Joint Analysis of Cost and Energy Savings for Preliminary Design Alternative Assessment

Abstract

The building sector plays a central role in addressing the problem of global energy consumption. Therefore, effective design measures need to be taken to ensure efficient usage and management of new structures. The challenging task for designers is to reduce energy demands while maintaining a high-quality indoor environment and low costs of construction and operations. This study proposes a methodological framework that enables decision-makers to resolve conflicts between energy demand and life cycle costs. A case study is analyzed to validate the proposed method, adopting different solutions for walls, roofs, floors, windows, window-to-wall ratios and geographical locations. Models are created on the basis of all the possible combinations between these elements, enriched by their thermal properties and construction/management costs. After the alternative models are defined, energy analyses are carried out for an estimation of consumption. By calculating the total cost of each model as the sum of construction, energy and maintenance costs, a joint analysis is carried out for variable life cycles. The obtained results from the proposed method confirm the importance of a preliminary assessment from both energy and cost points of view, and demonstrate the impact of considering different building life cycles on the choice of design alternatives.

Dynamic thermal simulation based on building information modeling: A review

“…Such problems make the engineers adopt more complex dynamic calculations to simulate the energy flow in a shorter time and give a comprehensive report about energy, energy cost, peak load, and comfort in the buildings. 67,68 Properly importing the building geometry information and thermal load data from BIM models is very important for reducing uncertainties and time in the process of building simulation. 69 In the current generation of BIM tools, the building's thermal properties are obtained from the generic building types.…”

Indoors ventilation in times of confinement by SARS-CoV-2 epidemic: A comparative approach between Spain and Italy

“…Therefore, it is necessary to improve the indoor air quality and, to avoid high concentrations of harmful substances, it is needed to have good ventilation in the house ( Chen Ren, 2019 ; Garcia-Chevesich, 2014 ; Ogen, 2020 ; World Health Organization, WHO Air quality guidelines for particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide: Global update 2005, 2005 ; World Health Organization, Statement on the second meeting of the Emergency Committee of the International Health Regulations (2005) on the novel coronavirus outbreak (2019-nCoV)., 2020c ). Furthermore, the presence of people in a closed space for a number of hours higher than the usual may imply an increase in the concentration of CO 2 in our rooms ( Balocco, 2020 ; De Gaetani, 2020 ; Darmanis, 2020 ; Dudzik, 2020 ; Hye-Sun Jin, 2020 ; Lee, 2020 ; Rossi, 2020 ; Yao, 2020 ). Electronic devices, known as e-noses, may be conveniently used as smart devices to monitor indoor air quality in a living environment ( Sironi, 2014 ; Viccione D. S., 2014 ; Viccione T. Z., 2012 ).…”

A Procedure for Automating Energy Analyses in the BIM Context Exploiting Artificial Neural Networks and Transfer Learning Technique

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