Master of Science / Department of Architecture / Michael D. Gibson / The use of Natural Ventilation (NV) to cool buildings in mixed climates can conserve significant cooling energy. In mixed climates it is particularly important during the fall and the spring, where appropriately designed buildings should use very little energy for heating or cooling. Natural ventilation is also important in residential buildings, where internal heat gain can be managed, making cooling by natural ventilation easier. Earlier investigations have clearly shown the economic, social, and health benefits of the use of NV in built environment. Studies have shown that increased airflow or air-speed during ventilation can bring a significant rise in comfort range which further reduces the cooling energy required to maintain comfort. The climatic data of the central United States (U.S.) shows that the availability of frequent high speed wind and favorable seasonal humidity conditions make natural ventilation feasible in late spring and early fall, where NV can offset most of the cooling demand for a home or multifamily residential unit, though it is not possible to maintain thermal comfort during the entire summer with NV alone. In mixed climates, NV for multifamily residential units has not been investigated thoroughly. According to 2009 International Residential Code, multifamily residential buildings are typically designed to use a code minimum amount of operable or ventilating windows, 4% of the floor area being ventilated, while also using lightweight construction methods (such as wood framing) that is prone to fast thermal response during the overheated periods of the year. While climate may favor the use of NV in these building types, the sizing of windows and the building construction type limit the potential to save energy with NV. This study hypothesized that the maximum benefits from NV in the climate of the central U.S. requires further optimization of window openings beyond the energy code minimum, and a construction system incorporating mass that can slow thermal response during overheated periods. During the study, the climatic data of the central US was scrutinized to understand the most suitable time frames where NV could be applied in order to maintain indoor thermal comfort in various construction systems in residential buildings: mainly lightweight using wood framing, and heavier construction using concrete and masonry. The location of the housing unit, first level or second level, was also examined to account for the differences in thermal gains and losses as a result of ground coupling and additional heat gain from the roof. Further, computational fluid dynamics evaluated the comfort achieved with different ventilation areas. Change in comfort hours by using NV tested the practicability of the use of NV to maintain indoor thermal comfort for different scenarios. The study concluded with design recommendations for building orientation, operable window size, and construction type as these factors relate to thermal comfort and the optimization of multifamily residential buildings to utilize NV for energy savings in the U.S.

O objeto da pesquisa é a requalificação de edifícios altos residenciais acima de 15 pavimentos, situados no centro da cidade de São Paulo e construídos entre 1930 e 1964, sendo a maioria de um cômodo, conhecidos como kitchenettes, com ênfase nas possibilidades de renovação arquitetônica e requalificação tecnológica para sua reocupação, visando as questões de desempenho ambiental. No momento atual das cidades modernas, um número significativo de edifícios de médio e grande porte, encontrados em diferentes partes do mundo, inevitavelmente necessitam e recorrem a projetos de requalificação arquitetônica e tecnológica. É verificado que o centro da cidade de São Paulo possui um estoque edificado obsoleto e uma grande potencialidade para receber novas edificações, além de requalificar as existentes. Com isso, o objetivo principal desta pesquisa é qualificar o edifício existente provendo conforto ergonômico, térmico, luminoso e acústico, mediante padrões e critérios pré-estabelecidos de desempenho ambiental. Como resultado é verificado que existem possibilidades de intervenção que permite ao edifício alcançar melhor desempenho ambiental, com um redesenho das unidades a fim de criar apartamentos de um e dois dormitórios, melhorando o aproveitamento da ventilação e iluminação natural e inserindo barreiras contra o ruído urbano nas fachadas. / The object of this research is the refurbishment of tall buildings over 15 floors, situated in the center of city of São Paulo and built between 1930 and 1964, most of them with just one bedroom, known as kitchenetts, with emphasis on opportunities of architectural upgraded and technological refurbishment for them reoccupation, targeting the issues of environmental performance. In the actual moment of modern cities, a significant number of medium and big buildings, found in different parts of the world, inevitably need and require projects of architectural and technological refurbishment. It is verified that São Paulo downtown has a built obsolete inventory and it is prone to receive new buildings, besides the refurbishment of existing ones. Thus, the main aim of this research is to refurbish the actual building, providing it with ergonomic, thermal, light and sound comfort through standards and pre-determined criteria of environmental performance. As a result it is found that there are intervention possibilities that allows the building reach a better environmental performance, with a new units drawing with the aim of create apartments of one or two bedrooms, improving the use of natural ventilation and lighting and putting barriers against urban noises in the buildings front.

