Climate change adaptation pathways for Australian residential buildings

Climate change can significantly impact on the total energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of residential buildings. Therefore, climate adaptation should be properly considered in both building design and operation stages to reduce the impact. This paper identified the potential adaptation pathways for existing and new residential buildings, by enhancing their adaptive capacity to accommodate the impact and maintain total energy consumption and GHG emissions no more than the current level in the period of their service life. The feasibility of adaptations was demonstrated by building energy simulations using both representative existing and new housing in eight climate zones varying from cold, temperate to hot humid in Australia. It was found that, in heating dominated climates, a proper level of adaptive capacity of residential buildings could be achieved simply by improving the energy efficiency of building envelop. However, in cooling dominated regions, it could only be achieved by introducing additional measures, such as the use of high energy efficient (EE) appliances and the adoption of renewable energy. The initial costs to implement the adaptations were assessed, suggesting that it is more cost-effective to accommodate future climate change impacts for existing and new houses by improving building envelop energy efficiency in cooling dominated regions, but installing on-site solar PVs instead in heating and cooling balanced regions.     

Addressing climate change in comfort standards

According to the Buildings Energy Data Book published by the U.S. Department of Energy, in 2006 the building sector consumed 38.9% of the total primary energy used in the United States. Of this energy, 34.8% is used by buildings for space heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. This energy often involves the combustion of fossil fuels, contributing to carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. Even if greenhouse gas concentrations are stabilized in the atmosphere, extreme climate events and sea level rise will continue for several centuries due to inertia of the atmosphere. Therefore, adaptation will be a necessary compliment to carbon dioxide mitigation efforts. This paper argues that both mitigation of greenhouse gases and adaptation to climate change should be added to our building codes and standards. Since space heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning utilize a large amount of energy in buildings, we should begin by redefining our thermal comfort standards and add strategies that mitigate carbon dioxide emissions and adapt to predicted climate variability.     

Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of building performance using probabilistic climate projections: A UK case study

This study explores the uncertainties and sensitivities in the prediction of the thermal performance of buildings under climate change. This type of analysis is key to the assessment of the adaptability and resilience of buildings to changing climate conditions. The paper presents a comprehensive overview of the key methodological steps needed for a probabilistic prediction of building performance in the long term future (50 to 80 years). The approach propagates uncertainties in climate change predictions as well as the uncertainties related to interventions in building fabric and systems.A case study focussing on an air-conditioned university building at the campus of the authors is presented in order to demonstrate the methodology. This employs the most recent probabilistic climate change projections for the United Kingdom (UKCP09 dataset) and takes into account facility management uncertainties when exploring uncertainties in the prediction of heating energy, cooling energy, and carbon emissions.     

Evaluating the potential impact of global warming on the UAE residential buildings – A contribution to reduce the CO2 emissions

There is significant evidence that the world is warming. The International Panel of Climate Change stated that there would be a steady increase in the ambient temperature during the end of the 21st century. This increase will impact the built environment, particularly the requirements of energy used for air-conditioning buildings. This paper discusses issues related to the potential impact of global warming on air-conditioning energy use in the hot climate of the United Arab Emirates. Al-Ain city was chosen for this study. Simulation studies and energy analysis were employed to investigate the energy consumption of buildings and the most effective measures to cope with this impact under different climate scenarios. The paper focuses on residential buildings and concludes that global warming is likely to increase the energy used for cooling buildings by 23.5% if Al-Ain city warms by 5.9 °C. The net CO₂ emissions could increase at around 5.4% over the next few decades. The simulation results show that the energy design measures such as thermal insulation and thermal mass are important to cope with global warming, while window area and glazing system are beneficial and sensitive to climate change, whereas the shading devices are moderate as a building CO₂ emissions saver and insensitive to global warming.     

