Incorporating Phase Change Materials (PCMs) into traditional building structures has been considered as an effective way to reduce the mismatch between energy supply and demand and in turn to minimise energy consumption (cooling/heating energy). For building applications, Phase Change Material...

Existing strategies for residential energy savings through physical renovation or motivating occupant energy conservation behavior can be costly and/or have transitory effects. Focusing on multi-family dwellings, an important subset of the urban residential sector, we propose an Energy Saving...

Heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are typical non-linear time-variable multivariate systems with disturbances and uncertainties. In this paper, an approach based on a combined neuro-fuzzy model for dynamic and automatic regulation of indoor temperature is proposed. The...

Electrochromic windows can be described as devices based on electrochromic materials that work as reversible switching optical shutters, different device concepts and their electrochemical principles will be described.

The users’ perceptions of thermal comfort in 36 sustainable commercial and institutional buildings in 11 countries have been investigated. This paper describes and analyses the users’ overall perceptions of temperature and of air quality in both summer and winter, and in particular whether...

In buildings with heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC), the Predicted Mean Vote index (PMV) was successful at predicting comfort conditions, whereas in naturally ventilated buildings, only adaptive models provide accurate predictions. On the other hand, permeable coverings can be...

Planted roofs are passive cooling techniques that reduce the thermal load of buildings. In this paper, the authors have developed a model for evaluating the cooling potential of green roofs. Transfer equations are solved using a finite difference scheme and Thomas algorithm. The study was...

With increased global concerns on climate change, the need for innovative spaces which can provide thermal comfort and energy efficiency is also increasing. This paper analyses the effects of transitional spaces on energy performance and indoor thermal comfort of low-rise dwellings in the...

This study is based on the analysis of the data obtained through a yearlong thermal comfort survey in one of the even naturally ventilated buildings in Oxford. It is concerned with how much the use of available controls contributes to thermal comfort by modifying the indoor thermal environment....

In the Netherlands with respect to sustainable educational building the main focus has been on energy saving. Recently some schools were built as rather environmental friendly schools with more attention to comfort and health aspects. The first NZEB designed school is analyzed and the results...