Search

The application of energy-efficiency strategies in buildings is a hot topic around the world; in some countries, there are regulations with more or less degree of compliance, but in most countries located in the tropical zone, there are no regulations, and it is not easy to transfer regulations of countries outside of tropical zone. For countries located in tropical zones, the implementation of strategies to reduce the heat flow from outside to inside buildings is a key point. As a case study, the Dominican Republic (DR) was chosen, and during 2020, an analysis focusing on buildings of the tertiary level was carried out with the goal of using scientific methodology focused on tropical climates that allows for a significant reduction in energy consumption by implementing Energy Efficiency Strategies (EESs) that are available, with minimal intrusion into the building and low cost. The study includes, as parts of the proposed methodology, the characterization of building parks, including the climatic zonification of the country, an in-depth study of the building typologies in DR, and a massive survey around the country about the technical characteristics of air conditioning units and their usage; the election and characterization of buildings, including simulation and validation throughout the monitoring of eight different buildings; ananalysis of the measures of energy efficiency and implementation in the models, including the election of a demonstrative building, the election of the most convenient EESs, modeling of EESs, implementing EESs in the building, monitoring, and validation; and ananalysis of the impact of the measures at the region or country level, throughout which important conclusions can be obtained in order to reduce energy consumption in the country. The results show that this methodology is a valid tool for countries situated in tropical areas in order to reduce the energy consumption associated with air conditioning units with low cost, availability

The improvement of the energy performance in buildings is key for sustainable development, even more so in the case of the Dominican Republic (DR), which is committed to this goal but which has neither regulation nor specific social behavior in this field. The main goal of this work is double; on one hand it is aimed at providing useable information for those who have the responsibly of making regulation norms and on the other, it is desirable to give an essential, technically proven and handy tool to those involved in the construction sector in improving the envelopes of buildings and to introduce good practices into the management of the energy systems of buildings. A case study of eight administrative buildings located in different climatic zones of the DR was carried out. A simulation tool was used for the study, and one of the buildings was monitored to verify the simulation work. Those factors that affect the development of the buildings in relation to thermo-energy consumption have been detailed. The large-scale heat gains resulting from the common glazing used by the tertiary sector in the Dominican Republic (including office buildings, hospitals and shops among others) illustrate the need for economically viable solutions in this sector. As a conclusion, it has been proved that the incidental thermal load of buildings could be reduced by up to 40%, thus in turn reducing the costs associated with the electricity needed to maintain the users’ desired thermal comfort level, as their influence in this sector is significant.

Heat pumps (HP) are an efficient alternative to non-electric heating systems (NEHS), being a cost-effective mean to support European building sector decarbonization. The paper studies HP and NEHS performance in residential buildings, under different climate conditions and energy tariffs, in six different European countries. Furthermore, a primary energy and environmental analysis is performed to evaluate if the use of HPs is more convenient than NEHS, based on different factors of the electric mix in each country. A specific HP model is developed considering the main physical phenomena occurring along its cycle. Open data from building, climatic and economic sources are used to feed the analysis. Ad hoc primary energy factors and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission coefficients are calculated for the selected countries. The costs and the environmental impact for both heating systems are then compared. The outcomes of the study suggest that, in highly fossil fuels dependent electricity mixes, the use of NEHS represents a more efficient decarbonization approach than HP, in spite of its higher efficiency. Additionally, the actual high price of the electric kWh hampers the use of HP in certain cases.

The present article investigates the question of building energy monitoring systems used for data collection to estimate the Heat Loss Coefficient (HLC) with existing methods, in order to determine the Thermal Envelope Performance (TEP) of a building. The data requirements of HLC estimation methods are related to commonly used methods for fault detection, calibration, and supervision of energy monitoring systems in buildings. Based on an extended review of experimental tests to estimate the HLC undertaken since 1978, qualitative and quantitative analyses of the Monitoring and Controlling System (MCS) specifications have been carried out. The results show that no Fault Detection and Diagnosis (FDD) methods have been implemented in the reviewed literature. Furthermore, it was not possible to identify a trend of technology type used in sensors, hardware, software, and communication protocols, because a high percentage of the reviewed experimental tests do not specify the model, technical characteristics, or selection criteria of the implemented MCSs. Although most actual Building Automation Systems (BAS) may measure the required parameters, further research is still needed to ensure that these data are accurate enough to rigorously apply HLC estimation methods.

El artículo pertenece a Proceedings of the 5th Annual Sustainable Places International Conference, Middlesbrough, UK, 28–30 June 2017 (SP2017), The direction adopted for the energy transitions towards a low carbon future will have long lasting implications in other aspects beyond the Climate Change. However, cities are becoming increasingly complex and a detailed knowledge is required for a long-term energy planning, which is frequently not available in city decision making processes. This paper describes a multi-criteria ex-ante impact assessment methodology developed for the building sector energy planning, which combines energy modelling and life cycle analysis with the regional macroeconomic analysis through the supply chain evaluation. The methodology is applied to the city of Donostia, demonstrating the importance of simultaneously considering various potentially conflicting criteria for the prioritization of scenarios.