Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T15:14:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alcione Rodrigo Tessaro.pdf: 1100733 bytes, checksum: 63be0e820d7b5f4c86fcab5ed0bf8617 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-09-21 / This research aimed to create two prototypes for general heating of aviary cutting the first prototype mounted from a heat pump air/air, and the second prototype mounted from passing an electric heater. As a specific objective to assess the energy performance of prototype 1 simulating various scenarios of temperature and air velocities of passage in its condenser, and compare this performance with the electrical efficiency of the prototype 2. The experiment was conducted at the Experimental Station of agro-meteorological State University of West of Paraná, Cascavel Campus, a Latitude 24º 59' South, Longitude 53º 26' West and altitude of 682 m in the period june-july 2011. From the data collected in prototypes 1 and 2 were calculated their coefficient of performance and energy efficiency. The survey results showed that the coefficient of performance heat pump prototype 1 ranged from 1.22 to 2.58 as a function of temperature of -3 to 30°C in its evaporator and varying the speed of air passing through your condenser. The best efficiency achieved by the prototype 2 was 0.96. Comparing the prototype, it was found that prototype 1 consumed 54% less electricity to produce the same amount of heat that the prototype 2, considering the same conditions of temperature and air velocity of passage. In relation to its applicability poultry, it was estimated that prototype 1 is able to meet the calorific requirement and temperature of a batch of up to 396 chicks in its initial phase, while the prototype 2 supply a maximum of up to 148 chicks. To this end, it was concluded that the prototype 1 in this work, assembled from a heat pump air/air, demonstrated technically be a new alternative system for heating of poultry cut because its technology employed is energy-efficient, also achieved the characteristics of zootechnical from temperature and air velocities required in an aviary of court. / A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo geral criar dois protótipos para aquecimento de aviário de corte, o primeiro protótipo montado a partir de uma bomba de calor ar/ar, e o segundo protótipo montado a partir de um aquecedor elétrico de passagem. Como objetivo especifico avaliar o desempenho energético do protótipo 1 simulando diversas situações possíveis de temperatura ambiente e velocidades do ar de passagem em seu condensador, e comparar esse desempenho com a eficiência elétrica do protótipo 2. O experimento foi conduzido na Estação Experimental Agro-meteorológica da Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná, Campus de Cascavel, a uma Latitude 24º59 Sul, Longitude de 53º26 Oeste e altitude de 682 m, no período de junho a julho de 2011. A partir dos dados coletados nos protótipos 1 e 2 foram calculados os seus respectivos coeficiente de desempenho e eficiência energética. Os resultados da pesquisa mostraram que o coeficiente de desempenho da bomba de calor do protótipo 1 variou de 1,22 à 2,58 em função da variação da temperatura de -3 à 30oC no seu evaporador e da variação da velocidade do ar de passagem pelo seu condensador. A melhor eficiência alcançada pelo protótipo 2 foi 0,96. Na comparação entre os protótipos, verificou-se que o protótipo 1 consumiu 54% menos energia elétrica para produzir a mesma quantidade de calor que o protótipo 2, considerando as mesmas condições de temperatura ambiente e velocidade do ar de passagem aplicada. Em relação a sua aplicabilidade avícola, estimou-se que o protótipo 1 é capaz de suprir as necessidades caloríficas e de temperatura de um lote de até 396 pintainhos, em sua fase inicial, enquanto o protótipo 2 supri um máximo de até 148 pintainhos. Para tanto, concluiu-se neste trabalho que o protótipo 1, montado a partir de uma bomba de calor ar/ar demonstrou ser tecnicamente um novo sistema alternativo no aquecimento de aviários de corte, pois sua tecnologia empregada é energeticamente eficiente, além de alcançar as características zootécnicas de temperatura e velocidades do ar exigidas em um aviário de corte.

