The design and construction of the appropriate building envelope is one of the most effective ways for improving a building's thermal performance. Thermal Inertia in Energy Efficient Building Envelopes provides the optimal solutions, tools and methods for designing the energy efficient envelopes that will reduce energy consumption and achieve thermal comfort and low environmental impact. Thermal Inertia in Energy Efficient Building Envelopes provides experimental data, technical solutions and methods for quantifying energy consumption and comfort levels, also considering dynamic strategies such as thermal inertia and natural ventilation. Several type of envelopes and their optimal solutions are covered, including retrofit of existing envelopes, new solutions, passive systems such as ventilated facades and solar walls. The discussion also considers various climates (mild or extreme) and seasons, building typology, mode of use of the internal environment, heating profiles and cross-ventilation - Experimental investigations on real case studies, to explore in detail the behaviour of different envelopes - Laboratory tests on existing insulation to quantify the actual performances - Analytical simulations in dynamic conditions to extend the boundary conditions to other climates and usage profiles and to consider alternative insulation strategies - Evaluation of solutions sustainability through the quantification of environmental and economic impacts with LCA analysis; including global cost comparison between the different scenarios - Integrated evaluations between various aspects such as comfort, energy saving, and sustainability

Office building envelopes are generally successful in meeting a range of structural, aesthetic and thermal requirements. However, poor thermal envelope performance will occur when there are discontinuities in the envelope insulation and air barrier systems, such as thermal bridges and air leakage sites. These discontinuities result from designs that do not adequately account for heat, air and moisture transmission, with many thermal defects being associated with inappropriate or inadequate detailing of the connections of envelope components. Despite the existence of these thermal envelope performance problems, information is available to design and construct envelopes that do perform well. In order to close the gap between available knowledge and current practice, the Public Buildings Service of the General Services Administration has entered into an interagency agreement with the Center for Building Technology of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop thermal envelope design guidelines for federal office buildings. The goal of this project is to transfer the knowledge on thermal envelope design and performance from the building research, design and construction communities into a form that will be used by building design professionals. This report describes the NIST/GSA envelope design guidelines development at the end of the first year of effort on the project. The effort to this point has consisted of a literature review of research results and technical information on thermal envelope performance and design, an assessment of existing design guidelines as they relate to the thermal envelope, and the development of a format and outline for the design guidelines.

Fundamentals of Building Energy Dynamics assesses how and why buildings use energy, and how energy use and peak demand can be reduced. It provides a basis for integrating energy efficiency and solar approaches in ways that will allow building owners and designers to balance the need to minimize initial costs, operating costs, and life-cycle costs with need to maintain reliable building operations and enhance environmental quality both inside and outside the building. Chapters trace the development of building energy systems and analyze the demand side of solar applications as a means for determining what portion of a building's energy requirements can potentially be met by solar energy. Following the introduction, the book provides an overview of energy usepatterns in the aggregate U.S. building population. Chapter 3 surveys work onthe energy flows in an individual building and shows how these flows interact to influence overall energy use. Chapter 4 presents the analytical methods, techniques, and tools developed to calculate and analyze energy use in buildings, while chapter 5 provides an extensive survey of the energy conservation and management strategies developed in the post-energy crisis period. The approach taken is a commonsensical one, starting with the proposition that the purpose of buildings is to house human activities, and that conservation measures that negatively affect such activities are based on false economies. The goal is to determine rational strategies for the design of new buildings, and the retrofit of existing buildings to bring them up to modern standards of energy use. The energy flows examined are both large scale (heating systems) and small scale (choices among appliances). Solar Heat Technologies: Fundamentals and Applications, Volume 4

Discusses the measurement and control of air moving inside buildings and between the inside and outside in 17 papers and discussions from a symposium in Dallas/Fort Worth in October 1993. After an overview of the subject, covers air movement, ventilation, and indoor air quality; window air leakage;

When used appropriately, building performance simulation has the potential to reduce the environmental impact of the built environment, to improve indoor quality and productivity, as well as to facilitate future innovation and technological progress in construction. Since publication of the first edition of Building Performance Simulation for Design and Operation, the discussion has shifted from a focus on software features to a new agenda, which centres on the effectiveness of building performance simulation in building life cycle processes. This new edition provides a unique and comprehensive overview of building performance simulation for the complete building life cycle from conception to demolition, and from a single building to district level. It contains new chapters on building information modelling, occupant behaviour modelling, urban physics modelling, urban building energy modelling and renewable energy systems modelling. This new edition keeps the same chapter structure throughout including learning objectives, chapter summaries and assignments. Moreover, the book: • Provides unique insights into the techniques of building performance modelling and simulation and their application to performance-based design and operation of buildings and the systems which service them. • Provides readers with the essential concepts of computational support of performance-based design and operation. • Provides examples of how to use building simulation techniques for practical design, management and operation, their limitations and future direction. It is primarily intended for building and systems designers and operators, and postgraduate architectural, environmental or mechanical engineering students.