ALBERT

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Justin Tamasauskas, Michel Poirier, Radu Zmeureanu, Martin Kegel, Roberto Sunye This paper presents the design analysis of a solar heat pumpusing cool thermal storage. The integrated concept uses cool storage (sensible or ice-based) as a short-term (i.e. days, weeks) storage for solar energy in winter and cooling energy in the summer. Annual TRNSYS simulations are performed in four Canadian regions to identify the potential of ice storage and unglazed solar collectors. Results show that combiningthese two technologies can reduce mechanical system energy use by 17% - 28% compared to a cold-climate air-water heat pump. Unglazed collectors demonstrated potential in areas with milder winters.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Marjana Šijanec Zavrl, Gašper Stegnar Building energy performance forecasting is a well-known challenge. Several studies show that, when in operation, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in buildings do not perform exactly as predicted because of climate differences, user and operational profiles deviations, and furthermore due to technical changes and imperfections that occur in construction process. In engineering practice it is common to use monthly method (EN ISO 13790) for calculation of residential building energy performance. However, if this method is used in a commercial tool or in a national methodology for energy performance certification (Directive 2010/31/EU), it is usually customized with a number of default values, simplifications, and predefined weather data to facilitate the work or architects and engineers. Mismatching of calculated energy performance (either at design stage or for a building as built) and metered energy use of a building is becoming a problem in the real-estate market. More accurate building energy modelling based on hourly dynamic simulation method is a promising solution to diminish the discrepancies of calculated and metered energy use. The paper investigates the calculated and metered energy use of monitored apartments in a highly energy efficient apartment building Eco Silver House committed to meet the national nearly zero energy buildings (nZEB) requirements. The monitoring of 20 apartments (some fully in use, some not occupied but moderately heated) was done in the first heating season after the completion of the building. For two selected flats the detailed comparison of calculated energy use with two monthly method based tools (PHPP and national) and with an hourly simulation by IDA ICE software is presented. Shortcomings and advantages of the applied calculation methods are discussed, and the importance of the dynamic simulation in nZEB design is pointed out. Inter alia, by dynamic simulation the energy performance of two simulated flats in transient boundary conditions the compliance of the apartment energy indicators in design and in operation stage was proven. The case study derives from FP7 EE-Highrise demonstration project – Eco Silver House (ESH) - a multi-residential high-rise energy efficient building of 128 flats, located in the city center of Ljubljana, Slovenia (www.ee-highrise.eu).

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): E. Kyriaki, E. Giama, A. Papadopoulou, V. Drosou, A.M. Papadopoulos The energy policies in Europe include the reduction in energy consumption of buildings along with their environmental impact, focusing mainly on CO 2 emissions. In this framework, solar thermal systems used for space heating purposes and Domestic Hot Water production will be studied in detail. Solar thermal systems are one of the most popular ways to provide sanitary hot water in hotel buildings, all over the world and in particular in the Mediterranean. This is due to the fact that over the last forty years they have been proven to be reliable and cost effective. Still, there is more to those systems, than cost efficiency, as it will be discussed in this paper, based on a study carried out for the Greek hotel sector. The analysis of the solar thermal system was done on the basis of technical characteristics and their energy efficiency as well as of the potential energy saving and their environmental impact, focusing mainly on CO 2 emissions. The environmental evaluation of the system studied is expressed by means of an integrated environmental approach, based on environmental rating systems namely LEED and BREEAM. Goal of the paper is to present the result of the overall evaluation of the solar thermal system and its contribution to the improvement of the building's energy and environmental performance and also discuss how this affects the building's respective certification.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): I.P. Chaldezos, C.S. Karytsas The current paper describes an innovative high efficiency closed loop ground coupled heat exchanger (GCHE), which is already protected by a Greek patent, while protection at European level is pending. Closed loop GCHEs are used in shallow geothermal energy systems, which are a relatively widespread renewable energy sources (RES) technology. The exploitation of shallow geothermal energy is achieved through energy systems which provide heating/cooling and/or domestic hot water in several types of buildings (houses, offices, hotel complexes, schools, shopping centers, etc.) and in other applications (such as swimming pools, greenhouses, ice melting, etc.). It is noteworthy that the above mentioned energy systems are widely known as ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) or simply shallow geothermal energy systems. It should be emphasized that GCHEs are one of the main parts of a closed loop GSHP system. The installation of closed loop GCHEs is achieved, mainly, through two geometrical patterns: horizontal and vertical. The innovative high efficiency closed loop GCHE is going to be used for the exploitation of the internal thermal energy (U) of the medium (ground or aquatic environment) with which it comes into contact. In particular, this innovative high efficiency closed loop GCHEconsists of plastic piping which has been mounted to a specific metallic mechanism. Furthermore, the innovative high efficiency closed loop GCHEhas several advantages in relation to a conventional closed loop GCHE, such as: a) higher degree of exploitation of the internal thermal energy (U) of the medium, b) decrease of the manufacturing and installation costs, c) decrease of the length (m) of the borehole drilling in vertical systems and d) decrease of the required application area (m 2 ) in horizontal systems. In conclusion it is expected that the use, production and commercialization of the innovative high efficiency closed loop GCHEsmay facilitate further diffusion of GSHPs contributing, among others, to the reduction of CO 2 and other gas emissions, to environmental protection, to energy savings and to the creation of new jobs —a glimmer of hope against the economic recession of Greece.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Antoine Dugué, Saed Raji, Paul Bonnamy, Denis Bruneau Within the existing European building stock, a large share of the suburban multi-storey residential building stock was built in the 60's-70's, when there were only few or no requirements for energy efficiency. These buildings are characterized by very high energy consumption, low air quality due to poor ventilation, and low architectural value. In this context, the European project E2VENT, that started in January 2015, aims at providing new solution of retrofitting of residential building. The proposal is a modular and adaptable ventilated façade retrofitting system that integrates an energy efficient HVAC system. This paper first presents the concept of the E2VENT module, its architecture and how it is currently designed aiming at the reduction of the energy consumption and the improvement of not only the indoor air quality but also of the aesthetic of the building. Then the presentation focuses on the LHTES system, presenting its working principle, its thermal model and how it is designed in order to allow a daily thermal storage for both cooling and heating to allow the peak shaving. Three different PCM encapsulations are presented and discussed based on their efficiency calculated with a simple model but also on more practical considerations. Finally, the first prototypes are shown and the experimental protocol to be carried out is detailed.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): J. Maayan Tardif, J. Tamasauskas, V. Delisle, M. Kegel Using TRNSYS, the performance of three heat management strategies of an air-based Building Integrated Photovoltaic/Thermal (BIPV/T)system in an energy efficient home are assessed. The first scenario makes direct use of the heated air as fresh air supplied to aheat recovery ventilator. The second scenario uses the heated air from the BIPV/T collector as a source for the outdoor unit of an air source heat pump. The third strategy involves storing the energy from the BIPV/T collector heated air in an ice-slurry latent storage tank that is coupled with a water source heat pump. These strategies are evaluated in reference to a base case scenario with a simple air–based ducted system without a BIPV/T collector. Results show that using a latent storage medium such as ice can potentially bridge the time gaps between available solar radiation and domestic space heating loads.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Dimitrios I. Doukas, Tom Bruce Energy Audit and Planning for both existing and new-to-build buildings has been of increasing interest during the last years due to growing environmental concerns. Especially historic buildings, such Craiglockhart Primary School, which are of great importance because of their special architectural characteristics, are energy-demanding structures of incomplete and outdated technology. Improving the energy efficiency of such buildings would mean environmental and financial benefits as well as retaining of the historical heritage of Edinburgh. Additionally, integration of renewable sources in such buildings would result in a further gain from renewable heat incentives and in greener building as well. Firstly, this paper summarizes a study of possible actions for improving the energy efficiency of such buildings. Secondly, assuming that the proposed measures have been applied, possibility of renewables’ integration is assessed. Heat pumps and biomass integration is investigated and a hybrid system is finally proposed. This paper evaluates level of improvement and cost for all scenarios explored after considering possible constraints.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Piotr Pracki, Urszula Blaszczak In this paper the analysis and assessment of the existing lighting system in one of the students’ dormitories in Warsaw is presented. It is one of the first steps of the project “Thermo-modernization of two chosen public buildings according to nZEB standards”. We characterized the analyzed building focusing on the characteristics of the interiors and lighting equipment used. The study covered a detailed inventory of the lighting system as well as the measurements of illuminance distributions on task areas in the interiors. On the ground of the results the levels of the average illuminance and illuminance uniformity on task areas in the interiors were calculated, analyzed and compared with the required values for this type of facility. The levels of the lighting installed power density and normalized power density in the interiors were calculated and analyzed either. Moreover, the installed power density and total annual energy density for the lighting system in the building were calculated. On the ground of the results the lighting energy efficiency for the analyzed building was stated. The results of the lighting conditions and its energy efficiency assessment are a reference to the planned in the further studies lighting proposals to improve the quality of the luminous environment in the interiors and energy standard in the dormitory.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): T. Tzoulis, K.J. Kontoleon In this study, it is examined how the thermal insulation and other parameters, such as the orientation of external surfaces and the outdoor/indoor environmental conditions, affect the energy performance of building walls. The analysed assemblies correspond to externally insulated concrete walls, at all cardinal orientations. Their thermal performance is assessed in terms of annual heat flows to maintain the system in balance, while the dynamic thermal inertia parameters (decrement factor and time lag) are also determined. For the aims of this study a one-dimensional lumped model has been adopted by using the finite element method. The analysis also assesses the optimal thickness of the thermal insulating layer from an economic point of view, during the expected lifespan of building structures. Evidently, the varying insulation thickness and orientation of wall configurations, affect the initial cost of the structure installation and the operation cost of the energy consumption (natural gas and electricity).

