How energy efficient office buildings challenge and contribute to usability

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torill Meistad
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Organizational Development ◽  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Synergistic Effects ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Office Buildings ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Goals ◽  
High Degree

Purpose – This is an analysis of modern office buildings with high energy efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to focus on how such buildings affects usability for the organizations occupying the buildings. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis combine results from studies of two case projects with a literature review. Case studies include qualitative interviews with key informants, internal post-occupancy evaluations and annual reports from the user organizations. The two buildings are Norwegian pioneers regarding energy efficiency. Findings – The new buildings provide a high degree of usability for the user organizations, including user satisfaction, efficiency and effectiveness. The case projects illustrate the potential in combining improvements for energy efficiency and the usability of buildings. There are synergistic effects in a mutual process of development for the buildings and organizations based upon strategic business goals. Management of the process is crucial in order to succeed. Research limitations/implications – The study applies the approach of usability to an analysis of energy efficient buildings. Two case projects exemplify potentials and challenges. Practical implications – Office buildings can be developed to a high degree of energy efficiency by considering the many aspects of usability for the user organizations. Integrating constructing projects into organizational development processes is crucial for the result. Originality/value – This study contributes to the emerging field, analyzing effects on usability for the organizations occupying energy efficient office buildings. The study also adds to the young field of analyzing the integration of the development of buildings into processes of organizational development by enlightening the potential regarding buildings with high energy ambitions.

Design Optimization of Energy Efficient Office Buildings in Tunisia

2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pyeongchan Ihm ◽  
Moncef Krarti
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Office Buildings ◽  
Optimization Approach ◽  
Heating And Cooling

Optimal and cost-effective energy efficiency design and operation options are evaluated for office buildings in Tunisia. In the analysis, several design and operation features are considered including orientation, window location and size, high performance glazing types, wall and roof insulation levels, energy efficient lighting systems, daylighting controls, temperature settings, and energy efficient heating and cooling systems. First, the results of the optimization results from a sequential search technique are compared against those obtained by a more time consuming brute-force optimization approach. Then, the optimal design features for a prototypical office building are determined for selected locations in Tunisia. The optimization results indicate that utilizing daylighting controls, energy efficient lighting fixtures, and low-e double glazing, and roof insulation are required energy efficiency measures to design high energy performance office buildings throughout climatic zones in Tunisia. In particular, it is found that implementing these measures can cost-effectively reduce the annual energy use by 50% compared to the current design practices of office buildings in Tunisia.

scholarly journals Enabling holistic design for high energy efficient office buildings through the use of subjective occupant feedback

2021 ◽  
pp. 102867
Author(s):  
Niels Lassen ◽  
Tine Hegli ◽  
Tor Helge Dokka ◽  
Terje Løvold ◽  
Kristian Edwards ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficient ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Office Buildings ◽  
Occupant Feedback ◽  
Holistic Design

Does total factor productivity affect the energy efficiency

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salman Haider ◽  
Javed Ahmad Bhat
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Energy Intensity ◽  
Paper Industry ◽  
Labour Productivity ◽  
Efficient Technology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Efficiency Performance ◽  
Energy Efficient Technology

