Estimating the effect of using cool coatings on energy loads and thermal comfort in residential buildings in various climatic conditions

The impact from using cool roof coatings on the cooling and heating loads and the indoor thermal comfort conditions of residential buildings for various climatic conditions is estimated. The energy cooling loads and peak cooling demands are estimated for different values of roof solar reflectance and roof U-value. The results show that increasing the roof solar reflectance reduces cooling loads by 18–93% and peak cooling demand in air-conditioned buildings by 11–27%. The indoor thermal comfort conditions were improved by decreasing the hours of discomfort by 9–100% and the maximum temperatures in non air-conditioned residential buildings by 1.2–3.3 °C. These reductions were found to be more important for poorly or non-insulated buildings. For the locations studied, the heating penalty (0.2–17 kWh/m² year) was less important than the cooling load reduction (9–48 kWh/m² year). The application of cool roof coatings is an effective, minimal cost and easy to use technique that contributes to the energy efficiency and the thermal comfort of buildings.     

Solar integrated energy system for a green building

Shanghai is characteristic of subtropical monsoonal climate with the mean annual temperature of 17.6 °C, and receives annual total radiation above 4470 MJ/m² with approximately 2000 h of sunshine. A solar energy system capable of heating, cooling, natural ventilation and hot water supply has been built in Shanghai Research Institute of Building Science. The system mainly contains 150 m² solar collector arrays, two adsorption chillers, floor radiation heating pipes, finned tube heat exchangers and a hot water storage tank of 2.5 m³ in volume. It is used for heating in winter, cooling in summer, natural ventilation in spring and autumn, hot water supply in all the year for 460 m² building area. The whole system is controlled by an industrial control computer and operates automatically. Under typical weather condition of Shanghai, it is found that the average heating capacity is up to 25.04 kW in winter, the average refrigerating output reaches 15.31 kW in summer and the solar-enhanced natural ventilation air flow rate doubles in transitional seasons. The experimental investigation validated the practical effective operation of the adsorption cooling-based air-conditioning system. After 1-year operation, it is confirmed that the solar system contributes 70% total energy of the involved space for the weather conditions of Shanghai.     

Temporal variability of nitrate transport through hydrological response during flood events within a large agricultural catchment in south-west France

The temporal variability of nitrate transport was monitored continuously in a large agricultural catchment, the 1110 km² Save catchment in south-west France, from January 2007 to June 2009. The overall aim was to analyse the temporal transport of nitrate through hydrological response during flood events in the catchment. Nitrate loads and hysteresis were also analysed and the relationships between nitrate and hydro-climatological variables within flood events were determined. During the study period, 19 flood events were analysed using extensive datasets obtained by manual and automatic sampling. The maximum NO₃⁻ concentration during flood varied from 8.2 mg l⁻¹ to 41.1 mg l⁻¹ with flood discharge from 6.75 m³ s⁻¹ to 112.60 m³ s⁻¹. The annual NO₃⁻ loads in 2007 and 2008 amounted to 2514 t and 3047 t, respectively, with average specific yield of 2.5 t km⁻¹² yr⁻¹. The temporal transport of nitrate loads during different seasonal flood events varied from 12 t to 909 t. Nitrate transport during flood events amounted to 1600 t (64% of annual load; 16% of annual duration) in 2007 and 1872 t (62% of annual load; 20% of annual duration) in 2008. The level of peak discharge during flood events did not control peak nitrate concentrations, since similar nitrate peaks were produced by different peak discharges. Statistically strong correlations were found between nitrate transport and total precipitation, flood duration, peak discharge and total water yield. These four variables may be the main factors controlling nitrate export from the Save catchment. The relationship between nitrate and discharge (hysteresis patterns) investigated through flood events in this study was mainly dominated by anticlockwise behaviour.     

Design and performance of solar powered absorption cooling systems in office buildings

The paper contributes to the system design of solar thermal absorption chillers. A full simulation model was developed for absorption cooling systems, combined with a stratified storage tank, steady-state or dynamic collector model and hourly resolved building loads. The model was validated with experimental data from various solar cooling plants.As the absorption chillers can be operated at reduced generator temperatures under partial load conditions, the control strategy has a strong influence on the solar thermal system design and performance. It could be shown that buildings with the same maximum cooling load, but very different load time series, require collector areas varying by more than a factor 2 to achieve the same solar fraction. Depending on control strategy, recooling temperature levels, location and cooling load time series, between 1.7 and 3.6 m² vacuum tube collectors per kW cooling load are required to cover 80% of the cooling load.The cost analysis shows that Southern European locations with higher cooling energy demand lead to significantly lower costs. For long operation hours, cooling costs are around 200 € MWh⁻¹ and about 280 € MWh⁻¹ for buildings with lower internal gains and shorter cooling periods. For a Southern German climate, the costs are more than double.     

