Energy Efficient HVAC Design in Residential Buildings

Energy efficiency has become a growing concern due to the negative effects associated with burning fossil fuels and wasting natural resources. Buildings contribute to a large portion of the world’s energy use, and the Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems are usually one of the largest consumers of energy in buildings. Building design, including HVAC systems, is essential to manipulating heat exchange and promoting energy efficiency. This project reviews some of the currently available methods of building heating and cooling, focusing on the overall systems and implementation. Energy efficiency simulation tools available today can help identify HVAC systems most suitable for any given building type and geographic location. OpenStudio, SketchUp, and EnergyPlus are used in this project to simulate certain HVAC systems in standardized apartments in Boise, Idaho, in order to determine the relative efficiency of each system in a local setting

Materials Characterization and Testing of Heat-Reflective Coatings to Mitigate the Urban Heat Island

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect—urban areas higher in temperature than rural counterparts—is exacerbated by pavement surfaces. Heat-Reflective Coatings (HRC) are being developed to cool pavements for UHI mitigation. Six HRCs were tested via engineering performance tests, spectroscopy, and microscopy to determine changes in surface temperature and to understand optimal cooling mechanisms of each coating based on microstructure-property-performance architecture. Integrated multimodal characterization approaches were used to: 1. Determine the micro/nano scale heat reflection mechanisms that in each coating material; 2. Compare the heat reflection performance of each coating and rank them by cost effectiveness; 3. Inspire the design and optimization of new cool pavement with specifications and recommendations. During engineering performance tests, coated concrete samples underwent heating and cooling cycles in which the surface, atmospheric, and subsurface temperatures were recorded using an infrared thermal camera, a thermometer and thermocouples, respectively. Results from performance testing clearly demonstrated an overall decrease in surface temperature for coated samples compared to uncoated concrete. Ultraviolet-Near-Infrared and Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometers were used to quantify solar and thermal reflectance and HRCs were found to have significantly higher reflectance in the visible and near-infrared range compared to uncoated concrete. Scanning Electron Microscopy imaging of HRCs revealed the presence of silicon dioxide and titanium dioxide nanoparticles of varying size and morphology. Results of engineering performance testing and multimodal characterization indicate the potential of using HRCs to mitigate the UHI effect by cooling pavement surfaces

Use of Heat-reflective Coatings for Reducing the Contribution of Pavement in Urban Heat Index

Many studies have been conducted to find possible strategies for reducing the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect during hot summer months. One of the largest contributors to UHI is the role paved surfaces play in the warming of urban areas. The use of heat-reflective coatings to combat the effects of pavement have been previously studied, with mixed conclusions. While studies show that heat-reflective coatings may have many useful applications, this study is focused on their ability to reduce UHI. To elaborate this, a concrete sample is put through tests in which it is heated with a halogen lamp and the surface temperature is measured using an infrared thermal camera. The air temperature and body temperatures at varying depths are also recorded using a thermometer and thermocouple respectively. Analyzing the limited results that have been collected thus far found that the concrete was cooler when coated as compared to the concrete samples without coating. This conclusion shows that heat-reflective coatings are capable of reducing the surface temperature of concrete and may have the potential to lessen UHI effects in cities

Analytical and compositional aspects of isoflavones in food and their biological effects

This paper provides an overview of analytical techniques used to determine isoflavones (IFs) in foods and biological fluids with main emphasis on sample preparation methods. Factors influencing the content of IFs in food including processing and natural variability are summarized and an insight into IF databases is given. Comparisons of dietary intake of IFs in Asian and Western populations, in special subgroups like vegetarians, vegans, and infants are made and our knowledge on their absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion by the human body is presented. The influences of the gut microflora, age, gender, background diet, food matrix, and the chemical nature of the IFs on the metabolism of IFs are described. Potential mechanisms by which IFs may exert their actions are reviewed, and genetic polymorphism as determinants of biological response to soy IFs is discussed. The effects of IFs on a range of health outcomes including atherosclerosis, breast, intestinal, and prostate cancers, menopausal symptoms, bone health, and cognition are reviewed on the basis of the available in vitro, in vivo animal and human data