Purpose Because of growing energy consumption and increasing absolute CO2 emissions, the recent calibrations about the environmental sustainability across the globe have mandated to achieve the minimal energy consumption through employing energy-efficient technology. This study aims to estimate linkage between simple measure of energy efficiency indicator that is reciprocal of energy intensity and total factor productivity (TFP) in case of Indian paper industry for 21 major states. In addition, the study incorporates the other control variables like labour productivity, capital utilization and structure of paper industry to scrutinize their likely impact on energy efficiency performance of the industry. Design/methodology/approach To derive the plausible estimates of TFP, the study applies the much celebrated Levinsohn and Petrin (2003) methodology. Using the regional level data for the period 2001-2013, the study employs instrumental variable-generalized method of moments (GMM-IV) technique to examine the nature of relationship among the variables involved in the analysis. Findings An elementary examination of energy intensity shows that not all states are equally energy intensive. States like Goa, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu are less energy intensive, whereas Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Assam and Punjab are most energy-intensive states on the basis of their state averages over the whole study period. The results estimated through GMM-IV show that increasing level of TFP is associated with lower level of energy per unit of output. Along this better skills and capacity utilization are also found to have positive impact on energy efficiency performance of industry. However, the potential heterogeneity within the structure of industry itself is found responsible for its higher energy intensity. Practical implications States should ensure and undertake substantial investment projects in the research and development of energy-efficient technology and that targeted allocations could be reinforced for more fruitful results. Factors aiming at improving the labour productivity should be given extra emphasis together with capital deepening and widening, needed for energy conservation and environmental sustainability. Given the dependence of structure of paper industry on the multitude of factors like regional inequality, economic growth, industrial structure and the resource endowment together with the issues of fragmented sizes, poor infrastructure and availability and affordability of raw materials etc., states should actively promote the coordination and cooperation among themselves to reap the benefits of technological advancements through technological spill overs. In addition, owing to their respective state autonomies, state governments should set their own energy saving targets by taking into account the respective potentials and opportunities for the different industries. Despite the requirement of energy-efficient innovations, however, the cons of technological advancements and the legal frameworks on the employment structure and distributional status should be taken care of before their adoption and execution. Originality/value To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that empirically examines the linkage between energy efficiency and TFP in case of Indian paper industry. The application of improved methods like Levinsohn and Petrin (2003) to derive the TFP measure and the use of GMM-IV to account for potential econometric problems like that of endogeneity will again add to the novelty of study.

Synergization of air handling units for high energy efficiency in office buildings: The theory and analysis

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 264-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuebin Yu ◽  
Mingsheng Liu ◽  
Haorong Li ◽  
Daihong Yu ◽  
Vivian Loftness
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Office Buildings ◽  
Air Handling Units ◽  
High Energy Efficiency

scholarly journals Review of the existing energy labelling systems and a proposal for rail vehicles

2020 ◽  
pp. 095440972092636
Author(s):  
Zhendong Liu ◽  
Mats Berg ◽  
Tohmmy Bustad
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Rail Transport ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Rail Vehicles ◽  
Low Emission ◽  
Energy Labelling ◽  
Efficiency Indicators ◽  
Labelling System

Improving energy efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions are becoming very essential worldwide. To encourage the development and application of energy-efficient and low-emission technologies and to increase people's awareness of energy-saving, many energy labelling systems are developed and utilized in most countries. Since energy labelling systems have a significant impact, more and more sectors are developing their energy labelling systems to have their products included. Globally, the transport sector consumes a great proportion of energy and is responsible for considerable CO2 emissions. Although rail vehicles have relatively high energy efficiency, a labelling system has not been developed in the railway sector, whereas other modes of transport have developed energy efficiency indicators or energy labelling systems. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an energy labelling system for rail vehicles to promote rail transport and develop the technology of rail vehicles. First, this paper gives a review of the existing energy labelling systems. Second, it summarizes the rail needs and rail stakeholders’ interests regarding energy efficiency and corresponding labelling. Last but not least, a proposal for an energy labelling system for rail vehicles is given.

scholarly journals A study on the perception of POKM as the organizational knowledge sharing enabler

VINE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siew Hoong Angela Lee ◽  
Tong-Ming Lim
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Knowledge Workers ◽  
Research Result ◽  
Organizational Knowledge ◽  
Preliminary Review ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Goals