Impact of passive climate adaptation measures and building orientation on the energy demand of a detached lightweight semi-portable building

The building energy demand for heating and cooling is changing due to climate change. The adoption of climate change adaptation measures at the building scale aims at limiting heating and cooling demands. In previous studies on adaptation measures little attention has been paid to lightweight semi-portable buildings, which are increasingly used to temporarily house the growing number of small households (1–2 persons) in peripheral and derelict areas. In this paper the impact of passive climate adaptation measures and building orientation on heating and cooling demands is assessed for a detached, lightweight, semi-portable residential building by means of building energy simulations (BES), considering two climate scenarios for the Netherlands: current climate and a future climate (2050). The results show that the most efficient adaptation measure consists in a combination of exterior solar shading and an increase of thermal resistance of the building envelope, which reduces the annual heating and cooling demand–averaged over eight building orientations – by 11% for the current climate and 15% for the future climate. The impact of building orientation varies according to the climate scenario. Compared to the average over the eight orientations considered, the annual cooling demand for a single orientation varies between about ?31% and +22% and between about ?24% and +18% for the current and future climate, respectively. For the case without adaptation measures, optimizing the building orientation leads to annual total energy savings of about 4% for the current and 3% for the future climate.     

A multi-layer approach for estimating the energy use intensity on an urban scale

Various governments are planning their cities to be climate responsive by reducing the energy consumption and carbon emissions according to different scenarios whilst maintaining good indoor comfort conditions. A robust and reliable tool that can estimate the Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of a city is required. This paper presents a new bottom-up engineering-based multi-layer approach able to analyse the energy performance of existing settlements of every size by retaining as much information as possible about their complexities. The process involves i) creating a 3D model of the urban area, ii) building up templates representing different building characteristics such as functions, the age-band of the buildings and operating schedules, iii) running dynamic thermal simulations and iv) displaying the EUI or total energy demand in the 3D model which can be post-processed for further analysis. This approach offers a flexible simulation process according to various purposes, which is particularly useful in decision-making for urban energy retrofitting or planning for new areas. The hourly high-resolution outcomes would benefit the detailed analysis of energy efficiency strategies in order to achieve carbon reduction. The application of this approach is demonstrated for the case of Yuzhong district in Chongqing municipality, China.     

Probabilistic climate projections with dynamic building simulation: Predicting overheating in dwellings

This study, as part of the Low Carbon Futures project, proposes a methodology to incorporate probabilistic climate projections into dynamic building simulation analyses of overheating in dwellings. Using a large climate projection database, suitable building software and statistical techniques (focussing on principal component analysis), output is presented that demonstrates the future overheating risk of a building in the form of a probability curve. Such output could be used by building engineers and architects to design a building to an acceptable future overheating risk level, i.e. providing evidence that the building, with specific adaptation measures to prevent overheating, should achieve thermal comfort for the majority of future climate projections. This methodology is overviewed and the use of the algorithm proposed in relation to existing building practices. While the methodology is being applied to a range of buildings and scenarios, this study concentrates on night-time overheating in UK dwellings with simple and achievable adaptation measures investigated.     

Enhanced supervision strategies for effective reduction of building energy consumption--A case study of Ningbo

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reasons for ever growing energy consumption in buildings and to give enhanced supervision strategies for reduction of building energy consumption compared to regular ones. A case study of Ningbo city was used to make a detail analysis. Several factors were determined as the reasons for ever growing building energy consumption including climate change, household electricity load increase, the growth of real estate, fast-growing household electrical appliances, high energy consumption in existing buildings, changes in industrial structure and the lack of enhanced government supervision. Then the discussion of suitable countermeasures shows that only enhanced supervision strategies are currently applicable. Finally, it is concluded that enhanced government supervision strategies, including the establishment of a strict control system for new built buildings through information integration and encryption, establishing an energy efficiency supervision system of large-scale public building and a carrot-and-stick approach with added expert checklist for the building application of renewable energy, showed great advantages in promoting building energy efficiency in Ningbo, compared with other cities. These supervision strategies are applicable in other cities as they are in the similar situations in the enforcement of building energy efficiency.     

