Search Results (161)

Learning efficiency in a university context is predicated on a conducive learning environment. This in turn requires settings offering thermal comfort. In this study, we experimentally explored the relationship between the thermal environment of colleges and universities in hot-summer and cold-winter regions on the thermal comfort and learning efficiency of Chinese college students. Findings are intriguing in that temperatures delivering optimal thermal comfort and optimal learning efficiency differ. Specifically: (1) Students generally feel most comfortable when the room temperature is approximately 24 °C; (2) Combined studies comparing temperature on thermal comfort and learning efficiency found that college students learn better in slightly colder environments; (3) Based on the comprehensive value of satisfying the best thermal comfort and high learning efficiency, the optimal temperature range is 20.6 °C to 22.2 °C. Full article

HVAC systems account for a significant portion of building energy consumption, making them a critical factor in achieving energy efficiency and sustainable development in buildings. The thermal comfort environment within kindergarten buildings has a direct impact on children’s health and learning performance while also being closely linked to building energy consumption. Natural ventilation serves as a fundamental passive technology for ensuring indoor air quality. It offers advantages such as energy savings and emissions reduction while improving thermal comfort, making it a key advancement in promoting sustainable building practices. Air change rate serves as a key indicator for measuring indoor air renewal. This study, based on the characteristics of young children being more sensitive to environmental changes and having weaker resistance, investigated the impact of different air change rates on indoor thermal comfort in kindergartens across three distinct climatic zones in China: hot summer and warm winter, hot summer and cold winter, and temperate areas. Thermal comfort was evaluated using the Temperature Humidity Index (THI) and temperature fluctuation rate. And the effects of air change rates on building energy consumption were further examined. Simulation results show that the influence of air change rates on indoor thermal comfort, temperature fluctuations, and energy consumption varies significantly across climate zones. Guided by the sustainable principles of prioritizing children’s health and low-energy operation, the findings indicate that an air change rate of 1.5 is optimal in hot summer and warm winter areas, a rate of 0.5 is most suitable in hot summer and cold winter areas, and a rate of 0.5 is most suitable in temperate areas. This study aims to provide scientific evidence for achieving energy conservation and sustainable ventilation design through natural ventilation in kindergarten buildings across different climate zones, while ensuring children’s health. Full article

Arctic regions are warming rapidly, elevating extinction risks and accelerating ecosystem change, yet widely used bioclimatic datasets rarely represent polar-specific ecological constraints. Here we present BioClimPolar_2300 v1.0, a raster bioclimatic dataset designed for terrestrial Arctic biodiversity research under climate change. The dataset includes 33 gridded bioclimatic layers at a 10 km spatial resolution, covering seven discrete temporal intervals from 2010 to 2300 AD. In addition to conventional variables used globally, BioClimPolar_2300 incorporates three polar-relevant constraint domains: (1) polar day–night phenomena (PDNs), including degree-day metrics during polar night and polar day; (2) temperature-defined seasonal cycles (TSCs), including seasonal temperature, precipitation, aridity, and season length; (3) hot/cold stresses (HCSs), capturing indices of extreme summer heat and winter cold. Precipitation during snow-melting days (P_melting) is also included due to its relevance for species depending on subnivean habitats. Climate fields were extracted from CMIP6 models and statistically downscaled to 10 km using a change-factor approach under a polar projection. Monthly fields were linearly interpolated to derive daily grids, enabling the computation of variables that require daily inputs. Validation against observations from 30 Arctic weather stations indicates performance suitable for biodiversity applications, and two exemplar range shift case studies (one animal and one plant) illustrate biological relevance and provide practical guidance for data extraction and use. BioClimPolar_2300 fills a key gap in Arctic bioclimatic resources and supports more realistic biodiversity assessments and conservation planning through 2300. Full article

Life-cycle assessment is crucial for evaluating materials’ environmental impact and guiding the development of low-carbon and sustainable buildings. However, conventional LCA methods often overlook critical impacts during the operation and maintenance stage. To address this gap, this study proposes an improved framework using four composite indicators to enable systematic evaluation of six wall materials across China’s five climate zones. Using a university teaching building in the Hot Summer and Cold Winter Zone as a case study, this study quantitatively analyzed the economic viability and carbon reduction potential of each material. Results indicate that lower thermal conductivity does not necessarily imply superior economic and carbon reduction performance. Factors including the material carbon emission factor, cost, and thermal properties, must be comprehensively considered. Buffering materials also exhibit climate dependency—WPM and BWPM (moisture-buffering plastering mortars) perform better in hot–humid zones than temperate zones. All five buffer materials reduce operational energy consumption; WPM and BWPM stand out with 15.7% and 16.7% life-cycle cost savings and 17.3% and 18.0% carbon emission reductions, respectively. This study addresses the limitations of traditional LCC/LCA and provides theoretical and practical support for scientific material selection and low-carbon building design. Full article

