Building and Environment最新文献

{"title":"Assessing the economic, environmental, and energy impacts of natural gas-powered VRF system for building sector decarbonization: An integrated all-in-one package methodology based on open BIM approach","authors":"Chahrazed Mebarki ,&nbsp;Adel Mohamed Ben Aissa Tidadini ,&nbsp;Lotfi Derradji ,&nbsp;Abdelatif Merabtine ,&nbsp;Abderrahmane Mejedoub Mokhtari","doi":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2026.114201","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2026.114201","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the context of the global energy transition, innovative HVAC solutions are essential, particularly those suited to temperate climates and local energy strategies. This study evaluates the potential of natural gas-powered Variable Refrigerant Flow (NG-VRF) systems, functioning as Gas Heat Pumps (GHPs), as a decarbonization strategy for countries reliant on natural gas power plants. A key aspect of this research is the comparison between NG-VRF systems and electric VRF systems with boilers for domestic hot water production. Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the study assesses energy, environmental, and economic impacts in three climatic zones in Algeria: Mediterranean, semi-arid, and arid. The analysis incorporates the OpenBIM workflow and \"Price Generator\" database, offering an all-in-one package methodology as decision-support tool for energy consumption, environmental impact assessment, and economic evaluation aligning with trends in digitalization and energy transition. The findings reveal that the NG-VRF system, with its trigeneration capability, providing heating, cooling, and hot water from a single unit, achieves lower environmental impacts and energy consumption compared to mono-generation electric VRF systems. Heat recovery from the NG-VRF system eliminates the need for a separate hot water boiler, further enhancing efficiency. Paradoxically, promoting GHP systems in natural gas-producing countries helps preserve natural gas resources while reducing operational CO₂ emissions and primary energy consumption by 40% in Mediterranean climates, 35% in semi-arid, and 25% in arid climates. Furthermore, energy cost savings of up to 63% are achieved compared to international pricing. Consequently, energy savings in subsidized energy markets can increase natural gas exports, benefiting national revenues.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9273,"journal":{"name":"Building and Environment","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 114201"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145939919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"POD-Kriging surrogate modeling for rapid prediction of the impact of façade protruding rib geometries on urban canyon wind flow","authors":"Yue Zhang,&nbsp;Xing Zheng","doi":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2026.114198","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2026.114198","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding the impact of building geometries, e.g., façade protrusions such as ribs, is crucial for accurate urban wind flow predictions. While computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with large-eddy simulations (LES) provides reliable wind-field predictions in urban canyons with façade-protruding elements, they are too time-consuming and resource-intensive for rapid assessments. To address this challenge, this study develops a reduced-order surrogate model using the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and Kriging surrogate model to predict wind fields in typical urban canyons with various rib-like horizontal protrusions under perpendicular approaching wind. Based on CFD data from LES simulations, the model is trained to predict the flow fields inside the canyon using two geometric parameters, depth <em>d</em> and separation <em>s</em> of protrusion ribs. First, the POD method is employed to decompose the flow fields from LES simulations into a POD mode basis. Then, the Kriging surrogate model is trained to learn the relation between the POD mode coefficients and the rib’s geometric parameters. A series of evaluations of the POD-Kriging surrogate model’s performance is conducted, and the results show good agreement with LES results, achieving a mean absolute error of 0.012 m/s, which is superior to Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) CFD simulations. Discrepancies are confined to high-gradient regions, while bulk flow predictions are highly reliable. This approach is 7 × 10³ times faster than LES and 6 × 10² times faster than RANS, significantly enhancing the efficiency of predicting wind fields.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9273,"journal":{"name":"Building and Environment","volume":"292 ","pages":"Article 114198"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146185727","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Machine learning for predicting soundscape: From individual-level deterministic models to group-level probabilistic models","authors":"Huan Tong ,&nbsp;Fan Xia ,&nbsp;Andrew Mitchell ,&nbsp;Francesco Aletta ,&nbsp;Tin Oberman ,&nbsp;Jian Kang","doi":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2026.114196","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2026.114196","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Urban environments are used by a large number of diverse people, but existing soundscape prediction models are focused on perceptual outcomes of an idealised average individual. With respect to developing group-level soundscape prediction models, it remains unclear which factors are important for predicting soundscapes and which types of models perform better for that task. Therefore, by relying on the International Soundscape Database, this study aims at determining which factors can be used to predict soundscape and which model performs better at the group level. In this study, methods, such as correlation analysis, are