Search

Nowadays, the methodology aiming to achieve carbon neutrality and net zero energy on a large scale is known. Despite this, few specialists are mastering this technology globally. What new scenarios. applied at the neighbourhood scale. generate a significant reduction in the rate of CO2 emissions and energy demand? In addition, a lack of massive, regular, and consistent data on carbon emissions and energy consumption has made it significantly difficult to understand the origins of climate change at the building and neighbourhood scales. This work has, as its main goal, the assessment of different strategies that facilitate reduction in the concentration of CO2 and lower energy demands at the district level. The life cycle assessment of a new district has been carried out over 100 years during the four stages of the life cycle of the neighbourhood (construction, operation, demolition and end of life). The results showed that up to 93% of greenhouse gas (GHG) was produced during the operational stage. The energy demand due to transport and waste management represented 60% of the total energy demand of the district during the operational stage. There is still a possibility to maintain air temperature growth around 1.5 °C in the next decade by means of the following: Global warming + 100% of heavy renovation of all buildings + 100% of electric car − renewable energy. This strategy would facilitate a reduction of over 92% of the CO2 produced at the district level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acidification and eutrophication are two environmental impacts that have a significant effect on air pollution and human health. The quantitative analysis of these two impacts remains hitherto unknown at the scale of new neighborhoods. The main objective of this study is to evaluate, analyze and compare the acidification and eutrophication potentials of one neighborhood initially located in Belgium. For making this comparison, this neighborhood was built in 149 other countries by applying four parameters such as building materials, energy mix, occupants' mobility and local climate. The environmental costs of acidification and eutrophication coming from this neighborhood were assessed over 100 years. This research, extended to the scale of several nations, will enable new researchers, and especially policy-makers, to measure the effectiveness of sustainable neighborhoods. Eutrophication and acidification potentials were assessed under different phases (construction, use, renovation and demolition), with Pleiades software (version 4.19.1.0). The effects of the energy mix were the most significant among the other parameters. The results show that 72%, and 65% of acidification and eutrophication potentials are produced during the operational phase of the neighborhood. In the case of sustainable neighborhoods, the acidification potential is 22.1% higher in the 10 top low-income countries than in the 10 top high-income countries. At the neighborhood scale, the main eutrophication potential component is water (34.2%), while the main source of acidification potential is electricity production (45.1%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: An analysis of the optimal ventilation level in naturally ventilated classrooms under COVID-19 pandemic requirements. The present paper aims to show a mathematical understanding of the effect of ventilation rate over building energy consumption. Moreover, as a case study to show this methodology, a proposal was analyzed of modifying the teaching period to reach a maximum increase of air changes in school buildings, to allow adherence to the COVID-19 pandemic requirements in the Galicia region, with lower energy consumption. In this sense, to analyze the energetic implication of this proposal, the building construction was defined, modeled in accordance with the ISO Standard 13790 and implemented in accordance with the Monte Carlo method. Results showed the probability of energy consumption as a Weibull model. Furthermore, a map of different Weibull models in accordance with different ventilation rates was developed. The constants of the Weibull models allow to identify normal distributions of the probability density functions of energy consumption, especially the ones with lower energy consumption. As a consequence, these constants are a better parameter to identify the optimal ventilation rate for each season in search of a healthy indoor ambience, which is of interest for a future design guide. Finally, the main results showed a reduction of energy consumption at a higher ventilation rate in the summer season. As a consequence, the necessity of modifying teachings periods, as an adequate procedure to prevent more COVID infections, is concluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have used passive strategies, such as the implementation of thermal insulation and the use of phase change materials (PCM), in several studies, but some problems have not yet been solved. It is the case of showing the real effect of external shading combined with thermal insulation and phase change materials to improve the thermal performance and energy efficiency of office buildings in tropical coastal areas. Another pending problem to be solved is to define the impact produced by passive strategies on the performance of workers in office buildings in coastal zones. It is with a view to answering all these questions that this study was envisaged with the main objective of evaluating, analyzing, comparing, and discussing the effect of thermal insulation and phase change materials on thermal comfort and energy demand in coastal areas of hot and humid tropical climates located in the island of Madagascar. In this sense, hourly climate data for the past 30 years have served as the basis for assessing environmental conditions of future climate. It was found that the PCMs have a more significant effect on the coastal zone of hot climates than humid tropical climates. The results of the statistical analyses showed that the application of passive strategies stabilizes indoor air temperatures to between 23 °C and 28 °C in the offices, which is the recommended comfort range in these regions. In the coastal regions of Madagascar, up to 30% of cooling energy is expected to be reduced by combining the introduction of thermal insulation and PCM materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different methods to achieve zero-energy and low carbon on the scale of a building are shown by most of the research works. Despite this, the recommendations generally offered by researchers do not always correspond to the realities found during the construction of new buildings in a determined region. Therefore, a standard may not be valid in all climate regions of the world. Being aware of this fact, a study was carried out to analyse the design of new buildings respecting the "zero-energy and low carbon emission" concept in tropical climatic regions when they are compared with a base case of temperate regions. To reach this objective, the comparison between real and simulated data from the different buildings studied was developed. The results showed that the renovation of existing residential buildings allows for reducing up to 35% of energy demand and a great quantity of CO2 emissions in both climate types. Despite this, the investment rate linked to the construction of zero-energy buildings in tropical zones is 12 times lower than in temperate zones and the payback was double. In particular, this effect can be related to the efficiency of photovoltaic panels, which is estimated to be, at least, 34% higher in tropical zones than temperate zones. Finally, this study highlights the interest and methodology to implement zero-energy buildings in tropical regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research is to determine the most impactful and important source of environmental change at the neighborhood level. The study of multiple scenarios allows us to determine the influence of several parameters on the results of the life cycle analysis of the neighborhood. We are looking at quantifying the impact of orientation, storm water management, density, mobility and the use of renewable energies on the environmental balance sheet of a neighborhood, based on eleven environmental indicators. An eco-neighborhood, located in Belgium, has been selected as the modeling site. The results show that the management of mobility is the parameter that can reduce the impact the most, in terms of greenhouse effect, odor, damage to biodiversity and health. With the adaptation of photovoltaic panels on the site, the production exceeds the consumption all through the year, except for the months of December and January, when the installation covers 45% and 75% of the consumption, respectively. Increasing the built density of the neighborhood by roof stacking allows the different environmental impacts, calculated per inhabitant, to be homogeneously minimized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]