No abstract

Energy efficiency investments have become strategically important for the European Union. In particular, energy efficient renovation and investment in the existing building stock have become major challenges. Renovation of a building should involve a holistic and integrated design process, which considers all aspects of sustainability. The aim of this work is to suggest a mathematical model that weighs economic, social and ecological aspects into a measure that supports housing owners/decision makers to find the optimal renovation alternative from their perspective, taking factors such as budget, energy consumption, etc. into consideration. Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) concerns structuring and solving multiple-criteria decision problems. MCDM has become popular in energy planning as it enables the decision maker to pay attention to all the criteria available and make the appropriate decision as per the priority of the criteria. In this study, the concept is introduced based on economic, social and ecological aspects assessed during a renovation project. A pedagogical example illustrates the suggested numerical system for comparing different renovation alternatives. The suggested method will facilitate decision-making processes in renovation projects and will allow decision makers to choose the best renovation alternatives that are in line with their business ideas and principles.

Building envelopes play a major role in improving the overall energy efficiency as well as in providing a healthy indoor air quality for occupants in office buildings.The notion of this research is to develop an integrated façade technology that interacts and adapts with the changing climatic conditions, in hot arid regions, in order to improve occupants' thermal comfort in mixed mode office buildings through the use of natural ventilation and evaporative cooling techniques, thereby reducing mechanical cooling energy loads.In this research, façade design decisions were based on two main computer simulation results; thermal comfort levels and the reduction in energy consumption. The authors propose a double skin façade system that consists of an external skin which works on multiple operating modes. This skin integrates passive cooling strategies with the building envelope depending on the data collected by external and internal sensors. My previous investigations showed that shading, natural ventilation and evaporative cooling are the most effective passive cooling strategies for hot and arid regionsIn conclusion, this research will contribute in reducing energy consumption in commercial buildings, and help provide a productive work environment.