A concept of integrated environmental approach, Part 2: Integrated approach to rehabilitation

Abstract

In the first part of this series, we discussed that the building structure, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and moisture management all need to be considered simultaneously to ensure durability of materials and control cost of near-zero energy buildings. These factors must be addressed through contributions of the whole design team. It is also evident that building physics must take an active role in development of near-zero energy buildings. The need to ensure good indoor environment and durability of materials and limit the cost of buildings led to integrated design process that now is typical in Canada for design of low-energy buildings. Furthermore, interactions between energy efficiency, quality of indoor environment and moisture management led us to introduce a concept of “environmental control.” In the meantime, we made an unexpected observation—Vancouver dwellings in 2002 use the same amount of energy as 1920 uninsulated masonry buildings erected in the same location. We concluded that despite having advanced technology, our lack of vision prevents us from an effective use of this technology. With the quest for sustainable buildings, we should learn more from termites, who appear to master the art of hygrothermal control better than humans as they are capable of maintaining highly stable interior comfort zone without heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning equipment. Nevertheless, whatever progress is achieved in new low-energy buildings, it is lost when rehabilitating existing buildings because there an owner will typically do one step at a time. If the financial constraints do not allow for more, this first step should be an integrated action that includes a combination of insulation and heating systems.

Buildings with environmental quality management, part 2: Integration of hydronic heating/cooling with thermal mass

“…First, we have observed that nothing really happened until the 1990s. North American chaos in residential construction in years 1946-1990 was discussed elsewhere (Bomberg et al, 2016). At that time, the world started reacting to global warming and social pressures forced changes to codes and standard to impose energy use reductions.…”

“…During the 1930s, commercial thermal insulation as well as air and moisture barriers were introduced on the North American prairies. In the late 1970s, in the same region, the first 10 passive houses were built (Bomberg et al, 2016). The lessons from these passive buildings in Europe and North America are as follows:…”

Alternative Methods for Preheating Outdoor Ventilation Air

“…While the EHAX technology can be used in different small buildings it is not suitable for multiunit residential buildings. Modern, energy efficient buildings, however, typically use hydronic heating / cooling [24,25,26] and therefore a heat exchanger may easily be placed in a mechanical room. Figure 13 shows a photo from a case study, a High Environmental Performance building in central New York [27,28].…”

The Role of Glass Compounds in Autoclaved Bricks

“…Many solutions propose approaches in which they focus on the reduction of heat loss from buildings. Sustainable construction is also considering paths leading to the reduction of the depletion of natural resources through e.g., the use of passive systems in buildings [3][4][5][6][7]. Mainly concrete and monolithic construction is the most commonly used building method in the world [8,9].…”