Hourly classified identifications: the annual relative variation rates (RVRs) are approximate in different cities for the same building with the same shading coefficient

By comparative research on the variation law of the annual relative variation rates (RVRs) of the hourly heating and cooling load with shading coefficient in all the hours, respectively, without and with solar radiation in two cities (Tampa of USA, Fuzhou of China), we can find that: for the hours without solar radiation, the heating and cooling load and its RVRs unchange with sun-shading coefficient while for the hours with solar radiation, shading coefficient has a significant influence on the heating and cooling load and its RVRs. By contrast, it can be found: both the hours in need of heating and cooling around the year (respectively, for the hours with and without solar radiation) and the hourly distribution of annual heating and cooling load are quite different in the two cities; Besides, the difference of hourly heating and cooling load probably amounts to more than 1000 times. However, with the same shading coefficient, the distributions of heating and cooling RVRs in each hour with solar radiation are very similar in the two cities. The author reveals the similarity of the variation law of the hourly load and just the intrinsic similarity determines that it is inevitable that the annual RVRs of energy consumption are approximate under different climatic conditions (cities) when taking the same shading measures to the same building.     

Selection of micro turbines to meet electrical and thermal energy needs of residential buildings in Iran

Micro gas turbines are considered to meet the electrical, domestic hot water, heating and cooling energy needs of a residential building located in Tehran, Ahvaz and Hamedan. The building is 10 stories high and has a total of 8000 m² floor area with the peak demands of electricity of 32.96 kW, DHW of 0.926 kW, heating load of 1590 kW and the cooling load of 2028 kW, when the building is located in Tehran. With these demands, 30 micro turbines of 30 kW (nominal power) are needed to meet all the energy needs of the building. The excess electricity generated by the micro turbines is to be used in a heat pump, and the energy in the exhaust gases is to be used to meet other thermal energy needs of the building. With proper energy conservation measures and the use of ceiling fans in each room, the peak heating and cooling demands of the building were reduced to 225 kW and 760 kW, respectively. With these measures, two micro gas turbines of 30 kW nominal capacity, or one of 40 kW, could meet all the electrical, DHW, heating and a great portion of the cooling needs of the building. The remaining cooling needs of the building during the hot hours of summer could be met by an additional absorption refrigeration, utilizing natural gas as its energy source. It is recommended that with energy conservation measures, the heating and cooling loads of buildings be reduced as much as possible, and micro gas turbines be employed to meet the electrical demands and a portion of heating and cooling needs. The remaining thermal energy needs are to be met through the use of natural gas. Only with these measures, the on-site combined heat and power (OS-CHP) is a viable option for residential buildings in Iran.     

Feasibility of solar absorption air conditioning in Tunisia

Due to the high cost of fossil fuels and the environmental problems caused by the extensive use of air-conditioning systems for both residential and industrial buildings, the use of solar energy to drive cooling cycles becomes attractive since the cooling load is roughly in phase with solar energy availability particularly in Tunisia. In this paper, we present a research project aiming at assessing the feasibility of solar-powered absorption cooling technology under Tunisian conditions. Simulations using the TRNSYS and EES programs with a meteorological year data file containing the weather parameters of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, were carried out in order to select and size the different components of the solar system to be installed. The optimized system for a typical building of 150 m² is composed of a water lithium bromide absorption chiller of a capacity of 11 kW, a 30 m² flat plate solar collector area tilted 35° from the horizontal and a 0.8 m³ hot water storage tank.     

Optimization of cooling load for a lecture theatre in a composite climate in India

A lecture theatre with dimension 16 m × 8.4 m × 3.6 m located at Roorkee (28.58°N, 77.20°E) in the northern region of India, is selected to calculate the monthly and annual cooling load (kWh) and cooling capacity of air conditioning system by a computer simulation. The paper also presents the results of a study investigating the effect of different glazing systems on windows and the reduction in building cooling load. DesignBuilder software has been used for the computer simulation for calculating the cooling load. The paper aims to investigate the reduction in thermal gains and cooling load requirements by varying the U-values of different glazing types, insulating the ceiling, providing cool roofs, interior and exterior insulation on walls, and replacing the conventional fluorescent tube lamp (FTL) by energy efficient compact fluorescent lamp (CFL). Installation of false ceiling, wall insulation, different glazing types and lighting systems are cost effective with normalized annual saving ranging from 17% to 19.8% from this retrofitting project. Furthermore, the study also highlights the potential of reducing the emission of CO₂ and equivalent carbon credit. Retrofitting techniques strongly influence the level of energy saving, although the payback period is generally quite long of order 8 years.     

