The role of integrated landscape design in energy conservation in detached dwellings in the Arabian Gulf region

This paper presents an overview of the landscape design considerations, rationale for the selection of specific hard and soft landscape elements and initial observations of their influence in controlling the microclimate in detached residential buildings in the Arabian Gulf region. This experiment is part of a wider research programme in the field of passive solar cooling strategies at the King Faisal University, sponsored by the Joint United States-Saudi Arabian Programme for Cooperation in the field of Solar Energy (SOLERAS). The objective is to identify the comfort enhancement potential of a carefully planned and executed integrated landscape design in a full-scale prototype passive solar cooling test house. Conventional concrete-block load-bearing construction with external insulation and heavy internal thermal mass was used. Fanger Predicted Mean Vote, as a function of dry bulb temperature, wet bulb temperature, air velocity and mean radiant temperature, was calculated and recorded continuously. These values have been averaged to evaluate hourly comfort conditions in various zones of the test house. Outdoor solar radiation and heat transferred through walls, openings and roof were similarly recorded before landscape layout and during the initial growth process of the plant material. The full potential of an integrated landscape design towards comfort enhancement can only be assessed after several years of continuous monitoring during the growth period of the plant material. Initial observations, nevertheless, tend to confirm results obtained by other researchers in their studies of the effects of specific individual landscape elements.     

Experimental studies on a novel roof pond configuration for the cooling of buildings

A new evaporation based passive cooling technology was tested. The technology is based on the exposure of “floating” wetted cloth to the ambient air. It was compared to various other passive cooling techniques, with very favorable results. Two identical shallow ponds were constructed. One of them was covered with white cotton towels stretched on a densely perforated PVC panel supported by pieces of waterproof polystyrene keeping it just floating on the water surface. Five comparable experiments of different cooling techniques have been carried out. The results indicate that the new cooling technique performed slightly better than the pond with movable insulation, which is widely considered as one of the best roof cooling techniques based on evaporation. It seems that the higher efficiency of the tested technique is due to the thermal stratification created in the water inside the pond, which more effectively resists the transfer of heat gains from the sun and ambient air into the deep water of the pond. In turn, the water temperature near the floor of the pond is lower, thus heat flow from the building to the pond is increased. During the experiment, all the ponds which were compared were ranked according to performance (from best to worse): shaded pond with towels floated on it, pond with towels floated on it and pond with movable insulation, shaded open pond, open pond, covered pond.     

Determining typical weather for use in solar energy simulations

Predicting the performance of a solar energy system by using simulation methods requires weather data input for the locality involved. The present paper describes a method of analyzing an optional number of years of weather data for a chosen month resulting in a “typical week” which is characterized in terms of solar radiation, ambient dry bulb temperature and wind speed. The “typical week” is allowed to vary in length between 5 and 10 days in the analysis in order to enable selection of a period that best represents a given month according to specified criteria.Verification of the method by comparative computer analysis was performed using two forms of weather data as inputs to the solar energy program “TRYNSYS”. The averaging method when compared to the “typical” weather method resulted in differences of less than 7 per cent.The use of “typical” weather appears to give results at least comparable with more established methods while at the same time providing a broad spectrum of the weather typical of an area. The use of “typical” weather can result in savings in computer time.     

Thermal management of solar photovoltaics modules for enhanced power generation

Industry and government interest in solar energy has increased in recent years in the Middle East. However, despite high levels of solar irradiance in the Arabian Gulf, harsh climatic conditions adversely affect the electrical performance of solar photovoltaics (PV). The objective of this study is to compare the annual performance characteristics of solar PV modules that utilize either sun-tracking or water cooling to increase electrical power generation relative to that of stationary, passively cooled modules in the Middle East climatic conditions. This is achieved using an electro-thermal model developed and validated against experimental data acquired in this study. The model is used to predict the annual electrical power output of a 140 W PV module in Abu Dhabi (24.43°N, 54.45°E) under four operating conditions: (i) stationary geographical south facing orientation with passive air cooling, (ii) sun-tracked orientation with passive air cooling, (iii) stationary geographical south facing orientation with water cooling at ambient air temperature, and (iv) stationary geographical south facing orientation with water refrigerated at either 10 °C or 20 °C below ambient air temperature. For water cooled modules, annual electrical power output increases by 22% for water at ambient air temperature, and by 28% and 31% for water refrigerated at 10 °C and 20 °C below ambient air temperature, respectively. 80% of the annual output enhancement obtained using water cooling occurs between the months of May and October. Finally, whereas the annual yield enhancement obtained with water cooling at ambient air temperature from May to October is of 18% relative to stationary passive cooling conditions, sun-tracking over the complete year produces an enhancement of only 15% relative to stationary passive cooling conditions.     

