The energy consumption of buildings is very important for both economic and environmental reasons. Newly built buildings are characterized by higher insulation and airtightness of the building envelope, and are additionally equipped with technologies that minimize energy consumption in order to meet legal requirements. In existing buildings, the modernization process should be properly planned, taking into account available technologies and implementation possibilities. Hotel buildings are characterized by a large variability of energy demand, both on a daily and a yearly basis. Monitoring systems, therefore, provide the necessary information needed for proper energy management in the building. This article presents an energy analysis of the Turówka hotel located in Wieliczka (southern Poland). The historical hotel facility is being modernized as part of the project to adapt the building to the requirements of a sustainable building. The modernization proposal includes a trigeneration system with a multifunctional reverse regenerator and control module using neural algorithms. The main purpose is to improve the energy efficiency of the building and adapt it to the requirements of low-energy buildings. The implementation of a monitoring system enables energy consumption to be reduced and improves the energy performance of the building, especially through using energy management systems and control modules. The proposed retrofit solution considers the high energy consumption, structure of the energy demand, and limits of retrofit intervention on façades.Energies 2020, 13, 1968 2 of 20 buildings. This negative trend may be halted by using renewable energy sources and new solutions with higher efficiency. The effects achieved in this way are not only beneficial to the environment, but, above all, to the consumer, whose operating costs are significantly reduced. The simplest solution to save energy would be to design a building using materials with low thermal conductivity and high-efficiency heating and/or cooling technology.Both environmental and economic factors have led European Union (EU) regulators to introduce a definition for "nearly Zero-Energy Buildings", hereinafter referred to as "sustainable buildings". Pursuant to the Directive of the European Parliament [4], they are buildings with low demand for heating, cooling, and electricity, which should be covered to a very significant extent by energy from renewable sources. The document [4] does not include the exact values of the coefficients to be met by a building, as these are defined by each Member State. The National Plan for increasing the number of low-energy buildings [5] extends this definition, stating that such a building meets the energy saving and thermal insulation requirements as defined in technical and building regulations.Referring to the Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure, buildings should correspond to at least the optimum energy performance for new buildings, in force since January 2019 for buildings occupied and owned by pu...
Education for sustainable development is a method of teaching aimed at developing awareness, competence, knowledge, skills, and attitudes in the field of environmental protection in such a way that each activity related to its operation supports the satisfaction of the needs of future generations. In the face of environmental and social challenges, these are key competencies that require significant changes in university curricula, supporting a sustainable and innovative economy. This article aims to present the results of a study on young people’s awareness of sustainable development and their opinion on the implementation of SDGs in curricula. The publication responds to the demand of technical students for educational content related to sustainable development and a greater integration of economic, social, and environmental issues. The analysis carried out as part of the EnAct-SDGs project at the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow (Poland) shows that students are increasingly aware of the importance of sustainable development in various aspects of their lives, both in their education, in their professional work and in their lives, as part of an awareness-raising society. The conducted analyses allowed us to define the directions of necessary changes in the didactic process as an essential set of skills and knowledge for future graduates of raw materials faculties.
In buildings, the HVAC systems are responsible for a major part of the energy consumption. Incorrect design or selection of the system and improper installation, operation, and maintenance of the systems’ elements may result in increased energy consumption. It is worth remembering that the main aim of the appropriate system is to maintain the high quality of the indoor environment. Appropriate selection of the HVAC solution ensures both thermal and quality parameters of the air, independently of the internal and external heat loads. The microclimate of a room is affected not only by air temperature, humidity, and purity, but also by air velocity in the occupied zone. The proper air velocity distribution prevents discomfort, particularly at workstations. Based on the measurements in the office building, an analysis of velocity profiles of air supplying two different types of linear diffusers was carried out. The analysis was made based on the results of measurements performed with thermoanemometers in the actual facility. During the study, temperature of the supply air was lower that the air in the room. Analysis was focused on the airflow fluctuation and its impact on the users’ comfort. This is an obvious topic but extremely rarely mentioned in publications related to air diffusers. The results show the importance of air fluctuation and its influence on the users’ comfort. During the measurements, the instantaneous air velocity for one of the analyzed types of the diffuser was up to 0.34 m/s, while the average value from the period of 240 s for the same measuring point was relatively low: it was 0.19 m/s. Only including the airflow variability over time allowed for choosing the type of diffuser, which ensures the comfort of users. The measurements carried out for two linear diffusers showed differences in the operation of these diffusers. The velocity in the occupied zone was much higher for one type (0.36 m/s, 3.00 m from diffusers) than for another one (0.22 m/s, 5.00 m from diffusers). The improper selection of the diffuser’s type and its location may increase the risk of the draft in the occupied zone.
The diversification of energy sources in buildings and the interdependence as well as communication between HVAC installations in the building have resulted in the growing interest in energy load prediction systems that enable proper management of energy resources. In addition, energy storage and the creation of energy buffers are also important in terms of proper resource management, for which it is necessary to correctly determine energy consumption over time. It is obvious that the consumption of cooling energy depends on meteorological conditions. Knowing the parameters of the outside air and the number of users, it is, therefore, possible to determine the hourly energy consumption of a cooling system in a building with some accuracy. The article presents models of cooling energy prediction in summer for a hotel building in southern Poland. The paper presents two methods that are often used for energy prediction: neural networks and support vector machines. Meteorological data, time data, and occupancy level were used as input parameters. Based on the collected input and output data, various configurations were tested to identify the model with the best accuracy. As the analysis showed, higher prediction accuracy was obtained thanks to the use of neural networks. The best of the proposed models was characterized by the WAPE and CV coefficients of 19.93% and 27.03%, respectively.
Ensuring the comfort and health of occupants is the main objective of properly functioning building systems. Regardless of the season and building types, it is the priority of the designers and building managers. The indoor air parameters affect both the well-being and health of users. Furthermore, it could impact the effectiveness of their work and concentration abilities. In hotel facilities, the guests’ comfort is related directly to positive opinions or customer complaints, which is related to financial benefits or losses. The main goal of this study is the analysis of the indoor environmental quality in guests’ rooms, based on the example of a hotel in Poland. The article assesses the variability of air parameters, including temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide concentrations, and the acceptability of indoor conditions. The research was carried out in November 2020. Based on the collected data, the dynamics of changes of selected air parameters were analyzed. The article analyzes the comfort indicators inside guest rooms, including the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Predicted Percentage of the Dissatisfied (PPD) index. The obtained results were compared with the optimal conditions of use to ensure the guests’ comfort. As the analysis showed, the temperature and humidity conditions are maintained at a satisfactory level for most of the time. It was noticed that the CO2 concentrations temporarily exceeded the value of 2000 ppm in two of the analyzed guests’ rooms, which could cause discomfort to hotel guests. In these rooms, the increase in the volume of ventilation airflow should be considered. The measured parameters dynamically varied over time, and there was no repeatability or clear patterns of variation. This is due to the individual preferences and behavior of users. A detailed analysis is extremely difficult due to the possibility of opening windows by users, the irregular presence of hotel guests in the rooms, and the inability to verify the exact number of users in the room during the measurements.
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