The global climate has been affected adversely due to the emissions of large amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and there is an urgent need for emissions reduction. Carbon dioxide is a major greenhouse gas and the reduction of its emissions is indispensable to the achievement of sustainable development. The building sector is a major source of carbon dioxide emissions and one way to reduce the emissions is uplifting the energy efficiency of existing buildings by conducting sustainable building refurbishment. As cost would affect the decisions on sustainable building refurbishment strategies, it is necessary to examine the cost of various sustainable refurbishment solutions for existing buildings. Unfortunately, most of the previous studies focused on the technical side with little effort being directed to cost side. Therefore, cost analysis of sustainable building refurbishment solutions should be conducted to fill the research gap. The aim of the research is to develop a cost estimation model to facilitate decision makers to evaluate the cost of sustainable building refurbishment solutions for residential buildings in Hong Kong by considering various factors affecting the cost. The major research methods include literature review, interview and questionnaire survey. Through literature review, the current practice of sustainable building refurbishment is investigated. A variety of refurbishment solutions including improvement on building envelope, renovation of building services system and the use of renewable energy are reviewed. Cost evaluation techniques commonly used in the construction industry including qualitative techniques, quantitative techniques and intelligent methods are also identified and discussed. Due to the limitations of cost data and previous experience, it is suggested that fuzzy logic theory be adopted to develop the cost estimation model. To facilitate the development of the model, the factors affecting the cost of sustainable building refurbishment solutions are examined through literature review and interview. It is found that market price, complexity, efficiency, economy of scale and disturbance are the dominant factors affecting the fluctuation of cost. Finally, a fuzzy reasoning cost estimation model of sustainable building refurbishment solutions is developed. The model is built based on fuzzy reasoning system. Users can input the information of the project and the model is able to evaluate the cost fluctuation based on the information provided by the users. The model is then validated. The cost estimation model developed in this research provides a new way for the construction industry practitioners to estimate the cost of sustainable building refurbishment projects effectively and efficiently. / published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

This thesis examines existing rehabilitation and environmental guidelines to determine whether the guidelines are incorporating the necessary building science knowledge to ensure that insulation is performing as intended and thus promoting energy efficiency, cost effectiveness, and environmental sustainability. The results of analyzing the existing guidelines show that they do not require all that is necessary to promote energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. While several of the guidelines have started to incorporate the necessary building science perspective by requiring a whole house air leakage test, none of the guidelines examined specifically require the zonal pressure diagnostics test necessary to ensure that insulation is working to specification. The thesis also includes a comprehensive overview of environmental sustainability and rehabilitation. / Department of Urban Planning

Orientador: Osmar de Carvalho Bueno / Coorientador: Silvia Regina Lucas de Souza / Banca: Osmar Delmanto Junior / Banca: Marco Antonio Martin Biaggioni / Resumo: O crescente aumento dos custos energéticos e ambientais no setor da construção civil tem levado ao surgimento e à adoção de materiais e soluções construtivas que ofereçam menor impacto ambiental e menores gastos na produção das edificações. Considerando-se a importância progressiva que sistemas construtivos não convencionais vêm adquirindo, frente aos elevados custos da energia e da produção, torna-se importante analisar a eficiência energética como mais um indicativo da eficácia dos sistemas de produção de edificações. Sendo assim, o presente trabalho teve por objetivo mensurar os conteúdos energéticos dos materiais utilizados na construção de modelos arquitetônicos habitacionais propostos pelo Programa Nacional de Habitação Rural (PNHR) e implantados nos municípios de Itararé e São Miguel Arcanjo, interior do estado de São Paulo, para obter uma estimativa da energia empregada na construção de uma moradia que apresente condições adequadas de ambiência aos trabalhadores rurais e agricultores familiares. Para tal, a execução da unidade de habitação foi dividida em cinco etapas de construção a serem analisadas: fundação, piso, fechamento (alvenaria), revestimento e cobertura. Informações e dados sobre os projetos, técnicas construtivas e os materiais empregados na execução das unidades habitacionais foram obtidos em visitas realizadas a campo, diretamente com os técnicos responsáveis pelas obras e através de material disponibilizado pela Federação dos Trabalhadores na Agricultura Familiar do Estado de São Paulo (Fetaesp), entidade responsável pela implantação das unidades estudadas em Itararé e São Miguel Arcanjo. Ao realizar a avaliação energética dos materiais de construção utilizados, verificam-se os níveis de dependência energética das etapas construtivas e, assim, compreendem-se as necessidades de adequação do projeto do ... / Abstract: The ongoing increase of energetic and environmental costs of the civil construction sector has been promoting the development and use of environmentally friendly materials and constructive solutions that may yield lesser expenses during construction. Given the increase of importance that these alternative systems has been gaining, and taking into consideration the increase of energy and production costs, it becomes important to analyze the energetic efficiency as an indicator of effectiveness of the edification production system. Given this, this present work aims to measure the energetic content of the materials used in the construction of a housing architectonic model proposed by the National Program of Rural Housing (NPRH) implemented in the counties of Itararé and São Miguel Arcanjo, in the state of São Paulo, to obtain an estimative of energy used during the construction of a house that presents the adequate conditions of ambience to the rural employees and familiar farmers. For such, the execution of this housing unit was divided in five steps of construction to be analyzed: foundation, floor, finishing, coverings and coverage. Information and data of the project, constructive techniques and the materials used during the execution of the housing units were obtained during visits to the field, directly with the responsible technicians for the constructions and through materials supplied by the Federation of Workers in Family Farming of the state of São Paulo (Fetaesp), responsible entity for the NPRH implementations in Itararé and São Miguel Arcanjo. While carrying out energetic analysis of the materials used during the construction, the level of energetic dependence was analyzed during the constructive steps and, therefore, the need of a project adequacy of the architectonic housing model proposed by the National Program of Rural Housing is comprehended. To measure the energetic ... / Mestre

The housing estates boom was and is a result of the Southeast Asia economic growth after the economic crisis between 1997 and 1998. Housing estates, especially in the suburbs of Bangkok, are designed by considering only aesthetics and costs without considering the negative effects that might occur to the occupants and nature. These negative effects lead to the insufficiency energy crisis.Determining how to reduce the energy used and increase the living quality in the building type is the critical question for architects to answer. Redesigning the housing estate using sustainable design concepts, especially with a focus on the natural ventilation and shading device strategies, can lift up the occupants' living quality because such design can provide cross ventilation through the house and solar shading to reduce the heat gain in the house. Not only would such design improvements make houses more comfortable for inhabitants, they also would reduce the energy use.The methodologies of research start with spatial analyses to define the general character of this type of house, then the redesigning of a selected existing house is used to focus on natural ventilation and shading devices design in order to improve the occupants living quality and to reduce the energy used in the house. It is hoped that this project can be the first step for other architects to understand the logic of natural ventilation and shading control design strategies within the realm of sustainability. / Department of Architecture

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Richard Alan Daynard. / Ph.D.