The construction industry consumes up to 50% of mineral resources excavated from nature, generates about 33% of CO2 present in the atmosphere, and is responsible for 40% of total global energy through construction and operation of buildings. There is a realisation that SME’s perceived lack of innovation is causing a genuine concern in the AEC industry as they do not have the skills or tools required to help address these concerns. To assist in overcoming these barriers, a number of funding initiatives have been put in place through Horizon 2020 with a focus on BIM, due to it having the potential to rapidly produce energy outputs that enable design teams to analyse and compare the most costeffective energy-efficient options. One of these initiatives, the BIMcert project, aims to educate all areas of the supply chain in the use of BIM, to achieve better energy efficiency during the design, construction and ongoing maintenance of an asset. The goal is to develop more efficient and suitable training programme materials that integrate sustainability and renewable concepts with practical application by integration with technology. This paper explores the final phase of testing and the launch of the platform. It discusses how the developed training material assists in improving sustainability in the built environment by training its practitioners in an efficient and greener manner of design and construct through the BIM process. The paper also defines recommendations to target the broader skills gap agenda.
Correctly applied air source heat pumps (ASHPs) are a proven technology that can reliably and effectively replace fossil fuel heating systems and achieve targeted heating-related CO2 reductions. However, poor-quality system design, installation or commissioning can lead to higher than expected running costs and poorly-performing heating systems, thus resulting in lower than expected CO2 savings. The retrofit ASHP systems studied in this research in residential retrofits in Ireland had significant engineering input at design stage, and comprehensive oversight during the installation and commissioning stages by the engineering team. Following analysis, most of the systems performed in line with, or exceeded, predictions but further opportunities for optimisation were identified. The research highlights the need for increased focus and resources to be applied by commissioning engineers to ensure that all ASHP installations are successful, a point that is especially critical in the context of the Irish Climate Action Plan targets of 500,000 retrofitted homes and the installation of 400,000 retrofit heat pumps by 2030 (Government of Ireland, 2019). This paper presents recommendations on how the ASHP installation process can deliver systems that operate to their full potential in terms of energy efficiency and CO2 reductions.
Light, traditionally for vision, also has non-visual effects on human physiology. Recent developments in neuroscience have demonstrated that light reaching the retina entrains the human circadian system to the natural light and dark cycle. Studies have shown that exposure to bright light during the day, particularly in the morning, may be as important as avoiding light at night for the healthy functioning of this system. This paper provides a summary of the key experimental studies which have driven understanding of this nascent subject forward. These studies are largely neuroscientific in nature, but their implications relate directly to building services engineering as the emergence of “circadian lighting” is bringing with it new metrics and standards for the environmental design of buildings. Two such metrics, Equivalent Melanopic Lux (EML) and Circadian Stimulus (CS), are examined and compared. It is shown that while care must be taken when adopting incomplete knowledge into practice, it is already becoming clear that much of our current lit environment is inadequate when seen through the lens of non-visual light.
This study explore how distribution of light impacts perceived space. The purpose of this study was to gain a rich and deep understanding of the relationships that exist between distribution of lig ...
As part of achieving near zero energy of?ce buildings, solar gains can be optimised by built form, internal layout and the position, type and area of windows. Those solar gains can then displace heating and lighting energy in most non- domestic buildings without overt engineered solar energy harnessing features. Such approaches have been adopted to successfully realise many low-energy buildings. This review discusses key parameters and the particular challenges in the design of atria, windows and roof-space solar air heaters to reduce energy and carbon emissions associated with heating and lighting in newly-built and renovated non-domestic buildings.
The building services engineering (BSE) industry has wrestled with its productivity gap for many years and the time has come to embrace innovation. Its practitioners now have the key to unlock the future by the smart use of technology, which has the power to transform how we design. Embracing digital technology provides smarter, faster, better and safer solutions. Scholarship in BSE consultancy practice is limited, and although this inquiry is a means of advancing knowledge, it also serves as a disciplined and systematic procedure by shedding a new light on design effectiveness in practice, thus improving the design process through digital engineering. This paper outlines how digitalisation encapsulates people, processes and technology to improve the design process in Irish BSE practice, thus providing the basis for promoting a sustainable design process during and after design. (This paper includes content submitted by the author as part of his Professional Doctorate in the Built Environment at the University of Salford).