used to select demographic, acoustic, visual, and geographic information factors that are significantly correlated with soundscapes. Subsequently, this study compares the performances of four models—linear regression, random forest, XGBoost, and gaussian process regression (GPR)—in soundscape prediction tasks conducted at the individual and group levels. The results show that the equivalent sound pressure level (&lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mo&gt;|&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mi&gt;r&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mo&gt;|&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mo&gt;&gt;&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mn&gt;0.31&lt;/mn&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt;), roughness (&lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mo&gt;|&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mi&gt;r&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mo&gt;|&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mo&gt;&gt;&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mn&gt;0.34&lt;/mn&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt;), total harmonic distortion (&lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mo&gt;|&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mi&gt;r&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mo&gt;|&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mo&gt;&gt;&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mn&gt;0.31&lt;/mn&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt;), relative approach (&lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mo&gt;|&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mi&gt;r&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mo&gt;|&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mo&gt;&gt;&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mn&gt;0.30&lt;/mn&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt;) and vegetation (&lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mo&gt;|&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mi&gt;r&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mo&gt;|&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mo&gt;&gt;&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mn&gt;0.48&lt;/mn&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt;) are important to the soundscape prediction. The performance of the GPR model is better than the other three models at the individual level &lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mo&gt;(&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;msubsup&gt;&lt;mi&gt;R&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mi&gt;ISOPleasant&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;mn&gt;2&lt;/mn&gt;&lt;/msubsup&gt;&lt;mo&gt;=&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mn&gt;0.36&lt;/mn&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, &lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;msub&gt;&lt;mi&gt;MAE&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;ISOPleasant&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/msub&gt;&lt;mo&gt;=&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mn&gt;0.26&lt;/mn&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, &lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;msub&gt;&lt;mi&gt;RMSE&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;ISOPleasant&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/msub&gt;&lt;mo&gt;=&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mn&gt;0.33&lt;/mn&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, &lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;msubsup&gt;&lt;mi&gt;R&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mi&gt;ISOEventful&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;mn&gt;2&lt;/mn&gt;&lt;/msubsup&gt;&lt;mo&gt;=&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mn&gt;0.18&lt;/mn&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, &lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;msub&gt;&lt;mi&gt;MAE&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;ISOEventful&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/msub&gt;&lt;mo&gt;=&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mn&gt;0.23&lt;/mn&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, &lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;msub&gt;&lt;mi&gt;RMSE&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;ISOEventful&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/msub&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mo&gt;=&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mn&gt;0.29&lt;/mn&gt;&lt;mo&gt;)&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt;. At the group level, the performance of the GPR model is also relatively high (&lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mi&gt;K&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;msub&gt;&lt;mi&gt;L&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mi&gt;I&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;S&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;O&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;P&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;l&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;e&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;a&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;s&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;a&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;n&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;t&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/msub&gt;&lt;mo&gt;=&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mn&gt;0.81&lt;/mn&gt;&lt;mo&gt;,&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mi&gt;D&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;M&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;msub&gt;&lt;mi&gt;E&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mi&gt;I&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;S&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;O&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;P&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;l&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;e&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;a&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;s&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;a&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;n&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;t&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/msub&gt;&lt;mo&gt;=&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mn&gt;0.26&lt;/mn&gt;&lt;mo&gt;,&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mi&gt;D&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;M&lt;/","PeriodicalId":9273,"journal":{"name":"Building