Evaluation of existing cooling systems for reducing cooling power consumption

This work was designed to estimate the cooling load power consumption during the summer in the hot and humid areas of Iran. The actual electrical energy consumption for cooling systems of some typical buildings with various applications (3 residential home buildings, 2 industrial plant buildings, a trade center with 38 shops, 3 public sectors and a city hospital) in a hot and humid region in South of Iran was recorded during the peak load period of the year (July–August). The records were used for estimating the total power consumption of the cooling systems in this region. According to this estimation, which was confirmed by the regional electrical power distribution office, the cooling systems power consumption in this region accounted for more than 60% of the total power consumption during the peak load period of the year.     

Cooling load reduction effect and its mechanism in between-glass cavity and venetian blind operation during the summer season

The proper operation of venetian blinds in between-glass cavity airspaces is one of the most commonly used passive control techniques and can significantly reduce the cooling load and energy use in buildings. This study investigated the cooling load reduction effect of the blind integrated with the cavity operation. A full heat balance analysis was performed using EnergyPlus to provide a detailed understanding of the heat transfer mechanism that takes place around the blind and between-glass cavity. A sensitivity analysis was also carried out to evaluate the effects of different slat angles and blind operation hours. The results show that integration of the blind and between-glass cavity operations can significantly reduce the cooling load in buildings. The cooling load reduction effect of the cavity operation (by approximately 50%) was greater than that of the blind operation (by 5% to 40%, depending on slat angle and operating hours). It was found that the interzone heat transfers between the cavity and the room space and convection heat fluxes from each surface mainly contribute to the total cooling load reduction. In addition, the double-sided blind had a greater potential to reduce the cooling load compared with a conventional single-sided blind due to its greater capability of reflecting direct solar radiation and preventing diffuse solar radiation from penetrating the room space. The results of the study show that the largest reduction of cooling load can be achieved by the cavity operation, followed by the blind operation and the proper selection of operating hours for the blinds.     

The cooling potential of earth–air heat exchangers for domestic buildings in a desert climate

A theoretical model of an earth–air heat exchanger (EAHE) is developed for predicting the outlet air temperature and cooling potential of these devices in a hot, arid climate. The model is validated against other published models and shows good agreement. A sub-soil temperature model adapted for the specific conditions in Kuwait is presented and its output compared with measurements in two locations. A building model representative of a typical Kuwaiti dwelling has been implemented and all the models have been encoded within the TRNSYS-IISIBAT environment. A typical meteorological year for Kuwait was prepared and used to predict the cooling loads of the air-conditioned dwelling with and without the assistance of the EAHE. Simulation results showed that the EAHE could provide a reduction of 1700 W in the peak cooling load, with an indoor temperature reduction of 2.8 °C during summer peak hours (middle of July). The EAHE is shown to have the potential for reducing cooling energy demand in a typical house by 30% over the peak summer season.     

Theoretical performance assessment of an integrated photovoltaic and earth air heat exchanger greenhouse using energy and exergy analysis methods

In this paper, a simplified mathematical model develops to study round the year effectiveness of photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) and earth air heat exchanger (EAHE) integrated with a greenhouse, located at IIT Delhi, India. The solar energy application through photovoltaic system and earth air heat exchanger (EAHE) for heating and cooling of a greenhouse is studied with the help of this simplified mathematical model. Calculations are done for four types of weather conditions (a, b, c and d types) in New Delhi, India. The paper compares greenhouse air temperatures when it is operated with photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) during daytime coupled with earth air heat exchanger (EAHE) at night, with air temperatures when it is operated exclusively with photovoltaic/thermal system (PV/T) and earth air heat exchanger (EAHE), for 24 h. The results reveal that air temperature inside the greenhouse can be increased by around 7-8 °C during winter season, when the system is operated with photovoltaic (PV/T), coupled with earth air heat exchanger (EAHE) at night. From the results, it is seen that the hourly useful thermal energy generated, during daytime and night, when the system is operated with photovoltaic (PV/T) coupled with earth air heat exchanger (EAHE), is 33 MJ and 24.5 MJ, respectively. The yearly thermal energy generated by the system has been calculated to be 24728.8 kWh, while the net electrical energy savings for the year is 805.9 kWh and the annual thermal exergy energy generated is 1006.2 kWh.     