This paper reports on a personal preference test which aligns students to a range of professional roles based on their attitudes towards performing particular tasks. The 10-item test was administered to 109 first-year engineering students at TU Dublin, Ireland and 159 third-year engineering students at KU Leuven, Belgium in September of the 2018/19 academic year. The test had two purposes: • to align students to three professional engineering roles based on their preference for performing certain tasks; • to allow students to reflect on an initially tacit model of professional roles. In this paper only the first purpose is considered, followed by an evaluation of the reliability of the test. Preliminary results indicate that the majority of students at TU Dublin and at KU Leuven wish to work in roles which involve the development of radically new products and services, while a much smaller proportion of students wish to work with product and process optimisation. The data also indicates that, in general, students have less favourable attitudes towards working in client-centred roles. These findings present a unique challenge for engineering educators and employers alike in Ireland and Belgium, as industries in these nations shift towards services and away from manufacture. So too do the skills requirements to work effectively in the modern engineering sector.
Domestic energy demand has been high on the carbon reduction agenda for some time. Today new homes are being designed following the “fabric first” principle which is reducing heat demand, but it is shifting the design challenge to ventilation. Further energy reductions and comfort improvements are needed. It is frequently proposed that automated control systems can achieve this. However, the technologies involved are currently considered expensive and complicated. There is little published evidence of how these types of systems perform in use, which leads to scepticism. This research study aims to test the hypothesis that automated demand-controlled heating and ventilation can provide a good indoor environment while reducing energy consumption in “real-life” homes. A year-long case study was conducted using six occupied, neighbouring dwellings installed with a low-cost automated building control system. The energy consumption figures recorded were compared to the values predicted by the Standard Assessment Procedure and by a Dynamic Simulation Model, and compared to Passivhaus standard. Significant savings have been identified. The results of this study show that an automated control system can lead to very low energy, and hence low carbon homes at a price-point that would incentivise widespread role out. This means that such systems have the potential to make a considerable contribution to reducing the carbon footprint of housing stock, and hence to meeting carbon reduction targets.
This paper presents a summary of recent CIBSE guidance on health and wellbeing in buildings, including how to define indoor environmental criteria. In a rapidly-evolving field, it also summarises key areas of current research and development, how to evaluate such studies, and what to look out for when reviewing emerging products. The paper focuses on indoor air quality, thermal comfort and humidity, but many of its principles are valid for other aspects of indoor environments. Overall, CIBSE guidance advocates for source control, the precautionary principle, and monitoring of building performance in order to avoid unintended consequences. Key themes of active research, with potential for significant improvements to health and comfort, include: • improving our understanding of conditions best suited to a range of populations (e.g. the elderly, children); • assessing the impact of, and designing for, exposure to a range of environmental stressors. This would be an evolution from current guidelines which tend to respond to one factor alone (e.g. responding to combined excessive heat and noise, rather than to one or the other); • building our knowledge of impacts and solutions in the housing retrofit sector, considering jointly the effects on energy consumption, comfort, indoor air quality and humidity.
A well daylighted space can provide a highly satisfying visual environment. However, if that environment causes us visual discomfort, it can become such a nuisance that we, sometimes literally, turn our backs on this powerful connection to the outside world. Given this, there is enormous value in quantifying the occurrence of discomfort glare within buildings, and in glare models that may guide architects and engineers in design. With the success of climate-based modeling techniques for daylight illuminance, there is now a focus on including discomfort glare metrics in spatio-temporal evaluations. This article conducts a literature review of research focused on spatio-temporal simulations for glare assessment. Studies are reviewed according to their objectives, metrics calculated, spatial scope, temporal scope and scene variety. The goal is to document the limitations of current simulation methods, the potential to generally apply these methods, and how well these methods incorporate empirical glare research. This review finds that, due to computational constraints, there is an over-reliance on illuminance-based metrics for spatio-temporal glare assessment, even while user assessment research reinforces the importance of including contrast-based measures. To achieve an accurate zonal glare assessment, future research should focus on improving simulation efficiency and identifying ways to reduce the spatial, temporal and angular scope of the simulation, while maintaining high accuracy.
The catastrophic fire at Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017 killed 72 people and shocked the world. It also changed many more lives forever. As well as the police and public inquiries, which are ongoing, it led to an independent review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, led by Dame Judith Hackitt, a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Her review, and the associated activity around building regulations in England, is the most significant review in over a generation, since the 1984 Building Act, and is widely recognised as being a once in two generations opportunity to reform building regulations in England. It will also have implications in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which are watching closely. Moreover, it will extend beyond building regulations, which apply up until a building is complete and handed over, into the operation of the building and subsequent maintenance and minor works. This review activity is being watched closely outside the UK too, with three states in the Australian Commonwealth introducing legislation related to cladding on tall buildings in October 2018.
