Maintaining IAQ (Internal Air Quality) and thermal comfort of occupants in buildings have been a challenge to overcome satisfying the two ends: criteria for sustainability and cost effectiveness. Although there was a movement for mechanical ventilation systems in the recent past, in addition to the cost involved, they are found to not deliver the desired air quality, lead to social consequences such as sick building syndrome, contribute to environmental consequences related to ozone-depleting substances with increasing energy consumption, generate noise and having difficulties in cleaning and maintaining. These consequences compelled research on natural ventilation systems, which were used in ancient buildings. Although it has been found that natural ventilation of buildings can become a substantial architectural design tool that leads to “breathing architecture,” fluctuations in indoor temperature and air quality makes depending entirely on natural ventilation less effective. The combination of natural and mechanical ventilation, the hybrid ventilation or mixed-mode ventilation, systems utilizes advantages and eliminates drawbacks from both mechanical and entirely dependent natural ventilation systems. Hybrid ventilation systems, which have been utilized in historical buildings, with less investment cost and reduction of energy usage have been found to be a solution to provide acceptable standards of IAQ and thermal comfort through natural air circulation in buildings. This research study was carried out to verify the effectiveness of a hybrid ventilation system in an auditorium built around 60 years back for its effectiveness as a provider of thermal comfort to its occupants. Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) modeling was carried out on a Finite Element (FE) model owing to its capability of offering a wide range of flexible analytical solutions, lower realization time and comparative cost effectiveness to experimental methods of modeling. This verification of the system has revealed that hybrid ventilation systems could provide effective thermal comfort in buildings designed specifically to allow circulation of air through the system. The results of the study were in agreement with measured data and the expected flow of air through the building when the thermal load due to metabolism of occupants was not included in the analysis. In addition, the expected results complied with similar studies on natural/hybrid ventilation systems. With the addition of the thermal load, as a uniform heat flux from the flow of the auditorium, it was observed that the conditioning of the air throughout the space was better than the without thermal load scenario. In the case modeling people as cylinders, with a convective heat flux, it was observed that the air flow direction changes and the seating level of the auditorium do not get sufficient air flow to maintain a comfortable air quality.  Ineffective simulation of the inlet louver was assumed to be the primary reason for this scenario and other reasons such as the seating arrangement modeling too could have effects on the result. As conclusions of the study it was found that the whole building system properties have to be selected, as the control component to produce operating commands, to circulate air through the building in accordance with the air flow: both velocity and patterns, required to maintain thermal comfort of all occupants. Air inflow could be through windows as acquisition components to collect indoor and outdoor climatic parameters and air outflow could be mechanically controlled through exhausted fans turning on or off as the operating component in the system. The result of the study ensures the method of solutions through CFD to be utilized to provide effective and less costly path to verify systems such as natural or hybrid air flow systems through buildings.  The whole system studied could be applied with suitable contextual modifications to any new location, with similar cost effective modeling, to produce less fuel consuming building systems leading to sustainability of built environment.

The goal of this thesis was to improve the energy efficiency of building ventilation systems by exploring new methods of applying natural ventilation concepts. Strictly natural systems have limitations in which climates they can function or can provide optimal performance; these limitations lead to the use of mechanical or hybrid ventilation. This study looked at methods of combining the operation of the systems, such that the natural components improve the efficiency of the mechanical system.

Being located in subtropical climates, the cooling energy accounts for a huge percentage of the total power consumption, and has become the major cause for power shortages. Therefore, building energy conservation strategies has become the major remedy to tackle this problem. In this study, the building energy performance certificate evaluation system has been established, in referencing the European communities systems, while integrating the financial and consumers factors to establish the building labeling system in Taiwan.

