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Novel Materials for Energy Efficient Buildings

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "D1: Advanced Energy Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 July 2019) | Viewed by 12406

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering, Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy
Interests: heat transfer; nearly and net zero energy buildings; building envelope; HVAC systems and equipment; renewable energy sources at the building scale; fire safety
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Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Napoli NA, Italy
Interests: energy efficiency in buildings; heat transfer; HVAC systems; thermal envelope; renewable technologies at the building scale; net zero-energy buildings

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In June 2018, EU Parliament and Council have enacted a new Recast of Energy Performance of Building Directive, the EPBD 2018/844, establishing more ambitious targets for the next future. As stated by the EU Lex, it is necessarily a focus for decarbonizing the EU building stock, and, in order to do this, long-term strategies of energy refurbishment and a transformation of the existing buildings into nearly zero-energy ones are needed. In this frame, novel materials should play a primary role. Indeed, energy retrofits have higher difficulties compared to new buildings, because of the necessity of adaptability to existing constructions, the requirement of low thicknesses, and the preferability of technologies that allow installation without invasive yards for allowing livability during the refurbishing. Novel materials can exploit several physical phenomena for reducing energy demands of buildings and emissions. Furthermore, materials can improve the thermal resistance or thermal inertia of the building shell; the reflectance or absorptance of solar energy of external coatings; the thermal energy storage in structures; and the time shifting of free gains, radiative cooling, or evaporative cooling; and, analogously, they can have applications in active energy systems too (as, for instance, phase change materials into components of heating and cooling systems or new lighting systems and photovoltaics by means of novel organic materials). This Special Issue of Energies is entirely focused on new materials for the energy efficiency of buildings and energy systems and is not limited to buildings themselves, their energy systems, or renewables on a building scale.

Prof. Dr. Nicola Bianco
Prof. Dr. Fabrizio Ascione
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • building energy efficiency 
  • sustainability and environment 
  • materials for energy efficiency 
  • building performance 
  • thermal insulation 
  • thermal inertia 
  • solar reflectance 
  • radiative cooling 
  • evaporative cooling
  • organic materials 
  • thermal energy storage
  • HVCA systems and equipment 
  • lighting systems