The retail sector accounts for more than 3% of the total electricity consumption in the UK and approximately 1% of total UK CO2 emissions. The overarching aim of this project was to understand the energy consumption of the Tesco estate (the market leader), identify best practice, and find ways to identify opportunities for energy reduction. The literature review of this work covered the topic of energy consumption in the retail sector, and reviewed benchmarks for this type of buildings from the UK, Europe and the US. Related data analysis techniques used in the industry or presented in the literature were also reviewed. This revealed that there are many different analysis and forecasting techniques available, and that they fall into two different categories: techniques that require past energy consumption data in order to calculate the future consumption, such as statistical regression, and techniques that are able to estimate the energy consumption of buildings, based on the specific building's characteristics, such as thermal simulation models. These are usually used for new buildings, but they could also be used in benchmarking exercises, in order to achieve best practice guides. Gaps in the industry knowledge were identified, and it was suggested that better analytical tools would enable the industry to create more accurate energy budgets for the year ahead leading to better operating margins. Benchmarks for the organisation's buildings were calculated. Retail buildings in the Tesco estate were found to have electrical intensity values between 230 kWh/m2 and 2000 kWh/m2 per year. Still the average electrical intensity of these buildings in 2010-11 was found to be less than the calculated UK average of the 2006-07 period. The effect of weather on gas and electricity consumption was investigated, and was found to be significant (p < 0.001). There was an effect related to the day-of-the-week, but this was found to be more related to the sales volume on those days. Sales volume was a proxy that was used to represent the number of customers walking through the stores. The built date of the building was also considered to be an interesting factor, as the building regulations changed significantly throughout the years and the sponsor did not usually carry out any fabric work when refurbishing the stores. User behaviour was also identified as an important factor that needed to be investigated further, relating to both how the staff perceives and manages the energy consumption in their work environment, as well as how the customers use the refrigeration equipment. Following a statistical analysis, significant factors were determined and used to create multiple linear regression models for electricity and gas demands in hypermarkets. Significant factors included the sales floor area of the store, the stock composition, and a factor representing the thermo-physical characteristics of the envelope. Two of the key findings are the statistical significance of operational usage factors, represented by volume of sales, on annual electricity demand and the absence of any statistically significant operational or weather related factors on annual gas demand. The results suggest that by knowing as little as four characteristics of a food retail store (size of sales area, sales volume, product mix, year of construction) one can confidently calculate its annual electricity demands (R2=0.75, p < 0.001). Similarly by knowing the size of the sales area, product mix, ceiling height and number of floors, one can calculate the annual gas demands (R2=0.5, p < 0.001). Using the models created, along with the actual energy consumption of stores, stores that are not as energy efficient as expected can be isolated and investigated further in order to understand the reason for poor energy performance. Refrigeration data from 10 stores were investigated, including data such as the electricity consumption of the pack, outside air temperature, discharge and suction pressure, as well as percentage of refrigerant gas in the receiver. Data mining methods (regression and Fourier transforms) were employed to remove known operational patterns (e.g. defrost cycles) and seasonal variations. Events that have had an effect on the electricity consumption of the system were highlighted and faults that had been identified by the existing methodology were filtered out. The resulting dataset was then analysed further to understand the events that increase the electricity demand of the systems in order to create an automatic identification method. The cases analysed demonstrated that the method presented could form part of a more advanced automatic fault detection solution; potential faults were difficult to identify in the original electricity dataset. However, treating the data with the method designed as part of this work has made it simpler to identify potential faults, and isolate probable causes. It was also shown that by monitoring the suction pressure of the packs, alongside the compressor run-times, one could identify further opportunities for electricity consumption reduction.