The transient house heating condition—the daily changes of the building envelope response factor (BER)

The current paper presents a logical extension of previous work [Lukić N. The transient house heating condition—the building envelope response factor (BER). Renewable Energy 2003;28:523–32.]. The daily changes of the earlier introduced building envelope response factor (BER) are shown, under transient heating conditions, during the first three heating days after a long non-heating period. Four simulation cases were studied: two-layered thermal-insulation-concrete house walls where the thermal-insulation had in, out and middle position according to inside of house and one-layered concrete house walls. Three different behaviors of central radiator heating system were simulated. The BER factor is considered an important pointer on influence of house walls to heating/cooling energy consumption and thermal comfort during transient conditions. In numerous simulations, using BER factor presentation, the start heating-period was investigated up to the achievement of defined thermal comfort inside the building walls. Alongside of the expected start peak, local peaks and off-peaks of BER factor appeared during first three heating days. Recognition of the daily changes of BER factor could enable aims, lower energy consumption and a rapid achievement of good thermal comfort. In this attempt, a building envelope, as a passive source of energy, is a critical factor.     

On the influence of psychrometric ambient conditions on cooling tower drift deposition

Water drift emitted from cooling towers is objectionable for several reasons, mainly due to human health hazards. A numerical model to study the influence of psychrometric ambient conditions on cooling tower drift deposition was developed as a tool to evaluate liquid droplet dispersion and risk area. Both experimental plume performance and drift deposition were employed to validate the numerical results. This study shows the influence of variables like ambient dry bulb temperature, ambient absolute humidity and droplet exit temperature from cooling tower on the drift evaporation (and therefore deposition) and on the zone affected by the cooling tower. The strongest effect detected corresponds to the ambient dry bulb temperature. When a higher ambient temperature was present, deposition was lower (evaporation was therefore higher) and the zone affected by the cooling tower was smaller. The influence of the other two variables included in the study was weaker than the dry bulb ambient temperature. A high level of ambient absolute humidity increased drift deposition and also the size of the zone affected by the cooling tower. Finally, a high level of droplet exit temperature decreased deposition and increased the zone affected by the cooling tower.     

A simple procedure for assessing thermal comfort in passive solar heated buildings

The Fanger thermal comfort equation is linearized and used to develop a procedure for assessing thermal comfort levels in passive solar heated buildings. In order to relate comfort levels in non-uniform environments to uniform conditions, a new thermal index called the “equivalent uniform temperature” is introduced.     

Climatic potential for passive cooling of buildings by night-time ventilation in Europe

Due to an overall trend towards less heating and more cooling demands in buildings in many European countries over the last few decades, passive cooling by night-time ventilation is seen as a promising technique, particularly for commercial buildings in the moderate or cold climates of Central, Eastern and Northern Europe. The basic concept involves cooling the building structure overnight in order to provide a heat sink that is available during the occupancy period. In this study, the potential for passive cooling of buildings by night-time ventilation was evaluated by analysing climatic data, without considering any building-specific parameters. An approach for calculating degree–hours based on a variable building temperature – within a standardized range of thermal comfort – is presented and applied to climatic data of 259 stations all over Europe. The results show a high potential for night-time ventilative cooling over the whole of Northern Europe and still significant potential in Central, Eastern and even some regions of Southern Europe. However, due to the inherent stochastic properties of weather patterns, a series of warmer nights can occur at some locations, where passive cooling by night-time ventilation alone might not be sufficient to guarantee thermal comfort.     

