upon us. Yet, a major barrier to achieving environmental responsive design is in the lack of available information at the programming or pre-design phases of a project. The review and evaluation of climate as well as energy-efficient strategies could be difficult to consider at these preliminary stages. Until recently, introducing energy simulation tools at the design stage has been difficult and perhaps next to impossible at a pre-design or programming stage. However, analysis of this sort is essential to &lsquo;green building rating&rsquo; or performance assessment schemes such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environment Assessment Method). This paper discusses the implementation of a particular tool, ENERGY-10, where &lsquo;basecase&rsquo; building defaults are compared to a low-energy case which has applied multiple energy-efficient strategies automatically. An annual hour-by-hour simulation provides a daylighting calculation with a subsequent thermal evaluation. Calculation results provide energy consumption, peak load equipment sizing, a RANK feature of the energy-efficient strategies, reporting of CO2, SO2 and NOx reduction, optimum glazing type as well as excellent graphic output. Consideration is given as to the approach of how such information can be introduced into the building project brief enforcing a low-energyperformance target.<br /

Retrofitting for ventilation, infiltration and comfort

Legislation is demanding that our existing building stock be improved to a minimum of 4.0 Star AGBRS (Aust. Green Building Rating Scheme) energy standards. In the \u27Green Building Fund\u27 scheme for office buildings and other government incentives, retrofitting our existing building stock makes plain good sense. However, many of the stakeholders (owners, facilities managers, occupants) do not know where to begin to invest, for making these savings. This paperdemonstrates through two case studies, in government related&nbsp; office buildihgs,how real energy savings were approached and obtained. It illustrates a process whereby preliminary and pretesting results lead to solutions of building ventilation, infiltration and comfort improvement. Furthermore, it discusses how post building performance testing results verified improvement as well as provided inputs to energy simulation, indicating where further invested improvements could be made.One case study illustrates how the weatherisation of a building prevented a 1.5 million dollar retrofitting spending, costing the client less than one-tenth of the initial retrofitting cost. Another example demonstrates how over-engineering and incorrect ventilation concepts can cost the client up to 70% of their energy bill. Both papers involve real evidence-based pre and post measurement results in existing occupied buildings.<br /

Using the psychrometric chart in building measurements

This paper centres around the presentation of multiple measured results on a psychrometric chart. The psychrometric chart was programmed in Microsoft Office Excel to accommodate measured results. It was written because existing programs appear not to cater for the researcher wishing to enter results electronically onto the chart. Furthermore, many existing charts are complex and cluttered displaying up to ten attributes, being intended for engineering design, whereas presenting the behaviour of living and working environments is focused on wet and dry bulb temperature and relative humidity. As well as results, users would also like to specify and adjust the &lsquo;comfort zone&rsquo; (a shaded area on the chart) for different &lsquo;adaptive&rsquo; or &lsquo;seasonal&rsquo; conditions. The comfort zone is bounded by lines of constant heat loss from the skin, relative humidity and wet-bulb temperature. The paper presents various applications of the psychrometric chart for the analysis and reporting of research and discusses the programming of Microsoft Office Excel to generate the chart and display user data.<br /

Simultaneous presentation of measured and calculated environmental results

Continuous measurement of internal and external environmental parameters is critical to our understanding of how buildings perform. Yet, the quantity and variety of time-series data can be quite overwhelming as well as onerous to decipher and present. In addition to this, is the fact that several of the collected data are useless in their raw format unless processed through algorithms to obtain identifiable and meaningful results.These circumstances challenge the conventional way we present accumulated data and their processed outputs in order to get a better understanding of how and why the environmental performance occurred. It would be ideal if all of the collected and processed data could be presented in a simultaneous, yet, useful format. It is exactly the intention of this paper to suggest and present such a process as well as its format.An example case study is provided where several parameters (air velocity, mean radiant temperature, humidity and air temperature) are measured periodically to calculate a time-series of internal comfort performance. However, external conditions of solar radiation and solar position as well as air temperature drive the interior building surface temperatures and help to explain the end result of internal comfort.A program has been written to present the various sets of data graphically, in an integrated manner, animated as a function of time. The animation shows solar position, a cursor scanning weather data, the changing infra-red image and a representation of the resulting internal comfort performance throughout themonitored period.<br /

Combined evaluation of workplace performance using occupants\u27 subjective assessment and objective measurement of environmental conditions : a case study

The case study presents findings from a program of pre- and post-evaluations of buildings sponsored by the NSW government. The program aims to demonstrate leadership in the delivery of government accommodation and to provide feedback into the building design and management process.The results from a combined evaluation of an ABGR 4.5 star government building using the KODO probe&copy; occupant surveys and measures of environmental conditions, carried out by the Mobile Architecture and Built Environment Laboratory (MABEL) at Deakin University are summarised. In particular the paper will present the benefits of innovative performance evaluation of property for commercial benefit using the KODO productivity topographic maps&copy;.These maps isolate where facility solutions are needed as opposed to tenant/occupant solutions in order to optimise building and business outcomes with minimal capital investment.<br /

Revisiting the Comfort Parameters of ISO 7730: Measurement and Simulation

With the trends of comfort modelling moving more towards the application of Adaptive Models, the influences of several parameters as used in the traditional ISO7730 standard are therefore non-existent. The proposed work considers the conventional ISO 7730 standard as conservative in its calculation; however extremely useful, in cases where actual measurements of spaces are considered (ISO 7730, 1994). Measurements from a comfort cart built according to ASHRAE-55 standards (ANSI/ASHRAE 55, 2005) together with thermal imaging temperatures are combined. In doing so, an ISO 7730 thermal comfort assessment applying the CBE – ASHRAE 55-2004 Comfort Tool allows for changes in the environment to be examined for improved comfort (Huizenga, 2006; Tyler et al, 2017). Results for two cases in a severe Darwin climate yield an improved PPD by 2.5-2.7 times when implementing extremely low- energy measures

Ten years of environmental university building

The authors have been involved in over ten years of environmental consulting and research on university buildings. Numerous simulations and measurement studies have occurred over this period of time. The intentions have always been to improve and optimise the environmental performing aspects of a building. This paper is a reporting of the implemented strategies, their pre-building research investigation as well as their operational outcomes. Their successes and failures are discussed here. This research is intended as a feedback loop to future design specification, commissioning and maintenance improvements. In hindsight many of the environmental concepts, when executed as planned, were successful. However, often those requiring extensive control, such as lighting, ventilation and mechanical air-conditioning were a failure. The observations between simulation and actual performance are also noted. The paper includes discussion about some of the obstacles in building procurement which can hinder the result of a good environmental performing building.<br /