Low-carbon progressive design for sustainable development of buildings

Abstract

With the advance of urbanization, energy consumption of public buildings is increasing rapidly, and it is urgent to achieve sustainable development of buildings. For public buildings, its energy-efficient envelope design is of great importance and necessity, which has been widely adopted to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions without sacrificing indoor thermal comfort. In this study, a progressive design approach of building envelope is proposed for energy-saving and low carbon emission. Then, the proposed method was applied in an archive building in Nanjing, China, with multiple rounds of design modifications of building envelopes through numerical simulations of building performance. The indoor temperature fluctuation, building energy consumption and CO2 emission were evaluated. Compared to the initial design, the optimized design can save 20.00%, 25.66% and 20.97% of building energy consumption in summer, winter and the entire year, respectively. Furthermore, the optimized design can reduce 20% and 25% of carbon emission in summer and winter, respectively. The progressive design method for building envelopes can significantly save energy consumption and reduce carbon emissions. In addition, it provides a reference for future green building design and application, which promotes the sustainable development of green and low-carbon buildings.

Optimizing thermal insulation in building facades: An examination of human-environment dynamics in Nanjing city, Eastern Asia

“…Particularly in Europe, numerous buildings rely predominantly on walls to withstand both sweltering heat and biting cold as well as extreme temperatures. 4 Walls contribute approximately 60-70% of the total energy dissipation in buildings; this significant energy loss has drawn the attention of researchers. 5 Some researchers propose the use of polystyrene materials for wall and roof insulation.…”

The Sustainability Study and Exploration in the Building Commercial Complex System Based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)–Emergy–Carbon Emission Analysis

“…Low carbon design is critical to achieving sustainable architecture as it addresses the significant environmental impact of buildings throughout their entire life cycle. By reducing greenhouse gas emissions, minimizing energy consumption, and promoting renewable energy sources, low-carbon design helps reduce the environmental footprint of buildings and promotes long-term sustainability [44][45][46]. Moreover, sustainable architecture also considers other aspects beyond low-carbon design, such as water efficiency, waste reduction, use of environmentally friendly materials, and enhancement of indoor environmental quality.…”