Occupant comfort in UK offices—How adaptive comfort theories might influence future low energy office refurbishment strategies

With the UK commercial sector replacing buildings at 1–1.5% per year adaptations to existing buildings are needed to maintain comfort levels, while reducing energy use and carbon emissions.     

基于DeST-h软件的严寒、寒冷地区既有居住建筑绿色改造能耗分析

城镇既有居住建筑绿色改造是实现我国能耗总量控制、单位GDP二氧化碳排放量削减、绿色建筑建设的重要途径。通过选取严寒、寒冷地区气候子区典型城镇,并根据典型城镇历年人口、人均住宅面积以及相关设计规范等建立各气候子区典型城镇居住建筑模型;同时,采用建筑能耗模拟软件DeST-h模拟分析了严寒、寒冷地区历年既有居住建筑节能改造后的能耗情况,从而得到既有居住建筑绿色改造对严寒、寒冷地区的居住建筑能耗的影响,对同类既有居住建筑绿色改造具有一定的参考价值。     

湿热气候下高层办公楼气候适应性设计 ——以广东交通设计大厦为例

揭示湿热气候下高层办公楼气候适应性设计策略与应用逻辑,为我国高层办公楼的绿色设计提供借鉴与参考。运用建筑气候适应性思想,聚焦方案设计阶段,通过案例归纳与分析气候特征,总结湿热气候下绿色高层办公楼在隔热、遮阳、通风、节能方面的设计策略。并通过广东交通设计大厦项目实践,在城市、建筑与细部尺度将气候适应性设计策略有效运用,深刻塑造了建筑的形体与空间特色。高层办公楼气候适应性设计,有益于创造出适应气候环境、更加节能健康的绿色建筑。     

上海中心城区住宅日照间距等规定刍议

住宅建设对我国城市中心城区的空间起到了很大的影响,日照间距和朝向又是住宅建设中的一个决定性影响因素.而目前的城市规划管理规定对中心城区和近郊地区的差别注意不够,造成中心城区城市空间的疏离和杂乱.为保持中心城区的特点,借鉴欧洲城市住宅发展的教训和经验,笔者建议对中心城区住宅的规划设计要求加以区别对待,限制高度和容积率,提高建筑密度,放宽朝向限制.     

鲁尔商务中心，杜伊斯堡，德国

竞赛2001年,一等奖/Competition2001,1stprize商务中心是一座带有地下停车场的办公大楼,是德国西部城市杜伊斯堡海涅尔集团建筑群的一部分,这组建筑还包括一个医疗中心、老年人住宅和停车场。3栋建筑围合了Vinckeplatz的城市空间,保留并强调了街道现状的视觉走廊,尊重了毗邻的小尺度街区。沿主要街道的建筑将噪音隔离在住宅之外。新建筑表达出从工业到服务业的功能转化。U型的办公大楼,围绕着一个公共庭院。立方体底层的两个边缘偏置,强调出办公入口。两翼其中之一是6层建筑。立面严谨的设计由每扇窗户宽窄的元素组成,这些元素形成交替的…     

On the influence of building design,occupants and heat waves on comfort and greenhouse gas emissions in naturally ventilated offices. A study based on the EN 15251 adaptive thermal comfort model in Athens,Greece