Following several years of research and development around the subject of BIM, its impact on the design and handover of buildings is now becoming visible across the construction industry. Changes in design procedures and information management methods indicate the potential for greater utilisation of a Common Data Environment in areas other than design. To identify how these changes are influencing the engineering design process, and adapt this process to the needs and requirements of building performance management requires consideration of multiple factors, relating mainly to the stakeholders and processes employed in these procedures. This thesis is the culmination of a four year Engineering Doctorate exploring how BIM could be used to support non-domestic building energy performance management. It begins with an introduction to the research aim and objectives, then presents a thorough review of the subject area and the methodologies employed for the research. Research is split between eight sequential tasks using literature review, interviews, data analysis and case-study application from which findings, conclusions and key recommendations are made. Findings demonstrate disparity between different information environments and provide insight into the necessary steps to enable connection between BIM and monitored building energy performance information. They highlight the following factors essential to providing an information environment suitable for BIM applied performance management: Skills in handling information and the interface between various environments; Technology capable of producing structured and accurate information, supporting efficient access for interconnection with other environments; and Processes that define the standards to which information is classified, stored and modified, with responsibility for its creation and modification made clear throughout the building life-cycle. A prototype method for the linking of BIM and monitored building energy performance data is demonstrated for a case-study building, encountering many of the technical barriers preventing replication on other projects. Methodological challenges are identified using review of existing building design and operation procedures. In conclusion the research found that BIM is still in its infancy, and while efforts are being made to apply it in novel ways to support efficient operation, several challenges remain. Opportunities for building energy performance improvement may be visualised using the modelling environment BIM provides, and the ability to interface with descriptive performance data suggests the future potential for BIM utilisation post-handover.

O setor da construção civil é hoje considerado não somente o maior consumidor de recursos e energia, mas também o maior gerador de resíduos nos centros urbanos. Uma reformulação no setor faz-se necessária para a melhoria dos processos de produção e prevenção dos efeitos da poluição. Estas mudanças são essenciais para que se desenvolvam tecnologias construtivas mais limpas e mais eficientes, que reduzam os impactos ao meio ambiente através de um uso mais racional dos recursos naturais (com menor consumo energético e diminuição dos resíduos gerados), minimizando o desperdício de matéria-prima já escassas. Este trabalho foi realizado a partir de dados coletados em 10 serrarias que processam madeira serrada de pinus na região administrativa de Sorocaba. Nesta região concentra-se atualmente o maior potencial madeireiro do Estado de São Paulo, 42,3% de toda a área de florestas plantadas do Estado, sendo também o maior centro produtor de pinus do Estado, com 58,5%. Esses dados foram convertidos para o cálculo do consumo energético no processamento do eucalipto. Dada a relevância do consumo de energia e a quantidade de entulhos gerados pelo setor da construção civil, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo analisar, dentro da cadeia produtiva da madeira serrada, o consumo energético e os resíduos gerados na produção de componentes construtivos utilizados em painéis de vedação para casas de madeira. Foram analisadas peças de seções comerciais utilizadas em três tipos diferentes de painéis. Dois destes sistemas pré-fabricados, executados na cidade de São Carlos - SP, possuem sistema estrutural em madeira serrada de eucalipto com paredes duplas de pinus. Um deles possui na face interna, lambri e, na externa, deck horizontal, enquanto o outro sistema construtivo possui na face interna, lambri e, na face externa, tábua mata-junta. O terceiro sistema de vedação, construído em Campos do Jordão - SP, é composto por estrutura em pórticos de madeira serrada de pinus com paredes externas de fechamento duplo de lambri de 2,2 cm de espessura. A parede interna é simples com apenas uma camada de lambri de igual espessura. O consumo de energia foi medido para cada tipologia de painel construído, calculando-se o número de operações de corte e a potência de cada equipamento envolvido. Os resíduos gerados foram obtidos a partir do cálculo da área de material particulado removido. O índice de desempenho energético foi aferido em kWh por metro quadrado de painel (energia) e em metros cúbicos por metro quadrado de painel (resíduo). Estes resultados poderão vir a ser comparados com diferentes materiais de construção utilizados em sistemas de vedação, assim como fornecer informações para análise do grau de sustentabilidade na produção de um edifício de madeira em relação ao consumo energético. / The civil construction sector today is considered not only the greatest consumer of material and energy resources in urban centres, but also a major generator of waste. The sector needs a reformulation for the improvement of production and for the prevention of pollution. It is therefore essential to consider cleaner and more efficient technological processes, i. e., to decrease environmental impacts through a more rational use of resources (with lower consumption of energy anbd less production-related waste), minimizing the squandering of scarce resources. The study reported on here was based on data collected from ten pine sawmills in the region of Sorocaba, state