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Considering global warming as a critical challenge to human life, performance optimization of the building envelope can play a noticeable role to reduce a building's environmental footprint. Meanwhile, shading systems are considered as sustainable passive solutions to contribute to building energy efficiency, and daylight control in early-stage design. Nonetheless, a paucity of research has examined the various shading strategies in diverse climates, particularly arid desert and steppe regions, in conjunction with educational buildings. The present study aims to evaluate the role of fixed exterior shading systems (FESSs), and window-to-wall ratio (WWR) on building' thermal and daylight performance in Iran with desert, semi-arid, and Mediterranean climates. Pareto Frontier and weighted-sum method for multi-objective optimization, and sensitivity analysis were used to study the optimum solutions, and the relationship between the design variables and the performance metrics. Three objective metrics including Spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA), Annual Sunlight Exposure (ASE), and Energy Use Intensity (EUI), were defined as performance metrics. Shadings include vertical louver, horizontal louver, light shelf, overhang, and egg-crate. The results showed that EUI was reduced via FESS-integrated façade by 25.22%, 20.84%, 19.14%, 14.06%, and 13.47%, in Yazd, Bushehr, Kerman, Rasht, and Mashhad as selected studied cities, respectively. Based on ASE, the horizontal louver surpasses the other systems by 100% ASE value reduction in all climate zones except for Rasht. sDA level is reduced in all climate zones considering five studied FESSs excluding horizontal louver in Yazd and Rasht and overhang in Mashhad by 100% sDA level. Building energy performance simulation is validated by ASHRAE140-2020. • A MOO approach is applied to support the design of facade-integrated fixed exterior shading system. • The energy and daylight performances of an educational building are optimized. • Building performances are compared in Iran's various climates. • Shading characteristics and WWR are design variables for energy and daylighting performance. • Energy results of the Honeybee Plugin are validated with ASHRAE 140-2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of traditional folk Tibetan-style houses, located in the Northwest Sichuan Plateau, China, rely on firewood for keeping warm. However, this traditional way can’t longer completely meet the requirements of thermal comfort, and also ruins the environment. Thereby, in order to reveal the actual situation of thermal environment and to explore optimal passive technologies, a field testing and simulation are carried out in a Barkam’s traditional Tibetan-style house in summer. Research results suggest that: in summer, it’s cool with the average indoor air temperature of 19.03 ℃ and the maximum outdoor air temperature difference of 24 ℃. Meanwhile, the local house’s thermal environment is better than that of the whole area because of the effect of building micro-climate. Additionally, the stone house has good thermal performance and good thermal adaptability, but because it’s spontaneously built by farmers, and it’s also lack of design, there is only 19.9% of heat gains benefiting from direct solar, and the optimizing effects don’t coincide with that of psychrometric chart. So it’s better to rationally design based on life-cycle theory and simultaneously combine with optimal passive technologies for improving the summer thermal environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children spend most of their lives in school classrooms, so the quality of the indoor environment is very significant for their academic performance and general well-being. This article presents the results of a research project that looked at thermal performance and passive design strategies in school classrooms located in three different climates of Chile. It is organized into two parts: firstly, it presents an assessment of the thermal conditions inside primary school classrooms based on measurements that were taken in both winter and summer. These showed that children are generally exposed to very low temperatures in winter, as most classrooms are neither heated nor cooled by active means. Secondly, it provides a parametric analysis of a basic school classroom typology at the same locations. This involved determining the impact of a large number of combinations of simple passive strategies on overall energy performance and identifying the best case for each location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substantial reduction of energy use in new and existing buildings remains elusive in the continental climate regions of the United States. According to recently published data from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), less than 40% of energy reductions in new buildings have been realized during the first four years of reporting by the offices participating in the AIA 2030 Commitment, which is well below the targets of 60% reduction between 2010 and 2015, 70% reduction between 2015 and 2020, etc. Combine this data with the fact that the reporting firms represent less than 1% of the architecture firms in the US, that they are among the most aggressive adopters of the commitment, and that the adopting offices operate in a variety of climatic regions of the US, and it is clear that progress toward the commitment is quite modest. Energy use reduction strategies for this complicated climate, from hot and humid summers to cold and dry winters, as well as increasing frequency of extreme weather events prompting evolving resiliency considerations, requires sober assessment of the conditions necessary to truly realize the goals of reduced energy consumption and carbon neutral design by 2030. Design professionals have successfully realized substantial energy use reductions by incorporating innovative