and Environment","volume":"292 ","pages":"Article 114196"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146185646","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"On-site measurement and machine learning prediction of age-specific outdoor thermal and humidity comfort in urban microclimates in summer","authors":"Jianlin Ren ,&nbsp;Jilong Wang ,&nbsp;Yanhui Mao ,&nbsp;Xiaodong Cao ,&nbsp;Xiangfei Kong","doi":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2026.114199","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2026.114199","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The accurate assessment of human thermal and humidity comfort in dynamic outdoor urban environments remains a critical challenge. On-site measurements with advanced machine learning (ML) are advancing. The lack of comprehensive field datasets hinders robust predictions across diverse age groups. This study conducted 12-day outdoor experiments with 12 participants (6 young and 6 elderly) to gather microclimate, physiological, and voting data from diverse urban environments and age groups. Three ML algorithms—backpropagation neural network (NN), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM)—were evaluated. A Bayesian-optimized, SMOTE-Tomek method further improved performance. Spatiotemporal microclimatic variations in urban areas induced significant (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.05) physiological responses in electrocardiogram (ECG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) activity. Preliminary findings suggest age-based divergences in outdoor thermal comfort. Young subjects tended to feel hotter and showed greater physiological stress, while the elderly appeared to perceive greater humidity yet remained more comfortable. Based on statistical results, eight input and three output parameters were selected, with emphasis on humidity sensation votes. RF performed best for the thermal comfort vote (TCV) and humidity sensation vote (HSV). After optimization, the RF model achieved final accuracies of 71 % for TCV (<em>n</em> = 394), 75 % for HSV (dry) (<em>n</em> = 196), and 83 % for HSV (wet) (<em>n</em> = 330). Including age as a predictor substantially improved accuracy, by up to 11 %. A post-hoc power analysis (power = 0.82) confirmed statistical adequacy for detecting large effects. This exploratory age-related model may inform more adaptive, age-specific urban planning pending validation with larger cohorts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9273,"journal":{"name":"Building and Environment","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 114199"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145939846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Improved methods for assessing summer thermal environments in tropical urban beaches: Combining field measurements and simulation","authors":"Jiahao Yang ,&nbsp;Zhaosong Fang ,&nbsp;Shaolin Gan ,&nbsp;Jiacheng Wen ,&nbsp;Xiang Zhang ,&nbsp;Yini Fan ,&nbsp;Zhiyi Huang ,&nbsp;Yuyang Lin ,&nbsp;Jun Lu","doi":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2026.114195","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2026.114195","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Strong solar radiation and unique surface properties in tropical beach areas create extreme outdoor thermal environments during summer, posing significant challenges for accurate thermal environment assessment. This study conducted field measurements at a beach site in Haikou, China, followed by computational simulations and model optimization. The main findings include: 1) Unshaded areas exhibited mean radiant temperatures (MRT) exceeding 70 °C, downward short-wave radiation over 1000 W/m², and surface temperatures reaching 61.4 °C; 2) Significant measurement errors were observed in the black-globe thermometer method, particularly when using smaller globes. After implementing segmented convective heat transfer coefficient calibration based on T_a thresholds, the accuracy of all black-globe thermometer methods was significantly improved, achieving performance metrics of d (Consistency Index) &gt; 0.89, RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) &lt; 4.57, MAE (Mean Absolute Error) &lt; 3.29, MBE (Mean Bias Error) &lt; 0.87, and R² (Correlation coefficient) &gt; 0.83; 3) While ENVI-met effectively simulated spatial MRT distribution, thermal indices (especially PET, Physiological Equivalent Temperature) required calibration. Post-optimization, the maximum RMSE between simulated and measured values decreased to 4.64 for PET and 2.05 for UTCI (Universal Thermal Climate Index), with MAE values of 3.85 and 1.79, and MBE values of 0.91 and 0.96, indicating substantially improved accuracy. This study provides methodological support for thermal environment assessment in beach areas and offers practical insights for thermal safety planning and management in coastal regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9273,"journal":{"name":"Building and Environment","volume":"291 ","pages":"Article 114195"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145948003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dynamic outdoor thermal