of São Paulo, Brazil. This region currently possesses the greatest potential for sawed wood in the state of São Paulo, 42.3% of all the forest planted in State, and is the state\'s largest pinewood producer, about 58.5%. Those datas were also aplicated to calculate the energy consumed for sawn eucalyptus pieces. Given the relevance of energy consumption and the quantity of produced rubbish by the construction sector, the purpose of this work is to analyse the consumption of energy and the produced waste in the productive cycle of boards for wooden housing, from the cutting stage, processing, and prefabrication of componentes to the assembly of wall panels. This study involved wooden boards of commercial dimensions applied in three different types of panelling in three buildings. Two of theseprefabricated systems, executed in the city of São Carlos, have a structural system made of sawn eucalyptus wood with double walls of pine. One of them is lined internally with wainscoting and externally with horizontal decking, while the other system has internal wainscotting and external match boarding. The third system, built in Campos de Jordão, is composed of a structural framework of sawed pine, with external double shutter walls of 2.2 mm match boarding and simple internal walls consisting of a single layer of 2.2 mm thick match boarding. The consumption of energy was measured for each kind of board produced, calculated from the number of cutting operations and the power of each machines involved. The produced waste was calculated by the area of removed particulate material. The energy performance index were expressed in kWh consumed per square meter of wood panel produced (enegy) and in m3 produced per square meter of wood panel produced (waste). These data will serve as the basis for a comparison with various types of construction materials used in wall systems (concrete, brick and others), and provide information for the analysis of the sustainability of wooden construction systems from the standpoint of energy consumption.

<p>Today many professional property holders use different types of software for monthly energy analyses. The data is however often limited to energy and water use, that is paid for by the property holder. In year 2001, financed by the Swedish Energy Agency, the first steps were taken to create a national web based data base, eNyckeln. A property holder may then enter consumption data together with about 50 other building specific parameters to this data base in order to enable benchmarking and energy performance evaluations. Due to EU-regulations and the increasing awareness of energy and environmental issues there is a large interest in evaluating the energy performance and also to identify effective energy retrofits. The used energy performance indicator is still only the annual energy use for heating per square meter of area to let, kWh/m²,year, despite the fact that monthly data often are available. The main problem with this indicator, which is the stipulated measure, is that it reflects a lot of user influence and that only a part of the total energy use is considered. The main focus of this thesis is to explore the possibilities, based on the national data base, to extract additional energy information about multi family buildings (MFB) using monthly data in combination with different assumed consumption pattern but also to identify potential for energy savings. For the latter a multivariate method was used to identify relations between the energy use and building specific parameters. The analysis gave clear indications that the available area, the area to let, is not appropriate for normalization purposes since the remaining heated area can be significant. Due to this fact, the analysis was mainly limited to qualitative conclusions. As measure of the buildings energy characteristic, the total heat loss coefficient, <em>K_tot</em>,(W/ºK) is determined and the robustness for the estimate of<em> K_tot</em> to different assumptions of user behaviour is investigated. The result shows that the value of <em>K_tot</em> is fairly insensitive to different indoor temperature, use of domestic hot water and household electricity. With the addition of m² it can of course be used for benchmarking. Using the mentioned measure of the buildings energy characteristic for validating the energy performance has a clear advantage compared to the traditional kWh/m², since the user behaviour is of minor importance. As a result of this an improved analysis of the energy performance will be obtained. A guarantee for new buildings energy performance based on this method is therefore a challenge for the building sector to develop.</p>

Energy prices are on the rise, and with it the interest in saving energy. In the housing sector this means that methods for energy optimising buildings, retrofitting, are increasingly important. There are many studies concerning the retrofitting of buildings built before 2000, but less concerning buildings of more recent date. In cooperation with the housing company Uppsalahem, this report explores minor retrofitting solutions for the apartment buildings in Ekebyvallen/Uppsala which were built 2007. The aim was foremost to find solutions for Ekebyvallen but also to assess the possibilities of applying them to a wider range of buildings. A simulation of the energy balance in one of the buildings in Ekebyvallen was performed with the software VIP energy. The simulation together with a field study show weak spots of the energy usage in the buildings and based on these four retrofitting solutions were proposed. The methods; 1) reducing the airflow in the ventilation units, 2) adjusting the heating in common areas, 3) reducing air leakage out of buildings and 4) adjusting the settings of lighting sensors and timers. All are effectively free from investments and also applicable on buildings with similar issues. Thus, these are effective methods of saving energy and consequently, saving money in recently built buildings. The methods are tailored for Ekebyvallen but are with benefit considered for apartment buildings of both recent date and those built before 2000.

