Procedia environmental sciences最新文献

This paper presents the design analysis of a solar heat pumpusing cool thermal storage. The integrated concept uses cool storage (sensible or ice-based) as a short-term (i.e. days, weeks) storage for solar energy in winter and cooling energy in the summer. Annual TRNSYS simulations are performed in four Canadian regions to identify the potential of ice storage and unglazed solar collectors. Results show that combiningthese two technologies can reduce mechanical system energy use by 17% - 28% compared to a cold-climate air-water heat pump. Unglazed collectors demonstrated potential in areas with milder winters.

Due to its urban and geographical conditions, the south district of Palermo is focus of this study. Observations are based on the direct experience of the area and on the mapping of the unbuilt ground. Some relevant issues have then arisen, including the hard accessibility of the area, the crisis of agriculture and the depletion of water sources.

Topics of change find a common intersection in the proposal of green ways. The green ways are shaped by the connection of fields, squares and gardens already existing between the buildings, and they become continuous paths from the mountain to the seacoast.

Energy Audit and Planning for both existing and new-to-build buildings has been of increasing interest during the last years due to growing environmental concerns. Especially historic buildings, such Craiglockhart Primary School, which are of great importance because of their special architectural characteristics, are energy-demanding structures of incomplete and outdated technology. Improving the energy efficiency of such buildings would mean environmental and financial benefits as well as retaining of the historical heritage of Edinburgh. Additionally, integration of renewable sources in such buildings would result in a further gain from renewable heat incentives and in greener building as well. Firstly, this paper summarizes a study of possible actions for improving the energy efficiency of such buildings. Secondly, assuming that the proposed measures have been applied, possibility of renewables’ integration is assessed. Heat pumps and biomass integration is investigated and a hybrid system is finally proposed. This paper evaluates level of improvement and cost for all scenarios explored after considering possible constraints.

Within the existing European building stock, a large share of the suburban multi-storey residential building stock was built in the 60's-70's, when there were only few or no requirements for energy efficiency. These buildings are characterized by very high energy consumption, low air quality due to poor ventilation, and low architectural value.

In this context, the European project E2VENT, that started in January 2015, aims at providing new solution of retrofitting of residential building. The proposal is a modular and adaptable ventilated façade retrofitting system that integrates an energy efficient HVAC system.

This paper first presents the concept of the E2VENT module, its architecture and how it is currently designed aiming at the reduction of the energy consumption and the improvement of not only the indoor air quality but also of the aesthetic of the building. Then the presentation focuses on the LHTES system, presenting its working principle, its thermal model and how it is designed in order to allow a daily thermal storage for both cooling and heating to allow the peak shaving. Three different PCM encapsulations are presented and discussed based on their efficiency calculated with a simple model but also on more practical considerations. Finally, the first prototypes are shown and the experimental protocol to be carried out is detailed.

Water crisis has become a norm worldwide as many countries are entering an era of severe water shortage. Water plays a vital role within households though urban water authorities and water planners are struggling to satisfy the growing urban water demands and at the same time failing to achieve sustainable urban water systems. Water consumption was guided by a Calculation by Grag 2011. In order to get a wider overview of the actual consumption, a survey using metre water records was done for three months and compared with other urban worldwide standards in order to identify if there is any gap.

The 2010 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) requires all new buildings to be nearly-zero energy buildings (nZEBs) by 2020. A strict definition of nZEB is yet to be defined by the legal framework of each European country. However, the basic principles of nZEBs are the reduction of their energy demands to minimum and, subsequently, the coverage of their low energy demands in a great extent by renewable energy sources.

This study focuses on the potential reduction of energy demands in a typical Greek residential building. A model building, representative to the average Greek residential building was designed and used as model. The effect of various parameters on the energy demand of the building, such as insulation, openings and shading devices, was investigated and evaluated. The model building was examined in all four climate zones of Greece using dynamic simulation software tools to define the energy demands. The results suggest that the most efficient constructive solutions for every climate zone lay on various combinations of parameters. The right combination for each climate zone can contribute to a significant energy saving that rises up to 30% and reduce the total annual energy demand of the building to less than 50 kWh/m².

The city is an urban system, or more precisely, a complex man-made artificial entity. We are generation that lives in the first urban century and understanding the city should be changed in order to obtain sustainability and resilience, but most of all livability. Citizens are those who define city nowadays, but moving toward livable cities in the future should consist of smart urban solutions. Different cities have different stage of development, but interest of this research is developing sustainable livable city of Skopje as it is the most important and biggest city in the Republic of Macedonia.

In this paper, some well-known buildings’ environmental performance assessment tools and methods are reviewed with regard to the consideration of visual comfort in their structure and assessment process. Specifically, the parameters used for visual comfort's assessment in widely used tools (BREEAM, LEED, SBTool and CASBEE - versions for office buildings) are examined; the type and the kind of criteria used for the assessment, the weightings applied and references to relative standards are reviewed and comparatively assessed. Although the presented results cover the issue of visual comfort as a whole, emphasis is given on daylighting–related factors.

Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) slags are steel slags that derive from the steel manufacturing process and are produced in large volumes (∼10% of the steel produced) worldwide, which pose an environmental threat when disposed in landfills. Their physicochemical characteristics (high density, roughness and resistance to fragmentation) favor their use in concrete products for special applications, especially where high resistance to abrasion is required and the increase concrete density is not a problem. The special concrete applications considered in this paper were industrial pavements, heavyweight concrete and pervious concrete paving blocks and all proposed products were designed in order to perform in a similar way as reference products with ordinary concrete. Then, in order to quantify the benefits arising from the utilization of an –otherwise useless– industrial by-product, a Life Cycle Assessment was carried out for each of the concrete products. One m³ or one m² of concrete was selected as functional unit and a cradle-to-gate approach was followed for the LCA, including material extraction, transport and production and placement, stating the limitations and system boundaries used. Cost estimation for each of the products was also performed in order to assess their commercial viability. The results show that for industrial pavement construction, concrete with EAF slag aggregates has similar environmental load and cost with the reference concrete, while in the case of pervious paving blocks the use of EAF slag aggregates reduces the environmental load by 14% at a reduced cost, and for heavyweight concrete the environmental load is reduced by 44% at a significantly lower cost.