In regions with hot summers and cold winters, elderly care buildings face the dual challenges of high energy consumption and stringent thermal comfort requirements. Using Nanchang as a case study, this research presents an optimization approach that integrates phase change material (PCM) walls with the window-to-wall ratio (WWR). PCM wall performance was tested experimentally, and EnergyPlus simulations were conducted to assess building energy use for WWR values ranging from 0.25 to 0.50, with and without PCM. The phase change material (PCM) used in this study is paraffin (an organic phase change material), which has a melting point of 26 °C and can store and release heat during temperature fluctuations. The experimental results show that PCM walls effectively reduce heat transfer, lowering the surface temperatures of external, central, and internal walls by 3.9 °C, 3.8 °C, and 3.7 °C, respectively, compared to walls without PCM. The simulation results predict that the PCM wall can reduce air conditioning energy consumption by 8.2% in summer and total annual energy consumption by 14.2%. The impact of WWR is orientation-dependent: east and west façades experience significant cooling penalties as WWR increases and should be maintained at or below 0.30; the south façade achieves optimal performance at a WWR of 0.40, with the lowest total energy load (111.2 kW·h·m-2); and the north façade performs best at the lower bound (WWR = 0.25). Under the combined strategy (south wall with PCM and WWR = 0.40), annual total energy consumption is reduced by 9.8% compared to the baseline (no PCM), with indoor temperatures maintained between 18 and 26 °C. This range is selected based on international thermal comfort standards (e.g., ASHRAE) and comfort research specifically targeting the elderly population, ensuring comfort for elderly occupants. These findings offer valuable guidance for energy-efficient design in similar climates and demonstrate that the synergy between PCM and WWR can reduce energy consumption while maintaining thermal comfort. Full article

The microclimate of traditional blocks, a key component of urban fabric, directly affects the overall urban thermal environment. Creating a suitable microclimate is crucial for improving urban living quality. Field measurements, ENVI-met simulations, and the PET index were used to analyze the spatiotemporal variations and core drivers of thermal comfort. Temporally, five open space types showed a unimodal “rise–stabilization–fall” PET curve, with peak heat stress occurring at 11:00–14:00. Courtyards heated fastest, but green spaces had the most stable thermal environment because trees provided shading and transpiration for gentle cooling. Spatially, thermal comfort varied significantly. For example, green spaces rich in trees performed best (PET 5–8 °C lower than pure grassland), while squares and courtyards faced severe midday heat stress (PET mostly moderate or above). Alley comfort depended on aspect ratio and orientation—north–south alleys with an aspect ratio > 2 were 2–3 °C cooler than open spaces, but east–west or narrower alleys (aspect ratio < 1.5) and low-enclosed courtyard control apply to southern Hunan’s hot-humid zone. However, the synergistic principles can be extended to similar southern regions, providing technical reference for traditional block livability and climate-resilient cities. Full article

Climate change and rapid urbanization are intensifying global environmental challenges, particularly the nexus of urban heat stress and air pollution, which collectively impact human health and outdoor livability. This study investigates the spatiotemporal distribution of the outdoor thermal environment and PM2.5 concentrations in residential areas of Wuhan, a city with a hot-summer–cold-winter climate, and evaluates their combined effects on outdoor thermal comfort. Field measurements of microclimatic parameters and PM2.5 levels were conducted in two typical residential communities during winter and summer, supplemented by 582 valid questionnaires to assess residents’ subjective thermal responses. Key findings include (1) residents’ satisfaction decreases by approximately 1 unit for every 90-unit increase in AQI, and PM2.5 concentrations can effectively substitute for AQI in characterizing the impact of air quality on satisfaction. (2) The explanatory power of the UTCI-MTSV model (R²: 0.3152–0.7763) is pollutant-dependent; winter thermal comfort adheres to the linear law of UTCI, while dispersed summer votes indicate a non-linear effect of PM2.5 on comfort. (3) Wuhan residents show high thermal tolerance across AQIs. The lower limits of the Thermal Acceptability Range (TAR) are 7.1 °C (AQI-I) and 8.8 °C (AQI-II), both below neutral ranges, while the summer TAR-UTCI is 30.9 °C (above the neutral range). Better air quality improves the reliability of the thermal acceptability–UTCI fit. (4) TCV peaks at approximately 16 °C, increasing then decreasing with UTCI; at identical UTCI levels, better air quality enhances comfort, particularly within the 0–10 °C range. This study provides empirical evidence to inform urban design strategies for mitigating heat stress and pollution in hot-summer–cold-winter regions. Full article