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): D.K. Serghides, M. Michaelidou, M. Christofi, S. Dimitriou, M. Katafygiotou Following Europe's 20:20:20 objective, this case study investigates refurbishment scenarios in order to achieve Nearly Zero Energy houses, in Cyprus. The study investigates amongst other aspects of the European recast, two approaches that will be decisive for the development of the building sector in Cyprus: The measures and techniques to be implemented in order to achieve nearly Zero Energy Houses (nZEB) in Cyprus and the analysis of cost optimisation. The research focuses on the Multi-Family House typology as classified in the framework of EU project EPISCOPE. The building was modelled using the official governmental software iSBEM_cy tool, according to the European Directives 2002/91/EC and 2010/31/EC. The aim was to upgrade it into a nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB) by investigating the effectiveness of the energy refurbishment both in terms of energy savings and payback period. Two scenarios were developed in order to evaluate the energy efficiency and the cost effectiveness of the conservation measures. Through analysis of the results, the efficiency of each strategy and technique employed towards minimising the energy consumption and the greenhouse gas emissions was evaluated, in terms also of its cost effectiveness. Furthermore, the results of the research were investigated in order to assess whether the nZEB requirements, as developed by the MECIT, are appropriate for the existing Multi-Family houses in Cyprus and whether alternative strategies may be employed in order to meet the target of nZEB and to reduce effectively the energy consumption and the CO2 emissions.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Panagiota Antoniadou, Elli Kyriaki, Athanasios Manoloudis, Agis M. Papadopoulos The existing institutional frameworkis expressing, both in Europe and in Greece, the strong drive for improving the existing buildings stock, by means of compulsory measures, as buildings account for almost 40% of the primary energy consumption in Europe. Especially, when referring to office buildings, the existence of increased cooling requirement accounts for very high consumption values (up to 60% of the overall), whilst at the same time the occupants experience significant levels of discomfort. Therefore, the occupants’ well-being as well as their productivity are affected. Within the framework of this study, an evaluation of both thermal comfort and indoor air quality conditions is carried in two office buildings. Both buildings are located in northern Greece and were constructed after 1980 and before 2010, in accordance with the first Greek Thermal Insulating Regulation. In situ measurements were carried during the winter period for the one building and the summer for the other. The measured parameters are the air temperature, the humidity levels and the levels of CO 2 emissions specifying the indoor conditions. Furthermore, a revealed preference survey was conducted in order to specify the parameters affecting the occupants’ reaction concerning the indoor thermal conditions through the usage of regression model analysis. The interpretation of occupants’ reaction to indoor conditions and the human's sensation of thermal comfort,based on monitoring the existing environmental conditions and determining probable correlation with individual characteristics are very promising.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Roberto Garay Martinez Thermal insulation in buildings is getting more and more performing with modern energy efficiency regulations in developed countries. Not only insulation requirements are imposed to new-built buildings, but also to refurbishment activities of the existing building stock, where availability of space is often limited. These requirements lead to increased insulation thicknesses in building envelope constructions in modern days, leading to opportunities industries to develop integrated super insulation solutions, as internal insulation solutions. Materials such as Aerogels allow for a substantial reduction of the required space. However, the implementation of these materials at large scale requires of the development of construction systems to guarantee that the overall energy performance of these meets the possibilities of super-insulated materials. Research outcomes integrated in this paper provide solutions through the assessment of thermal bridge effects in light construction systems for aerogels, and full scale experimental campaigns conducted at the Kubik by Tecnalia test facility. The outstanding results are that metallic profile systems should be avoided if these need to be laid across the insulation layer, as the overall heat transfer is increased by almost 40%, and that this issue can be reduced by incorporating non-metallic plastic composite profiles in these systems, or by using systems where profiles are directly anchored at floor slabs. All this is demonstrated on full scale tests in which the overall energy performance of these systems is shown along with a relevant reduction in space requirements.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Dustin Albright, Vincent Blouin, Daniel Harding, Ulrike Heine, David Pastre The purpose of this paper is to explore the unique ways in which a group of Clemson University students and faculty achieved the design and construction of a net zero energy house for the 2015 U.S. Solar Decathlon competition. This paper will describe not only the role of the competition but also the foundation of the team's research and ultimate goal of realizing a holistic view of energy use. Furthermore, this paper will detail the unique materials, systems, and strategies successfully employed by the team in the Indigo Pine solar house, their measured performance, and their future applications.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): K. Loukaidou, A. Michopoulos, Th. Zachariadis Energy consumption in the building sector continues to increase in the entire world and therefore, the determination of cost-optimal solutions towards nearly zero-energy buildings is a serious challenge. The present study is focused on the optimal thermal features of the building envelope, including thermal insulation on wall, roof and ground floor as well as the optimal window properties, in order to achieve nearly-zero energy buildings in the climate conditions of Cyprus. A systematic and robust scientific procedure was adapted in order to determine levels of energy performance leading to minimum life-cycle cost. Energy simulations of different reference test-cell buildings were performed, based on the external envelope's surface to total building volume ratio, and the cost-optimal performance levels were calculated in accordance with Regulation 244/2012/EU, taking into consideration three different climate areas of Cyprus – the cities of Limassol and Nicosia and the mountainous area of Saittas. Both the optimal thermal transmittance coefficient of the external envelope elements and the optimal window properties for each reference test-cell building were calculated. The results demonstrate that the cost-optimal energy performance levels of reference test-cell buildings in Cyprus are considerably higher than the national minimum requirements. Moreover, a linear correlation was found between the optimal (mean) thermal transmission coefficient and the study area, a result that underlines the necessity of forming three independent climate zones in Cyprus instead of one that exists today.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Angeliki Kylili, Paris A. Fokaides The energy and environmental upgrading of the built sector is a burning topic that has urged scientific communities worldwide to keep searching for innovative high performance sustainable building products, systems, designs, and practices. The synergy among several approaches and methodologies has been widely accepted and established as the key in achieving the most sustainable constructions. The aim of this paper is to present a novel high performance building element that establishes a building's thermal comfort and effective cooling, while at the same time it has negligible energy requirements. The operation of this innovative solution is based on an active controlled temperature building shell that employs airflow patterns for the stabilization of the building's temperatures. This work investigates the energy performance of the controlled temperature building shell through the employment of numerical simulation tools, while life cycle methodology is also implemented for the assessment of the environmental impact of the novel element. The results and conclusions of the analysis will establish the overall level of performance of the proposed solution, and demonstrate the significance of integrating several methodologies for the promotion of the sustainable upgrading of the building sector.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): D. Bikas, K. Tsikaloudaki, K.J. Kontoleon, C. Giarma, S. Tsoka, D. Tsirigoti The paper presents the ventilated facades as an intervention for efficient energy upgrade of new and, mainly, existing buildings. It focuses on the requirements that this specific building element should fulfill, with regard to legal, technical, social and financial aspects. More specifically, legal aspects concern mainly the regulations that determine the element's behaviour with respect to the hygrothermal, energy, sound and fire performance, as well as other legal restrictions (i.e. urbanism/planning rules or listed buildings). The technical aspects involve structural issues, architectural concerns and aesthetics, as well as functional matters. Finally, the social aspects refer to the acceptance of the element by building users and architects/engineers, while the financial aspects interrelate the ownership with the economic incentives and the investment feasibility. All the above are presented and discussed in the paper in order to highlight the applicability of ventilated façade systems in residential buildings.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Tero Marttila, Petri Annila, Jommi Suonketo, Paavo Kero, Matti Pentti Continuous flow of information is a paramount importance for the success of a renovation project. This has been a clear statement in several researches, clearances, publications and press releases in Finland. Tampere University of Technology (TUT) studied Finnish state supported mold renovations in three independent researches between 2010 and 2016. First one brought out that the observations made in the condition investigation weren’t always taken into account in the implementation of the renovation. Next two researches focused to study the additional state grant processes, where the external review procedures were helping the flow of information. However, the processes still had some shortcomings and therefore the research team developed a form based method that property owners and builders can utilize for a successful removal of the indoor air problems. This paper describes the outlines of the form as well as the principles and methods for securing the flow of information from condition investigations to the renovation design and quality assurance of the building project. Project planning and monitoring measurements are also taken into account in the method.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): T. Saroglou, I.A. Meir, T. Theodosiou With world population becoming progressively urbanized, approximately 55% to date, the typology of the skyscraper is promoted as potentially socially and economically successful solution. However, an important challenge set on a worldwide basis is how to reduce their high-energy demands, environmental and social imbalances to meet growing strict regulations on carbon emissions and sustainable development. This paper looks at the challenges of skyscraper development in relation to energy efficiency, and investigates strategies towards achieving reducing its energy consumption. A 100m tall model is simulated using the climatic characteristic of Tel Aviv, and energy consumption is studied according to two parameters: the thermal advancement of the building envelope, and the effect of the changing microclimate in relation to altitude. The model is then simulated at 200m-400m high (60 – 125 stories high) and energy consumption is compared in relation to altitude.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Anastasia D. Stavridou, Panagiotis E. Prinos This study examines the temperature distribution and the flow field in a naturally ventilated room with a localized floor heat source. The room has an orthogonal form with a low and a high opening placed in opposite walls. The temperature of outdoor air is cooler than the initial indoor air temperature forming buoyancy-driven natural ventilation (with U wind ≈0). The problem is explored with computational simulation using a CFD software. A model validation is presented with experimental and computational results of previous investigation 10,11 on natural ventilation including buoyancy forces. The 3D unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) equations are solved in conjunction with the energy equation and the turbulence RNG k-ɛ model. The unsteady flow of natural ventilation with buoyancy forces is analyzed andthe vertical variation of temperature with respect to timeis investigated. A thermal stratification is formed which is justified by the respective indoor air movement. The upper buoyant layer is warmer than the bottom one, while the indoor air temperature of both layers increases with time. A thermal comfort exploration accompanies the outcoming results and provides useful information for similar problems. Finally, a number of conclusions are derived about the simulation process, the function of natural ventilation and the thermal comfort of the space in corresponding cases.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Aleksandra Djukic, Jelena Marić Social sustainability of existing healthcare (HC) facilities in future will depend on their ability to improve quality and design towards user-oriented performance. Evidence based design presents an adequate tool for analyzing existing and future design of HC facilities. Hospitals in Serbia are in a bad condition, and each year less people are choosing to be treated in public hospitals. The purpose of this paper is to analyze current design problems by evaluating the social sustainability of existing hospital facilities in Serbia and suggest possible guidelines for further research in this area. The biggest healthcare facility in Serbia called Medical Military Academy (MMA) was selected as a case study. A group of key stakeholders consisted of patients, non-medical and medical staff from the MMA hospital were selected to collaborate. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. The methodological framework consists of: fundamental literature review, participant observation, extensive interviews, and surveys. Further analyses were conducted in form of quality assessment from the perspective of aforementioned stakeholders, based on specific set of criteria, divided in two main categories: comfort/distribution and safety/humanization. This evaluation is achieved through technical analyses and qualitative surveys using questionnaires. The preliminary findings identified several key problems in existing design of the hospital, regarding both global social sustainability and specific critical areas.This paper presents in-depth analyses and first assessment of existing hospital design of this kind done in Serbia. New model for evaluation social sustainability of HC infrastructure is established. Results of this research will contribute to improving healthcare infrastructure and could present the first step on the path to creating socially sustainable healthcare facilities in Serbia.