comfort and activity adaptation in community parks: An AI-based metabolic modeling approach","authors":"Zhiyuan Shao ,&nbsp;Yudong Guo ,&nbsp;Junliang Wu ,&nbsp;Zhuobiao Ni ,&nbsp;Yue Wang ,&nbsp;Yuhan Liang ,&nbsp;Yafei Wang ,&nbsp;Shaoqing Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.114194","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.114194","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Urban heat stress poses critical public health and outdoor comfort challenges, yet conventional thermal comfort indices, such as the Outdoor Standard Effective Temperature (OUT_SET*), rely on static metabolic assumptions, limiting their applicability in dynamic outdoor settings. This study introduces a multi-module AI-driven framework integrating behavioral recognition (i.e. YOLOv5, DeepSORT, and SlowFast networks), combined with microclimate monitoring, to assess thermal comfort in urban community parks. Using Guanggang Park, Guangzhou, China as the study site, we quantified real-time attendance, activity duration and types, and metabolic rates at 10-minute intervals (<em>n</em> = 459 intervals) over a one-year period. These data were integrated with on-site environmental measurements to develop an adaptive thermal comfort index (OUT_aSET*), refining OUT_SET* by incorporating activity-driven metabolic variations. Seasonal field observations revealed distinct behavioral thermal adaptation patterns. Attendance peaked at 25.2 °C in winter and 30.2 °C during transitional season, but declined linearly in summer. High-intensity activities (e.g. running) markedly decreased during hot periods, while low-intensity behaviors persisted, suggesting a dual adaptation strategy of reduced exertion under heat stress and extended stays in thermally comfortable conditions. Compared to OUT_SET*, OUT_aSET* more effectively captured thermal variability and heat stress, particularly in transitional or cold seasons, where activity-induced metabolic adjustments are pronounced. This framework enhances the ecological validity of thermal comfort assessments and provides evidence-based insights for microclimate-sensitive park design and urban heat mitigation. By aligning thermal indices with observed behaviors, this study informs accurate public health risk assessments and supports climate-resilient urban planning.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9273,"journal":{"name":"Building and Environment","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 114194"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145939850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancing the dynamic thermal performance of wall components through shape optimization: Method and application to extruded blocks and 3D-printed walls","authors":"Eduardo Gascón Alvarez,&nbsp;Alexander Curth,&nbsp;Caitlin T. Mueller,&nbsp;Leslie K. Norford","doi":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.114193","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.114193","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Building components with integrated air cavities, such as thermal-insulating clay blocks or 3D-printed earthen walls, leverage the low thermal conductivity of still air to increase their thermal resistance (R-value) while removing an often high-carbon material. Yet, the design of these components (referred to in this work as multi-hollowed wall components) usually neglects their ability to store heat, hindering the development of blocks and walls with enhanced thermal mass performance. Moreover, blocks and walls are seldom designed for an optimal balance between their embodied and operational performance, a critical aspect when considering the whole-cycle impact of buildings. This research fills these gaps through a novel shape-optimization method that combines state-of-the-art computational design tools with fundamental heat transfer theory to facilitate the discovery of wall designs with optimal passive cooling performance (measured as the heat capacity [kJ/m²K]) and minimum weight [kg/m²]. The benefits of applying this method are illustrated through the multi-objective optimization of two distinct wall systems: (1) extruded ceramic blocks with multiple air cavities and (2) 3D-printed earthen wall systems. The results provide quantifiable evidence in favor of designing building components specifically for heat resilience, achieving shape-optimized blocks that increase their heat capacity by 60 % without additional material and 3D-printed walls with an 84 % improved time constant and only 5 % more weight. Finally, the construction and monitoring of three full-scale prototypes in a temperate climate provide additional validation by experimentally measuring their dynamic thermal performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9273,"journal":{"name":"Building and Environment","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 114193"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145939848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Transition to Net-Zero Energy Communities: Investigating Techno-Financial Feasibility and Social Acceptance","authors":"S.U.M. Jagoda ,&nbsp;Kasun Hewage ,&nbsp;Ravihari Kotagodahetti ,&nbsp;Rehan Sadiq","doi":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.114184","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.114184","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The escalating threats from climate change, mainly resulting from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have highlighted the importance of decarbonization. Net zero energy (NZE) has been identified as the most promising strategy for reducing emissions from community energy with renewable resources. Yet, one of the major barriers to NZE is public acceptance. There is a lack of aggregated knowledge on gaining public acceptance for NZE. Therefore, this paper aims to critically review opportunities and challenges for NZE strategies under technical and financial dimensions to derive interventions to improve public awareness