In the quest for improving building energy efficiency raising the level of performance of the building enclosure has become critical. As the thermal performance of the building enclosure improves so does the overall energy efficiency of the building. One key component in determining the energy performance of the building enclosure is windows. Windows have an integral role in determining the energy performance of a building by allowing light and heat from the sun to enter into a space. Energy efficient buildings take advantage of this free solar energy to help offset heating energy consumption and electric lighting loads. However, windows are traditionally the least insulating component of the modern building assembly. With excessive use, larger window areas can lead to greater occupant discomfort and energy consumption from greater night-time heat loss, higher peak and total cooling energy demand from unwanted solar gains, and discomfort glare. As a result, windows must be carefully designed to not only minimize heat loss, but also effectively control solar gains to maintain both a thermally and visually comfortable environment for the appropriate climate region and orientation. In this thesis, a complete analysis of window assemblies for commercial office buildings is presented. The analysis is divided into three sections: the Insulated Glazing Unit (IGU), the Curtain Wall Section (frames), and the overall energy performance of a typical office building. The first section investigates the performance characteristics of typical and high performance IGUs, specifically its insulating value (Ucg), its solar heat gain properties (Solar Heat Gain Coefficient, SHGC), and its visual transmittance (VT) through one-dimensional heat transfer and solar-optical modeling. Mechanisms of heat transfer across IGUs were investigated giving insight into the parameters that had the most significant effect on improving each performance characteristic. With a through understanding of IGU performance, attainable performance limits for each of property were generated from combining of different glazing materials, fill gases, and coatings. Through the right combination of materials IGU performance can be significantly altered. The U-value performance of IGUs ranges from 2.68 W/m2K (R-2.1) for a double-glazed, clear, air filled IGU to 0.27 W/m2K (R-21) for a quint-glazed, low-E, xenon filled high performance IGU. The second part of the thesis looks at the thermal performance of curtain wall sections that hold the IGU through two-dimensional heat transfer modeling. Similar to the IGUs, heat transfer mechanisms were studied to by substituting different materials to determine which components are crucial to thermal performance. From this analysis improvements were made to typical curtain wall design that significantly reduces the overall heat transfer within the frame section, producing a high performance curtain wall section. With simple modifications, a high performance curtain wall section can reduce its U-value by as much as 81% over a typical curtain wall section, going from 13.39 W/m2K to 2.57 W/m2K. Thus significantly reducing the U-value of curtain wall systems, particularly for smaller windows. The final part of the thesis examines the impact of typical and high performance windows on the energy performance of perimeter offices of a high-rise commercial building located in Southern Ontario. An hourly simulation model was set up to evaluate both the annual and peak energy consumption of a typical perimeter office space. The office faced the four cardinal directions of north, east, south, and west to evaluate the effect of orientation. The model also included continuous dimming lighting controls to make use of the available daylight. The effect of exterior shading on perimeter space energy performance was also investigated with both dynamic and static exterior shading devices. The results of the simulations revealed that window properties have very little influence on the energy performance of a high internal heat gain office, that is typical of older offices with less energy efficient office equipment and lighting and a higher occupant density. Conversely, window properties, particularly the insulating value of the window, has a greater effect on the energy performance of a mid to low internal heat gain office that is typical of most modern day commercial buildings. The results show windows with lower U-values yet higher SHGC are preferred over windows of similar U-values but with lower SHGC. The results also indicate that both static and dynamic shading have very little effect on energy performance of mid to low internal heat gain offices. From this analysis optimal window areas in the form of window-to-wall ratios (WWR) are presented for each orientation for mid to low internal heat gain offices. The optimal WWR for south-facing facades are between 0.50 to 0.66, and 0.30 to 0.50 for east-, west-, and north-facing facades, while for high internal heat gain perimeter spaces window areas should be kept to a minimum.