O objeto da pesquisa é a requalificação de edifícios altos residenciais acima de 15 pavimentos, situados no centro da cidade de São Paulo e construídos entre 1930 e 1964, sendo a maioria de um cômodo, conhecidos como kitchenettes, com ênfase nas possibilidades de renovação arquitetônica e requalificação tecnológica para sua reocupação, visando as questões de desempenho ambiental. No momento atual das cidades modernas, um número significativo de edifícios de médio e grande porte, encontrados em diferentes partes do mundo, inevitavelmente necessitam e recorrem a projetos de requalificação arquitetônica e tecnológica. É verificado que o centro da cidade de São Paulo possui um estoque edificado obsoleto e uma grande potencialidade para receber novas edificações, além de requalificar as existentes. Com isso, o objetivo principal desta pesquisa é qualificar o edifício existente provendo conforto ergonômico, térmico, luminoso e acústico, mediante padrões e critérios pré-estabelecidos de desempenho ambiental. Como resultado é verificado que existem possibilidades de intervenção que permite ao edifício alcançar melhor desempenho ambiental, com um redesenho das unidades a fim de criar apartamentos de um e dois dormitórios, melhorando o aproveitamento da ventilação e iluminação natural e inserindo barreiras contra o ruído urbano nas fachadas. / The object of this research is the refurbishment of tall buildings over 15 floors, situated in the center of city of São Paulo and built between 1930 and 1964, most of them with just one bedroom, known as kitchenetts, with emphasis on opportunities of architectural upgraded and technological refurbishment for them reoccupation, targeting the issues of environmental performance. In the actual moment of modern cities, a significant number of medium and big buildings, found in different parts of the world, inevitably need and require projects of architectural and technological refurbishment. It is verified that São Paulo downtown has a built obsolete inventory and it is prone to receive new buildings, besides the refurbishment of existing ones. Thus, the main aim of this research is to refurbish the actual building, providing it with ergonomic, thermal, light and sound comfort through standards and pre-determined criteria of environmental performance. As a result it is found that there are intervention possibilities that allows the building reach a better environmental performance, with a new units drawing with the aim of create apartments of one or two bedrooms, improving the use of natural ventilation and lighting and putting barriers against urban noises in the buildings front.

This research aims to experimentally investigate the interior damage in residential buildings caused by rainwater intrusion during hurricane events. The first step, to experimentally evaluate the wind-driven rain effects on the building’s interior, is to accurately simulate the rain field associated with the hurricane. The wind-driven rain simulation was performed at the 12-fan Wall of Wind Experimental Facility at Florida International University. The characteristic of the simulated rain field was compared to a target characteristic obtained from the recorded data from past hurricanes to validate the simulation. In the next step, the large-scale models were subjected to the simulated rain field to observe the water propagation inside the models. The gable and hip roof models were prepared with three different exterior damage conditions, including the light damage state, minor damage state, and moderate damage state, to investigate the effect of envelope openings on the water propagation path. Each model was tested at three wind angles of 0˚, 45˚ and 90˚ to assess the effects of wind direction. The interior of the models was divided into 6 different room compartments separated by partition walls, as well as 6 different attic compartments divided by short divider pieces. Finally, the results were used to evaluate the share of each interior component from the total amount of water that intrudes into the building. The last phase of the research concentrated on the experimental evaluation of the sustained damage by partition walls subjected to water intrusion. The full-scale model was subjected to the simulated rain field at the Wall of Wind Experimental Facility test section. The interior of the model was built to simulate the actual interior of a residential building. The experimental results were used to evaluate the sustained damage by the partition. This research made a great step forward in clarifying the mechanism of interior damage sustained in residential buildings due to rain intrusion during hurricanes. Most important, the results can be used in Hurricane Loss Models to predict the sustained damage on residential buildings at different hurricane hazard levels.

abstract: Residential air conditioning systems represent a critical load for many electric utilities, especially for those who serve customers in hot climates. In hot and dry climates, in particular, the cooling load is usually relatively low during night hours and early mornings and hits its maximum in the late afternoon. If electric loads could be shifted from peak hours (e.g., late afternoon) to off-peak hours (e.g., late morning), not only would building operation costs decrease, the need to run peaker plants, which typically use more fossil fuels than non-peaker plants, would also decrease. Thus, shifting electricity consumption from peak to off-peak hours promotes economic and environmental savings. Operational and technological strategies can reduce the load during peak hours by shifting cooling operation from on-peak hours to off-peak hours. Although operational peak load shifting strategies such as precooling may require mechanical cooling (e.g., in climates like Phoenix, Arizona), this cooling is less expensive than on-peak cooling due to demand charges or time-based price plans. Precooling is an operational shift, rather than a technological one, and is thus widely accessible to utilities’ customer base. This dissertation compares the effects of different precooling strategies in a Phoenix-based utility’s residential customer market and assesses the impact of technological enhancements (e.g., energy efficiency measures and solar photovoltaic system) on the performance of precooling. This dissertation focuses on the operational and technological peak load shifting strategies that are feasible for residential buildings and discusses the advantages of each in terms of peak energy savings and residential electricity cost savings. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil Engineering 2016

My diploma thesi´s is proposing a new solution for a redevelopment of a former agricultural area and it surroundings which is located in between a residential area Kamechy and Zebetin. The area is outlined by Kamechy from the north, main road Hostislavova from the west, another main road which is going to be build in future based on an urban plan of city Brno from the south and by a natural monument Pekarna and a equestrian zone from the east. The main goal of my proposal is a radical improvement of accessibility and empowering the interconnection with city life. The proposal consists of recreational zones, buildings, equestrian zone and residential buidlings. Very influential element of the proposal is a river Vrbovec which runs throught the area in a east-west direction. The whole stream channel is proposed as a tranquility area which contains today´s greenery and is also going to be improved be a new outplanting of trees and plants in general.