FUTURE RESEARCH ACTIONS IN PASSIVE COOLING

The PASCOOL program was the most important European project on passive cooling of buildings. The project addressed topics included solar control, the combined effect of ventilation and thermal mass, thermal comfort during summer and the potential of natural cooling techniques. PASCOOL put in evidence also the axes towards which future research on passive cooling should be oriented. This research, giving the continuously increasing trend of energy consumption for cooling purposes, is absolutely necessary in order to take advantage of the complete potential that passive cooling can offer to buildings while maintaining the living standards, health and comfort of the occupants. This paper presents these future issues that comprise (a) research on the microclimatic scale in order to address the impact of outdoor environment on the cooling load of buildings, (b) investigation of comfort requirements under transient conditions during summer, (c) research on natural ventilation in urban environments and the impact of outdoor pollution on indoor air quality, (d) development of alternative cooling systems and techniques, (e) development of integrating design concepts optimising the use of solar heating, passive cooling and natural light in buildings.     

Performance of a low-energy house in a mild cooling season. Part 1: Thermal performance of the house

A low-energy house located in Halifax, Canada, was monitored for a year using a computerized data acquisition system. Data on indoor and outdoor temperatures, relative humidities, and power consumption were collected for a whole year. The results of the analysis of cooling season data are presented. It was found that indoor temperature variations in the house were generally small, indicating a high level of comfort. The cooling load, and the cooling energy requirement of the house were low owing to the high level of insulation, and could further be reduced by increasing the thermostat setting. This however would reduce the comfort level in the house. Temperature set-up during unoccupied periods did not reduce daily cooling energy requirement, and addition of an economizer control would not be feasible owing to the small magnitude of potential savings.     

Effect of passive techniques on interior temperature in small houses in the dry, hot climate of northwestern Mexico

A simple lumped parameter model is used to represent the time variations of internal temperature of a simple house, under hot, extreme weather variation, characteristic of northwestern Mexico. Results are validated by experimental work in a physical model without ventilation, with materials and building techniques typical of low-income family housing in this region. Energy balance in the present work is achieved by means of a system of three simultaneous differential equations, each depicting energy equilibrium in one of the basic building elements: the window glazing, the building materials, and inside air. With the mathematical model properly calibrated, heat transfer coefficients between walls, ceiling and windows are calculated. Passive techniques, such as window shading, orientation and thermal inertia, are evaluated by a normalized temperature index. Results show that interior temperature in the house can be reduced resulting in comfort increase. Then economical pertinence of studied passive elements can be evaluated.     

A new scheme for cooling tower water conservation in arid-zone countries

Cooling towers (CTs) that are used for heat rejection in water-cooled (WC) systems consume a large quantity of water, which is generally not available naturally. CTs are selected when the maximal cooling load is desired and under the worst design conditions. Typically, CTs operate under partial-load conditions and/or favorable weather conditions. Moreover, for most of the summer season, the dry bulb temperature (DBT) of the incoming ambient air is significantly greater than the incoming hot water temperature, and the air undergoes sensible cooling. Currently, the control scheme that is commonly used in most CTs maintains a constant exiting water temperature for different cooling loads and a different ambient wet bulb temperature (WBT) by regulating the air circulation through the CT. The air circulation is reduced with the help of a variable frequency drive (VFD), which results in a significant reduction in the fan power of the CT. This paper presents an assessment of CT performance with a VFD application using a computer simulation program and illustrates a proposed scheme for maximal water savings. These theoretical results demonstrated that reducing the air flow by applying a VFD in a CT can achieve at least a 25% reduction in water consumption.     

Indirect evaporative cooling of air to a sub-wet bulb temperature

Indirect evaporative cooling is a sustainable method for cooling of air. The main constraint that limits the wide use of evaporative coolers is the ultimate temperature of the process, which is the wet bulb temperature of ambient air. In this paper, a method is presented to produce air at a sub-wet bulb temperature by indirect evaporative cooling, without using a vapour compression machine. The main idea consists of manipulating the air flow inside the cooler by branching the working air from the product air, which is indirectly pre-cooled, before it is finally cooled and delivered. A model for the heat and mass transfer process is developed. Four types of coolers are studied: three two-stage coolers (a counter flow, a parallel flow and a combined parallel-regenerative flow) and a single-stage counter flow regenerative cooler.It is concluded that the proposed method for indirect evaporative cooling is capable of cooling air to temperatures lower than the ambient wet bulb temperature. The ultimate temperature for such a process is the dew point temperature of the ambient air. The wet bulb cooling effectiveness (E_wb) for the examples studied is 1.26, 1.09 and 1.31 for the two-stage counter flow, parallel flow and combined parallel-regenerative cooler, respectively, and it is 1.16 for the single-stage counter flow regenerative cooler. Such a method extends the potential of useful utilisation of evaporative coolers for cooling of buildings as well as other industrial applications.     