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Thomas K. Thiis, Ingunn Burud, Andreas Flø, Dimitrios Kraniotis, Stergiani Charisi, Petter Stefansson The hygrothermal surface conditions of a façade is important for the degradation of the façade material as well as for the energy budget of the building. The distribution of short term variations of the temperature and moisture in the façade is often neglected in degradation studies that will typically treat the whole façade equally. The moisture and temperature variations are especially important in porous building materials where water dependent biological and physical processes are the main degrading factors. In this study the diurnal cycle of the surface temperature is measured with conventional temperature probes as well as with infra-red camera. In addition, the moisture content of the wooden façade is measured with resistive measurement technique. The measurements are used to validate simulations of the spatial temperature and moisture variations on the façade. The study shows large variations of surface conditions on the façade and that the simulations reproduces the measurements within a high degree of accuracy.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Ioanna Papayianni, Vasiliki Pachta Earth structures have been continuously used in construction from prehistory until nowadays (33% of worldwide houses), due to their low cost and easy production, without high energy embodied materials. They were constructed with various techniques and materials which depicted apart from the regional traditions in building, the construction philosophy of the past, inspired from the respect to environment and saving of materials and energy resources. In many towns of the South East Europe there is a stock of earth block houses of vernacular architecture. Most of them have been abandoned and destroyed or reconstructed with concrete or cement based materials, altering completely their original characteristics. Nowadays, there is not a unified policy for the preservation of this significant part of the common European Cultural Heritage due to: - The tradition of manufacturing earth masonry has been vanished - The lack of scientific knowledge regarding the restoration and repair materials of earth structures by using adequate and mild interventions. - The lack of regulations regarding the proper compatible materials and techniques. However, the consolidation, upgrading and reuse of these earth masonry houses in the urban plan of modern cities, is of great importance for the cultural identity and development of them. In the paper the main characteristics of these houses have bee recorded, as well as the main damages and problems they confront. Then a series of techniques and materials compatible to the existing ones is proposed and commented properly from the aspect of performance and cost effectiveness.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Evi Riga, Anna Karatzetzou, Aikaterini Mara, Kyriazis Pitilakis Seismic risk assessment and loss estimation are of major importance for decision-making with respect to the reduction of earthquake-induced losses in large urban areas. However, the methodological chain of seismic risk assessment, from seismic hazard assessment to evaluation of potential losses, encompasses both aleatory and epistemic uncertainties associated with different sources. The present study aims to give an insight into epistemic uncertainties in seismic risk assessment at urban scale when applying the Capacity Spectrum Method (CSM), using the city of Thessaloniki, Greece as a case study. Quantification of uncertainties related to structural capacity and fragility curves parameters was performed using a logic tree approach. A sensitivity analysis of the computed seismic risk results was also performed in order to determine which input parameters have the greatest impact on the output. For the considered set of input parameters, it was found that the epistemic uncertainties related to damage states thresholds of the fragility curves are the most significant ones, while those associated with the capacity curve parameters may also be substantial. On the contrary, the sensitivity of computed seismic risk on CSM parameters a1, a2 and γ appears to be negligible. The results highlight the critical points to which special attention should be paid when implementing the Capacity Spectrum Method for seismic risk assessment.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Catherine Baxevanou, Dimitris Fidaros In the present study a CFD model is developed for the examination of natural ventilation in a two store building with a solar chimney. The steady-state transport equations for the vector and scalar quantities (velocity vectors, turbulence, energy and spectral intensity of radiation) are solved numerically by a FV numerical method. The turbulent nature of the flow is simulated by the two equation k-ω high Reynolds model while for the incident radiation is used the Discrete Ordinates (DO) model. The model efficiently renders the buoyancy effects inside the building, through density variation caused by temperature raise. The radiation modelling takes into account the thermal and optical spectral properties of materials. The developed numerical model was validated against published works for relative flows. Three modifications of the basic 2D geometry were examined in order to exploit the functionality design of a solar chimney. The better performance was achieved with the simpler design which has single openings connecting the solar chimney and the ventilated rooms, while the ventilation rate was compared with analytical models. 2D simulations’ results can be used safely as indication about the solar chimney qualitative performance while they underestimate the mass flow rate in comparison with equivalent 3D approaches. The solar chimney operates better at morning and afternoon, while the worst operation is observed at the noon of June, as far it concerns the ventilation of the whole building

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): A. Martinez, I. Urra, J. Hernandez, T. Diallo, X. Zhao This paper presents the designing aspects and first experimental characterization of an adaptable Smart Modular Heat Recovery Unit (SMHRU) developed under the scope of the E2VENT Project. This SMHRU is being designed as a part of an adaptable renovation module for the retrofitting of multi-storey residential building from the 60 's, 70 's across Europe that embeds the SMHRU and an energy storage system based on a phase change material. This heat recovery unit will be adjustable to be integrated into the ventilated façade cavity, and able to recover heat from ventilation air, preheating the ventilation air in winter and precooling it in summer. This will allow an efficient combination of consumption reduction and acceptable air indoor quality. The first part of the paper presents designing considerations and thermal stationary analysis of the heat recovery unit, which is based on experimental correlations obtained for air-to-air compact offset-strip-fin plate heat exchangers. Secondly CFD analysis of the distributor of the SMHRU is presented. Finally prototype first performance estimation based on experimental results is presented.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Stergiani Charisi The 2010 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) requires all new buildings to be nearly-zero energy buildings (nZEBs) by 2020. A strict definition of nZEB is yet to be defined by the legal framework of each European country. However, the basic principles of nZEBs are the reduction of their energy demands to minimum and, subsequently, the coverage of their low energy demands in a great extent by renewable energy sources. This study focuses on the potential reduction of energy demands in a typical Greek residential building. A model building, representative to the average Greek residential building was designed and used as model. The effect of various parameters on the energy demand of the building, such as insulation, openings and shading devices, was investigated and evaluated. The model building was examined in all four climate zones of Greece using dynamic simulation software tools to define the energy demands. The results suggest that the most efficient constructive solutions for every climate zone lay on various combinations of parameters. The right combination for each climate zone can contribute to a significant energy saving that rises up to 30% and reduce the total annual energy demand of the building to less than 50 kWh/m 2 .

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): K.J. Kontoleon, D.G. Zenginis One of the most important objectives in building design is to achieve acceptable indoor comfort levels with minimum energy requirements. To accomplish this, firstly a serious consideration must be given to various construction and design parameters, such as the building's envelope structure and shape, its orientation, as well as the climatic data of the region. Secondly, as the envelope heat transmission contributes to the heating and cooling loads, the incorporation of an adequate heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system ( HVAC ) must be considered. In this study, the effect of the thermophysical properties of a brickwork layer and the thickness of a thermal insulation layer, on the heat flows of a building zone with a varying orientation, is determined. This building zone, having a specific outline geometry, is exposed to winter conditions that correspond to the northern region of Greece (Thessaloniki). The heating loads are assessed for different indoor temperature settings within the building enclosure, while the operation of the system is assumed to be continuous. Although some other aspects could be considered, this study also stresses to the importance of incoming solar radiation by glazing surfaces on the internal surfaces of the studied building zone; the above solar heat gain analysis relies on the sunlit-pattern approach. The foregoing presentation is concerned with varying proportions of glazing surfaces to the total wall surface. As it is shown, the consideration of the above issues is influential to maintain an acceptable indoor environment, while decreasing the heat flow exchanges through building envelopes. For the purposes of this study, a lumped thermal-network model incorporating several heat flow paths has been employed (transient thermal analysis).

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): S. Kotti, D. Teli, P.A.B. James Material and component performances are blunt instruments for appraising the thermal performance of structures. A certain amount of consumed energy is attributable to the interaction of building fabric components, where thermal bridges occur. This paper analyses the thermal bridging effect and provides a number of modelled, cost-effective retrofit approaches in Greek single family houses, in order to address thermal bridges and improve the building's energy performance. The impact of thermal bridging on the overall annual heating load was estimated at 13%. The investigated retrofit solutions achieved a decrease of the annual heating energy requirement of 4-10%. The sunspace achieved the highest energy reduction of 10%, offering ‘free’ solar heating at a reasonable payback period.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Mohamed Edeisy, Carlo Cecere This article aims to evaluate envelope retrofit as a tool to decrease reliance on air conditioning units in hot arid climates. Energyplus is used to model an apartment block in Cairo and analyze its energy performance.Retrofit through glazing improvement is evaluated in relation to cooling load andcarbon emissions. Results provide guidance for envelope retrofitas a part of a plan to empower energy efficiency in Egypt and hot arid countries.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Dimitrios Kraniotis, Kristine Nore Wood as hygroscopic material has the capacity to absorb moisture and thus to moderate the indoor relative humidity (RH) in a building, resulting in lower ventilation demand. In addition, when moisture migrates in hygroscopic structures energy is released through latent heat phenomena. The diurnal variation of moisture content in wood hold a potential for contributing in the buildings energy balance. This study presents the theoretical energy savings in low energy buildings with interior wooden surfaces under different moisture protocols indoors. The requirements of the Norwegian Building Regulations (TEK10) are followed regarding the U-values of the envelope components. A hygrothermal simulation tool is employed to estimate the potential diurnal variations of moisture content in the wood structure. The latent heat released and absorbed is mathematically calculated for a reference building. The results show the potential of hygroscopic structures to save thermal energy by means of heat of sorption and to reduce the conductive heat losses through opaque building elements. The limitations of the phenomena are also discussed.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): M.Z. Bezas, Th.N. Nikolaidis, C.C. Baniotopoulos The proposed paper focuses on the research of sustainability of steel buildings in the case of a double-shell brickwork cladding, assessed under fire protection criteria and fire performance aspects. More specifically, it concerns an approach in designing and evaluating the structural components of energy-efficient steel buildings with regards to their fire performance. It is important to understand what the performance criteria are intended to be applied when selecting a particular material or method, including exposure to fire, duration, aesthetics, cost and maintenance. Application of insulating materials is one of the most common means of protecting structural steel members from fire. The knowledge and the practical outcomes about the fire resistance of the steel buildings with double-brickwork cladding have been derived on the basis of an estimation and evaluation of fire resistance of several construction details of the building's envelope. The study focuses on the thermal analysis of structural steel members, whose cross-section consists of the steel member core, the thermal and fire insulation and other layers. Because of the complexity that governs the equations describing the thermal phenomena, the structural detail models have been studied using finite element analysis. This is a thermal analysis that permits to quantify the response of the respective structural elements in terms of temperature with reference to time. The aim of the expected data is to evaluate the position of a steel member in connection with the double-shell brickwork cladding and promote those construction materials that are efficient under fire taking into account simultaneously their thermophysical, hydrothermal and environmental properties.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): M. Stefanidou, F. Kesikidou, K. Antoniadis Traditional renders based on lime had an aesthetic as well as a protective role for the historic masonry. They were applied in layers in order to ensure good adhesion and cohesion with the substrate but also in order to be functional. The technology of each layer was different in relation to the maximum grain size of the aggregates and the binder/aggregate ratio. Main requirements were the high water vapor permeability, the low water retention in order to avoid salt formation and the capacity of water absorption by capillarity of each layer should increase outwards. As moisture has a detrimental role in the thermal behavior of materials, an effort has been made to record the effect of layering in energy properties. Lime-based renders were tested in relation to their hybrid properties when different application techniques were followed. Two-layer renders with different technological characteristics in each layer were produced. Their behavior, in various deterioration mechanisms such as capillarity, external water uptake (measured by karsten tubes) and water vapor permeability was monitored. It seems that low porosity and adequate permeability is achieved in two-layer renders while the thermal conductivity was effective.