In the quest for improving building energy efficiency raising the level of performance of the building enclosure has become critical. As the thermal performance of the building enclosure improves so does the overall energy efficiency of the building. One key component in determining the energy performance of the building enclosure is windows. Windows have an integral role in determining the energy performance of a building by allowing light and heat from the sun to enter into a space. Energy efficient buildings take advantage of this free solar energy to help offset heating energy consumption and electric lighting loads. However, windows are traditionally the least insulating component of the modern building assembly. With excessive use, larger window areas can lead to greater occupant discomfort and energy consumption from greater night-time heat loss, higher peak and total cooling energy demand from unwanted solar gains, and discomfort glare. As a result, windows must be carefully designed to not only minimize heat loss, but also effectively control solar gains to maintain both a thermally and visually comfortable environment for the appropriate climate region and orientation. In this thesis, a complete analysis of window assemblies for commercial office buildings is presented. The analysis is divided into three sections: the Insulated Glazing Unit (IGU), the Curtain Wall Section (frames), and the overall energy performance of a typical office building. The first section investigates the performance characteristics of typical and high performance IGUs, specifically its insulating value (Ucg), its solar heat gain properties (Solar Heat Gain Coefficient, SHGC), and its visual transmittance (VT) through one-dimensional heat transfer and solar-optical modeling. Mechanisms of heat transfer across IGUs were investigated giving insight into the parameters that had the most significant effect on improving each performance characteristic. With a through understanding of IGU performance, attainable performance limits for each of property were generated from combining of different glazing materials, fill gases, and coatings. Through the right combination of materials IGU performance can be significantly altered. The U-value performance of IGUs ranges from 2.68 W/m2K (R-2.1) for a double-glazed, clear, air filled IGU to 0.27 W/m2K (R-21) for a quint-glazed, low-E, xenon filled high performance IGU. The second part of the thesis looks at the thermal performance of curtain wall sections that hold the IGU through two-dimensional heat transfer modeling. Similar to the IGUs, heat transfer mechanisms were studied to by substituting different materials to determine which components are crucial to thermal performance. From this analysis improvements were made to typical curtain wall design that significantly reduces the overall heat transfer within the frame section, producing a high performance curtain wall section. With simple modifications, a high performance curtain wall section can reduce its U-value by as much as 81% over a typical curtain wall section, going from 13.39 W/m2K to 2.57 W/m2K. Thus significantly reducing the U-value of curtain wall systems, particularly for smaller windows. The final part of the thesis examines the impact of typical and high performance windows on the energy performance of perimeter offices of a high-rise commercial building located in Southern Ontario. An hourly simulation model was set up to evaluate both the annual and peak energy consumption of a typical perimeter office space. The office faced the four cardinal directions of north, east, south, and west to evaluate the effect of orientation. The model also included continuous dimming lighting controls to make use of the available daylight. The effect of exterior shading on perimeter space energy performance was also investigated with both dynamic and static exterior shading devices. The results of the simulations revealed that window properties have very little influence on the energy performance of a high internal heat gain office, that is typical of older offices with less energy efficient office equipment and lighting and a higher occupant density. Conversely, window properties, particularly the insulating value of the window, has a greater effect on the energy performance of a mid to low internal heat gain office that is typical of most modern day commercial buildings. The results show windows with lower U-values yet higher SHGC are preferred over windows of similar U-values but with lower SHGC. The results also indicate that both static and dynamic shading have very little effect on energy performance of mid to low internal heat gain offices. From this analysis optimal window areas in the form of window-to-wall ratios (WWR) are presented for each orientation for mid to low internal heat gain offices. The optimal WWR for south-facing facades are between 0.50 to 0.66, and 0.30 to 0.50 for east-, west-, and north-facing facades, while for high internal heat gain perimeter spaces window areas should be kept to a minimum.