Performance evaluation of passive cooling in office buildings based on uncertainty and sensitivity analysis

Natural night ventilation is an interesting passive cooling method in moderate climates. Driven by wind and stack generated pressures, it cools down the exposed building structure at night, in which the heat of the previous day is accumulated. The performance of natural night ventilation highly depends on the external weather conditions and especially on the outdoor temperature. An increase of this outdoor temperature is noticed over the last century and the IPCC predicts an additional rise to the end of this century. A methodology is needed to evaluate the reliable operation of the indoor climate of buildings in case of warmer and uncertain summer conditions. The uncertainty on the climate and on other design data can be very important in the decision process of a building project.The aim of this research is to develop a methodology to predict the performance of natural night ventilation using building energy simulation taking into account the uncertainties in the input. The performance evaluation of natural night ventilation is based on uncertainty and sensitivity analysis.The results of the uncertainty analysis showed that thermal comfort in a single office cooled with single-sided night ventilation had the largest uncertainty. The uncertainties on thermal comfort in case of passive stack and cross ventilation were substantially smaller. However, since wind, as the main driving force for cross ventilation, is highly variable, the cross ventilation strategy required larger louvre areas than the stack ventilation strategy to achieve a similar performance. The differences in uncertainty between the orientations were small.Sensitivity analysis was used to determine the most dominant set of input parameters causing the uncertainty on thermal comfort. The internal heat gains, solar heat gain coefficient of the sunblinds, internal convective heat transfer coefficient, thermophysical properties related to thermal mass, set-point temperatures controlling the natural night ventilation, the discharge coefficient C_d of the night ventilation opening and the wind pressure coefficients C_p were identified to have the largest impact on the uncertainty of thermal comfort.The impact of the warming climate on the uncertainty of thermal comfort was determined. The uncertainty on thermal comfort appeared to increase significantly when a weather data set with recurrence time of 10 years (warm weather) was applied in the transient simulations in stead of a standard weather data set. Natural night ventilation, designed for normal weather conditions, was clearly not able to ensure a high probability of good thermal comfort in warm weather. To ensure a high probability of good thermal comfort and to reduce the performance uncertainty in a warming climate, natural night ventilation has to be combined with additional measures. Different measures were analysed, based on the results of the sensitivity analysis. All the measures were shown to significantly decrease the uncertainty of thermal comfort in warm weather. The study showed the importance to carry out simulations with a warm weather data set together with the analysis under typical conditions. This approach allows to gain a better understanding of the performance of a natural night ventilation design, and to optimize the design to a robust solution.     

Further progress in the research of fin‐based passive cooling technique for the free‐standing silicon photovoltaic panels

The paper deals with a passive air‐based cooling technique of photovoltaic (PV) panels in operating conditions. Cooling technique is done by specific type of using aluminium fins, and its main purpose is to increase the electrical efficiency of the PV panel. An increase in electrical efficiency can be achieved because of temperature degradation effect, where the PV panel yields less power at higher operating temperatures (the PV panel's efficiency can drop by up to 0.5%/°C). To confirm a cooling technique, a medium‐sized PV system was used in a 2‐month experiment. The experiment was done in realistic operating conditions, and all working parameters were thoroughly measured. After the analysis of the data, no significant raise in electrical efficiency was recorded throughout the experiment. A numerical approach was conducted, based on gained experimental data. Developed numerical model gave explanations of experimental results and provided an insight in heat flow through the PV cell. Later on, developed numerical model was used to propose new cooling variations of the fin‐based technique and to further examine the overall potential of air based passive cooling techniques. It was shown that cooling effect by up to 5°C is a realistic expectation for this technique in described operating conditions.     

Performance of the “shower” cooling tower in different climates

The paper summarizes experimental data from testing a new type of a passive cooling system developed by the author, the “Shower” tower, and compares its performance under three different climatic conditions: Los Angeles in California, USA, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and Yokohama (Japan).     