The widespread use of transparent building envelope structures satisfies people’s needs for architectural esthetics and daylighting. However, they also feature notable drawbacks such as high energy consumption, poor thermal insulation performance of traditional glass curtain walls, significant solar heat gain in summer and heat loss in winter, which lead to “cold in winter and hot in summer” indoors, reliance on high-power air conditioning, and energy consumption far exceeding that of opaque walls. Even when coated or insulated glazing is adopted, improper design can still fail to effectively reduce the overall heat transfer coefficient, placing higher demands on the daylighting performance and solar radiation control of transparent envelopes in existing buildings. Through experiments and numerical simulations, this study systematically analyzes the performance of different types of glass used in transparent building envelope structures and their impacts on building energy consumption. Based on the climatic characteristics of central-southern Anhui, measured data were compared between a Low E-glass sunroom and a conventional tempered glass sunroom. The results show that the solar radiation transmittance of the Low-e glass is only 45.31% of that of ordinary glass, the peak indoor temperature is reduced by 6–7 °C, and nighttime temperature fluctuations are smaller, verifying its excellent thermal insulation performance and thermal stability. To further investigate, the Ecotect software 2011 was used to simulate the daylighting performance of 12 types of glazing and the radiation transmittance under 19 conditions. The results indicate: triple-glazed vacuum composite silver-coated glass exhibits excellent shading performance suitable for summer; single-silver-coated glass has the best daylighting performance, and Triple-Silver coatings combined with high-transmission substrates can improve the daylight factor by 10.55%; argon-filled insulated glazing reduces radiation by 6.5% compared with ordinary IGUs, making it more suitable for the climate of central-southern Anhui. The study shows that optimization of transparent envelopes must be predicated on regional climate, combining experimentally validated glazing thermal parameters with simulation-based design optimization to provide theoretical support and technical references for glass selection and transparent envelope design in near-zero energy buildings in central-southern Anhui. Full article

Aligned with China’s “Dual Carbon” goals, this study addresses carbon emissions in the building sector. Existing research predominantly focuses on single-stage carbon emission assessment or separately examines the benefits of BIM applications and photovoltaic (PV) technology. There is a notable lack of studies that deeply integrate the BIM platform with dynamic assessment of building life cycle carbon emissions and PV carbon reduction strategies, particularly under the specific context of the hot-summer/cold-winter climate in Central China and a regional grid primarily reliant on thermal power. Moreover, localized and in-depth analyses targeting residential buildings in this region remain scarce. To address this gap, this study takes a residential building in Central China as a case study and establishes a BIM-based life cycle carbon emission assessment model to systematically quantify the carbon footprint across all stages. Results show total life cycle carbon emissions of 12600 tCO₂, with embodied carbon (4590 tCO₂, 36.6%) and the operational phase identified as the main emission sources. Through PV system integration and multi-scenario simulations, the study demonstrates significant carbon reduction potential: systems with 40–80 kW capacity can achieve annual carbon reductions ranging from 26 to 52 tCO₂. The 60 kW system shows the optimal balance with an annual reduction of 38.7 tCO₂ and a payback period of 3.53 years. The primary novelty of this work lies in its development of a dynamic BIM-LCA framework that enables real-time carbon footprint tracking, and the establishment of a first-of-its-kind quantitative model for PV strategy optimization under the specific climatic and grid conditions of Central China, providing a replicable pathway for region-specific decarbonization. Full article

Multi-objective optimisation is essential for balancing building energy efficiency and thermal comfort. Existing research primarily focuses on passive optimisation strategies that assume fixed behavioural patterns of a ‘rational occupant’. However, these studies often overlook the impact of stochastic occupant behaviour on building energy efficiency and thermal comfort. Furthermore, they fail to consider the inherent randomness, variability, dynamic nature, and feedback mechanisms of individual actions. As a result, this oversight can lead to suboptimal energy efficiency, insufficient thermal comfort, and a poor user experience. This study examines a naturally ventilated research building equipped with split-type air conditioning in China’s hot summer and cold winter climate zone. The research develops a rapid prediction model for air conditioning (AC) energy consumption and thermal comfort based on actual HVAC behaviours, incorporating the AC and natural ventilation (NV) operation schedules. The model utilises Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), importance analysis, and batch simulation. Furthermore, a multi-objective optimisation decision-making model is developed to balance building AC energy consumption and indoor environmental thermal comfort, using the NSGA-II algorithm. The results indicate that when building design parameters comply with the current energy-saving design standards, behavioural optimisation can lead to a 31.4% reduction in energy use for building AC systems while enhancing thermal comfort by 37.5%. Furthermore, by implementing integrated optimisation strategies, comfort can be improved by as much as 92.6% without raising energy consumption. Full article