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the perception of knowledge workers on practice of knowledge management (POKM) as an organizational knowledge sharing enabler in an information technology shared services company to understand issues faced and provide recommendations on different technological characteristics of the system. Design/methodology/approach – The initial stage of the research involved a preliminary review of the existing knowledge management-related documents. This was followed by a top management interview to understand the organization’s business goals and knowledge management (KM) expectations. A total of 70 knowledge workers took part in the research activity. Twenty-five participants from nine departments took part in the preliminary interview, and 52 successful survey forms were collected from a total of 70 respondents. The entire investigation took close to nine months. Data compilation and research result analysis took about three months to complete. Findings – The outcomes of the research show that the quality of POKM is stable, easy to use and organization of the content is rated as good. However, POKM has poor response time and search capability. The content is found to be difficult to locate in the POKM but most participants agree that knowledge stored in the POKM is helpful, can be accessed anytime and anywhere and useful for their day-to-day job. As for the user interface, POKM is not very pleasant to use with a weak set of functions and features. For user satisfaction toward POKM, it is shown that users are not satisfied with the efficiency and effectiveness of the systems. However, employees generally are satisfied with the ease of access, download and reuse of knowledge contains in POKM. In term of perceived POKM benefits, users agree that POKM is an enabler for acquiring new knowledge and innovative ideas, managing and storing knowledge and accomplishing tasks more efficiently. Lastly, knowledge users agree that POKM functions enable knowledge networking, sharing and creation in the organization. Originality/value – POKM was launched and implemented for close to 10 years; however, the organization has failed to achieve some of the goals such as knowledge sharing among employees, creation of new skills and knowledge, measuring knowledge sharing activities and knowledge sharing strategy. The importance of this study is to understand and highlight the technological perspective of POKM from the knowledge workers. Findings will summarize issues faced by the case company for further action and remedy. The outcomes of the study also provide a comprehensive view and guideline to organizations who are interested to implement a KM system.

scholarly journals Framework for Evaluating Financial Impacts of Technical Risks Related to Energy-Efficient Renovation of Commercial Office Buildings

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 32
Author(s):  
Annalisa Andaloro ◽  
Graziano Salvalai ◽  
Gabriele Fregonese ◽  
Linda Tso ◽  
Giulia Paoletti
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Evaluation Method ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Office Buildings ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Building Energy Efficiency ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
Technical Risks ◽  
Financial Impacts

Energy efficiency in the building sector is a priority of the EU Commission to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Renovation of the existing buildings, which are currently responsible for approximately 40% of EU energy consumption and 36% of the greenhouse gas emissions can lead to significant energy savings. This paper presents the EEnvest calculation method for evaluating the financial impacts of technical risks related to energy-efficient renovation of commercial office buildings. The evaluation method aims to increase investors’ confidence and boost investments in the renovation of the existing building. Through a series of Key Performance Indicators (KPI), the technical and financial risks impact is evaluated. The results are strictly connected to building features, climatic conditions, solution sets and mitigation measures specific to the building energy efficiency project.

A collaborative image of energy efficient housing via a photo-based approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 513-532
Author(s):  
Javad Asad Poor ◽  
David Thorpe ◽  
Yong Wah Goh
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Building Envelope ◽  
Physical Factors ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Environmental Perceptions ◽  
Total Energy Consumption ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Wide Range

Purpose Regarding the contribution of Australian small-size housing in the enhancement of total energy consumption of the country and the roles of the occupants’ preferences in successful implementation of action plans, the purpose of this study is to identify the Australian occupants’ collaborative image of housing energy efficiency. The two main objectives are, therefore, to address the main energy-related housing physical factors that have the potential in representing the housing image of Australian occupants and to explain the causal factors that make the physical factors critical to their energy efficiency perception. Design/methodology/approach This study has been developed through a qualitative approach. Given that the images encompass a wide range of information expressing human perceptions, an online photo-based qualitative survey was developed based on previous research works. The survey includes respondents’ demographic profiles and the evaluation of images, asking for their perception of overall housing energy efficiency, the impacts of building envelope physical attributes on the energy efficiency of the houses and the reasons behind the selection of different attributes. Findings This study has developed a set of attribute-based factors, explaining occupants’ collective perception of energy efficient small-size housing of Brisbane in the area of exterior aspects of the buildings. Specifically, the collaborative image of small-size housing of Brisbane is about the thermal performance of the buildings provided through passive climatic principles by using more efficient envelope features, e.g. material, colour, transparency, texture, openings, balconies and shadowing devices, while ignoring the impacts of architectural composition principles along neighbourhood quality. The key attributes in assessing the small-housing energy efficiency are ventilation, thermal performance and shadowing. The housing images in old traditional architectural style with rural face, built by stone, brick and concrete in high dense vegetation were evaluated to be more energy efficient than those with modern architecture, built by large glass panel and metal cladding with light or no vegetation. Research limitations/implications The main limitation of the paper is related to the nature of an image-based survey, which leads to ignoring some aspects of real spaces such as odour, temperature and noise. Practical implications This research has the potential for developing a practical methodology for assessing housing-resident fit using computer-based methodology and neural networks. Social implications This research has the potential for developing a methodology, assisting the end users in meeting their desires and motivations by helping them in assessing how a housing unit fits with their expectations and preferences. Originality/value This research provides a reliable conceptual platform for dealing with the complexity of occupants’ housing perceptions. This is achieved by establishing a collective conceptual picture of these environmental perceptions, namely, housing image, which is a platform for transferring abstract data related to human perception into measurable and quantitative scales.