and acceptance. This paper categorizes NZE strategies under demand reduction and renewable energy. The demand reduction strategies focus on improving appliance efficiency and thermal insulation. Following demand reduction, the integration of renewable energy resources into communities is discussed. Solar photovoltaics, wind, and geothermal systems are the different types of renewable energy resources included in the paper, considering their high adaptability and availability of resources. The review highlights public acceptance of NZE measures as the pivotal point for the successful execution of NZE transition. This paper discusses five different types of public acceptance: attitudinal, socio-political, market, community, and behavioural. Financial incentives/ or surcharge schemes, awareness programs, and participatory decision-making have been identified as key social mechanisms for gaining public acceptance. This dual focus on techno-financial analysis along with strategies to promote public acceptance provides valuable insights for policymakers, town and country planners, energy stakeholders, and researchers about essential areas that need attention in the transition towards NZE communities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9273,"journal":{"name":"Building and Environment","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 114184"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145939853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fast and accurate indoor airflow prediction using multi-scale attention graph neural network","authors":"Xuqiang Shao ,&nbsp;Xiaofan Liu ,&nbsp;Sixuan Chen ,&nbsp;Jianyong Zhu ,&nbsp;Liang Wang ,&nbsp;Zhaobing Jiang ,&nbsp;Jiancai Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.114183","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.114183","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With the rapid advancement of urbanization and the increasing amount of time individuals spend indoors, there has been a growing emphasis on indoor environmental quality. The accurate prediction of indoor airflow field is essential for optimizing building design, enhancing ventilation efficiency, minimizing energy consumption, and achieving low-carbon operations in enclosed environments. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) remains a powerful tool for simulating airflow through the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations. However, its dependence on fine mesh resolution and iterative computations restricts its real-time applicability, particularly in complex indoor environments. To facilitate efficient predictions of indoor airflow and address prevalent challenges associated with traditional Graph Neural Networks (GNN), this study introduces a Multi-Scale Attention Graph Neural Network (MSA-GNN). The model integrates a multi-scale graph architecture to enhance spatial feature representation and incorporates a self-attention mechanism to enhance the transmission efficiency of long-range dependencies. Trained on time-resolved airflow data generated by transient CFD simulations in realistic indoor scenes, the MSA-GNN achieves an R² of 0.98 and is computationally 7–10 times faster than CFD solvers. These results demonstrate its potential as a high-fidelity, real-time alternative for airflow prediction in building environmental design and smart ventilation control.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9273,"journal":{"name":"Building and Environment","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 114183"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145939856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Turbulent fluctuation around a semi-open structure - influencing assessment on building aspect ratio and wind probability by wind tunnel test","authors":"Yujie Chu ,&nbsp;Xuelin Zhang ,&nbsp;Yaojia Guo ,&nbsp;Yu Liao ,&nbsp;Xingyu Qian ,&nbsp;Wenbing Liu ,&nbsp;Jianlin Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.114192","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.114192","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Semi-open structures are essential for improving urban wind comfort and safety. The aerodynamic behavior of widely used buildings with large openings remains poorly understood, limiting the applicability of existing empirical models. This study adopts wind tunnel to investigate airflow around a semi-open structure, focusing on mean wind speed, instantaneous wind flow pattern, and gust characteristics. The study also explores how the aspect ratio and approaching wind direction affect the probability distribution of the pedestrian-level wind (PLW) environment. Results show that opening enhances airflow at the windward corner and reduces separation on the lateral side, resulting in a narrow wake region. The gust effect diminishes as mean wind speed increases. Under weak wind conditions (<em>U/U</em>_H &lt; 0.3), the value of peak factor at 3.03 adequately represents short-term gusts. Increasing building height amplifies localized acceleration near the opening while hindering internal flow penetration. Increasing building width strengthens flow blockage and enlarges low wind speed areas to about 1.8 times that of the reference building case. The airflow around the building is highly sensitive to different wind directions. Although the wind speed distribution is mostly positively skewed, only a 0° wind direction produces relatively high wind speed with minimal fluctuation. Oblique and reverse wind directions lead to fluctuations or decreased airflow. These findings provide a scientific basis for understanding the aerodynamic behavior around semi-open structures, guiding design strategies to improve local wind comfort and safety.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9273,"journal":{"name":"Building and Environment","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 114192"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145939855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}