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): E. Alexandri, E. Krali, E. Melabianaki, G. Neofytou, S. Peristerioti, K. Agorastou In this paper the rationale of the bioclimatic regeneration of part of the commercial triangle of Athens is presented. In this 11 ha area, identified by three streets in the form of a triangle, the most vivid commercial activities have been taking place, from the transformation of Athens into a capital city in the 19 th century, up to late 20 th century, when the upcoming of “malls” displaced consumption habits from small shops to large shopping centres. As it is a place that has been either within the city walls or at the outskirts since antiquity, its geometry is very much affected by ancient and medieval Athenian city planning, which is explored and highlighted in this regeneration project. The commercial triangle area today is characterised by a mixture of neo-classical and modern buildings, as well as simplexes of pedestrian streets. The landscape of the area is being reshaped as the old uses that reflect the former economic backbone of the city, are displaced or replaced by new ones which are more related to the industry of entertainment. In this paper, a brief spatial description and historical review of the area is presented, pinpointing to the political and municipal decisions that have affected the area, highlighting the conflicts that the area faces today. Existing land use is monitored in detail and compared to past ones. The sustainability rationale of the regeneration of the public spaces of this area is presented, taking into consideration environmental issues (pedestrianisation of narrow streets, environmental footprint of used or reused materials, recycling municipal waste, low energy consumption street light, construction site measures), bioclimatic issues (microclimatic considerations, surface materials, placement of vegetation in narrow streets), cultural issues (putting forward the area's historic footprint through the design) as well as social issues (conflicts that might arise from competitive or incompatible land uses), trying to achieve a holistic sustainable regeneration approach.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Vincent Peyramale, Christian Wetzel For the sustainable redevelopment of existing properties,it is important thatthe measures taken pay off economically as well. With the energy-scoring method presented in this paper, portfolios can be classified according to their energy-saving potential. Besides the various factors affecting the reduction of primary energy demand, the 3-tier model analyzes and correlates the economic efficiency. The result is an objective ranking of each object, from which property owners can deduce where they should ideally invest in order to optimize the energy efficiency of their building stock sustainably.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Katerina Parpairi In the era of climate change, with global interest focused more and more on renewable energy sources and environmental protection, this paperfocuses on a building type with increased energy use: hotels. Initially, global tourism facts and international case studies are presented, illustrating sustainable strategies employed in hotel design to reduce energy consumption. Several decisions/actions taken are presented, illustrating the benefits of a more sustainable tourist product throughout the world, and the effect that has on the guest and the environment. The paper then focuses on Greece, where tourism is the most important industry of the country's economy. Through the presentation of successful case studies, the research presents a list of strategies that are often used in Greek hotels. By discussing compatible and environmentally conscious alternatives, the need for an increased use of Renewable Energy Technologies (RET) combined with sustainable design is emphasized. This work concludes with tables of available strategies per category for new and existing buildings, which can be used by environmental engineers, designersas well as hotel owners in order to draw a plan of actions towards energy conservation and thus the upgrading of the tourist product.The aim of this research is to illustrate that following an energy audit, every hotel owner can decide upon a series of actions with a short payback period, resulting in financial savings and an attractive and, most importantly, sustainable tourist product.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Roberto Garay, Beñat Arregi, Peru Elguezabal External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems (ETICS) are increasingly used for the energy-efficient retrofit of buildings. This paper evaluates the in-situ thermal performance of a prefabricated composite panel made of PIR and concrete, by full scale testing of a prototype installed at the KUBIK test facility. Experimental results from measurement show a reduction in the thermal resistance of the ETICS assembly compared to theoretical design values. A number of phenomena have been identified causing multidimensional heat flow of conductive and convective nature,such as thermal bridges at floor slabs and anchors, and thermal bypass of the insulation causing airflow behind the ETICS.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): P. Tsikra, E. Andreou The overall potential for energy saving in existing school buildings in Greece is considered to be significant. The use of daylight in school buildings has been the subject of study in the past, since the proper use of daylight in schools is liable to improve student performance and to provide energy savings. It is also believed that natural lighting has affected the design of school buildings more than any other building type while the main problem is located on quality rather than on quantity issues. The paper investigates the extent to which the implementation of certain interventions to the building envelope of existing schools, can improve their energy performance and at the same time ensure thermal and visual comfort. A Primary school in the C climatic zone is used as a case study in order to examine energy performance and daylight issues for a relatively new school building with unfavorable orientation. The effect of alternative interventions such as the implementation of thermal insulation, the use of ceiling fans, the implementation of external shading, and the improvement of thermal characteristics of openings are being examined. The evaluation is performed using appropriate energy performance and daylight simulation tools.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Sílvia Alves Architecture is the result of different generative dynamics. Vernacular architecture is an example of building within inherent sustainable characteristics. By using a conceptual structure based on the architectural main components, it is possible to recognize the interrelations established in the past, and the ones crucial to respect in the present. The architectural values of the historic center of Oporto are analyzed, regarding the interactions of both its generative main topics and inherent sustainable values. In our historic centers we can see sustainability within architecture, as a whole, helping us to understand what components we must focus, why, when and where.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Miha Tomšič, Mihael Mirtič, Marjana Šijanec Zavrl, Andraž Rakušček A draft of Slovenian national technical guidelines for energy efficient renovation of cultural heritage buildings has been prepared in January 2016 in order to increase exploitation of the energy saving potential in a field of cultural heritage buildings. The guidelines include measures to improve the building thermal envelope, energy systems and installations as well as ways to increase the use of renewable energy and organizational aspects with respect to their influence upon protected features, along with warnings and recommendations. The paper presents the mentioned concept and its application on a practical case.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): P.G. Vatavalis, D.K. Bikas A corner Double Skin Façade curtain walling facing south and west orientation that has been applied in Athens Greece was examined during cooling season. The external skin of the double skin façade is made out of rotating sandblasted striped glass louvres on its external skin on both elevations. During the cooling season, measurements were done on both elevations with the intention to examine in detail the performance of the curtain walling. Measurements were done using thermocouples in particular areas of the construction for several days and different methods were followed to allow the determination of the airflow in the cavity. The external skin which is adjustable was examined in vertical and inclined position with the aim to identify when it is performing properly and how its performance can be optimized. Throughout the analysis, it was realised that the South elevation is functioning ideally thanks to a multi-layered shading that is achieved by the sandblasted striped glass louvres when they are positioned inclined. On the contrary, it can be identified that the west elevation is not performing sufficiently as the vector of the solar irradiance is differing in comparison to the midday where the irradiation is facing the south orientation from a significantly different position. As a result the multi-layered shading in the west elevation is not functioning properly and for this reason the measured temperatures on both the internal skin of the Double Skin Façade and the interior of the building prove that corrective measures are required with the aim to avoid overheating problems.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Eleftheria Alexandri, Andreas Androutsopoulos When energy upgrade measures are suggested for existing buildings, usually the market availability of the selected technology, in relation to costs are taken into consideration; the latter are usually expressed as the investment payback period, in relation to the savings from energy bills that are achieved. Yet, the embodied energy payback period is not taken into consideration, in relation to the respective energy savings; this payback period is considered to be very crucial since it is an indicator of whether the specific energy saving measures should be followed, so that their embodied energy is paid back within the rest of the building's life span, showing finally whether the building should be energy upgraded or not, from a holistic energy point of view. In this work a “typical” dwelling building apartment is considered in all four climatic zones of Greece. Materials and techniques are examined on this building, so as to achieve the minimum requirements of the existing legislative energy upgrade, as well as transforming it into a nearly zero energy building (nZEB). The parameters used are according to the Greek legislationwith regards to occupancy and building use. Materials and techniques investigated are chosen with market availability criteria. A parametric analysis of materials and techniques with different embodied energies is considered and their payback periods are examined for all case studies. Conclusions are drawn on which materials and techniques should be preferred and which should be avoided for the energy upgrade of existing buildings in the climatic zones of Greece, in order to achieve the minimum legislative energy consumption requirements or an nZEB, based on their energy payback period.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): A.V. Androutsopoulos, G.M. Stavrakakis, M. Damasiotis This study presents the results of a thorough investigation of a cool-roof application on a public school building (pilot building) located in Athens, Greece. An impact assessment was conducted by means of both energy monitoring and numerical analysis of whole-building's thermal behavior. A twin nearby school building (reference building) was used for comparison purposes. The measuring process in both buildings included the recording of thermal performance indicators (TPIs), i.e. roof internal and external surface temperature, indoor air temperature and relative humidity. The ambient air temperature and incident solar irradiance were also recorded at the roof of the reference building. The duration of the monitoring period was approx. one month, two weeks before and two weeks after the application of the cool roof material. TPIs’ differences before and after the application were based on comparisons to the reference building recordings to ensure the same outdoor climatic conditions. The impact of the cool roof in the building's energy performance was based on hourly dynamic energy simulations (in annual basis). The model developed uses as input conditions: a modified weather file based on the onsite weather measurements, the thermo-physical properties of the building materials taken from the available insulation study, and the optical properties measured from surface samples. Inspection surveys’ with interviews, which provided building's systems operation and occupancy schedules, were also used as input schedule files. The model was validated with comparisons of calculated and measured indoor air temperatures. The results showed that, ten days after the application, the reduction of the daily mean indoor air temperature below the cool roof ranged in 1.3-2.3 0 C and 1.6-1.9 0 C as provided by measurements and simulations, respectively. In terms of annual energy consumption, a reduction of up to 30% in cooling demand was estimated in summer, while the heatingpenalty for winter period reached 12%.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Constantinos A. Balaras, John Lelekis, Elena G. Dascalaki, Dimitris Atsidaftis Data centers are amongst the most complex and energy demanding building environments. The trends of increasing data center capacity and power use by information technology equipment, re-emphasize the need to reduce cooling loads, first cost for HVAC equipment, and finally related energy and operational costs. The first part of the paper presents an overview of relevant information and available resources for the efficient design and operation of these critical environments. The second part considers two large data centers located in Athens that serve two major Hellenic banks as case studies in order to investigate and quantify the potential measures for improving their energy performance. The two facilities were audited and actual energy consumption were used for an energy assessment. According to simulation results of various efficiency measures, the Power Usage Effectiveness may be improved from 2.49 to 2.11 for the first case study and from 1.89 to 1.66 for the second one.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): T.K. Efthimiadou, Th.N. Nikolaidis, C.C. Baniotopoulos The present paper firstly deals with the steel structurés contribution to existing building safety factor increase. In a second stage, the response of the structural masonry–steel system after rehabilitation of the whole building with additional steel roofs is analyzed. The building at hand was chosen as a representative sample of the architectural wealth of the plethora of the so-called neoclassical buildings available in the town of Veria. The analysis includes a description of the building's characteristics and pathologies, with an estimation of the structural performance under an optimization process when using steel structures for its enhancement. The last part of the paper concerns conclusions, recommendations and proposals for renovation, maintenance, strengthening and extension of historic buildings of this type.