Grandes fachadas envidraçadas têm se tornado comuns em edifícios de escritórios, desconsiderando elementos importantes como as janelas na redução do seu consumo energético, por meio da obtenção da iluminação e ventilação naturais. Dessa forma, o objetivo principal desta pesquisa é avaliar o potencial de economia de energia em edifícios de escritórios por meio da utilização de estratégias de ventilação híbrida, em duas regiões climáticas brasileiras distintas. O método consiste em medições com sensores para aferir dados de temperatura e umidade no momento em que são acionados os condicionadores de ar, a fim de obter a temperatura de setpoint. Tal resultado foi utilizado em simulações computacionais do desempenho térmico e da iluminação natural através dos programas EnergyPlus e Daysim respectivamente. Foi analisado um modelo de edifício de escritórios, com um sistema de iluminação eficiente (dimerizável) em que foram inseridas estratégias de ventilação híbrida, a fim de se obter a influência na economia de energia devido à redução do uso do condicionamento artificial de ar (nos períodos em que isso foi possível). Os resultados apresentaram uma redução no consumo do ar condicionado em torno dos 30%, enquanto que o impacto da ventilação híbrida no consumo de energia total do edifício apresentou-se na faixa dos 12%. Todavia, com a utilização de tais estratégias alcançou-se uma redução de até 84% do desconforto térmico nos ambientes. Como conclusão do trabalho tem-se que, utilizando-se um sistema de iluminação natural eficiente, o impacto da ventilação híbrida no potencial de economia de energia, dependendo do caso, pode não ser tão expressivo, ao passo que a redução no nível de desconforto térmico é bastante significativa. / Large glazed facades have become common in office buildings and important elements, like windows to obtain natural lighting and ventilation to reduce their energy consumption have been ignored. This dissertation evaluates the potential of energy savings in office buildings through the use of hybrid ventilation strategies in two different Brazilian climatic regions. The method consists in measuring sensors for collecting humidity and temperature data at the time air conditioners are started so as to obtain the setpoint temperature. The results were used in computer simulations of both thermal performance and daylighting through EnergyPlus and Daysim software, respectively. A model of the office building, with efficient lighting (dimmable), was analyzed. Hybrid ventilation strategies were adopted for verifying the influence on energy savings due to a reduced use of artificial air conditioning (in periods in which it was possible). The results show a 30% reduction in the consumption of air conditioning and a 12% impact of hybrid ventilation on the total energy consumption of the building. However, such strategies caused an 84% reduction in the thermal discomfort in the environment. According to the results, the impact of hybrid ventilation on the potential energy savings by the use of efficient daylighting, in some cases, may not be so significant, whereas the reduction in the level of thermal discomfort is quite significant.

Grandes fachadas envidraçadas têm se tornado comuns em edifícios de escritórios, desconsiderando elementos importantes como as janelas na redução do seu consumo energético, por meio da obtenção da iluminação e ventilação naturais. Dessa forma, o objetivo principal desta pesquisa é avaliar o potencial de economia de energia em edifícios de escritórios por meio da utilização de estratégias de ventilação híbrida, em duas regiões climáticas brasileiras distintas. O método consiste em medições com sensores para aferir dados de temperatura e umidade no momento em que são acionados os condicionadores de ar, a fim de obter a temperatura de setpoint. Tal resultado foi utilizado em simulações computacionais do desempenho térmico e da iluminação natural através dos programas EnergyPlus e Daysim respectivamente. Foi analisado um modelo de edifício de escritórios, com um sistema de iluminação eficiente (dimerizável) em que foram inseridas estratégias de ventilação híbrida, a fim de se obter a influência na economia de energia devido à redução do uso do condicionamento artificial de ar (nos períodos em que isso foi possível). Os resultados apresentaram uma redução no consumo do ar condicionado em torno dos 30%, enquanto que o impacto da ventilação híbrida no consumo de energia total do edifício apresentou-se na faixa dos 12%. Todavia, com a utilização de tais estratégias alcançou-se uma redução de até 84% do desconforto térmico nos ambientes. Como conclusão do trabalho tem-se que, utilizando-se um sistema de iluminação natural eficiente, o impacto da ventilação híbrida no potencial de economia de energia, dependendo do caso, pode não ser tão expressivo, ao passo que a redução no nível de desconforto térmico é bastante significativa. / Large glazed facades have become common in office buildings and important elements, like windows to obtain natural lighting and ventilation to reduce their energy consumption have been ignored. This dissertation evaluates the potential of energy savings in office buildings through the use of hybrid ventilation strategies in two different Brazilian climatic regions. The method consists in measuring sensors for collecting humidity and temperature data at the time air conditioners are started so as to obtain the setpoint temperature. The results were used in computer simulations of both thermal performance and daylighting through EnergyPlus and Daysim software, respectively. A model of the office building, with efficient lighting (dimmable), was analyzed. Hybrid ventilation strategies were adopted for verifying the influence on energy savings due to a reduced use of artificial air conditioning (in periods in which it was possible). The results show a 30% reduction in the consumption of air conditioning and a 12% impact of hybrid ventilation on the total energy consumption of the building. However, such strategies caused an 84% reduction in the thermal discomfort in the environment. According to the results, the impact of hybrid ventilation on the potential energy savings by the use of efficient daylighting, in some cases, may not be so significant, whereas the reduction in the level of thermal discomfort is quite significant.