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

32 pages, 7091 KiB  
Article
Phase Change Materials for Reducing Cooling Energy Demand and Improving Indoor Comfort: A Step-by-Step Retrofit of a Mediterranean Educational Building
by Fabrizio Ascione, Nicola Bianco, Rosa Francesca De Masi, Margherita Mastellone and Giuseppe Peter Vanoli
Energies 2019, 12(19), 3661; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12193661 - 25 Sep 2019
Cited by 39 | Viewed by 4180
Abstract
The present work concerns the energy retrofit of a public educational building at the University of Molise, located in Termoli, South Italy. The study provides a comparison of the results obtained by different dynamic simulations of passive strategies to improve thermal comfort and [...] Read more.
The present work concerns the energy retrofit of a public educational building at the University of Molise, located in Termoli, South Italy. The study provides a comparison of the results obtained by different dynamic simulations of passive strategies to improve thermal comfort and energy behavior of the building during the summer regime. Firstly, the building model was calibrated against historical consumption data. Then, a subsequent step involves the technical-economic analysis, by means of building performance simulations, of energy upgrading scenarios, specifically, cool roof and green roof technologies for the horizontal opaque envelope and thermal insulation, vented façade, and phase change materials’ applications for the vertical opaque envelope. Improving the indoor thermal comfort and reducing the thermal energy demand during summertime through innovative solutions will be the primary objective of the present study. The energy efficiency measures are compared from the energy, emissions, costs, and indoor comfort points of view. Phase Change Materials applied to the inner side of the external walls are analyzed in depth and, by varying their melting temperature, optimization of design is performed too. This innovative material, with a melting temperature of 23 °C and a freezing temperature of 21 °C, determines the reduction of summer energy consumption of 11.7% and the increase of summer indoor comfort of 215 h. Even if consolidated, other solutions, like the cool roof, green roof, thermal insulation, and vented façade induce improvements in terms of summer energy saving, and the percentage difference compared to the basic building is less than 2%. For this case study, a Mediterranean building, with construction characteristics typical of the 1990s, traditional passive technologies are not very efficient in improving the energy performance, so the investigation focused on the adoption of innovative solutions such as PCMs, for reducing summer energy demand and improving indoor thermal comfort. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Materials for Energy Efficient Buildings)
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21 pages, 4016 KiB  
Article
Predicting the Impact of Climate Change on Thermal Comfort in A Building Category: The Case of Linear-type Social Housing Stock in Southern Spain
by Rocío Escandón, Rafael Suárez, Juan José Sendra, Fabrizio Ascione, Nicola Bianco and Gerardo Maria Mauro
Energies 2019, 12(12), 2238; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12122238 - 12 Jun 2019
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 4172
Abstract
The Climate Change scenario projected by the IPCC for the year 2050 predicts noticeable increases in temperature. In severe summer climates, such as the Mediterranean area, this would have very negative effects on thermal comfort in the existing housing stock, given the current [...] Read more.
The Climate Change scenario projected by the IPCC for the year 2050 predicts noticeable increases in temperature. In severe summer climates, such as the Mediterranean area, this would have very negative effects on thermal comfort in the existing housing stock, given the current high percentage of dwellings which are obsolete in energy terms and house a population at serious risk of energy poverty. The main aim of this paper is to generate a predictive model in order to assess the impact of this future climate scenario on thermal comfort conditions in an entire building category. To do so, calibrated models representing linear-type social multi-family buildings, dating from the post-war period and located in southern Spain, will be simulated extensively using transient energy analyses performed by EnergyPlus. In addition, a sensitivity analysis will be performed to identify the most influential parameters on thermal discomfort. The main results predict a generalized deterioration in indoor thermal comfort conditions due to global warming, increasing the average percentage of discomfort hours during the summer by more than 35%. This characterization of the future thermal behaviour of the residential stock in southern Spain could be a trustworthy tool for decision-making in energy retrofitting projects which are so badly needed. To do so, further work is required on some limitations of this model so that different user profiles and typologies can be represented in detail and an economic assessment can be included. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Materials for Energy Efficient Buildings)
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21 pages, 6239 KiB  
Article
Investigation of Ventilation Energy Recovery with Polymer Membrane Material-Based Counter-Flow Energy Exchanger for Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings
by Miklos Kassai and Laith Al-Hyari
Energies 2019, 12(9), 1727; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12091727 - 7 May 2019
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2863
Abstract
The usage of energy recovery ventilation units was extended in European countries. Air-to-air heat and energy recovery is an effective procedure to reduce energy consumption of the ventilation air. However, the material of the core significantly influences the performance of the exchangers, which [...] Read more.
The usage of energy recovery ventilation units was extended in European countries. Air-to-air heat and energy recovery is an effective procedure to reduce energy consumption of the ventilation air. However, the material of the core significantly influences the performance of the exchangers, which is becoming an extremely important aspect to meet the energy requirements of nearly zero-energy buildings. In this study, the performance of two counter-flow heat/enthalpy energy exchangers are experimentally tested under different operating conditions, and the values of the sensible, latent, and total effectiveness are presented. Moreover, the effects of the material of two exchangers (polystyrene for the sensible heat exchanger and polymer membrane for the energy exchanger) on the energy consumption of ventilation in European cities with three different climates (in Reykjavík in Iceland as a cold climate, in Budapest in Hungary as a temperate climate, and in Rome in Italy as a warm climate) are evaluated. The results show that the energy recovery of ventilation air with a polymer membrane material-based counter-flow energy exchanger performs better than using a polystyrene sensible heat recovery unit. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Materials for Energy Efficient Buildings)
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