Important variables in explaining real-time peak price in the independent power market of Ontario

This paper uses support vector machines (SVM) based learning algorithm to select important variables that help explain the real-time peak electricity price in the Ontario market. The Ontario market was opened to competition only in May 2002. Due to the limited number of observations available, finding a set of variables that can explain the independent power market of Ontario (IMO) real-time peak price is a significant challenge for the traders and analysts. The kernel regressions of the explanatory variables on the IMO real-time average peak price show that non-linear dependencies exist between the explanatory variables and the IMO price. This non-linear relationship combined with the low variable-observation ratio rule out conventional statistical analysis. Hence, we use an alternative machine learning technique to find the important explanatory variables for the IMO real-time average peak price. SVM sensitivity analysis based results find that the IMO's predispatch average peak price, the actual import peak volume, the peak load of the Ontario market and the net available supply after accounting for load (energy excess) are some of the most important variables in explaining the real-time average peak price in the Ontario electricity market.     

Cooling load reduction by using thermal mass and night ventilation

We provide a quantitative understanding of the relationship between thermal mass and cooling load, i.e. the effect of thermal mass on energy consumption of air-conditioning in office buildings. A simple office-building model with air-conditioning at daytime and free cooling at nighttime is analyzed in detail to quantify the hourly and overall variation of cooling load of air-conditioning. As an important parameter, an increase of time constant can effectively reduce the cooling load, by as much as more than 60% when the time constant is more than 400 h. However, when the time constant is larger than 1000 h, a further increase may slightly increase the cooling load, as a too large time constant may also postpone the heat release of thermal mass until the daytime. For the most effective reduction of cooling load, the interior and exterior convective heat transfer numbers need to be matched.     

遮阳系数对供暖与空调能耗影响差异的逐时解析

以中国福州为例,从当地逐时气象数据入手,分析了建筑空调负荷及供暖负荷的所有时刻对应的逐时太阳辐射,用特征温度法研究当遮阳系数减小时各时刻建筑的空调与供暖能耗及相对变化(节能率)情况。研究发现,由于冬季有太阳辐射各时刻的供暖能耗相对于无太阳辐射各时刻能耗比例很小,故遮阳措施对供暖总能耗的影响不显著,从而证明DOE-2关于冬季遮阳系数减小对供暖能耗影响的结论值得商榷;由于夏季有太阳辐射各时刻空调能耗远大于无太阳辐射各时刻空调能耗,故遮阳措施对空调总能耗及节能率的影响非常显著,DOP2软件与特征温度法的结果是正确的;通过对福州全年各时刻空调供暖能耗、建筑负荷及节能率进行解析,揭示了看起来很分散的各时刻能耗及节能率差异数据总体上遵循的某种共性规律,供同行参考。     

Influence of raised floor on zone design cooling load in commercial buildings

The installation of a raised floor system can change the thermal behaviour of the building by reducing the interaction between the heat gains and the thermally massive concrete slab. In this study, the influence of the raised floor on the summer design day zone cooling load profile is evaluated with EnergyPlus for an office building located in San Francisco. The effects of structure type, window-to-wall ratio and the presence of carpet on the thermal behaviour of the raised floor are also investigated. The results show that the mere presence of the raised floor largely affects the zone cooling load profile and the peak cooling load over the range of −7 to +40%. The most significant parameters are the zone orientation, i.e. the exposure to direct solar radiation, and the presence of floor carpeting. If carpeting is present, commonly used in U.S. office buildings, the overall impact on zone peak cooling load is reduced, ranging from 0 to 5% greater for the raised floor than without it. Without carpet the peak cooling load is 4% greater with raised floor than without it in the north zone, 22% in the east and west zones, and 12% in the south zone.     

The impact of daylighting on peak electrical demand

A complete analysis of the cost-effectiveness of daylighting strategies should include the impact of daylighting on peak electrical demand as well as on energy consumption. We utilized an hour-by-hour building energy analysis program to study the thermal and daylighting impacts of fenestration on peak demand. Fenestration properties and lighting system characteristics were varied parametrically for office buildings in Madison WI and Lake Charles LA. Peak electrical demand was disaggregated by component and by zone, monthly patterns of peak demand were examined, and impacts of fenestration performance on chiller size were studied.The results suggest that for daylighted office buildings, the peak electrical demand results from a complex trade-off between cooling load due to fenestration parameters, lighting load reductions due to glazing and lighting system characteristics. Lowest peak demands generally occur with small to moderate size apertures. With daylighting, peak electrical demand is reduced by 10 to 20% for the building configuration studied (37% perimeter zone, 63% core zone). This work indicates that solar gain through fenestration must be effectively controlled in order to realize the potential of daylighting to significantly reduce peak electrical demand.     

