Search results for " envelope"
showing 10 items of 253 documents
Integration of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with Glassblock
2012
The paper will show the first results of a research (included in a larger work about the Improvement of glassblocks performance in order to use them for the construction of sustainable translucent building envelops even in Mediterranean and Tropical Areas) aimed to the integration of glassblock with the DSC technology. Glassblock is a high-performance type of glass in the field of sustainable architectural claddings: the process of deposition of the cells on the single glassblock, their best position and the performance of this new kind of glassblock, DSC integrated, will be discussed in the paper in terms of transmittance, light transmission and aesthetical effects, together with the probl…
Software for the heat flow evaluation of the nearly-zero houses
2015
The windows in a building are the weakest part for energy saving and reduced consumption. In particular, the choice of window frames and glazing systems directly influences the amount of heat loss through a houses envelope. The paper will show the results of a work developed by PADesign srl company (Accademic Spin off of the Università degli Studi di Palermo). This is a software tool that allows a rapid comparison about the windows thermal performances, by calculating the global thermal transmittance and by showing the trend of the heat flow. The tool has a simple graphical interface that allows the users to select the climate data, the window typologies, the geometric features and the mate…
Advances in Research for Biomimetic Materials
2018
Smart surfaces and materials can play a significant role in intelligent, adaptive and responsive envelopes because of these intrinsic properties. The environmental question and energy efficiency in which the construction sector is involved, is in a process that can not be interrupted and that puts researchers and designers in front of a scientific and design challenge in which it is necessary to contribute to find different ways of study and experimentation on new materials and constructive languages, ranging from the application, to the structural, design and molecular, to mention the main ones. The development of technologies is helping architects of the “biomimetic current” to recreate c…
Multi-Objective Building Envelope Optimization through a Life Cycle Assessment Approach
2019
This work describes a methodology for the identification of the optimal features for the envelope of a residential building. The optimization process allows minimizing operating energy consumption, investment costs and life cycle energy and environmental embodied impacts. A dynamic model for the estimation of building energy consumption during its use phase has been employed, while literature data were adopted for embodied energy and global warming potential impacts. The considered variables refer to the envelope of the building, i.e. external walls and roof insulation and external walls thermal mass. The model was obtained combining EnergyPlus building energy simulator and MOBO, a versatil…
Passive components for reducing environmental impacts of buildings:analysis of an experimental green roof
2020
The reduction of the environmental impacts related to the building sector is a matter of outmost importance concerning the sustainable utilization of resources related to human activities. Such sector is in fact responsible for about 40% of both release of pollutants in the atmosphere and energy consumption. When trying to reduce buildings’ environmental impacts, as well as to limit their energy consumption, building envelope passive systems can be used. Amongst these, green roofs have been gaining global attention due to their benefits in terms of resilience and sustainability, in order to mitigate the unfavourable urbanization effects. Research on the green roof has been indeed increasing…
Retrofitting existing buildings by means of innovative envelope components: low-impacting new assemblies
2020
Current policies addressing the energy efficiency of buildings aimed at the control of their overall primary energy demand, require not only that the edifice envelope has to be properly designed to optimize its thermal performances, but also that the eco-friendly properties of the involved building materials have to be properly taken into account, in order of assessing all the associated environmental costs. In fact, the design of envelope structures that are able to realize proper levels of thermal insulation and, in the same time, to employ materials characterized by low environmental impacts, are believed as the most effective strategies to be adopted in the aim of addressing the above-m…
Insulating Building Components Made from a Mixture of Waste and Vegetal Materials: Thermal Characterization of Nine New Products
2021
Nowadays, energy efficiency and sustainability are the fulcra of building policies. These policies promote the use of new technologies and materials that can reduce the primary energy involved and the environmental costs of construction, guarantying at the same time a high level of comfort for the building’s occupants. Synergy between previous construction techniques and the use of new materials should be pursued by employing materials with a low environmental impact and optimal thermal insulation properties. Within this framework, new materials derived from the agriculture sector, and waste or recycling products from the industrial/agricultural sectors have been studied. The aim of this pa…
Environmental assessment of a new building envelope material derived from urban agriculture wastes : the case of the tomato plants stems
2023
Abstract Purpose Decarbonizing cities is one of today’s biggest challenges. In this regard, particular attention has been paid on improving the environmental performance of buildings. In this framework, this work consists in assessing the environmental impact of an innovative building envelope component derived from urban agriculture (UA) wastes. In fact, rooftop UA seems to be a possible solution to the rising food demand due to increasing urban demographic growth. Consequently, rooftop UA wastes need to be treated in sustainable ways. Methods This study aims to determine the carbon footprint and embodied energy of a new infill wall material, derived from UA wastes produced by a building r…
Properties of modified hepatitis B virus surface antigen particles carrying preS epitopes
1995
The current hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccines contain the small (S) and middle (M) viral envelope proteins in particulate form but lack the large (L) protein. Although these particles elicit protective immunity to HBV, inclusion of the immunogenic preS1 region of the L protein may enhance their efficacy. To present preS1-derived epitopes on secretable subviral particles we rearranged the HBV envelope ORF by fusing part or all of the preS1 region to either the N or C terminus of the S protein. Fusion of the first 42 residues of preS1 to either site allowed efficient secretion of the modified particles and rendered the linked sequence accessible at the surface of the particle. Conversely, fusi…
Practical formula for the evaluation of high-order multiphoton absorption in thin nonlinear media
2009
We present an analytical formula for the fast and accurate evaluation of nonlinear absorption in materials exhibiting an admixture of different multiphoton processes. This approach is specifically addressed for its use in thin films when the slowly varying envelope approximation applies. The contribution of absorptions of distinct order is conveniently averaged in order to use well-known expressions for a single multiphoton process. In the latter case, therefore, our simple expression is reduced toward the exact solution.