0000000000142880
AUTHOR
Simone Ferrari
Building energy demand assessment through heating degree days: the importance of a climatic dataset
Abstract The weather is one of the main factors to consider when designing a building because it represents the most important boundary condition to affect the dynamic behaviour of the building. In the literature, many studies use the degree day to predict building energy demand. However, linking the results obtained from a generic building simulation tool with defined degree days, will not give reliable energy evaluation. The goal of this study is to demonstrate that the assessment of building energy demand through the use of the degree day is correct only if the determination of the climate index is a function of the same weather data. The relationship between Heating Degree-Day and heati…
Results of a literature review on methods for estimating buildings energy demand at district level
Abstract In the framework of distributed energy planning, evaluating reliable energy profiles of different sectors has a prominent role. At the same time, it is a quite challenging task, since the availability of actual energy profiles of buildings at the district level is not widespread. A survey of over 70 studies in scientific literature has been accomplished and a set of criteria has been defined for classifying the selected contributions based on the energy demand data features, source and/or estimation methods, highlighting the ones adopting hourly energy profiles. As final results, tables summarizing the main methods characteristics and a selection of studies providing directly useab…
Editorial: Sustainable development of energy, Water and Environment Systems
In 2018 the Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) was held in three different locations and periods, so as to offer to the scientific community working in the field several opportunities to share and discuss new ideas and disseminate results of research activities. The 1st Latin American SDEWES Conference was held in Rio de Janeiro (Brasil) in January 28–31 and attracted 180 scientists from 35 countries, with a high number of contributions mainly from Southern American and European academics and professionals, who reciprocally enriched about emerging issues in the field of sustainable development in these continents. Also, the participants a…
Electricity Consumption Analysis of Tertiary Buildings: An Empirical Approach for Two University Campuses
An empirical approach for the analysis of energy consumption of existing buildings of the tertiary sector is presented in this study. It allowed the organization and management of large amounts of data according to different timeframes and helped to focus on leading issues about energy uses, and dealt with compatibility with tariff structure. The analysis method, which implied a powerful graphical representation of the results, allowed us to detect critical issues in electricity energy management for public buildings and improve their energy performance. Furthermore, the authors proposed a set of electricity consumption indexes (ECIs) that gave useful insight into the main hotspots. The bas…
Empirical BAC factors method application to two real case studies in South Italy
Abstract The application of Building Automation and Control (BAC) systems has many advantages. One of these is the reduction of the end-user electricity consumption and, if applied to lighting systems, the achievement of well-acknowledged benefits from daylight, such as productivity, health, visual comfort and well-being. Concerning the first aspect, the international Standard EN 15232 proposes the so-called BAC Factors (BF) method to assess the impact of BAC systems on the final energy consumption. The method provides a simplified estimation of the energy savings due to automation in buildings and questions arise on its applicability in some situations. For this reason, the authors have ca…
Mapping Seasonal Variability of Buildings Electricity Demand profiles in Mediterranean Small Islands
In communities with a high tourist influx and warm climate, such as Mediterranean small islands, the energy demands for space cooling and domestic hot water are expected to significantly increase during summer. Considering the current energy context, for succeeding energy transition and reducing the dependency on not endogenous fossil fuels, it is paramount to increase the deployment of renewable sources of energy, especially wind and solar which, however, are aleatory and unpredictable. Hence, to reduce the high costs for energy supply in these contexts, the analysis of the variation of energy consumption is fundamental. Moreover, mapping the spatial distribution of energy profiles can be …
Mixed-Mode Operation of Hybrid Phase-Change Nanophotonic Circuits
Phase change materials (PCMs) are highly attractive for nonvolatile electrical and all-optical memory applications because of unique features such as ultrafast and reversible phase transitions, long-term endurance, and high scalability to nanoscale dimensions. Understanding their transient characteristics upon phase transition in both the electrical and the optical domains is essential for using PCMs in future multifunctional optoelectronic circuits. Here, we use a PCM nanowire embedded into a nanophotonic circuit to study switching dynamics in mixed-mode operation. Evanescent coupling between light traveling along waveguides and a phase-change nanowire enables reversible phase transition b…
Assessment of tools for urban energy planning
Abstract In recent years, studies and policies have encouraged the diffusion of distributed energy supply technologies and large integration of renewable sources. This increases the need for new professionals in energy planning. Several computational tools for energy planning have been developed as described in the technical literature. However, energy planners of urban/district areas engaged in the transition towards smart systems related to buildings energy services require well-documented tools to evaluate the combination of available energy sources by proper conversion technologies. With this, after a scientific review, we selected 17 tools targeted on an urban/districts scale that can …
Assessing the electricity consumption of outdoor lighting systems in the presence of automatic control: The OL-BAC factors method
Abstract Building automation systems are able to influence significantly buildings’ energy performance. The BAC factors method, presented for the first time by the International Standard EN 15232, is the most used and simple instrument for evaluating the impact of such systems in terms of reduction of the electrical and thermal energy consumption of buildings services. Nevertheless, Standard EN 15232 does not take into consideration the automation of lighting systems serving buildings’ external areas like passages, gardens, entrance walkways, etc. In some cases, such areas can be very extended and, as a consequence, responsible for a not negligible percentage of the overall electricity cons…
Building integrated solar thermal design: assessment of performances of a low cost solar wall in a typical Italian building
Abstract Present work deals with the topic of building integration of solar thermal collector (BIST) as a refurbishment measure. Such equipment, more than its main function as heating generator, plays a specific role as a building component (envelope finishes, thermal insulation layer, roof cover etc). Consequently, from a heat transfer point of view, an integrated component affects twice the global building balance: supporting the thermal plant (i.e. providing heat for final uses) and modifying the wall heat-transfer pattern (i.e. reducing thermal losses). In turn, the collector performance itself is influenced by the wall structure (back losses reduction). Present work proposes a method f…
Energy-environmental and cost assessment of a set of strategies for retrofitting a public building toward nearly zero-energy building target
Abstract The purpose of this study was to assess an energy retrofit of a building representative of those in public tertiary stock, to improve energy performance toward nearly Zero-Energy Building (nZEB) requirements. The building is located in the campus of the Politecnico di Milano University (Italy). Several hypothetical improvements regarding the building envelope and plants were assessed in terms of energy savings, costs, and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The results of the study show that it is possible to reduce primary energy demand and associated emissions up to 40% from the current values by adopting market-available and well-proven technological solutions for retrofi…