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Dimitris Al. Katsaprakakis, George Zidianakis This article presents the cumulative experience from the design, the study and the application of energy efficiency technologies in school buildings in Greece, implemented within the frame of a funding action by the European Committee and the Greek State. In total 10 school buildings in Crete, Thessaly, Macedonia and Thrace were studied. All of them were approved for funding. Among the proposed actions both passive measures, to reduce heating and cooling loads, and active systems, to approach maximum Renewable Energy Sources penetration, were involved. Building envelope insulation, replacement of inadequate openings and, in one case, a green roof construction as a pilot application, constitute the implemented passive measures. On the other hand, photovoltaic (PV) panels on roofs, solar combi-system with biomass heaters for the most southern locations (Crete) or single biomass heaters for the northern locations, installation of low energy consumption lighting equipment and introduction of hybrid cooling techniques mainly with the installation of ceiling fans, compose the set of the introduced active systems. The calculation of the heating and cooling loads was executed with the use of TRNSYS software, for both the existing situation and after the proposed passive systems introduction. The operation of the solar combi-systems was arithmetically simulated using annual time series of mean hourly values for the heating loads and the available solar radiation. A software application was developed using LabVIEW. Finally, a fundamental economic analysis was executed for each introduced technology separately, as well as for the whole intervention. The examined buildings energy efficiency is expected to be upgraded at least in category B. Currently, all the proposed works have been integrated. A measuring system for the monitoring of the operation of the introduced technologies has been proposed, accompanied by a user friendly application. This monitoring system will also be exploited demonstratively for the students, as a teaching supporting tool. The measuring of the introduced systems normal operation will provide a reliable evaluation for the initial calculations and the anticipated upgrading of the buildings energy efficiency.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Angeliki Kresteniti Hotel buildings are unique compared to other public, commercial buildings due to their varying size as well as their facilities and operating schedules. Recent studies indicate that hotels are the second highest energy consuming category after hospitals. Even though they represent only 0.82% of the building stock, they reflect 28% of the total final energy use in the tertiary building sector of Greece. The reported average energy consumption for Greek hotels is 273kWh/m 2 annually. Purpose of this Master Thesis was to evaluate different energy optimization scenarios for an existing hotel building as a case study and calculate the potential energy savings using the Greek software TEE-KENAK. Three main subjects were investigated: the building envelope, the electromechanical systems and the application of renewable energy technologies. Based on the results from several simulations, it is concluded that it is possible to reach an average reduction of 60% in the annual primary energy consumption.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Vasiliki Pachta, Ioanna Papayianni During the end of the 19th century, Thessaloniki expanded and new buildings were constructed according to the architectural style of this period. Nowadays, they present severe damages, since they were abandoned and need restoration interventions. This paper concerns the systematic study of the building materials and construction techniques, of six Eclecticism buildings concerning: Administration building of the Allatini complex (1879), 1st Gymnasium (1890), Melissa orphanage (1896), the house of Sarantaporou st. (1906), the building of Anagenniseos st. (1910), Villa Bianca (1913). The study includes insitu observation of the constructional materials and techniques and analysis of the bearing system. An experimental analysis of building materials, revealed the main principles and details followed in the construction of the past. As it is concluded, the main building materials used were unshaped stones (limestone, schist), bricks (compact and hollowed) and mortars (structural, plasters, renders) based in lime and pozzolan. Generally, ashlar masonries were found in the basement and ground floor of the structures, while brick masonries were used for the construction of the first and second floor. The compact bricks were used for the external walls, while hollowed bricks were used for the upper and internal ones. Floors were constructed with wooden or metallic beams and were covered with tapestry or ceramic tiles. Metallic elements were also used for the connection and confinement of the masonry walls. Externally façades were decorated with thick colored renders of specific stratigraphy, while internally wall and roof plasters were decorated with frescoes. The study of the historic buildings of Eclecticism of Thessaloniki showed many similarities regarding the materials used and the constructional techniques applied. In all cases, the principles followed were closely related to the sustainability and economy, taking into account specific architectural and morphological aspects.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 38 Author(s): Iason Konstantzos, Athanasios Tzempelikos Visual comfort is one of the main priorities in designing working and living environments. An efficient design of an office space however should also take into account its energy performance, and the connection to the outdoors. The latter is a poorly studied but critical factor connected to the overall visual satisfaction in the interior. While new designs offer freedom to the architects in terms of orientations, window-to-wall ratios and high performance glazing systems, existing spaces require more targeted and effective retrofit solutions, mostly connected to shading devices and automatic control systems or even the potential adjustment of the positional layout in the interior. Glare from daylight is a common issue in building perimeter zones with large facades that highly affects productivity and occupant comfort, therefore its mitigation should be considered as a priority. Then, maximizing the lighting energy performance or the degree of connection to the outdoors should be secondary decisions connected to the use of the space. Several indicators have been developed to quantify the degree of visual discomfort, and Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) is widely accepted as an appropriate index. However, in this study, due to limitations of the applicability of DGP in cases with the sun visible through roller shades, an alternative criterion is being used, based on thresholds for the direct and total vertical illuminance on the eye. In compliance with IES Standard LM-83-12, the continuous daylight autonomy is used to assess the lighting energy performance of the space, while for the connection to the outdoors, the newly developed Effective Outside View index is extended in order to quantify the case of dynamic shading systems. The triple visual environment criterion allows a holistic evaluation of the visual environment in private offices with roller shades.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Fahad Zuberi Third-World countries like India are the most glaring examples of the social and environmental issues that are observed in urban settlements. However, in medieval times, cities in the Indian peninsula were functioning in a better way and with higher densities than today. This paper aims at answering the questions regarding the growth and sustenance of the concept of Green Urbanism in the settlements of medieval India by taking Agra Fort as a case study. The research intends to learn about the development and sustenance of these highly functional and dense cities in a time when modern technology was nonexistent.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Amira Mersal In the last years, prominent large-scale “eco-city” development proposals have emerged around the globe. While the development of eco-cities is in itself not a new trend “Eco-cities” has been applied to a number of different projects that embrace a broad array of ideological and ecological goals on this basis, the paper studied the ecological city and the relationship between Green city. this papers explains the benefits and challenges of urban green spaces. The important roles played by green spaces are social, economic, cultural and environmental aspects of sustainable development. Urban green spaces can be a comprehensive tool for long term protection of environmental sustainability through improving the quality of life and air quality, increasing property value due to their amenity and aesthetic characteristics, and reducing the energy costs of cooling buildings. Urban green spaces also can provide ecosystem services in which the recreation and relaxation facilities are especially available to urban dwellers and tourists too. To confirm the multiple roles played by green spaces, certain level of qualitative improvements and distribution of green spaces within the urban area should be considered and incorporated effectively into the environmental sustainability agenda. To do this, an integrated approach regarding the planning, monitoring, designing and maintaining of urban green spaces is required for improving the environmental sustainability in cities in different countries Urban planners, designers, and ecologists, therefore, need to focus on urban green space strategies that are ‘just green enough’ and that explicitly protect social as well as ecological sustainability. Hope that through this research for ecological and green city to provide a reference.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Claire Flurin Based on a comparative case study of Malmö Bo01 (Sweden), Barcelona Trinitat Nova (Spain), Bordeaux Ginko (France), and Docks de Saint Ouen (France), this paper shows that there are substantial differences in the practical interpretation of the term eco-district, and that the eco-district framework has evolved to suit different governmental systems and cultures. The four urban development projects arrive at similar outcomes and a common understanding of “urban sustainability”, yet their structures differ. Cities and city governments go above and beyond the national and international guidelines and tailor policies to meet their local priorities.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Rattanathip Rattanachai, Sutthidet Sarue This research paper is the Virtualization Mae Wong National Park with respect to CHONG YEN in District of Pang Sila Thong, Kamphaeng Phet Province, Thailand. This software is useful for PR to the natural education, to raise awareness in natural disasters, the love and cherish about the forest, wildlife, and plant, so when there is deforestation, it will have an impact on both humans and animals. Which implement to environment include wild animals, birds and local tree, using Sketchup, Blender, and Gimp to design models, Unity 3D to create map function models, used C sharp and JavaScript to developed program. When testing and evaluating the qualities of the system, Black Box testing was used to determine were satisfied by the performances of system as follows: Means were 4.48 respectively and standard deviation were 0.65 respectively.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Viviana Spanò Due to its urban and geographical conditions, the south district of Palermo is focus of this study. Observations are based on the direct experience of the area and on the mapping of the unbuilt ground. Some relevant issues have then arisen, including the hard accessibility of the area, the crisis of agriculture and the depletion of water sources. Topics of change find a common intersection in the proposal of green ways. The green ways are shaped by the connection of fields, squares and gardens already existing between the buildings, and they become continuous paths from the mountain to the seacoast.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Tatsanawalai Utarasakul This research was investigated outdoor thermal environment under Samanea saman based on 2 types of ground covers during January 2015 in 2 urban parks of Bangkok, Thailand. Outdoor temperature was evaluated during 10 am to 2 pm under Samanea saman which were representative of asphalt and grass covering. Average temperature was evaluated at 2 meters far from the stem in north south east west directions, and at 0 and 100 centimeters above the ground. The results revealed that, grass covering at 0 centimeter was the highest ground cover type which can be reduced air temperature by 1.23% compared with other types of ground covers whereas the results were not difference statistically in both different types of ground cover and height. Additionally, Samanea saman were recommended as the suitable tree for planting in urban environment as this species can be reduced outdoor temperature for all types of ground covers.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Riham S. Mohamed, Ali F. Bakr, Yousry M. Anany The developed nation's faces the demographic challenges, rapid urbanization, and rapid growth of their cities. The research attempts to create new indicators with several goals to evaluate the city to help developed nation decision makers and planners to do their role in enhancing the quality of life in their cities. First, review of urban challenges and urban development with the increasing of populations. Second, review the conventional urban indicators. Third, formulate of urban planning goals. Finally, it will calculate the comprehensive Planning Capa 2 Energy (PC 2 E) by creating new urban indicators on an agricultural road ( Abies) in the middle of Alexandria, Egypt as a case study.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Pietro Columba

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): M. Arboit, E. Betman The object of this work is to study the energy impact caused by green surface area and vegetation coverage present in the low-density urban environment in the metropolitan area of Mendoza (AMM), Argentina, in order to understand the morphology of forested city in an arid climate, and, in the future, to determine the potential real modification on those urban microclimate environments essentially dependent on energy exchanges. Methogically on the urban green space level, the green surface and the different mineralized surfaces have been quantified from surveyed land data, aerial photographs, and by an accompanying representative in-situ survey of 32 city blocks in the AMM. In addition, using the i-tree canopy tool, the urban area covered by tree vegetation mass or vegetation cover has been quantified. Subsequently, using ecophysiological coefficients 1 , an environmental index for each environment analyzed has been determined, indicating the percentage of the total area of green space environmentally useful as an environmental modifier. The results obtained indicate mean values of green surface (herbaceous grass) of 22.83% in the urban environments analyzed (20.22% public and private), plus a 2.62% non-mineralized surface devoid of vegetation cover (permeable irrigation channel). The results using the i-tree tool indicate an urban surface covered by a vegetation tree mass of 26.59%, and a total of 41.08% non-mineralized surface, including trees, grass lawns, bushes and bare ground. In terms of environmental indices, values were established for the 32 environments analyzed, from a mean of 0.46, with the highest indices of 0.59 through the positive effect of vegetation cover from the thermodynamic point of view, and, on the other hand, with minimum indices of 0.39 in environments with a low percentage of urban trees and a high quantity of mineralized surface directly exposed to solar radiation. As a result of such a process, it is possible to determine current conditions and the formulation of an environmental diagnosis based on vegetation cover, adapted to consolidated environments of low density in a model of a forested city in arid climate, and it is hoped that this work presents the possibility of evaluating the energy impact of vegetation cover to implement future norms and rules aimed both at preserving the forested city model, in equilibrium with a model of the sustainable city, and at reversing urban-building growth that does not take such factual indicators into consideration.