Evaluating energy consumption saving from translucent concrete building envelope

Abstract

The translucent concrete (TC) as a building envelope can offset some lighting energy that is consumed within a room in an office. It is constructed from concrete panels which are functionalized by embedding optical fibers during the manufacturing phase to transmit sunlight. From preliminary results, a volumetric fiber ratio of 6% used in the TC panel leads to savings in lighting energy by around 50%. The utility of panels is enhanced if it reduces the heating and cooling requirements of the office room. The sunlight channeled by optical fibers can contribute in heating of room during winter but in summer months, it leads to spike in cooling loads. Also, daylight reduces heat dissipation from lighting installations and positively impacts cooling loads. The conduction through walls allows heat to be removed from the room during morning but transmits heat from ambient environment into the room later in the afternoon and evening. The presented research combines thermal and lighting analyses to search for an optimal fiber volumetric ratio for TC panels that would result in energy savings. The TC panels can cut down energy expenditure by 18% for a fiber volumetric ratio of 5.6% which renders the fabrication process to be practical.

Fabrication and photocatalytic property of magnetic SrTiO3/NiFe2O4 heterojunction nanocomposites

“…Photocatalysis has attracted researchers' interest due to its potential application in degradation of organic compounds for wastewater treatment, water splitting to produce high purity hydrogen, solar panels, and so on. [1][2][3][4] Several photocatalytic semiconductor materials, for instance ZnO and TiO 2 , have been widely used in degradation of organic compounds, nevertheless, most photocatalysts are faced with two problem: low efficiency under visible-light irradiation and difficult recycling of photocatalysts aer use. Thus, development of magnetic and highly efficient visible-light-driven photocatalysts has become an appealing challenge.…”

Daylight Performance of a Translucent Textile Membrane Roof with Thermal Insulation

“…Ahuja et al [18] evaluated the monetary savings in energy consumption for heating, cooling and lighting of an interesting translucent concrete wall system in Berkeley. Unfortunately the reference was not a realistic scenario with a standard window wall but a completely opaque room.…”

Sunlight Permeability of Translucent Concrete Panels as a Building Envelope

“…It consisted of a structural TCP consisting mainly of two layers: (1) Layer A was RC with embedded symmetric CPCs, which are nonimaging concentrators (Winston 1974), to concentrate maximum natural sunlight from the outside in a geometrical manner without mechanizing the panel, and (2) Layer B was RC with embedded OFs as a structural subsystem to act as a conduit for the natural sunlight from the outside to the interior space, which turns the TCP into a translucent construction solution for the opaque part of the building envelope. In addition, the TCP integrated two concepts: (1) Another form of TCP was presented in Ahuja and Mosalam (2017), showing that the proposed construction solution provided energy savings of approximately 20% of the energy cost, and (2) other studies (Ahuja et al 2015a, b) have shown that the TCP through the OFs had daylight diffusion properties. The TCP was viewed as a novel wall technology with the property to transform an energy liability to an energy source providing daylight.…”

“…Little or no research has been conducted to quantify this potential or to compare the performance of OFs with other light-transmitting materials. An exception is the computational studies by Ahuja et al (2015a, b) and Ahuja and Mosalam (2017). There is usually an excess of sunlight outdoors compared to the indoor lighting required in most buildings such as commercial buildings, apartments, and public buildings.…”