This thesis investigates the possibilities of using hybrid ventilation in an office building in Stockholm. The focus is on simulating the natural airflow to find out for which conditions it is sufficient. The thesis is done at White Arkitekter AB in cooperation and under the supervision of environmental specialists working there. A literature study is carried out to study what has been done before in Sweden as well as in other countries. Computer simulations are used to simulate the airflow to examine the conditions and architecture. A synthetic computer model representing a realistic office building is built up as a starting point. The ventilation method for the natural ventilation part is to take air in through the fa\c{c}ade and use the stack effects in an atrium for natural ventilation. By altering the architecture and the sizes of the openings according to the results from the simulations the building is dimensioned and formed to cope with the rules and requirements about the indoor air quality in workplaces. The simulations are done with a multi zone energy performance simulation tool that can simulate airflows and indoor air climate conditions in the zones as well as the energy consumption. Computational fluid dynamics calculations are then used to more closely simulate the conditions within the zones. The results from those simulations suggest that the natural ventilation as a part of a hybrid ventilation works for all the floors of the building for up to 10$\,^{\circ}\mathrm{C}$. The computational fluid dynamics simulations showed that the thermal comfort of all the occupants is fulfilled for these conditions but there is a risk of occupants experiencing draught because of to high velocities in the air especially for the colder outdoor temperatures. For the higher outdoor temperatures the airflow needs to be enforced to ensure sufficient conditions for the occupants and for the colder temperatures mechanical ventilation is needed to decrease heat losses and avoid the risk of draught.

Atualmente, os edifícios selados hermeticamente e com as chamadas \"peles de vidro\" estão presentes em diversos países, e possuem, como consequência, um elevado consumo de energia elétrica para conseguir manter o conforto ambiental dos usuários. Contudo, é possível se beneficiar de uma maior eficiência energética nesses espaços através da combinação de soluções ativas e passivas. Esse estudo tem como objetivo principal avaliar a influência de parâmetros de projetos, tais como o formato da sala, tamanho e orientação das aberturas na fachada, no consumo de energia e no conforto visual em saletas comerciais com ventilação híbrida e integração da iluminação natural com a artificial na cidade de São Paulo. As saletas comerciais analisadas possuem uma área média, diferentes formatos e diferentes aberturas em uma só fachada, representando a solução arquitetônica mais comum encontrada nesse tipo de edifício. Através de análise energética realizada por meio do programa EnergyPlus e da análise lumínica com o programa DIVA-for-Rhino, verificou-se que o formato da sala é essencial para a decisão de um percentual de área de abertura na fachada (PAF) que consuma menos energia. Os resultados mostraram que o uso da ventilação híbrida sempre representou uma economia, atingindo uma redução de até 51% do consumo do ar condicionado para resfriamento e até 26% do consumo de energia total, com os PAF´s de 40, 70 e 100%. Seria interessante considerar elementos de proteção solar que não diminuam a eficácia da ventilação e iluminação naturais nesses ambientes, para se aliar o baixo consumo de energia com menores riscos de ofuscamento. Desta forma, o trabalho auxilia a incorporação destas estrategias para uma maior economia de energia no desenvolvimento do projeto arquitetônico desta tipologia de edifício comercial. / Nowadays, sealed airtight office buildings and so-called \"glass curtain wall\" are present in many countries, and have as a result a high consumption of electric energy to be able to maintain the environmental comfort of the users. However, the combination of passive and active strategies could improve the energy efficiency in these spaces. This study aims to evaluate the design parameters influence, such as rooms shape, the openings size and orientation, in the energy consumption and in the visual comfort in cellular offices with hybrid ventilation system and the integration of daylight and artificial lighting in São Paulo. The analyzed cellular offices have an average area, different shapes and different openings in one facade, representing the more common architectural characteristics found in this type of building in that context. Energy analyses in EnergyPlus and daylight studies using DIVA-for-Rhino were conducted. It was found that the rooms shape is essential for the determination of the window-to-wall-ratio (WWR) for reducing energy consumption. The results showed that the hybrid ventilation use always represented an economy, reaching reduction values up to 51% in the consumption of air conditioning for cooling and up to 26% in cellular offices total consumption, with a WWR of 40, 70 and 100%. It would be interesting to consider sun shading elements that do not reduce the effectiveness of natural ventilation and daylighting in these environments to combine low power consumption with a lower risk of glare. In this way, the work helps the incorporation of these strategies for save energy in the development of the architectural design of this type of commercial building.