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Mohamed A. El Fayoumi “Tactical urbanism” is a spontaneous - temporary change to the urban spaces, mainly squares, carried by many new activities and uses. However, there is a major roles for street vendors in utilization these spaces as a way of applying tactical urbanism phenomenon. The aim of this paper is to point out the spontaneously unplanned practices that have been carried out by inhabitants, individuals and low cost activities owners, which runout “Tactical urbanism” principles, and its utilization for the main squares in Greater Cairo Region (G.C.R.). The paper question, mainly, the problematic misallocation of uses and activities that generate the street vendors’ roles in main squares utilization regardless the government actions in controlling their spread as in Ramses square in G.C.R. CBD. Finally, the paper tests the principles and the approach of tactical urbanism to solve the street vendors’ problem by a solved example, in Egyptian urban fabric, to assess how it was successful or what was needed instead.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Shimul Shah, Anil Kumar Roy Urban waterfronts are interface between city and water bodies of sea, river and lake. The host city maintains visual image as well functional characteristics of it. One such mega city waterfront is located at the Carter Road at Mumbai, India with elements of visual and functional interpretation as one walks through it. This is a unique formal urban waterfront constructed, maintained and operationalized largely by the public participation without the direct support of local and the provincial governments. It was constructed in the year 2002 initially, but become fully operational and opened for the public use after the restoration in 2008 under the public space reclamation project. The responsibility to manage is shared between and amongst the two community based organization - Bandra West Residents Association (BWRA) and Kurla-Bandra-Santa Cruz foundation. Public access to waterfront is universal however; accessibility is limited to non-commercial use of this urban space. This paper tries to understand sustainable principles of urban waterfronts based on its design, functionality, and management components. Further the principles of urban waterfronts have been divided into physical and social factors. Chronological evolution of Carter Road Waterfront has been studied to understand sustainable factors mentioned above. Stakeholder's consultations have been carried out to assess the design, functions and management aspects of the waterfront. The main stakeholders in this case are local residence, a local member of parliament, a group of design professionals and a commercial agency. Users’ survey has been conducted to know the activities that are being carried out on the waterfront on a regular basis largely manifested by the surrounding land uses. The Carter Road Waterfronts provides access to all the age groups, while it designates spaces for recreational and health facilities. It also provides spaces for social events as and when needed. It appears that the waterfront is attracting people from all section of the society both local and tourist alike, however there exists a few conflicts of local fishing community and daily users of the promenade

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Nargis Kamal, Muhammad Imran, Nitin Kumar Tripati Urbanization is one of human induced activities causing land use changes. In recent years, various land usetransformationsin Bangkok influenced the city's ecological sustainability in all means, i.e., diminishing the city's cultivated land and greenery. This study investigates lack of green spaces due to extreme urban growth in the mega city. To do so, first, land use transitions are modelled through two different images; one from Landsat 5Thematic Mapper for the year 1994, and second fromHJ-1A CCD for the year 2012. Next, theMulti-Layer Perceptron Markov Model (MLP-Markov) is applied to predict land usechange for the year 2030. The MLP neural network is trained to modelland usetransitionsthrough creating transition maps. Markov Chain predictive model is applied with sufficient accuracy to process the transition maps for the prediction process. The results indicate that 348km 2 of green areas are transformed into built-up areas for the period 1994-2012,witha considerable loss of greenery (42%). The MLP model predictions show 4% increase in built-up and 6% decrease in greenery for the period 2012-2030. The study highly recommends conservation of green spaces and green corridors in the city. Future research can includeanalysing greenplot ratio for suitablegreen patches in vulnerable sites. The research output will benefit urban planners to implement long term planning strategies forsecuring natural environment in mega cities.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Lobna A. Mostafa Waterfront development has always been a common topic of interest in urban studies. Through the special nature of coastal areas, urban development of these places has its own characteristics that influenced by the typology, view, land value and environmental factors. In addition, social factors, that include community characteristics, local culture and traditions affect and receive effects from this development. Development of waterfronts plans should adhere to the notion that the waterfront is an inherently public asset. Planning a waterfront development, required the city officials or a developer to start by envisioning a network of well-connected, multi-use public spaces that fit with the community's shared goals. By orienting waterfront revitalization around public spaces, new urban design should enhance the quality of existing destinations and that results in a whole city identity that is greater than the sum of its parts. This research discusses both urban and social impacts of waterfronts development, taking Jeddah Cornish development as a case study. The research aims at pointing out the main impacts of waterfront development on both Jeddah Urban development and social development. The research's methodology follows both quantitative and qualitative methods, and conducting a community survey that measure the main impacts of Cornish Jeddah development project. The research concludes the main impacts of waterfront development to assure its sustainability.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): H. Kutay Aytuğ, Mahshid Mikaeili Today, rural tourism is supported in all EU countries due to its socio-cultural, economic, spatial and environmental functions and positive effect on developing vernacular building sector in rural area. In this study, conceptual framework will be drawn by putting forth the concept of rural tourism. Subsequently, EU tourism policy will be summarised. Then, the importance of rural tourism in EU countries and the reasons for a support of it at EU level will be explained. After that, Hopa will be examined to demonstrate its potential on rural tourism via pointing out its natural values of green landscape, agricultural economy and vernacular architecture.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Hushaam Ali Abbasi “Pastoralism” is a quest to bring back nature to our urban lifein contemporary times but architecture is always overcoming our needs of nature and as a result Green is missing. The question that arises is why architecture is replacing landscape? “Architecture” is an element that is fulfilling the most obvious needs of humans for living. It provides protection against the unfavourable climatic conditions, of which humans are not equipped naturally like animals to cope with it (shelter). “Landscape” is an element that is providing food to us but the food is generated by agricultural lands and these set of lands are normally exist out of cities in rural areas. Landscape always being appreciated for its aesthetic value but it offers more than just an aesthetic pleasure. It gives our planet conditions that makes life possible. It supports not only living of humans as well as birds and insects. To bring landscape back in the urban life (contemporary town); it is important to think about what can a landscape offer for the betterment of human living. It's not enough to create landscapes as breathing places within cities. We have to think how landscape can be a part of our daily contemporary life. Architecture is always offering an active use of it. For example, spaces for living, working places, industry places for mass production to fulfil the needs of mass population. On the other hand, landscape is always offering passive uses. For example, landscape is producing oxygen that's the key element for breathing but still I will say it is a passive use of landscape as we can’t use oxygen as an active element in our daily life. One of the many reasons why architecture is always the dominant element is that it offers active use and humans are more considerate to active uses. In this context, we as landscape architects have to come up with a design for a landscape that provides it active uses in such a way that in its absence our daily life activities will be disturbed.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Beril Özmen, Sıla Su Yanar In the last decades, Çiftlikköy village in the northwest of Mersin city centrehasbeen under the threat of losing its rural lifestyle and natural landscape. Especially after the establishment of auniversity on a neighbouring valley, a dense residential area constructed and rural qualities of the village has been transformed into a different character. High-rise urban apartment blocks and low-density rural housing side-by-side marks social-physical contradictions and urban segregation in this selected case. In the paper, sustainability issues will be discussed in accordance to the well-being of inhabitants, inequality of rights between wide-ranging economic groups, existing and new users, settlement conditions and transformation from the rural to the urban community.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Domenico Chizzoniti The subject of this research is the identification of an experimental method to locate social-sanitary structures in some countries with situations of great emergency. At the beginning, this research analyses the collection of some data related to main characteristics of emergency areas, such as population density, health care facilities, environmental situations, proximity of the rivers, availability of infrastructure, settlements, floods and characters of the site. Through this experimental method, each data allows to realize a map, which shows the places where are located the areas with major problems related to that specific factor. The results of each map can be compared and summarized into a complete table that allows to realize a final map with the worst situations of each areas (“stress” areas), that require priority interventions. Finally, by recognizing a long-term strategy, this research identifies a precise case study to verify this experimental method.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Maria do Caromo Bezerra, Marina Madsen, Marco de Mello This article addresses the city form as way to ease urban mobility, with a case study in the city of Brasilia, symbol of modern urbanism. Identifies the characteristics of the area that attributes mobility to the urban space and how these elements are shown in Brasilia, while exploring the possibilities in intervening the heritage city as a way to enhance mobility to pedestrian. As conceptual bases the characteristics of compact and dispersed cities and their influences over the levels of mobility blend in to four aspects: high density, usage of mixed soil, continuity of the urban mesh and continuity of elements of composition of public spaces are utilized as reference. The fundamentals of modern urbanism and how their characteristics, shown in Brasilia, are analyzed to verify the possibilities of intervention. The empirical study falls upon the connection between public spaces and the “superquadras”, residential areas that utilized spatial analysis, by a composition of elements that structures public spaces, to analyze their presence in the studied area. Found that the city space was treated continually where: access, tours, meeting points, barriers and urban furniture does not have attributes such as safety, comfort and amenity. The results points to connectivity as a characteristic of urban form with the biggest viability to suffer interventions in consonance with the heritage, for not to talk about, necessarily, the characteristics of modern urbanism were recommended interventions to improve low connectivity between buildings, bus stop points, car parks with rides and interconnection access, removing barriers, creating meeting places and street furniture to facilitate the mobility of pedestrians.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Diafat Abderrahmane, Tacherift Abdelmalek, Madani Said Herein is presented one of the main gateway cities in Algeria and its key elements. Green urbanism fundamentals may improve environmental performance if considered in early stages of urban design. As a crossroad, Setif is a gateway city to the Eastern Highlands. The motorway and Airport are among many factors that made of it a national trade centre. Two “green” campuses, at the east and west gateways, will be connected by the tram through the city center. A new project will provide 700 hectares for the future industrial investors. Worthy efforts, though environment and sustainable development remain a great challenge.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Amir Ahmed AbdElfattah AboElata Cairo shows high temperature in comparison to its adjacent suburban and rural areas and this phenomenon is known as urban heat island “UHI”. A review of literature has shown that vegetation has a significant effect on UHI mitigation. The objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of vegetation on UHI mitigation in Cairo based on field measurements. Mobile temperature measurements had been carried out in adjacent greenery and non greenery spaces during summer time. The recommendations of this study will help urban planners to find the manual to know how to use vegetation to mitigate UHI.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Nabil Mohareb, Mary Felix Sustainable transportation – or green transportation – is an important field in terms of generating a healthy environment and upgrading city planning. Street design and modes of transportation are the two main factors that can affect the sustainability of city planning. This paper focuses on designing and planning an efficient, sustainable street using affordable and common modes of transportation, with an emphasis on two cities in Egypt and Lebanon as case studies. Observing developing cities in the field of transportation planning reveals many weaknesses that have a major effect on citizens, such as traffic congestion, a shortage of pedestrian walkways or cycling paths, a lack of affordable public transportation or its sequential movement, and the new modes of informal transportation that have appeared in recent years and have affected the street transportation movement. The aim of this paper is to analyse developing cities in terms of modes of transportation, to discover an effective method of planning city streets.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Oleksandr Galychyn, Kevser Üstundağ Existing theories of sustainable development have failed to address three common structural elementsof the human-oriented transportation system: healthy neighborhoods, Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs) connected by integrated public-soft transportation network. The newly emerged conceptual model for zero-emission and zero-waste urban design named Green Urbanism like the previous theories has failed to develop those three structural elements of organic city. In this paper, approaches regarding the successful integration of soft transportation to the transit network will be discussed. Secondly, the best physical standard for TOD will be determined by comparing TODs in Japan, Denmark, Ukraine and Turkey by socio-economic indicators of each TOD type. Finally, the concept of healthy neighborhood will be developed based on the Lehmann's healthy community&district definitions, concept of human oriented transportation, and the latest eco-mobility study from Barcelona. Thus, new conceptual model for sustainable city will be proposed.