Browsing by Author "Moazzen, N."
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ArticlePublication Metadata only Comprehensive parameters for the definition of nearly zero energy and cost optimal levels considering the life cycle energy and thermal comfort of school buildings(Elsevier, 2021-12-15) Moazzen, N.; Karagüler, M. E.; Ashrafian Bonab, Touraj; Architecture; ASHRAFIAN BONAB, TourajThere has been an increasing interest in studying energy efficiency in buildings in the recent years, as they account for a significant portion of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. While most of the studies focus on the buildings' operational phase, a substantial part of buildings' energy consumption is disguised as embodied energy. It is impossible to have a zero energy building, as it is necessary to use materials to build the building, and those materials need to produce and transport energy. Life cycle analysis is the utmost efficient method to assess how a building affects the environment. Notably, the impact of buildings on the environment across their lifespans are determined by some factors, which comprise materials, design, construction, use and demolition. The study aims to present the implementation of a life cycle approach and occupant thermal comfort during the school building's energy efficiency design. The study's principal objective focuses on the energy use and environmental impact linked to various alternatives of building envelopes in different climates. Within this context, a reference building located in three different climatic regions of Turkey is investigated. Two ranges of efficiency comprise the focal points of the study. Cost-optimal and nearly zero energy levels are defined for each city. In the hot climate, the cost-optimal scenario cannot improve the comfort conditions, whereas the nZEB scenario improves slightly in such a context. In temperate and cold climates, both strategies can improve comfort conditions. The share of embodied energy and carbon in the nZEB level can reach higher than 80 percent, whereas it is lower than 15 percent in the cost-optimal level.ArticlePublication Metadata only The impact of glazing ratio and window configuration on occupants’ comfort and energy demand: The case study of a school building in Eskisehir, Turkey(Elsevier, 2019-05) Ashrafian Bonab, Touraj; Moazzen, N.; Architecture; ASHRAFIAN BONAB, TourajVarious investigations have confirmed that pupils and teachers' learning/teaching performance and health depend heavily on the quality and amount of daylight and indoor thermal conditions. The primary aim of using natural light in schools is to reduce energy consumption and costs, but it should also improve students' performance. An appropriate configuration of windows improves visual and thermal comfort by reducing glare, distributing light and controlling solar energy gain. The study focuses on the impact of different transparency ratios (WWR) and window combinations in two critical orientations (west and east) on occupants' comfort and the energy demands of a classroom. A building was selected for a case study investigation at the design stage. One east-facing and one west-facing classroom were studied. The two classrooms were simulated with the aid of the lighting and energy simulation programs DIALux Evo 6.0, DesignBuilder 5.5 and EnergyPlus 8.9. The results indicated that a glazing ratio of 50% would reduce the requirement for artificial lighting by at least 15% as well as providing more comfortable conditions.Conference paperPublication Open Access Life cycle energy assessment of a school building under envelope retrofit: An approach towards environmental impact reduction(EDP Sciences, 2019) Moazzen, N.; Karagüler, M. E.; Ashrafian Bonab, Touraj; Architecture; Kurnitski, J.; Wargocki, P.; Mazzarela, L.; Zhang, H.; Nastase, I.; Tanabe, S.; Gameiro da Silva, M. C.; Cao, G.; Inard, C.; ASHRAFIAN BONAB, TourajEnergy efficiency of existing buildings is a concept to manage and restrain the growth in energy consumption and one of the crucial issues due to the magnitude of the sector. Educational buildings are in charge of about 15% of the total energy consumption of the non-residential building sector. However, not only operational but also embodied energy of a building should be reduced to get the overall benefits of energy efficiency, where, using energy efficient architectural measures and low emitting materials during every retrofit action can be a logical step. The majority of buildings in Turkey and EU was built earlier than the development of the energy efficiency in the construction sector, hence, without energy retrofit, consume an enormous amount of energy that can be averted significantly by the implementation of some even not advanced retrofit measures. Furthermore, demolishing of a building to construct a new one is not a rational approach concerning cost, time and environmental pollution. The study has been focused on the impact assessment of the various architectural scenarios of energy efficiency upgrading on the Life Cycle Energy Consumption (LCEC) and Life Cycle CO2 (LCCO2) emission. Within the scope of the study, a primary school building is selected to be analysed. Through analysis, the total embodied and operational energy use and CO2 