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change the buildings sector has the largest mitigation potential for CO₂ emissions. Especially in office buildings, where internal heat loads and a relatively high occupant density occur at the same time with solar heat gains, overheating has become a common problem. In Europe the adaptive thermal comfort model according to EN 15251 provides a method to evaluate thermal comfort in naturally ventilated buildings. However, especially in the context of the climate change and the occurrence of heat waves within the last decade, the question arises, how thermal comfort can be maintained without additional cooling, especially in warm climates. In this paper a parametric study for a typical cellular naturally ventilated office room has been conducted, using the building simulation software EnergyPlus. It is based on the Mediterranean climate of Athens, Greece. Adaptive thermal comfort is evaluated according to EN 15251. Variations refer to different building design priorities, and they consider the variability of occupant behaviour and internal heat loads by using an ideal and worst case scenario. The influence of heat waves is considered by comparing measured temperatures for an average and an exceptionally hot year within the last decade. Since the use of building controls for shading affects thermal as well as visual comfort, daylighting and view are evaluated as well. Conclusions are drawn regarding the influence and interaction of building design, occupants and heat waves on comfort and greenhouse gas emissions in naturally ventilated offices, and related optimisation potential.     

Estimating the impacts of climate change and urbanization on building performance

Over the past 15 years, much scientific work has been published on the potential human impacts on climates. For their Third Assessment Report in 2001, the United Nations International Programme on Climate Change developed a set of economic development scenarios, which were then run with the four major general circulation models (GCM) to estimate the anthropogenesis-forced climate change. These GCMs produce worldwide grids of predicted monthly temperature, cloud, and precipitation deviations from the period 1961–1990. As this period is the same used for several major typical meteorological year data sets, these typical data sets can be used as a starting point for modifying weather files to represent predicted climate change. Over the past 50 years, studies of urban heat islands (UHI) or urbanization have provided detailed measurements of the diurnal and seasonal patterns and differences between urban and rural climatic conditions. While heat islands have been shown to be a function of both population and microclimatic and site conditions, they can be generalized into a predictable diurnal and seasonal pattern. Although the scientific literature is full of studies looking at the impact of climate change driven by human activity, there is very little research on the impact of climate change or urban heat islands on building operation and performance across the world. This article presents the methodology used to create weather files which represent climate change scenarios in 2100 and heat island impacts today. For this study, typical and extreme meteorological weather data were created for 25 locations (20 climate regions) to represent a range of predicted climate change and heat island scenarios for building simulation. Then prototypical small office buildings were created to represent typical, good, and low-energy practices around the world. The simulation results for these prototype buildings provide a snapshot view of the potential impacts of the set of climate scenarios on building performance. This includes location-specific building response, such as fuel swapping as heating and cooling ratios change, impacts on environmental emissions, impacts on equipment use and longevity comfort issues, and how low-energy building design incorporating renewables can significantly mitigate any potential climate variation. In this article, examples of how heat island and climate change scenarios affect diurnal patterns are presented as well as the annual energy performance impacts for three of the 25 locations. In cold climates, the net change to annual energy use due to climate change will be positive – reducing energy use on the order of 10% or more. For tropical climates, buildings will see an increase in overall energy use due to climate change, with some months increasing by more than 20% from current conditions. Temperate, mid-latitude climates will see the largest change but it will be a swapping from heating to cooling, including a significant reduction of 25% or more in heating energy and up to 15% increase in cooling energy. Buildings which are built to current standards such as ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004 will still see significant increases in energy demand over the twenty-first century. Low-energy buildings designed to minimize energy use will be the least affected, with impacts in the range of 5–10%. Unless the way buildings are designed, built, and operated changes significantly over the next decades, buildings will see substantial operating cost increases and possible disruptions in an already strained energy supply system.     

