Recent progress in computer science and stringent requirements of the design of "greener" buildings put forwards the research and applications of simulation-based optimization methods in the building sector. This paper provides an overview on this subject, aiming at clarifying recent advances and outlining potential challenges and obstacles in building design optimization. Key discussions are focused on handling discontinuous multi-modal building optimization problems, the performance and selection of optimization algorithms, multi-objective optimization, the application of surrogate models, optimization under uncertainty and the propagation of optimization techniques into real-world design challenges. This paper also gives bibliographic information on the issues of simulation programs, optimization tools, efficiency of optimization methods, and trends in optimization studies. The review indicates that future researches should be oriented towards improving the efficiency of search techniques and approximation methods (surrogate models) for largescale building optimization problems; and reducing time and effort for such activities. Further effort is also required to quantify the robustness in optimal solutions so as to improve building performance stability.

a b s t r a c t Zero-energy buildings (ZEBs) are attracting increasing interest internationally in policies aiming at a more sustainably built environment, the scientific literature and practical applications. Although "zero energy" can be considered at different scales (e.g., community, city), the most common approach adopts only the perspective of the individual building. Moreover, the feasibility of this objective is not really addressed, especially as far as the retrofitting of the existing building stock is concerned. Therefore, this paper aims first to investigate the opportunity to extend the "zero-energy building" concept to the neighbourhood scale by taking into account two main challenges: (1) the impact of urban form on energy needs and the on-site production of renewable energy and (2) the impact of location on transportation energy consumption. It proposes a simplified framework and a calculation method that is then applied to two representative case studies (one urban neighbourhood and one rural neighbourhood) to investigate the feasibility of zero-energy in existing neighbourhoods. The main parameters that act upon the energy balance are identified. The potential of "energy mutualisation" at the neighbourhood scale is highlighted. This paper thereby shows the potentialities of an integrated approach linking transportation and building energy consumptions.

Energy conservation issues and environmental problems in recent years have increased interest in traditional architecture which is well known for its energy saving designs. This paper thoroughly investigates vernacular housing designs and evaluates on the aspect of building physics. A new research methodology which is adapted to the natural and social context of Vietnam was proposed and applied. The process was carried out step by step, including: climate zoning, systematic analysis, in-situ survey and building simulations. The results of this study indicate that vernacular housing in Vietnam is creatively adapted to the local natural conditions and uses various climate responsive strategies. Through this study, the most frequently used strategies and their effectiveness were derived. The authors also found that under extreme weather conditions, traditional designs might not be sufficient to maintain indoor thermal comfort.

The present paper presents a full procedure to develop an adaptive comfort model for South-East Asia. Meta-analysis on large number of observations from field surveys which were conducted in this region was employed. Standardization and bias control of the database were fully reported. Statistical tests of significance and weighted regression method applied in the analyses strengthened the reliability of the findings. This paper found a great influence of 'Griffiths constant' on the establishment of adaptive comfort equation and proposed an appropriate value. The adaptive comfort model generated is applicable to naturally ventilated building under hot and humid conditions of South-East Asia. The mean neutral comfort temperature (operative temperature, effective temperature, standard effective temperature) in naturally ventilated and air-conditioned building was compared and the differences have been discussed. The similar neutral standard effective temperature in both naturally ventilated and air-conditioned building proposes a new idea to implement SET* into building simulation tools to assess thermal comfort without the attention of building classification.Through the analysis, the effectiveness of behavioral adaptive actions on occupant's thermal perception has been argued. The extended PMV-PPD model for hot humid conditions was examined and its applicability was recommended. Other comfort related issues, the differences and similarities between various adaptive comfort models were also addressed. Keywords: naturally ventilated building, meta-analysis, adaptive thermal comfort, South-EastAsia, hot humid climate IntroductionTaking into account thermal comfort is very important for architects and engineers to ensure comfort and health of occupant in the building. A good estimation of built environment not only offers comfortable thermal sensation to occupants, but it also determines the amount of energy that will be consumed by cooling and heating systems of the building. In the context of climate change and global warming, the inclusion of adaptive thermal comfort concept in the thermal comfort standards which allows adopting new energy efficiency strategies and consistently meeting the requirement of sustainable development makes it more relevant to present context.In the early 1970s, the 'steady state' thermal comfort theory proposed by Fanger [1] has become the foundation of international thermal comfort standards such as ISO 7730 [2] and ASHRAE 55 [3]. This model combines six conventional indexes (air temperature, mean radiant temperature, water vapor pressure, air velocity, occupant's clothing insulation and metabolic rate) to predict occupant's thermal sensation in a controlled climate chamber or air-conditioned (AC) environment. However, many field studies have shown that this model has failed to predict the thermal sensation of occupants living in "free running" buildings, not only in hot climates but also in temperate climates. The failure to predict the sensation happens because of the fact t...

The choice of sensitivity analysis methods for a model often relies on the behavior of model outputs. However, many building energy models are "black-box" functions whose behavior of simulated results is usually unknown or uncertain. This situation raises a question of how to correctly choose a sensitivity analysis method and its settings for building simulation. A performance comparison of nine sensitivity analysis methods has been carried out by means of computational experiments and building energy simulation. A comprehensive test procedure using three benchmark functions and two real-world building energy models was proposed. The degree of complexity was gradually increased by carefully-chosen test problems. Performance of these methods was compared through the ranking of variables' importance, variables' sensitivity indices, interaction among variables, and computational cost for each method. Test results show the consistency between the Fourier Amplitude Sensitivity Test (FAST) and the Sobol method. Some evidences found from the tests indicate that performance of other methods was unstable, especially with the non-monotonic test problems.

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