design approaches, including a variety of passive solar and natural ventilation applications, in addition to incrementally improving mechanical and on-site renewable solutions. Yet applications of innovative passive approaches in the continental climatic regions are fraught with difficulty. This paper continues a discourse on architectural planning and design strategies for substantially lowering energy use with a focus on buildings located in the continental climatic regions. Nine design decisions are explored through practice-based applied research between Judson University in Elgin, IL and Serena Sturm Architects in Chicago, IL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past twenty years, more stringent energy codes and environmental standards have led to many higher performance building designs that use less energy. Oftentimes, high performance buildings that incorporate passive building strategies require active occupant engagement [Brown et al. (2009) [1]] but the people who work in these buildings on a daily basis may not comprehend how their actions ( negatively or positively ) affect the building's energy use [Janda (2009) [2]]. Additionally, minimal research exists surrounding educational strategies for how to best educate building occupants. The purpose of this study was to investigate existing occupant training in high performance buildings to provide recommendations for future occupant education efforts. A sequential mixed methods study was conducted to better understand the relationships between occupant behaviors, reported environmental satisfaction, and learning in high performance buildings. First, expert interviews were conducted ( n = 3) to determine the study population. Second, a survey was sent to ten high performance buildings in the United States ( n = 118), and third, follow-up occupant interviews ( n = 41) were conducted to better understand the survey responses. It was hypothesized that participants who had received effective training for high performance building features would be more satisfied with their environment than those who had not received training. Results indicated a significant difference between the two groups (those who had received effective training and those who did not), and individuals who reported effective training were significantly more likely to be satisfied with their office environment. Follow-up interviews provided additional insight into occupant satisfaction and behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the influence of various variables defined in the initial stage of the design of a single-family dwelling on its energy efficiency. It also studies the possible contribution of a computer tool in this initial phase to improve energy efficiency. To this end, an experiment has been conducted. The design of detached single-family dwellings subject to individual specifications was proposed to 49 novice designers on the Projects VII course at the Málaga School of Architecture. To assess the contribution of the computer tool, the novice designers were divided into two groups: the experimental group, which used the computer tool, and the control group, which did not. Within each group, half of the students were assigned a cold climate zone and the other half a warm climate zone. The results show that: a) in the cold climate zone, the greater the compactness, the lower the energy demand; b) in the warm climate zone, the best energy efficiency is achieved by the confluence of several variables, namely total openings, orientation and (to a lesser extent) compactness; and c) the designs that have been supported by the tool are more energy efficient. Finally, ten passive design strategies have been identified for the reduction of energy demand in single-family dwellings based on the interaction of the variables. • Interactions between architectural variables related to the reduction of energy demand are analysed. • Computer tools can help design more energy-efficient dwellings. • In cold climates, the compactness of the house favours a lower energy demand, while in warm climates the best results are achieved considering the openings, orientation, and compactness. • Ten passive design strategies are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is now a consensus on climate change, but its influence on architectural design strategies remains unclear. The applicability of passive design strategies is influenced by the comprehensive effect of outdoor meteorological conditions and indoor thermal comfort criteria. The paper focuses on the analysis of recorded climate change during the period between 1970 and 2017 for 1019 meteorological stations in China. The object was to analyze the observed change between two periods (1970–1993 and 1994–2017) in relation to the change in the applicability of four selected passive building design strategies, namely passive solar heating, natural ventilation, thermal mass with or without night ventilation and direct evaporative cooling. The methodology consists of raw data processing, TMY derivation, bioclimatic analysis and spatial results representation using ArcGIS. The applicability of natural ventilation was most affected by climate change, with effective time ratio of 54.46% locations increased for a maximum of 40%. Proportions of passive solar heating, direct evaporative cooling, and thermal mass with or without night ventilation were 59.76%, 63.10%, and 35.13%, respectively. Our results indicate that the applicability of some passive design strategies have promoted in China, with favorable impacts on the energy efficiency of buildings. • Weather files between 1970 and 2017 for 1019 meteorological stations in China. • Raw data processing, TMY derivation, bioclimatic analysis and spatial results representation. • Observed change between two periods (1970–1993 and 1994–2017) of applicability. • Applicability of three passive design strategies have promoted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]