The benefits of combining utility-controlled demand response with residential zoned cooling

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of combining direct load control with a residential zoned-cooling technology in meeting the objectives of reducing peak demand and maintaining home comfort level. In contrast, the traditional approach has been for utilities to smooth summer peak cooling loads, by controlling the cooling load of the whole house. While accounting for weather, dwelling characteristics and demographics, with detailed field data, we are able to develop empirical models to evaluate the benefits of utility control of cooling loads for a residential zoned cooling system during summer peak-demand periods and to compare with non-zoned systems. A zoned house allows for an upper floor cooling interruption without affecting the comfort on the main floor. An upper floor interruption for a full 4 h during the day leads to an average peak air conditioning change of ?0.52 kW, approximately 1.6 times the reduction from the curtailment of cooling by cycling the air conditioning serving the whole house.     

Total analysis of cooling effects of cross-ventilation affected by microclimate around a building

This study aims to develop a simulation system for evaluating the passive cooling effects, such as cross-ventilation, solar shading by trees, etc. Since the passive cooling effects are strongly affected by the spatial distributions of airflow, air temperature and radiative heat transports around a building, the microclimate around a building should be accurately predicted for this type of simulations. In this study, convective and radiative heat transports around buildings are analyzed by CFD (computational fluid dynamics) and radiation computations. Furthermore, the heat load calculation with the program “TRNSYS” was carried out, using the values of the cross-ventilation rates predicted by CFD computation and incoming solar radiation onto the building walls under the shade of trees obtained by the radiation computation as boundary conditions. Indoor velocity and indoor air temperature obtained by the simulation system developed here showed generally good agreement with measured data.     

Development of feasibility approaches for studying the behavior of passive cooling systems in buildings

This study is a contribution to European projects Pascool/Joule II and Altener/Sink that deals with feasibility of passive cooling systems in Europe. The first aim of this work was to define a design methodology to evaluate natural cooling potential according to the climatic quantification criteria of the site, the cooling system performance, and comfort criteria defined by the couple of temperature and relative humidity set points. A simplified approach, based on climatic potential criteria as theoretical cooling potential index, the available potential index, the cooling need index, and the natural cooling normalized capacity, was developed. It was applied to 105 European sites for different types of evaporative cooling systems (direct and indirect), and for various temperature and relative humidity set points. During the second stage, a refined approach taking into account building characteristics and the cooling system performance, was developed. This method is based on the integration of numerical models of passive cooling systems in a thermal building software in order to consider interaction phenomena between cooling system and building. Application of this approach to one building has been done in order to assess energy consumption gain achieved by using passive cooling systems. These two complementary approaches provide helpful information dealing with the feasibility of a passive cooling technique based on comfort and energy saving criteria. They could be used by architects and building designers as helpful decision making tools during the different stages of building design.     

Dual mode cooling house in the warm humid tropics

Passive techniques as an alternative to artificial cooling can bring important energy, environmental, financial, operational and qualitative benefits. However, regions such as the wet tropics can reach high levels of thermal stress in which passive means alone are unable to provide appropriate thermal comfort standards for some parts of the year. Despite a great accumulation of empirical information on the passive performance of houses for either free-running or conditioned modes, very little work has been done on the thermal performance of buildings that can operate with a mixed-running strategy in warm-humid climates. Buildings with such design features are able to balance the needs for comfort, privacy, and energy efficiency during different periods of the year. As free-running and conditioned modes are believed by many to be ‘opposite’ approaches, and have been presented as separate strategies, this paper demonstrates that not all parameters are directly opposite and a possible dual-mode integrated operation can be used for warm-humid locations for maximum comfort and minimum energy requirements. For this purpose, simulation runs using ESP-R (University of Strathclyde, ESRU, UK) were based on the climate data of Darwin (Australia) and on the ventilation styles of the house: free running and conditioned. Design features applicable to both, i.e. for a dual mode operation could be identified and the differences between conditioned and free running were demonstrated and proved not to be totally conflicting and therefore suitable for a dual mode operation. Different daily usage profiles (five use patterns were defined), and zoning of sleeping and living areas are presented. The dual mode use patterns compared to the base case house, for all the user possibilities, had improved performances of 17–52%, when compared to the free-running mode and 66–98% when compared to the conditioned mode. Simulation runs using other warm-humid climates (Miami, USA; Sao Luis, Brazil; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) were also conducted and compared to the results found for Darwin.