基于生态系统的适应在气候变化适应性城市多尺度合作雨洪管理中的实践——以哥本哈根为例

气候变化已成为城市可持续发展的关键挑战。面对该问题,越来越多的学者和从业者关注了基于生态系统的适应（EbA）概念,将其作为管理区域生态系统服务、提高生态系统服务适应能力的高效并且可持续的手段予以推广。然而,目前鲜有研究关注EbA措施在气候变化适应性城市建设中在多尺度上与各利益相关者的合作规划实践。通过定性方法弥补EbA在城市多尺度气候适应计划实践这一领域应用研究的缺失,以欧洲著名的气候变化适应性城市以及欧洲绿色首都哥本哈根市为研究对象,分析了EbA如何纳入当地气候变化适应计划并在多个尺度上予以实施。回顾了EbA发展与其在欧洲的应用现状,分析了哥本哈根市气候变化适应政策以及EbA在市域、社区、单体建筑3个尺度的合作应用,并且通过分析哥本哈根市第一个气候弹性社区的案例,阐释哥本哈根市如何通过政府、企业、公民等多方利益相关者的合作规划将EbA措施应用于当地气候变化适应性城市建设。最后,总结了哥本哈根市多尺度气候变化适应合作规划中的EbA实践经验：1）项目前的深入数据准备和分析;2）EbA措施与城市空间景观设计的紧密结合;3）多个利益相关方协调,促进公众参与。加深了对EbA提升城市生态系统服务建设适应气候变化的城市的理解,并在面对气候变化挑战问题上,为包括中国城市在内的其他城市提供了启示与借鉴。     

综合能源监测管理系统在广州某塔楼的示范应用案例

随着国家节能减排工作的推进,大型建筑的能耗计量与控制系统日益为国人关注.在此背景下,介绍了广州新城某塔楼综合能源计量系统的架构,对大型建筑中的电、水、中央空调进行合理分户计量,对切实降低建筑能耗乃至社会能耗有举足轻重的作用,具有推广意义.     

A probabilistic analysis of the future potential of evaporative cooling systems in a temperate climate

The probabilistic projections of climate change for the United Kingdom (UK Climate Impacts Programme) show a trend towards hotter and drier summers. This suggests an expected increase in cooling demand for buildings – a conflicting requirement to reducing building energy needs and related CO₂ emissions. Though passive design is used to reduce thermal loads of a building, a supplementary cooling system is often necessary. For such mixed-mode strategies, indirect evaporative cooling is investigated as a low energy option in the context of a warmer and drier UK climate.Analysis of the climate projections shows an increase in wet-bulb depression; providing a good indication of the cooling potential of an evaporative cooler. Modelling a mixed-mode building at two different locations, showed such a building was capable of maintaining adequate thermal comfort in future probable climates. Comparing the control climate to the scenario climate, an increase in the median of evaporative cooling load is evident. The shift is greater for London than for Glasgow with a respective 71.6% and 3.3% increase in the median annual cooling load.The study shows evaporative cooling should continue to function as an effective low-energy cooling technique in future, warming climates.     

Building adaption model in assessing adaption potential of public housing in Singapore

Building adaptation is instrumental in curbing building degradation and urban dilapidation. Owing to budget constraint, the policy decision makers who manage substantial public buildings always face the problems of which existing buildings should be selected for adaptation. A tool is required to aid them to prioritise existing buildings based on their adaptation potential. Thus, the aim of this study is to develop a model which acts as a tool for the policy decision makers to perform the challenging work of prioritising the existing public housing for adaption. This research presents a conceptual framework for assessing adaptation potential of existing public housing in Singapore and discusses its validation process. The results show that the proposed approach is effective in estimating the adaptation potential of existing residential buildings. In practice, the decision makers can use this model to rank existing buildings’ adaptation potential and select those buildings with high potential for adaptation, with the intention to optimise the allocation of a tight building adaptation budget.     

基于施工图的建筑建造阶段碳计算方法初探

建筑领域碳排放计算已成为越来越重要的课题,本文建立了基于施工图的建筑物建造阶段碳排放计算方法,该计算方法以施工文件相关数据为计算依据,由于施工图文件数据比较吻合实际情况,故这种方法可以较精确地计算建筑建造阶段碳排放量。利用该计算方法,对深圳市某混凝土结构的值班室建造阶段的碳排放进行计算分析,结果表明建材生产阶段的碳排放在建造阶段总排放量中占主要部分,据此提出了建筑物建造阶段碳减排的对策建议。