RE-STORM: REAL-TIME ENERGY EFFICIENT DATA ANALYSIS ADAPTING STORM PLATFORM

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rizwan Patan ◽  
Rajasekhara Babu M.
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Response Time ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Data Stream ◽  
High Performance ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Streaming Data ◽  
Stream Computing ◽  
High Energy Efficiency

It is necessary to model an energy efficient and stream optimization towards achieve high energy efficiency for Streaming data without degrading response time in big data stream computing. This paper proposes an Energy Efficient Traffic aware resource scheduling and Re-Streaming Stream Structure to replace a default scheduling strategy of storm is entitled as re-storm. The model described in three parts; First, a mathematical relation among energy consumption, low response time and high traffic streams. Second, various approaches provided for reducing an energy without affecting response time and which provides high performance in overall stream computing in big data. Third, re-storm deployed energy efficient traffic aware scheduling on the storm platform. It allocates worker nodes online by using hot-swapping technique with task utilizing by energy consolidation through graph partitioning. Moreover, re-storm is achieved high energy efficiency, low response time in all types of data arriving speeds.it is suitable for allocation of worker nodes in a storm topology. Experiment results have been demonstrated the comparing existing strategies which are dealing with energy issues without affecting or reducing response time for a different data stream speed levels. Finally, it shows that the re-storm platform achieved high energy efficiency and low response time when compared to all existing approaches.

Improving energy efficiency of HVAC systems in buildings: a review of best practices

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Kwame Simpeh ◽  
Jon-Patrick George Pillay ◽  
Ruben Ndihokubwayo ◽  
Dorothy Julian Nalumu
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Hvac Systems ◽  
Energy Usage ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Improve Energy Efficiency ◽  
Smart Technologies

PurposeHeating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems account for approximately half of all energy usage in the operational phase of a building's lifecycle. The disproportionate amount of energy usage in HVAC systems against other utilities within buildings has proved a huge cause for alarm, as this practice contributes significantly to global warming and climate change. This paper reviews the status and current trends of energy consumption associated with HVAC systems with the aim of interrogating energy efficiency practices for improving HVAC systems' consumption in buildings in the context of developing countries.Design/methodology/approachThe study relied predominantly on secondary data by analysing the relevant body of literature and proposing conceptual insights regarding best practices for improving the energy efficiency of HVAC systems in buildings. The systematic review of the literature (SLR) was aided by the PRISMA guiding principle. Content analysis technique was adopted to examine germane scholarly articles and finally grouped them into themes.FindingsBased on the SLR, measures for enhancing the energy efficiency of HVAC systems in buildings were classified based on economic considerations ranging from low-cost measures such as the cost of tuning the system, installing zonal control systems, adopting building integrated greenery systems and passive solar designs to major approaches such as HVAC smart technologies for energy management which have multi-year pay-back periods. Further, it was established that practices to improve energy efficiency in buildings range from integrated greening system into buildings to HVAC system which are human-centred and controlled to meet human modalities.Practical implicationsThere is a need to incorporate these energy efficiency practices into building regulations or codes so that built environment professionals would have a framework within which to design their buildings to be energy efficient. This energy efficient solution may serve as a prerequisite for newly constructed buildings.Originality/valueTo this end, the authors develop an integrated optimization conceptual framework mimicking energy efficiency options that may complement HVAC systems operations in buildings.

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