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Nurlisa Ginting, Achmad Delianur Nasution, N. Vinky Rahman Due to the rapid globalization growth, a tourism environment sets standardization to compete to be more attractive. Hence, it requires the peculiarity of tourism objects which indicates place identity. This research aims to examine distinctiveness as one of place identity principle. It focuses on natural environment in Karo Regency, North Sumatera, Indonesia. A mixed-use method was conducted by investigating the variables, i.e. landmark, uniqueness, particular character, and different perception. The result shows that the attractiveness of natural scenery, culture, and traditional buildings embed the distinctivenessprinciplewhile uniqueness and particular character require appropriate strategies in enhancing and supporting natural-based tourism.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Samaa Badawi Designing streets as successful public spaces represents the spine of all sustainable urban movements. As a part of the continuing efforts of Saudi Arabia in the field of urban development; the research aims to investigate one of the local streets of Jeddah city -Beit Al Maqdis Street- in terms of main functions and form of the surrounding buildings to identify problems and potentials of the street as a public space. The research will conclude in proposal for developing one of the mixed use streets in Jeddah, using sustainable streets’ strategies to be an exemplary model for sustainable, well-designed and pedestrian oriented streets.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Ahmed M. Abd El-Rahman Shehata, Mohsen Mohamed Ibrahim Mostafa Museums are the cultural interface of every nation. Creating and maintaining museums has been a national obligation to preserve and protect their inherited culture. An open museum is a special type of museums, which is usually initiatedin locations with huge architectural and urban heritage that cannot be otherwise accommodated in a building. They introduce a mixed image of the past and present, and help develop cultural and heritage tourism in an area. Thisresearch argues that museums, especially the open ones are good and effective tools to preserve urban heritage, maintain the history and culture, and encourage sustainable tourism.Makkah city is one of the oldest cities in the world. It has hundreds of memorable historic locations. As a city, Makkah has its unique diversity of culture and heritage. Being the birthplace of Islam, Makkah has a special image in the minds of billions of Muslims around the world. In view of the big development plans that cover the entire city, and which are expected to affect every aspect of its rich cultural heritage,preserving the historic locations has become even more significant. Since the development projects are likely to endanger the existence of historic locations in Makkah city, the paper proposes to create areas within the city as preserved historic locations and to develop them as open museums. The paper argues that this proposal will help create a sustainable tourism industry in the city in addition to the existing Hajj and Umrah business activities.Finally the paper concludes with recommendations to preserve and protect the Makkah heritage in a sustainable manner.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Emilija Sofeska The city is an urban system, or more precisely, a complex man-made artificial entity. We are generation that lives in the first urban century and understanding the city should be changed in order to obtain sustainability and resilience, but most of all livability. Citizens are those who define city nowadays, but moving toward livable cities in the future should consist of smart urban solutions. Different cities have different stage of development, but interest of this research is developing sustainable livable city of Skopje as it is the most important and biggest city in the Republic of Macedonia.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Geomilie S. Tumamao-Guittap, Ma. Sheilah G. Napalang In the light of mounting concerns related to climate change, energy efficiency and conservation (EEC) presents a cost-effective strategy that can propel the Philippines’ energy-intensive tourist accommodations sector towards sustainability. This warrants the examination of barriers that prevent capture of EEC potentials and the identification of factors that will drive adoption at a socially- optimal rate. Coron, Palawan's small and medium enterprise (SME) dominated hospitality sector was studied using post-only correlation design. Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare perceptions, practices, energy awareness, and willingness to participate in EEC between members of the Zero Carbon Resorts project; a voluntary program aiding tourism SMEs reduce energy consumption (Case Group), and non-members (Control Group). Pearson Chi-Squared test was employed to determine factor association with membership in the program, while Ordered Logistic Regression was used to determine participation drivers in EEC. Research revealed vast uncaptured energy-savings potential compounded with the absence of EEC laws targeting this sector. The study found that: (1) provisions for amenities, facilities and support services for guests; (2) high dependence on the grid and the prevalent use of generators; (3) low market penetration of renewable energy (RE) and energy-efficient technology; and (4) lack of knowledgeable personnel within organizations contribute to high energy expense within this sector. Despite having very little difference in perceived energy savings, energy awareness and self-reported energy-saving practices vary widely. Policy and institutional changes are required to address: (1) perceived high cost of energy-efficient technology and knowledge gap, (2) put in place necessary regulations; and (3) incentivize EEC to increase its adoption.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Mohammed S. Al Surf, Lobna A. Mostafa Public awareness on the concepts of sustainable practices has been the main challenge in the way of better, healthier, affordable and environmentally sound urban projects. Lack of public awareness fueled by the lack of interest by stakeholders developed a vicious cycle, hence delaying the gears of the sustainable development in Saudi Arabia. In the other hand, societies that adopt the sustainability concepts succeed in many ways to accomplish their national development plans. This paper will focus on the current status of the public awareness levels after an initial study that showed that more than 52 percent of the sample from Saudi public doesn’t know what is the meaning of sustainable cities. The research method will be of a qualitative nature utilizing on-line surveys to collect responses from a wide range of the Saudi society. The outcomes show that in the past five years (2010-2015), the level of awareness has increased but at a discouraging rate. It is the main recommendation of this paper to further increase the collaborative efforts from all Saudi stakeholders; authorities, universities and civil society following the new 2030 Saudi vision to help raising the public awareness on the importance of leading and applying the core means of sustainability within their cities in design, construction and life style itself while Saudi Arabia is undergoing huge development.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Sara Ursić, Roko Mišetić, Anka Mišetić In the age of super abundance of events and places, landscape becomes one of the key categories through which we can research changes in space and relationship between natural and built environment. Bearing in mind the connection between landscape and lifestyle as well as relationship between natural and built landscape, this paper is focused on changes in landscape that are results of second home phenomena in the specific location on Croatian island Ciovo. By analysing ecological, social and economic elements we explore overall interest in landscape preservation, sustainability awareness and the level of immersion of temporary residents into local community. We find latter important factor for creating local public that could handle and help implement landscape quality objectives.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Leonora Pechardo Gonzales, Dina Cartagena Magnaye The study provides an analytical approach of assessing urban biodiversity in Manila City, Philippines through spatial mapping, inventory and profiling utilizing tools such as i-Tree Canopy, Urban Green Space Inventory, and Simpson's Index of Diversity. These tools establish the relationship of urban biodiversity with human settlements resiliency as basis of determining the level of exposure of human settlements to natural hazards such as flooding and in proposing urban planning and development interventions.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Ibrahim Maarouf, Mahmud Abd-Alkarim Girrieow Water is one of the essential elements in the environment and it is the corner stone to life development and prosperity, as well as establishing constructional development and eventually achieving sustainable development. Looking at the great population growth besides constructional development that the world witnessed, the need for water grew in a wide pace all over the world, and in desert countries in particular. Since Libya is among the countries of dry desert weather, most of its cities are in dire need of water, among of which the city of Misratah, which is considered the 3 rd biggest city in Libya. It has witnessed a remarkable progress since the middle of last century Here is where we started to highlight the problem the city suffers from currently, which is shortage of water, and the question is: Does the city really suffer shortage of water?! How can it be avoided side by side with preserving the mineral stock?! As we aim to; make sure that there is future true shortage of water in the city in comparison to the progress and development the city witnesses, knowing the most important water resources in the city, its produced amounts, future needs for water according to the global rate consumption in light of population growth and knowing the ideal alternative to provide water and to achieve sustainable development We have depended in our methodology on two approaches, first of which is the Descriptive Analytical Approach : that is used address the research problem through gathering the needful data, information, and available resources to take and looking at them The second approach is used to study and analyze population statistics and reports, and scientific data that addressed the topic We reached a set of results, the most important of which is that the city witnesses a great constructional and population growth through the phases it has been through In addition to the presence of fresh mineral water shortage, lack of surface water and the dependence on mineral water in the city That was the result of comparing the water potential to the future population growth and the possibility of exploiting the city's ingredients to desalinate sea water We concluded our research papers in a set of recommendations in order to solve this problem

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Luvimba Ramulongo, N.S. Nethengwe, A. Musyoki Water crisis has become a norm worldwide as many countries are entering an era of severe water shortage. Water plays a vital role within households though urban water authorities and water planners are struggling to satisfy the growing urban water demands and at the same time failing to achieve sustainable urban water systems. Water consumption was guided by a Calculation by Grag 2011. In order to get a wider overview of the actual consumption, a survey using metre water records was done for three months and compared with other urban worldwide standards in order to identify if there is any gap.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Mohammed Aljoufie In the presence of high rates of urbanization, sustainable transportation solutions are vital. Due to its social, economic and environmental benefits, bicycle is getting more attention in fast growing and high-dens cities. This paper attempts to examine the challenges of bicycle use in Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia. A survey has been conducted to collect the data for examining the challenges that face Jeddah residents for bicycle use. Visual assessment was conducted to observe the barriers for using the bicycle in Jeddah city. In conjunction to that, questionnaire was distributed to assess the attitude toward bicycle use and the perception of obstacles for using bicycle for different age groups of Jeddah city residents.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Samaa Badawi, Aida Nayer Throughout the history, the city of Jeddah acted as a main gate to the Holy cities, starting specifically in the era of the third Muslim Caliph Othman Bin Affan in 647 AC, when he ordered the city to be a port to welcome pilgrims coming for the Holy Pilgrimage. Since then and till now the city plays an important role as a main gateway. Regarding this importance many plans, initiatives and researches are being developed to enhance the city role to cope with potential challenges and requirements, especially focusing on renovating the city center and its connection with the city gates. Insights into gateways sustainable developments, demonstrates that Jeddah city incentives smart growth approach in terms of its important geographical location, heritage importance as well as connectivity to the Holy cities. This highlights the importance of elaborate urban management processes in terms of city future expansions, public activities as well as major functions including economic and business, knowledge, transport. A study of main urban solutions to support policy decisions strengthening sustainable smart growth of the Jeddah city. The methodology adopted in the research is focusing on presenting expected improvements on Jeddah master plan as well as adopted strategies in order to improve the livability and quality of life in a community public activities. Explicit Contextual proposal is demonstrated to stimulate the regeneration of Jeddah gate arising from the city core center area towards city's existing boundaries while diversifying activities and supporting economic growth, highlighting road networking and accessibility as well as transport infrastructures. The research presents sustainable scenario to maximize Jeddah Gateway potentials related to economic, cultural importance, in addition to maintaining its heritage and touristic approach.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Magdy Moussa, Yehia mostafa, Ahmed Abou Elwafa Public facilities are facilities needed to support the functions and provide the activities defined by the government or by the utility companies, Public facilities as an element are such an essential element that should be taken in consideration when designing the master comprehensive plan. The location of schools is one of the most crucial decisions communities get to make that School districts and local governments should not take it randomly instead they should use these guidelines through the school siting process. This paper aims to achieve a guideline for school locations through highlighting educational public facilities planning definition, location, and impact on the city urban development. Then analysing relevant case studies and comparing between them to emphasize the theoretical part, achieving a general guideline for school locations.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Anton Talantsev Studying the case of the subsidy for electric vehicles in Great Britain (“plug-in car grant”), this research suggests an integrated impact assessment approach by coupling policy issue system modeling with stakeholder preference elicitation. In particular, we utilize fuzzy cognitive mapping to model the policy issue as a dynamic and complex system. We further simulate the subsidy policy in the model to estimate the changes in select policy aspects. The simulation outcomes are assessed through perspectives of stakeholder groups. For the latter task, nine stakeholder groups were identified and profiled by conducting content analysis and applying the novel CAR method.