Atualmente, os edifícios selados hermeticamente e com as chamadas \"peles de vidro\" estão presentes em diversos países, e possuem, como consequência, um elevado consumo de energia elétrica para conseguir manter o conforto ambiental dos usuários. Contudo, é possível se beneficiar de uma maior eficiência energética nesses espaços através da combinação de soluções ativas e passivas. Esse estudo tem como objetivo principal avaliar a influência de parâmetros de projetos, tais como o formato da sala, tamanho e orientação das aberturas na fachada, no consumo de energia e no conforto visual em saletas comerciais com ventilação híbrida e integração da iluminação natural com a artificial na cidade de São Paulo. As saletas comerciais analisadas possuem uma área média, diferentes formatos e diferentes aberturas em uma só fachada, representando a solução arquitetônica mais comum encontrada nesse tipo de edifício. Através de análise energética realizada por meio do programa EnergyPlus e da análise lumínica com o programa DIVA-for-Rhino, verificou-se que o formato da sala é essencial para a decisão de um percentual de área de abertura na fachada (PAF) que consuma menos energia. Os resultados mostraram que o uso da ventilação híbrida sempre representou uma economia, atingindo uma redução de até 51% do consumo do ar condicionado para resfriamento e até 26% do consumo de energia total, com os PAF´s de 40, 70 e 100%. Seria interessante considerar elementos de proteção solar que não diminuam a eficácia da ventilação e iluminação naturais nesses ambientes, para se aliar o baixo consumo de energia com menores riscos de ofuscamento. Desta forma, o trabalho auxilia a incorporação destas estrategias para uma maior economia de energia no desenvolvimento do projeto arquitetônico desta tipologia de edifício comercial. / Nowadays, sealed airtight office buildings and so-called \"glass curtain wall\" are present in many countries, and have as a result a high consumption of electric energy to be able to maintain the environmental comfort of the users. However, the combination of passive and active strategies could improve the energy efficiency in these spaces. This study aims to evaluate the design parameters influence, such as rooms shape, the openings size and orientation, in the energy consumption and in the visual comfort in cellular offices with hybrid ventilation system and the integration of daylight and artificial lighting in São Paulo. The analyzed cellular offices have an average area, different shapes and different openings in one facade, representing the more common architectural characteristics found in this type of building in that context. Energy analyses in EnergyPlus and daylight studies using DIVA-for-Rhino were conducted. It was found that the rooms shape is essential for the determination of the window-to-wall-ratio (WWR) for reducing energy consumption. The results showed that the hybrid ventilation use always represented an economy, reaching reduction values up to 51% in the consumption of air conditioning for cooling and up to 26% in cellular offices total consumption, with a WWR of 40, 70 and 100%. It would be interesting to consider sun shading elements that do not reduce the effectiveness of natural ventilation and daylighting in these environments to combine low power consumption with a lower risk of glare. In this way, the work helps the incorporation of these strategies for save energy in the development of the architectural design of this type of commercial building.