Increasing studies imply that predicted energy performance of buildings significantly deviates from actual measured energy use. This so-called "performance gap" may undermine one's confidence in energy-efficient buildings, and thereby the role of building energy efficiency in the national carbon reduction plan. Closing the performance gap becomes a daunting challenge for the involved professions, stimulating them to reflect on how to investigate and better understand the size, origins, and extent of the gap. The energy performance gap underlines the lack of prediction capability of current building energy models. Specifically, existing predictions are predominantly deterministic, providing point estimation over the future quantity or event of interest. It, thus, largely ignores the error and noise inherent in an uncertain future of building energy consumption. To overcome this, the thesis turns to a thriving area in engineering statistics that focuses on computation-based uncertainty quantification. The work provides theories and models that enable probabilistic prediction over future energy consumption, forming the basis of risk assessment in decision-making. Uncertainties that affect the wide variety of interacting systems in buildings are organized into five scales (meteorology - urban - building - systems - occupants). At each level both model form and input parameter uncertainty are characterized with probability, involving statistical modeling and parameter distributional analysis. The quantification of uncertainty at different system scales is accomplished using the network of collaborators established through an NSF-funded research project. The bottom-up uncertainty quantification approach, which deals with meta uncertainty, is fundamental for generic application of uncertainty analysis across different types of buildings, under different urban climate conditions, and in different usage scenarios. Probabilistic predictions are evaluated by two criteria: coverage and sharpness. The goal of probabilistic prediction is to maximize the sharpness of the predictive distributions subject to the coverage of the realized values. The method is evaluated on a set of buildings on the Georgia Tech campus. The energy consumption of each building is monitored in most cases by a collection of hourly sub-metered consumption data. This research shows that a good match of probabilistic predictions and the real building energy consumption in operation is achievable. Results from the six case buildings show that using the best point estimations of the probabilistic predictions reduces the mean absolute error (MAE) from 44% to 15% and the root mean squared error (RMSE) from 49% to 18% in total annual cooling energy consumption. As for monthly cooling energy consumption, the MAE decreases from 44% to 21% and the RMSE decreases from 53% to 28%. More importantly, the entire probability distributions are statistically verified at annual level of building energy predictions. Based on uncertainty and sensitivity analysis applied to these buildings, the thesis concludes that the proposed method significantly reduces the magnitude and effectively infers the origins of the building energy performance gap.

Building envelopes are elements with a long lifetime, which provide a barrier between internal and external space and contribute to the internal environmental conditions provision. Their complex role ensures a large impact on the environmental and energy performance of a building and the occupant perception of a space. This study looks at the use of novel materials and processes to help reduce the environmental impact of buildings by improving facade and transparent roof design. There are three main strands to the work. First, novel building components, ETFE foil cushions were examined. Physical testing has shown that ETFE foil cushions compare favourably to double glazing in terms of thermal and daylighting performance which was also noted as one of the most likeable feature by occupants. Environmental impact analysis has indicated that ETFE foils can reduce the environmental impact of a building through reduced environmental burden of both the construction and operation of the building. Secondly, a cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) was carried out for float glass, which considered the environmental impacts of glass manufacture. The embodied energy was calculated to be 13.4 ± 0.5 GJ per tonne while the total number of eco-points 243 ± 11 per tonne. It is shown that float glass is comparable to the use of steel, and highly preferable to the use of aluminium as a cladding panel. Finally, a concept design tool (FACADE) was developed by defining a large number of office facade models and employing dynamic thermal, daylighting and environmental impact modelling to create a database which can be accessed through a user friendly interface application. A parametric analysis has indicated that using natural ventilation where possible can reduce the environmental impact of offices by up to 16%. Improving the standard of the facade and reducing the internal heat loads from lighting and equipment can reduce environmental impact up to 22%. This study makes a significant contribution to understanding the environmental impact of building envelope individual and integrated components.