Energy and facility operational costs are a large part of the overheads of Irish manufacturing and distribution companies. This paper deals with the design and implementation of low-carbon technologies and engineering innovations which have evolved over recent years, including integration of network-based programmable logic controllers (PLC), to enhance interconnectivity and control. Recording of the energy consumption of production plant and associated services, including heating and ventilation (HVAC) systems, compressed air systems, water usage/ recovery, power systems, information technology support systems and facilities were undertaken prior to commencing upgrade works. The paper describes how upgrade and retrofit works were identified following research into the latest equipment and controls, and these were undertaken as part of three separate projects on a phased basis. The initial project concentrated on simple achievable savings in common services for the complete facility, and included compressed air, exterior lighting, water heating and control of the main incoming water and gas services. Completion of the initial phase brought about an ongoing annual saving of 146,600kWh in energy consumption within the facility, reducing direct costs. The reduced energy consumption savings achieved from the first phase were used to part finance capital expenditure on the other two project phases, and combined with the timing of equipment upgrades and periodic maintenance, as in the case of lighting, over a three-year period. The second phase incorporated changes to the main heating and ventilation systems, along with IT infrastructure and centralised control of production processing machines. A major lighting upgrade to LED of the production and warehouse lighting fittings was undertaken as part of the third phase project, with occupancy controls integrated into zoned areas. Continuous monitoring and evaluation over the three years has enabled adjustments to systems, ensuring optimisation of savings and a further annual reduction of over 450,000kWh in energy. The savings have been achieved in a period of expansion in facilities and production, combined with a reduction in the maximum import capacity (MIC).
Abstract Visual patterns are all around us. Despite overwhelming evidence from the visual sciences that some visual patterns, in particular highly-geometric and repetitive patterns, can be aversive, patterns in our visual environment are rarely considered with regard to their impact on brain, behaviour and well-being. Yet, attempts toward developing healthier, more inclusive cities recently attracted negative headlines, for example for their use of dazzling floor patterns in public spaces that lead to discomfort, avoidance behaviours and falls, particularly in older citizens. Recent developments in analysis now allow us to measure and predict adverse effects of patterns in the real world. Here, we show that aversive patterns are rare in natural scenes but prevalent in modern man-made settings. They occur at every spatial scale, partly because of modular construction, partly because of artistic expression. We review the evidence that visual discomfort and other adverse neurological and behavioural effects arise from aversive patterns, and hypothesise that this is because of the way our visual system has evolved to analyse scenes from nature. We finish our review with an outlook for future research and by proposing some simple ways of preventing adverse effects from visual environments, using urban design as example.
Summertime overheating is increasingly prevalent in both new and existing UK dwellings. High internal temperatures can be dangerous to vulnerable occupants, disrupt sleep and cause thermal discomfort. The mitigation or exacerbation of overheating through simple occupant interventions like window opening and blind use needs better understanding if homes are to be comfortable and safe in summer without the use of air conditioning. This paper describes the adaptation of two adjoining, semi-detached houses to create a matched pair of test houses for full-scale, side-by-side summertime overheating experiments under real weather conditions. Synthetic occupancy was installed to allow dynamic remote control of actuated windows, motorised curtains, automated internal doors and internal heat gains. The houses were instrumented with calibrated sensors to measure the internal and external environment. These instrumented, matched pair homes have also been used to accurately quantify the effects on energy demand, internal temperatures and air quality of refurbishment strategies, occupant behaviour, and different heating, cooling and ventilation technologies.
The first issue of Lighting Research and Technology was published in 1969. This is the first issue of the 50(th) volume. This paper summarises the origins and development of the journal as well as describing how both the nature and sources of papers have changed over the years. The challenges facing the journal are described and the objectives for the future are specified.