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Abdelkhalek Ibrahim, Abdullah Alattar With no doubt, street network design and urban form are assumed to mutually influence each other over time and the link between them is well tested in literature. In Egypt, however, this link is seemingly ambiguous particularly in planning of the new cities. In most of the new-city plans no apparent street pattern relevant to the Egyptian city have been introduced which in turn create unsustainable cities. It is widely agreed that the traditional urban form developed hundreds of years ago may hold some significant guidelines for the future. The current generation of the new city policy invite some urban sustainability guidelines based on the international benchmarks and with some applicable to the traditional form. As a result, an increase demand for defining a sustainable urban form for the new cities is quickly raised. This paper extends the discussions over the sustainability urban form using the analysis of road network. The paper makes a critical comparison between different cases from Greater Cairo Region that range from early developed neighbourhoods to the new planned cases. Route Structure Analysis and Simple Network analysis are the two main themes employed here in building the analytical framework that are then translated into a number of dimensions and quantitative measurements. The research uses a geographic information system (GIS) as an instrument for the analysis.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Hanan S. Saleh, Salah Z. Saied Green Architecture appeared as a result of the negative impacts on the environment surrounding the buildings and in a wider scope as a result of the power consumption increases and the use of environment pollutants, besides other elements attributing to environment imbalance of the Earth. Thus, Green Architecture appeared as a sort of historical reconciliation with the environment. Meanwhile, the majority of the developing countries including Egypt showed an intensive increment in the building's volume that were blind copied from the current international architectural trends neglecting any environmental aspects. On the other hand, the Egyptian historical heritage, particularly old Cairo districts, used to give great respect to the climatic conditions of their environment while maintaining the unique value of their architectural style. Therefore, this research aims to focus on this Egyptian architectural of the historical Cairo are to study and analyse its environmental aspects and treatments in order to derive their architectural bases that are suitable for their local environment with Egyptian green methods. The research was carried out through two main phases; the first phase was based on a theoretical analytical study of a specific house form Historical Cairo, El El-Suhaimi house, while the second empirical phase was conducted for the same case study using simulation methods through Design Builder simulation software in order to assure that all findings conform to the recommended ones that could achieve the desired thermal comfort. The results of the case study showed great potentials in using the passive designs methods of this historical house to enhance thermal comfort in residential buildings which located in hot arid climates. Thus, this paper concludes that the traditional architecture, specifically the historical Cairo architecture, proved to be suitable to become a permanent reference to make use of its elements and particulars in the formation of modern green architecture of a local identity and style.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Randa A. Mahmoud This paper introduces a new attempt to redefine and re-understand the term of gentrification and its main role in social resilience. Social resilience is a must in order to achieve urban sustainability. However, New Cairo's urban dynamics implicate a new form of “gentrification”, that could be described differently (commercial, social or urban) and controversially (positive or negative). This new ongoing process will threat eventually its “social resilience” by creating social polarization and loss of identity. In order to apprehend this new redefinition of gentrification in relation to social resilience, we will focus on the changes that are taking place in New Cairo's real estate market and urbanization trends as well as their reverberation on both the urban and social sustainability.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Claudia de Biase, Salvatore Losco Starting from the definitions of illegal building and synthesizing the historical roots of the phenomenon in Italy, this contribution identifies three types of illegal building and traces the development of the regulations that have characterized this problem. The proposal of a reading methodology is described through its application to the case-study of the municipality of Dragoni (Ce) in Campania Region. After proposing a distinction between illegal building and unauthorized urban-planning and recognizing three approaches to solving the problem: repression, amnesty and mitigation, the paper reflects on the latter since it addresses redevelopment with an urban vision and not exclusively a building one. After a brief analysis of national and regional legislation, where it is possible to resort to the Recovery of Illegal Building Plans, even through variants to the municipal general planning instruments, follows the highlighting of the main objectives and guidelines in reference to the preparation of specific implementation planning instruments.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Parama Mitra, Suchandra Bardhan The concept that human behaviour can ascertain the design of place and vice-versa had been discussed over decades. In the design of public buildings and shaping our modern built environment, we come across certain issues. These are influenced by the geographical context, human behaviour, culture and practice of a region. However, time and technology has been two masters in shaping such spaces with the modern pace of development.In the later part of last century the concept of “barrier free architecture” was generated that quickly escalated to “Universal design” concept, which today is established with a broader horizon as “Inclusive design”. Several audits are designed and tool-kits established to check the accessibility or universality of a particular built space. Hand in hand, with the increasing population and increasing criminal demography, another issue that planners and architects are facing now is “crime prevention” and hence, a field of “design against crime” has also emerged prominently. With the hands of Crowe as in Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED), Oscar Newman's Defensible space, Jane Jacob and so many others, architectural design directives and architectural solutions have been suggested. Green urbanism is a term that embraces “urban ecology” where the city dynamics is dependent on the city dwellers and their involvement in the urban environment. Thus an ecological city can be interpreted as a city the allows people to be involved, reducing dependency on fuel guzzling urban solutions and thus emerging as an Inclusive and sustainable city. In light of the given background, aim of the research is to study the authenticity of the hypothesis that “promoting women's safety in public spaces promotes inclusive design in urban area and consequently makes its Urban ecology more productive”. Thus, the main objective is to find a relation and applicability of the Universal design audit check-lists with the design directives for safer city-designs- both being two important components of a “Inclusive and sustainable City”. This study has been done mostly based on literature study and comparative study of secondary data. Application of this concept has been done on the data obtained from a Study conducted by INTACH in Shahjahanabad area, New Delhi, India inApril 2010. The unsafe criteria obtained from the study has been analyzed and incorporated in this present study.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Giuliana Quattrone The term “Resilience” has, in recent years, gained currency in many disciplines and has been increasingly applied to various scientific contexts. In relation to urban issues and studies in governance there exists a strong focus on the challenges of policy-making and planning, for which it is very important the power of the resilience approach to improve human wellbeing in urban contexts. Built heritage and resilience may appear contradictory, at first glance, but a more thorough understanding leads to the conclusion that heritage contributes to resilience in various ways. In recent years, mainly thanks to the inflow of the EU funds, many country of Europe have seen a great increase in the need or even fashion for reviving historical heritage and landscapes of cities. In particular the historic city centres, the residual areas and the industrial heritage abandoned have become an arena of the new practices. The paper aims to individue both positive and negative consequences of revitalisation projects made in the Reggio Calabria city, and as are the newly created places perceived by inhabitants. In addition the paper show how, trough good urban project, can there be balance between old and new architecture and green spaces and what is the situation of revitalised buildings and residual areas, often transformed to fulfil completely new roles, and their surroundings, often degraded and threatened with ecological disaster. The final considerations regarding how these urban renewal projects have helped to build a relisience city.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Nor’Aini Yusof, Mohammad Iranmanesh The study of the implementation of environmental practice in the construction industry has, over the years, resulted in a significant number of published articles. Still, the impact of environmental practice on construction projects has been poorly understood. This paper aims to address this gap. Data were gathered from a survey of 210 firms in the Malaysian construction industry. These data were analysed by using the partial least squares technique. The findings indicate that relative advantage and compatibility have a significant effect on environmental practice implementation in construction projects. The relationship between complexity and environmental practice implementation is not supported. This study extends the knowledge of the determinants of environmental practice implementation in construction projects. The findings of the study will help managers of construction firms in selecting the appropriate environmental practices for implementation in projects.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Tiantian Dou, Stéphane Troesch, Alain Petitjean, Pálfy Tamás Gábor, Dirk Esser Lower space requirement, simple operation and economical aspects as well as landscape integration make decentralized natural sanitation systems necessary in eco-city construction. This paper focuses on water management through natural and alternative solutions in urban and peri-urban areas. Results and efficiency of raw wastewater by decentralized natural systems, intelligent storm water management and reuse of treated water in urban irrigation are discussed. Several full scale examples are presented regarding to their removal efficiency and environmental benefits. Their contribution in climate change mitigation is presented as a necessity in today's eco-city conception.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Grace Tiberio Cardoso, Marcelo Antunes Nolasco, Lauro André Ribeiro, Andréa Quadrado Mussi, Alcindo Neckel, Caliane Christie Oliveira de Almeida The structures in the built environment, particularly concerning morphology are reflected in different housing development projects, which rely heavily on a technical insight. In this context, this research aims to analyze the implantation and typologies of a low-income housing development located in the South of Brazil. Specifically, it was analyzed the layout andstyle of the studied housing development, relating these characteristics with water resource planning aiming in highlighting guidelines to assist in the system design and solutions for rainwater harvesting. It is believed that this research can provide discussions on the subject and present subsidies to architectural projects.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Ronbanchob Apiratikul This research is mainly focused on the wastewater treatment using biosorption techniques. The biosorption kinetics of binary sorption of heavy metals by green macro alga Caulerpa lentillifera were studied where such alga was used in the shrimp farm as the nitrogen controller but it grow rapidly so the farmer get rid of its excess amount as waste. The studies of sorption capacity and sorption kinetics of Lead (Pb 2+ ) and Copper (Cu 2+ ) ions in single and binary components were conducted using batch experiments. The new binary sorption kinetic model was developed to predict the experimental results and the calculated outputs from the model were consistent with experimental data.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Hasmik A. Hovhannisyan, Gayane S. Nersisyan This research was designed to develop a complex program of scientifically grounded greening of Armenia's cities and her capital – Yerevan with a view of assuring ecological tolerance, longevity and a functional use of urban plants. It comprised a study of levels and character of pollution of different environmental compartments, examination of condition of plants and determination of species composition of urban trees and their ecological tolerance. A complex urban greening program prepared by us in the result of this research allows to efficiently manage the quality of urban environment as proved on the example of Yerevan.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2017 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 37 Author(s): Sanmarga Mitra, Shivashish Bose India is a large subcontinent having many diverse regions, each having its own vernacular architecture tradition. These regions are as diverse as hills, desert, coastal area, hot and humid riverine plain, humid rainforests and many more. Similarly, the vernacular forms of architecture are diverse in their layout, form, building materials, methods of construction and structural systems. There is but one basic similarity – they are climatically and geographically most suited to their original regional location. Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS), Bhopal is a museum that houses examples of these vernacular structures in full scale built by their original inhabitants in natural site. The city of Bhopal is capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh (literally translates as the Central Province, and justifies that name with its central position in India) is situated ‘Humid Sub-tropical’ region of India as per Koppen's classification and offers a different context from the original site and climate situation of these vernacular structure. This paper thus aims at assessing whether and how vernacular architecture performs consistently in regions other than its own when transplanted. Thus, it has recorded and quantified climatological data for some of these vernacular huts belonging to diverse regions to compare and contrast their construction material, design and thermal performances on a iso-climatic framework. In the research, climatic data like ambient temperature, wind velocity, relative humidity have been collected for selected vernacular houses that are originally scattered within the huge geographical area of India, and which also belong to varied climatic regions. These houses vary in terms of their layout, materials and methods of construction and so forth. These data have been compared and analysed to find their dependence on the different building features and components of these houses. The analysis of the collected database have also been used to assess the basic question of the research i.e., to assess and compare the relative performance of these houses brought together in a single place under the same climate.