The thesis is focused on the preparation of documentation project of new residential building with twenty flats. The building is located in Valašské Meziříčí. The building has four floors, which are used for housing and one underground technical floor with garage and cellar booths. The building is brick ceramic blocks Porotherm and it is covered with a flat roof. The drawings were processed in a computer program AutoCAD.

This diploma thesis aims at the return on investment associated with construction of a residential building in the cities of Hradec Králové and Brno. As a first step, we calculate the investment amount needed to construct the building and set the rent for each apartment. Next, we determine whether discounted net rent from all residential units will cover construction costs. Investment payback period will be then assessed. We also calculate market value for each unit and a summarized value for selling all the units. Finally, we determine which of the following scenarios leads to higher profits – selling the residential building unit by unit versus renting the units. This evaluation will also take into account the results difference based on chosen city.

This diploma thesis is focused on return on investment associated with the construction of a residential building in Česká Třebová. First, the author finds all costs associated with the construction of a residential building. Subsequently, the residential building will be evaluated according to the law, as a complex and as an individual flats. It will also be based on the prevailing prices of rents calculated yield value of the house. Then the comparative method provides the prevailing price of apartments in the area and find out how much revenue would amount to, if the house is sold off for flats. Finally the resulting values are compared among themselves and determine the best option to deal with new residential building in Česká Třebová.

<p>The residential sector is responsible for approximately 21% of the total energy use in the U.S. As a result, there have been various programs and studies aiming to reduce energy consumption and utility burden on individual households. Among various energy efficiency strategies, behavior-based approaches have received considerable attention because they significantly affect operational energy consumption without requiring building upgrades. For example, up to 30% of heating and cooling energy savings can be achieved by having an efficient temperature setpoint schedule. Such approaches can be particularly beneficial for multi-family residential buildings because 88% of their residents are renters paying their own utility bills without being allowed to upgrade their housing unit.</p> <p>In this context, eco-feedback has emerged as an approach to motivate residents to reduce energy use by providing information (feedback) on human behavior and environmental impact. This research has gained significant attention with the development of new smart home technology such as smart thermostats and home energy management systems. Research on the design of effective eco-feedback focuses on how to motivate residents to change their behavior by identifying and notifying implementable actions in a timely manner via energy analytics such as energy prediction models, energy disaggregation, etc.</p> <p>However, unit-level energy analytics pose significant challenges in multi-family residential buildings tasks due to the inter-unit heat transfer, unobserved variables (e.g., infiltration, human body heat gain, etc.), and limited data availability from the existing infrastructure (i.e., smart thermostats and smart meters). Furthermore, real-time model inference can facilitate up-to-date eco-feedback without a whole year of data to train models. To tackle the aforementioned challenges, three new modeling approaches for energy analytics have been proposed in this Thesis is developed based on the data collected from WiFi-enabled smart thermostats and power meters in a multi-family residential building in IN, U.S.</p> <p>First, this Thesis presents a unit-level data-driven modeling approach to normalize heating and cooling (HC) energy usage in multi-family residential buildings. The proposed modeling approach provides normalized groups of units that have similar building characteristics to provide the relative evaluation of energy-related behaviors. The physics-informed approach begins from a heat balance equation to derive a linear regression model, and a Bayesian mixture model is used to identify normalized groups in consideration of the inter-unit heat transfer and unobserved variables. The probabilistic approach incorporates unit- and season-specific prior information and sequential Bayesian updating of model parameters when new data is available. The model finds distinct normalized HC energy use groups in different seasons and provides more accurate rankings compared to the case without normalization.</p> <p>Second, this Thesis presents a real-time modeling approach to predict the HC energy consumption of individual units in a multi-family residential building. The model has a state-space structure to capture the building thermal dynamics, includes the setpoint schedule as an input, and incorporates real-time state filtering and parameter learning to consider uncertainties from unobserved boundary conditions (e.g., temperatures of adjacent spaces) and unobserved disturbances (i.e., window opening, infiltration, etc.). Through this real-time form, the model does not need to be re-trained for different seasons. The results show that the median power prediction of the model deviates less than 3.1% from measurements while the model learns seasonal parameters such as the cooling efficiency coefficient through sequential Bayesian update.</p> Finally, this Thesis presents a scalable and practical HC energy disaggregation model that is designed to be developed using data from smart meters and smart thermostats available in current advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) in typical residential houses without additional sensors. The model incorporates sequential Bayesian update whenever a new operation type is observed to learn seasonal parameters without long-term data for training. Also, it allows modeling the skewed characteristics of HC and non-HC power data. The results show that the model successfully predicts disaggregated HC power from 15-min interval data, and it shows less than 12% of error in weekly HC energy consumption. Finally, the model is able to learn seasonal parameters via sequential Bayesian update and gives good prediction results in different seasons.