Passive Techniques for Sustainable Buildings and Cities

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Climatology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (23 February 2023) | Viewed by 6130

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Architecture, State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Building Science, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China
Interests: urban heat island; green buildings; cool materials; passive evaporative cooling

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Guest Editor
College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Guangxi Minzu University, 188 University Road, Nanning 530006, China
Interests: sustainable architecture; climate change mitigation; cooling materials; building performance simulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Guangxi University, 100 University Road, Nanning 530004, China
Interests: surface coating; building simulation; solar radiation; urban heat island; radiation cooling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rapid urbanization has brought great pressure to the environment and caused serious environmental problems, especially urban overheating and related heat waves. It further leads to huge energy consumption, reduces the quality of life, and threatens sustainable development for human beings. Urban overheating is originally affected by the unreasonable urban and architectural design, and the extensive use of artificial construction materials. Passive technologies, following the principle of “natural harmony”, and using natural resources such as winds, solar radiation, and temperature with less or no rely on active energies, can also provide a comfortable environment. Advance passive techniques like passive cooling and daytime radiative cooling, have exhibited great cooling potential. Integrating more natural resources during the design of buildings and cities based on the variable geographical conditions is significant for improving the urban thermal environment, but still requires a comprehensive and interdisciplinary.

In this special, we explore the advanced passive techniques and strategies for fighting against urban overheating, which follows but are not limited to the below topics,

  • Innovation passive materials and techniques;
  • Impact of passive techniques on the performance on buildings and cities;
  • Method to design the local-based building and city environment;
  • Sustainable urban–rural planning and design;
  • Economic, low-carbon and risk assessment for innovation passive techniques.

Dr. Junsong Wang
Prof. Dr. Yinghong Qin
Dr. Kanghao Tan
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • urban overheating
  • advance passive techniques
  • passive evaporative cooling technologies
  • radiative cooling techniques
  • greenery for walls and roofs
  • natural ventilation for buildings and environment
  • cooling potentials
  • energy consumption
  • low-carbon and Economics

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 9279 KiB  
Article
Parametric Enhancement of a Window-Windcatcher for Enhanced Thermal Comfort and Natural Ventilation
by Laith M. Obeidat, Odi Fawwaz Alrebei, Shouib Nouh Ma’bdeh, Tamer Al-Radaideh and Abdulkarem I. Amhamed
Atmosphere 2023, 14(5), 844; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14050844 - 9 May 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1780
Abstract
Window-windcatchers, a passive ventilation method, have been shown to improve ventilation and enhance thermal comfort. Preliminary characterization of a novel window-windcatcher has been undertaken in a previous work, but no relationship had been identified between the actual ventilation rate ( [...] Read more.
Window-windcatchers, a passive ventilation method, have been shown to improve ventilation and enhance thermal comfort. Preliminary characterization of a novel window-windcatcher has been undertaken in a previous work, but no relationship had been identified between the actual ventilation rate (Qact), the wind velocity (VTw) and crucial design parameters such as the fins angle (ϴ)). In this paper, the relationship that quantifies how the window-windcatcher’s performance depends on VTw and ϴ was determined. Additionally, for the first time, the ventilation performance of the window-windcatcher was optimized by studying the effects of ϴ and the fins-wall distance (DWf) through a Computational Fluid Dynamics parametric study (ANSYS)|. In this optimization approach, the angle ϴ and the distance DWf corresponding to the maximum actual-to-required ventilation rate were found to be 80° and 45 cm, respectively. The actual ventilation rate increased by approximately 13.2% compared with the baseline design of the windcatcher (ϴ and DWf equal to 40° and 45 cm, respectively); this corresponds to an increase of approximately 8.6% in the actual-to-required ventilation rate, according to the ASHRAE standards. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Passive Techniques for Sustainable Buildings and Cities)
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12 pages, 4077 KiB  
Article
Radiation and Temperature of a Tropical Grassland in Summer Times: Experimental Observations
by Yunan Lu, Tianyu Wang, Chan Huang and Yinghong Qin
Atmosphere 2023, 14(4), 649; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14040649 - 30 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1395
Abstract
The surface texture of urbanized regions is altered by the replacement of natural vegetated surfaces with hardened pavement surfaces, which have been described as a heat source for the formation of urban heat islands. Grasslands may store rainfall in their roots and leaves [...] Read more.
The surface texture of urbanized regions is altered by the replacement of natural vegetated surfaces with hardened pavement surfaces, which have been described as a heat source for the formation of urban heat islands. Grasslands may store rainfall in their roots and leaves for later cooling, but this has received little attention. This study investigated the radiant flux and temperature of a tropical grassland throughout the summer in order to understand the albedo, long-wave radiation, short-wave radiation, and surface temperature of the grassland over 10 days. The grassland had an albedo of 0.13, which did not fluctuate during the day compared to the albedo of other surfaces in metropolitan areas. Even if the local weather changes considerably, this albedo does not alter significantly. The surface temperature and the air temperature above the grassland increase linearly with the upwelling reflectance, incident solar radiation, and upwelling long-wave radiation. These two temperatures do not correspond with downwelling long-wave radiation, which is influenced by cloud cover in the sky. However, the peaks of these temperatures lag behind the incident shortwave radiation and net radiation that reaches the grassland surface. The finding that the thermal properties of grasslands could be harnessed to reduce the heat absorbed by urban surfaces provides valuable insights into the grasslands’ potential to mitigate the impacts of urbanization on temperature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Passive Techniques for Sustainable Buildings and Cities)
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14 pages, 4002 KiB  
Article
Effect of Window Openable Area and Shading on Indoor Thermal Comfort and Energy Efficiency in Residential Buildings with Various Operating Modes
by Jiandong Ran, Ke Xiong, Mei Dou, Huizhi Zhong, Ya Feng, Mingfang Tang and Zhenjing Yang
Atmosphere 2022, 13(12), 2020; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13122020 - 1 Dec 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2243
Abstract
Solar heat gain and natural ventilation cooling of the indoor environment in buildings are highly influenced by the shading and openable area of windows. In addition to the ambient condition, the Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system’s mode of use can affect [...] Read more.
Solar heat gain and natural ventilation cooling of the indoor environment in buildings are highly influenced by the shading and openable area of windows. In addition to the ambient condition, the Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system’s mode of use can affect the windows’ performance, especially when multiple modes are used in combination (mixed-mode). Although many studies have investigated the mixed-mode application, their conditions for starting/shutting down HVAC equipment and controlling window ventilation are inconsistent with the relevant codes. Here, we propose a mixed-mode operation that resolves the gap between the air conditioning operation temperature and the adaptive comfort upper temperature. It investigates residential buildings’ indoor thermal environment and energy efficiency by combining the effective ventilation opening area ratio (REV) and shading design. Simulation results show that our mixed-mode can reduce the indoor overheating hours by about 50% and the building’s energy consumption by about 50%. We thereby conclude that the openable area of exterior windows in residential buildings in Chongqing should not be less than 10% of the room’s floor axis area where the exterior windows are located. In general, our study expands the existing knowledge of passive energy-saving measures and provides a method for further research on building energy design in hot summer and cold winter regions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Passive Techniques for Sustainable Buildings and Cities)
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