emission regarding the life cycle phase of the building is quantitatively defined and investigated in the framework of life cycle inventory. The paper concentrates on the operation and embodied energy consumption arising from the application of a variety of measures on the building envelope. An educational building with low LCCO2 emissions and LCEC in Turkey is proposed. To exemplify the approach, contributions are applied to a case study in Istanbul as a representative school building. The primary energy consumption of the case study building is calculated with a dynamic simulation tool, EnergyPlus. Afterwards, a sort of architectural energy efficient measures is implemented in the envelope while the lighting and mechanical systems remain constant. The energy used in the production and transportation of materials, which are the significant parts of the embodied energy, are taken into account as well.Conference paperPublication Open Access A long-term strategy for energy and cost performance improvement of existing residential buildings: Step-by-step renovation in Turkey(2019) Ashrafian Bonab, Touraj; Yılmaz, Z.; Moazzen, N.; Architecture; ASHRAFIAN BONAB, TourajRecast version of Energy Performance of Building Directive (EPBD-Recast) obligate member states to keep the cost analysis in parallel with the energy analysis during the renovation actions for the existing building by taking the cost-optimal level of minimum energy performance requirement to the account. Although this cost-optimal level is indicating the minimum cost level for a period, it can provide buildings’ owners with an enormous initial cost. One of the most challenging barriers to energy efficient and cost-optimal renovation of existing buildings is the reluctance of owners to involve in their project as an investor due to the high cost of application. Particularly in developing countries, such reluctance is more tangible as the governments are not capable of providing enough financial incentives for owners due to a large number of buildings that should be renovated and small available budget. A proper solution for the problem is to divide necessary actions for each building to certain sub-actions and apply them as a step-by-step renovation project. On the other hand, the progressive application of renovation activities has some restrictions. It is necessary to define the due amount for households and keep the cost of each step within the payable range. Moreover, the low rate of building renovation which affects the EU goals can be improved remarkably by application of step-by-step actions not only by increasing the number of owners’ contributions but also by improving the time of implementation, proper distribution of skilled labours and directed economic resources. This paper aims to assess the step-by-step application of the energy efficient renovation actions through energy and cost analysis under Turkey’s climatic, economic and sociological conditions. One of 26 reference residential buildings in Turkey is analysed in this paper. The due amount for each step is defined, and some renovation actions and their combinations applied to the case building and the results compared with the base condition. Then a proper combination of measures established based on the cost-optimal analyses. These appropriately combined actions are then divided into some sub-actions; following this, cost and energy studies are conducted again to determine the appropriate arrangement of sub-actions.ArticlePublication Metadata only A multi-criteria approach to affordable energy-efficient retrofit of primary school buildings(Elsevier, 2020-06-15) Moazzen, N.; Ashrafian Bonab, Touraj; Yilmaz, Z.; Karagüler, M. E.; Architecture; ASHRAFIAN BONAB, TourajThe majority of the buildings was built before the energy efficiency prospering in the construction sector. Hence, they are consuming an enormous energy amount that can be preserved considerably by applying some not even advanced retrofit measures. Schools' low budget is a problem that managers are encountered. Thus the high retrofit cost can prevent taking proper actions. However, considering the measures leading to higher energy efficiency with appropriate cost and payback period, together with taking the lifespan of buildings and the economic benefits during this extended period, would make the actions attractive. This research aims at defining a multi-parameter approach to distinguish energy efficient measures with proper cost, payback period and CO2 emission for primary school buildings' retrofit. It is following the concept of cost-optimal building retrofit introduced by the EPBD-recast. To assess the proposed approach, two typical school buildings were considered as case studies, the model was created and validated by real consumptions, and then some measures were applied to the envelope, mechanical and lighting system. After driven cost-optimal measures, the comfort analyses were conducted and some of the measures were excluded due to worsening the comfort conditions. The results indicate that, in the suitable cost-optimal scenarios, the potential of primary energy savings and CO2 emission reductions are approximately 60%, and savings for global cost would amount to more than 42%, while the payback periods are less than seven years.