Past research has shown that natural ventilation can be used to satisfy upwards of 98% of the yearly cooling demand when utilized in the appropriate climate zone. Yet widespread implementation of natural ventilation has been limited in practice. This delay in market adoption is mainly due to lack of effective and reliable control. Historically, control of natural ventilation was left to the occupant (i.e. they are responsible for opening and closing their windows) because occupants are more readily satisfied when given control of the indoor environment. This strategy has been shown to be effective during summer months, but can lead to both over and under ventilation, as well as the associated unnecessary energy waste during the winter months. This research presents the development and evaluation of a model-based control algorithm for natural ventilation. The proposed controller is designed to modulate the operable windows based on ambient temperature, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, indoor temperature and other building characteristics to ensure adequate ventilation and thermal comfort throughout the year without the use of mechanical ventilation and cooling systems. A midrise student dormitory building, located in Portland OR, has been used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed controller. Simulation results show that the model-based controller is able to reduce under-ventilated hours to 6.2% of the summer season (June - September) and 2.5% of the winter (October - May) while preventing over-heating during 99% of the year. In addition, the model-based-controller reduces the yearly energy cost by 33% when compared to a conventional heat pump system. As a proactive control, model-based control has been used in a wide range of building control applications. This research serves as proof-of-concept that it can be used to control operable windows to provide adequate ventilation year-round without significantly affecting thermal comfort. The resulting control algorithm significantly improves the reliability of natural ventilation design and could lead to a wider adoption of natural ventilation in appropriate climate zones.

The building sector is responsible for 36% of the energy usage and 39 % of all CO2- emissions in European union (EU). Therefore, it is of great interest to investigate how the building sector can become more energy efficient and lower the environmental impact. It is reported that 80-90 % of a building’s total energy usage occurs during the operational phase. The energy usage is mainly due to lightning, technical equipment and the heating, cooling and ventilation system (HVAC-system). During the last century the energy efficiency in lightning developed significantly meaning the energy used in the HVAC-system becomes increasingly significant. As EU aim to increase the energy efficiency and the ratio of renewable energy in the grid, one can assume that the importance of other phases in the HVAC system lifecycle will be increasingly interesting as for example the manufacturing process and material usage which can be evaluated through life cycle assessment (LCA).This thesis presents a comparison between the environmental impacts of a hybrid ventilation (HV) system and a mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery (MVHR) system through a LCA perspective designed for an office building in Lystrup, Denmark. The office building in Lystrup, Denmark was chosen as the HV system is implemented there. The HV system consists of an automated natural ventilation (NV) system and a mechanical exhaust air ventilation (MEV) system. The environmental impact from the NV was provided through environmental products declarations provided by the company dimensioning the NV system. The data was lacking for the MEV system and that system was therefore dimensioned and evaluated through LCA. The mechanical ventilation system chosen for comparison is a mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery (MVHR) decided by the commissioner of the project, Sweco AB. The MVHR system was dimensioned as well. The project was significantly affected by lack of data resulting in many assumptions. The system boundary of the life cycle was set to cradle to grave excluding the energy usage of producing the ventilation components. The assumed lifetime is 25 years. Gabi Education software was used for calculating the LCA results. The impact categories chosen are global warming potential (GWP), ozone depletion potential (ODP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), photochemical ozone depletion potential (PODP), abiotic depletion potential (ADP) elements and ADP fossil which are used in the EN15804 standard when conducting LCA for construction components. The CML2001-IA 2001 IA method was used for the life cycle impact assessment in the LCA software which also is recommended according to EN15804.The LCA results were compared between the systems and interpreted through contribution analysis were the result was divided in the following categories; Energy usage (use phase), transportation, material usage (including raw material extraction and material