Good practice in lighting energy consumption in schools is regarded to be around 13 kWh/m2 per annum (CIBSE LG5, 2011). However, recent post-occupancy evaluations reveal lighting energy consumption in schools to be above 30kWh/m2 p.a., despite the use of energy efficient lamps, switching based on infrared presence/absence detection, and digital controls for daylight-linked dimming. To identify causes of excess energy consumption for lighting, this study undertook detailed post-occupancy field measurements of the lighting consumption of two recently-completed K schools – a small primary and a large secondary – equipped with digitally-addressable lighting interface (DALI) systems. Instrumentation of individual light fittings was carried out to obtain an accurate understanding of their switching and dimming characteristics. Results were compared with estimates of kilowatt hours per square metre per year (the Lighting Energy Numeric Indicator), calculated using the spreadsheet provided to support the European Standard that defines LENI, and against estimates of disaggregated whole-building energy consumption using the CIBSE energy assessment tool TM22. The post-occupancy evaluations uncovered excessive lighting consumption in classrooms and circulation area lighting, issues with DALI system installation and commissioning, and problems with the usability of lighting controls. Allied shortcomings included dysfunctional energy metering, lack of system fine-tuning after handover, and inaccuracies with as-built records. Methodological shortcomings were identified with the industry-standard methods of assessing lighting consumption. Recommendations are given on ways to mitigate excessive lighting energy consumption and to improve the predictive power of the current energy assessment methods.
This paper aims to investigate the energy performance of a fitness/leisure centre. A detailed energy audit has been conducted to determine the energy consumption of the building. Through the collection and analysis of data, the energy performance and Energy Performance Indicators (EnPIs) have been identified. This research indicates that an energy audit can lead to identifying significant energy savings potential in a building. Energy saving opportunities have been identified with a potential to save 158,906kWh of electricity, 81,201kg of CO 2 and potentially saving up to e51,230 per annum. A combined heat and power (CHP) plant could yield savings of up to e28,522 annually. A lighting upgrade offers potential savings of 122,976kWh of electricity and e19,373 annually. Due to their high energy demand, commercial buildings have the potential for significant energy savings. The fitness centre was built in 2004 to a high standard and is a well maintained building. Nevertheless, this paper demonstrates the significant potential for energy reduction in buildings such as fitness centres.
An update of the Building Regulations Technical Guidance Document Part L has been announced by the Department of Housing for the end of 2017. This update introduces the requirements for Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) for buildings other than dwellings and embraces a minimum renewable energy contribution. This paper is based on the draft Part L 2017 and explores the potential impact the update has on current building design strategies, using a Dublin city centre office building as an example. The paper outlines the simulation procedures using a currentlyavailable software program and compares the building design strategies for compliance with Part L 2008 to the requirements for compliance with draft Part L 2017.
In this paper a study is made of the electricity network of the Sultanate of Oman. The electricity industry of Oman currently relies on almost 100% fossil fuels – with natural gas (97.5%) and diesel oil (2.5%) being the primary sources of electricity generation. This reliance is expected to change significantly in the coming years. Harnessing solar energy (and wind energy) will help to significantly reduce the country’s carbon emission footprint whilst enhancing intra-structural development and ensuring economic stability. Solar energy density levels in Oman are among the highest in the world. The country receives an extensive daily solar radiation of 5,500-6,000 Wh/m2 per day in July and 2,500- 3,000 Wh/m2 per day in January. With careful planning this energy rich resource may now be harnessed. In this context the regulatory environment in Oman has been gradually trans-forming to minimise the political and administrative barriers for the integration of renewable energies into the Omani electricity and water system networks. A number of detailed studies have been conducted in scoping potential developments for solar energy resources across Oman. These include (i) a proposal for wide-scale deployment of domestic roof-top PV solar, (ii) feasibility of large-scale generation plant by solar PV and/or Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), and solar thermal as an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) assist. Wind generation is also feasible in a number of regional zones, with one approved development for a large wind farm in the south of the country. Oman is also connected to its Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) neighbouring countries via the Gulf Super Grid. This is a very important development both for the country and for the wider region. With further developments in regional renewable energy generation, prospects for transmission of clean energy between GCC countries and beyond, will emerge. Oman has a dedicated Ministry for Environment and Climate Affairs (MECA). A target of 10% renewable generation by 2020 is already in place. Creation of enhanced renewable governance structures, provision of renewable tariff support, investment planning, and strategic forward planning, are matters for ongoing review.
The EU adopted the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive in 2003 to help to measure, manage and reduce energy consumption and consequential carbon emissions related to buildings. It introduced the concept of energy certificates for buildings on construction, sale or rent. It required energy certificates for display in many public buildings across Europe and introduced regular inspections of heating and air conditioning systems. The Directive was recast in 2010, to include a number of amendments aimed at improving the effectiveness of the legislation. The Directive is now being reviewed again and the European Commission, the Parliament and the Council of Ministers are now engaged in a three-way process of negotiation to finalise the text. This paper looks at the history of the implementation of the EPBD and considers how the recast might affect buildings in both Ireland and the UK. It also seeks to offer a wider perspective on how the Directive may be able to help address the energy challenges we face in both Ireland and the UK.