Towards developing skylight design tools for thermal and energy performance of atriums in cold climates

This paper presents an analysis of the impact of selected design alternatives on the thermal and energy performance of atriums based on the methodology outlined in the accompanying paper. Computer simulation programs were used to predict the impact of the selected design alternatives on the design performance outputs of atriums. Design alternatives focused on fenestration glazing types, fenestration surface area, skylight shape, atrium type, and interaction of the atrium with its adjacent spaces. Design performance outputs, evaluated with respect to a basecase design, included seasonal solar heat gain ratio, cooling and heating peak load ratios and annual cooling, heating and total energy ratios. Design tools were developed to quantify the impact of the design alternatives on the performance outputs. The design tools were cast into two-dimensional linear relationships with the glazing U-value and SHGC ratios as independent parameters. The results for enclosed atriums showed that the annual cooling energy ratio increased at a rate of 1.196 per unit of SHGC ratio and decreased at a rate of 0.382 per unit of U-value ratio. However, the annual heating energy ratio increased at a rate of 1.954 per unit of U-value ratio and decreased at a rate of 1.081 per unit of SHGC ratio. Similar trends were also found for the three-sided and linear atriums. Pyramidal/pitched skylights increased the solar heat gain ratio by up to 25% in the heating season compared to flat skylights. The effect of the skylight shape on the annual cooling and heating energy may be positive or negative, depending on the glazing U-value and SHGC ratios and the atrium type. Atriums open to their adjacent spaces reduced the annual cooling energy ratio by up to 76% compared to closed atrium spaces. However, open atrium spaces increased the annual heating energy ratio by up to 19%.     

Application of passive cooling systems in the hot and humid climate: The case study of solar chimney and wetted roof in Thailand

The thermal performance of two passive cooling systems under hot and humid climate condition is experimentally investigated. The experimental results were obtained from a test cell and a controlled cell with identical walls but different roof configurations. The passive cooling systems applied to the test cell are solar chimney and water spraying on roof. The experimental results obtained from the test cell are compared with the closed and no passive cooling controlled cell. In addition, the significant of solar-induced ventilation by using a solar chimney is realized by utilizing a wind shield to reduce the effect of wind-induced ventilation resulting in low measured air velocities to the solar chimney and low computed value of coefficient of discharge. The derived coefficient of discharge of 0.4 is used to compute Air Changes rates per Hour (ACH). The ACHs with application of solar chimney solely are found to be in the range of 0.16–1.98. The studies of air temperature differences between the room and the solar chimney suggest amount of air flow rates for different periods in a year. The derived relationships show that the air flow rate during February–March is higher than during June–October by 16.7–53.7%. The experimental results show that application of the solar chimney in the test cell could maintain the room temperature at 31.0–36.5 °C, accounting for 1.0–3.5 °C lower than the ambient air and 1.0–1.3 °C lower than the controlled cell. However, to make the test cell's room temperature much lower than the ambient temperature and increase the flow rate of air due to the buoyancy, the application of water spraying on roof is recommended together with solar chimney. The application of the two systems in the hot and humid climate are discovered to sustain the room temperature of the test cell to be lower than the ambient air by 2.0–6.2 °C and lower than the controlled cell by 1.4–3.0 °C.     

Energy performance analysis on telecommunication base station

Telecommunication base station (TBS) has high indoor IT heat dissipation rate, and cooling load exists almost all year around. Energy consumption of air-conditioning system is 30–50% of the TBS entire energy. Envelope and heat pipe assisted air-conditioning system performances are investigated using annual hourly simulation software. In cold city Harbin, high insulation envelope is recommended to avoid heating requirement in winter; and in warm city Guangzhou, low insulation envelope is recommended to reduce the annual cooling load. Shading and roof ventilation have little impact on the reduction of cooling load. Simplified analysis method based on daily average steady values is proposed, which can reveal the main performance influencing factors and clearly direct the main approach in energy saving. The simplified method can accord well with numerical results and tested results available in literature. Contribution of each heat source can be clearly gained and analyzed, solar radiation does not possess large effect in TBS. Ideal thermal resistance with no heating or cooling requirement is then derived, envelope can be easily optimized and contribution of such kind of outdoor cooling source method using heat pipe can be easily obtained.