processing) and end of life treatment. The two systems score similarly on all environmental impacts categories except for the global warming potential (GWP) and the abiotic depletion potential (ADP) fossil were the MVHR system scores approximately 3 times higher than the HV system. The MVHR system consumes approximately 3 times more energy during the use phase. The contribution analysis showed that the energy usage (use phase) dominated the contribution in almost all environmental impact categories. Further, the environmental impact caused by the material usage was compared between the MVHR - and HV system and the MVHR system scored higher in all categories except ADP elements.The conclusion drawn from this report is that the HV system is better if one looks to GWP and ADP fossil. The HV contributes less to climate change which is an important environmental concern. Further, the energy usage during use phase contributed most to environmental impacts for both the MVHR - and HV system. The environmental impact of the material usage is less for the HV - compared with the MVHR system. / Byggnadssektorn står för 36 % av energianvändningen och 39 % av alla koldioxidutsläpp i Europeiska unionen (EU). Därför är det av stort intresse att undersöka hur byggsektorn kan bli mer energieffektiv och undersöka hur dess miljöpåverkan kan minskas. Det rapporteras att 80–90 % av en byggnads totala energianvändningen inträffar under driftsfasen. Energianvändningen beror främst på belysning och värme-, kyla- och ventilationssystemet (VVS-systemet). Under det sista århundradet har energieffektiviteten gällande belysning förbättrats avsevärt, vilket innebär att betydelsen för energianvändningen till VVS-systemet ökat. Eftersom EU strävar efter att öka energieffektiviteten och mängden förnybar energi i elnätet kan man anta att betydelsen av andra faser i VVS-systemets livscykel kommer att bli allt mer intressant, till exempel tillverkningsprocessen och materialanvändningen vilket kan utvärderas genom livscykelanalys (LCA).   Denna rapport jämför miljöpåverkan från ett hybridventilationssystem (HV) med ett mekaniskt ventilationssystem med värmeåtervinningssystem (FTX-system) ur ett LCA-perspektiv. Studien utförs på kontorsbyggnad i Lystrup, Danmark. Kontorsbyggnaden i Lystrup valdes eftersom ett HV-systemet är implementerat där. HV-systemet består av ett automatiserat naturligt ventilationssystem (NV) och ett mekaniskt frånluftsventilationssystem (F-system). Miljöpåverkan från det NV-systemet tillhandahölls ur miljöproduktdeklarationer (EPD:er) som dimensioneringsföretaget tillhandahöll. Uppgifterna saknades för F-systemet och därför dimensionerades det förhand för att sedan utvärderades genom LCA. Hv-systemet jämfördes mot ett FTX system vilket bestämdes av uppdragsgivaren på företaget Sweco AB. FTX-systemet dimensionerades också förhand för att sedan utvärderas genom LCA. Livscykelns systemgräns sattes till från ”vagga-till-grav” exklusive energianvändningen för att producera ventilationskomponenterna då denna data saknades. Den antagna livslängden för ventilationssystemen är 25 år. LCA programvaran Gabi Education användes för att beräkna LCA resultaten. De miljöpåverkanskategorier som undersökts i den här studien är: global uppvärmningspotentialen, ozonuttunnande potential, försurningspotential, eutrofieringspotential, fotokemisk ozonuttunningspotential, abiotisk utarmningspotential (material) och abiotisk utarmningspotential (fossila bränslekällor) vilka skall användas enligt EN15804-standarden då LCA:er utförs på byggkomponenter. CML2001-IA metoden användes som livscykelkonsekvensbedömningen LCA-programvaran, vilket också rekommenderas enligt EN15804.   LCA-resultaten jämfördes mellan systemen och tolkades genom en bidragsanalys där resultatet delades in i följande kategorier: Energianvändningen (användningsfas), transport, materialanvändning (inklusive råvaruutvinning och materialbearbetning) och slutanvändningsfasen för komponenterna. De två systemen var likvärdiga i de flest miljöpåverkanskategorier utom den globala uppvärmningen potential och abiotiska utarmning potential fossil där FTX-systemet bidrog med ungefär 3 gånger så hög potentiell påverkan än det HV-systemet. FTX-systemet förbrukar ungefär 3 gånger mer energi under användningsfasen. Bidragsanalysen visade att energianvändningen (under användningsfasen) var den dominerade faktorn i nästan alla kategorier av miljöpåverkan. Utöver denna analysen jämfördes miljöpåverkan orsakad av materialanvändningen mellan FTX - och HV-systemet, där FTX-systemet fick högre poäng i alla kategorier utom i abiotiska utarmnings potential (material).   Slutsatsen från den här studien är att det HV-systemet är bättre om man ser till global uppvärmningspotential och abiotisk utarmningspotential fossil. Det HV-system har alltså mindre potential till att bidra till klimatförändringar och mindre potential att utarma fossila bränslekällor. Enligt den här studien är energianvändningen under användningsfasen den faktor som bidrar mest till miljöpåverkanskategorierna för både FTX - och det HV-systemet. Miljöpåverkan orsakad av materialåtgången är mindre för det HV-systemet än FTX systemet.