Zero-energy buildings: the challenges

Butera, Federico

doi:10.1080/17512549.2012.756430

Cited by 47 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that there has been increasing concern and controversy surrounding the actual performance of 'green' or 'sustainable' buildings. Indeed, a number of studies over the past 20 years have identified and provided explanations for a significant 'performance gap' between designed and actual energy performance of buildings (Arup, 2013;Bordass, Cohen, & Field, 2004;Butera, 2013;Gann, Salter, & Whyte, 2003;Newsham, Mancini, & Birt, 2009;Norford, Socolow, Hsieh, & Spadaro, 1994;NYC, 2012;Schofield, 2013;Stafford, Bell, & Gorse, 2012;Turner & Frankel, 2008). Such performance gaps are of considerable interest for a number of reasons including: building owners and tenants potentially seeking redress for buildings that are costing more to operate than anticipated; regulatory requirements to reduce carbon emissions or meet netzero energy performance targets and the credibility and market appeal of high-performance buildings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Learning from failure: understanding the anticipated–achieved building energy performance gap

Fedoruk¹,

Cole²,

Robinson³

et al. 2015

Building Research & Information

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Over the past 20 years a number of studies have identified and provided explanations for a significant 'performance gap' between designed and actual energy performance of buildings. The anticipated and achieved energy performance of an advanced, innovative building that aspired to net-positive energy performance is studied: the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) building at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Selected performance 'failures' that became evident during operation of CIRS are studied for how they were discovered and the efforts required for their resolution: the energy systems and associated controls and monitoring. The key findings show the barriers were neither economic nor technical. Instead, the primary impediments were institutional regimesarising from the ways that various life-cycle stages were specified, contracted and implemented. The key issues emphasize the importance of having meaningful and effective building energy monitoring capabilities, an understanding of energy system boundaries in design and analysis, crossing the gaps between different stages of a building life cycle, and feedback processes throughout design and operation. The disclosure of 'failure' and lessons learned is a valuable contribution to subsequent advancement for the building stakeholders and the wider professional and research communities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…New, more demanding performance-based criteria also carry with them the uncertainty of their acceptance or successful outcome (Butera, 2013). Such uncertainty is particularly the case when performance criteria are measured through predictive modelling techniques, with limited feedback of verified performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning from failure: understanding the anticipated–achieved building energy performance gap

Fedoruk¹,

Cole²,

Robinson³

et al. 2015

Building Research & Information

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Energy efficiency and CO 2 emission reductions in buildings are typically achieved by improving building insulation levels, using energy efficient technologies and integrating renewable energy technologies in the built environment [1][2][3]. Considering the high economic efforts required for the implementation of these measures in the built environment, it is important to ensure that these measures deliver the preferred performance over the building's life span.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A methodology for performance robustness assessment of low-energy buildings using scenario analysis

2018

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• A novel methodology for performance robustness assessment is proposed.• Multi-criteria assessment is carried out using predicted performance and robustness.• The minimax regret method is used to identify robust designs.• A multi-criteria decision making strategy is implemented to select robust designs. A R T I C L E I N F O Keywords:Robust design Low-energy buildings Future scenarios Occupant behavior Performance assessment Robustness assessment Design decision making A B S T R A C T Uncertainties in building operation and external factors such as occupant behavior, climate change, policy changes etc. impact building performance, resulting in possible performance deviation during operation compared to the predicted performance in the design phase. Multiple low-energy building configurations can lead to similar optimal performance under deterministic conditions, but can have different magnitudes of performance deviation under these uncertainties. Low-energy buildings must be robust so that these uncertainties do not result in significant variations in energy use, cost and comfort. However, these uncertainties are rarely considered in the design of low-energy buildings and hence, the decision making process may result in designs that are sensitive to uncertainties and might not perform as intended. Therefore, to reduce this sensitivity, performance robustness assessment of low-energy buildings considering uncertainties should be assessed in the design phase. The probability of occurrences of these uncertainties are usually unknown and hence, scenarios are essential to assess the performance robustness of buildings. Therefore, a non-probabilistic robustness assessment methodology, based on scenario analysis, is developed to identify robust designs. Maximum performance regret calculated using the minimax regret method is used as the measure of performance robustness. In this approach, the preferred robust design is based on optimal performance and performance robustness.The proposed methodology is demonstrated using a case study with a policymaker as the decision maker. The proposed methodology can be used by designers and consultants to aid decision makers in the design phase to identify robust low-energy building designs that deliver preferred performance in the future operation.

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“…Occupant behaviour. In agreement with this, Butera (Butera, 2013) notes this as the challenges in obtaining zero-energy buildings. Previous research highlighted how occupant behaviour affects approximately 4.2% of energy consumption in homes (Kurtz, 2015) while building characteristics determine 42% of energy use.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Potential reduction in energy consumption in consolidated built environments. An analysis based on climate, urban planning and users

Coloma

2018

VITRUVIO

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In order to minimise the environmental problems of energy consumption this study aims to assess the potential energy demand reduction of the three main building types within three urban configurations of a Mediterranean city in the Comunitat Valenciana Region, Spain. To do so this project aims to identify the urban configuration which makes the best use of sun and natural ventilation, and whether this potentially affects the energy consumption of users in three vulnerable neighbourhoods as an analysis methodology prior to any intervention on the building stock. Factor analysis was carried out in summer taking into account the greater influence of the climate factors in the warm region under study. Therefore, winter conditions were excluded from this analysis as the installations, and the state of conservation of the envelope were the main factors affecting the energy consumption at this time of year. The results obtained show that there is true potential for reducing consumption in the buildings analysed. Due to the viability and easy implementation of these actions, and given the embodied energy, the measures for optimising the envelope of buildings are inadvisable or to be considered only as a last resort. KEYWORDS

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Zero-energy buildings: the challenges

Cited by 47 publications

References 6 publications

Learning from failure: understanding the anticipated–achieved building energy performance gap

Learning from failure: understanding the anticipated–achieved building energy performance gap

A methodology for performance robustness assessment of low-energy buildings using scenario analysis

Potential reduction in energy consumption in consolidated built environments. An analysis based on climate, urban planning and users

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