The Eastern Mediterranean is a rapidly warming climate change hotspot where heat and air pollution increasingly interact to affect human health. This study quantifies the mortality burden attributed to the synergistic effects of thermal stress and air pollution in Thessaloniki, Greece. Daily mortality data (2001–2019) were analyzed together with pollutant concentrations (PM10, NO₂, O₃) and the modified Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (mPET) using a hierarchical Generalized Additive Model with Distributed Lag Non-Linear terms to capture combined, lagged, and age-specific responses. A refined, count-independent definition of the Attributable Fraction (AF) was introduced to improve stability in small strata. The results show that heat and pollution act synergistically, explaining on average 20–30% of daily mortality during severe co-occurrence events. Seniors were most affected during hot, polluted summers (AF ≈ 27%), while adults showed higher burdens during cold, polluted winters (AF ≈ 30%). Intra-urban analyses revealed stronger simultaneous effects in the western, more industrial districts, reflecting combined environmental and socioeconomic vulnerability. The findings demonstrate that temperature extremes amplify pollution-related mortality and underline the need to integrate air quality and bioclimatic indicators into early warning and adaptation systems in Eastern Mediterranean cities. Full article

Amid the combined pressures of global carbon-reduction in architecture and the imperative of cultural heritage conservation, new courtyard-style buildings in hot-summer and cold-winter regions face a dual challenge of reconciling historical morphological constraints with contemporary comfort requirements. At the same time, the prevailing energy-efficiency codes in these regions, emphasizing high airtightness and strong insulation, have revealed shortcomings such as poor indoor air quality and insufficient summer ventilation. This study takes the Lu Residence in Dongyang, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, as the primary case. It systematically examines the coupling mechanisms between the geometric configurations of transitional space in traditional courtyard dwellings and their environmental physical parameters using field surveys, multi-parameter environmental monitoring, and computer simulations. The results identify the optimal orientations and geometric parameters that balance summer ventilation with winter thermal buffering in hot-summer and cold-winter regions. The primary conclusions of this research are as follows: (1) The optimal orientation for axial buildings lies between 15° west of south and 15° east of south, as well as 30–60° east or west of south, with an angle of 45–60° in relation to the prevailing annual wind direction for all buildings. (2) The optimal height-to-width ratio of the courtyard is less than 1:2.5, while the range of the length-to-width ratio extends from 1:0.5 to 1:0.7. (3) The optimal eave depth varies from 900 to 1500 mm, effectively balancing winter heat retention and summer shading; however, a depth of 2400 mm is primarily advantageous for shading purposes. Furthermore, these findings are applied to the design of a new guesthouse within the conservation area of the Xu Zhen Er Gong Ancestral Hall in Yongkang, establishing a climate–geometry matching mechanism for transitional spaces. The study demonstrates that transitional space can serve as effective passive regulators, offering a scientific and sustainable pathway for the adaptive continuation of traditional courtyard architecture. Full article

This study introduces a parametric multi-objective optimization framework for urban block morphology. It integrates micro-climate data corrected by the Urban Weather Generator (UWG), energy simulation through EnergyPlus and Honeybee, and the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) within the Wallacei platform. Using Wuhan, China, a city with a representative hot-summer and cold-winter climate, as a case study, the framework simultaneously optimizes three key objectives: Average Sunshine Hours (Av.SH), Energy Use Intensity (EUI), and Average Universal Thermal Climate Index (Av.UTCI). The framework systematically links parametric modeling, environmental simulation, and evolutionary optimization to explore how block typologies and height configurations affect the trade-offs among solar access, energy demand, and outdoor thermal comfort. Among the feasible solutions, Av.SH exhibits the greatest variation, ranging from 4.30 to 7.93 h, followed by Av.UTCI (44.13 to 45.46 °C), while EUI shows the least fluctuation, from 91.69 to 93.36 kWh/m². Key design variables, such as building type and height distribution, critically influence the outcomes. Optimal configurations are achieved by interweaving low-rise (2 to 3 floors), mid-rise (6 to 8 floors), and high-rise (15 to 20 floors) buildings to enhance openness and ventilation. The proposed framework offers a quantifiable strategy for guiding future climate-responsive and energy-efficient neighborhood design. Full article

In high-density cities, integrating photovoltaic shading devices (PVSDs) with urban block typology optimization is crucial for low-carbon development, yet the understanding of their synergistic effects remains limited. This study develops a novel multi-scale evaluation framework that bridges block-building hierarchies to address this research gap. Through parametric modeling, this study coupled 27 representative office block morphologies with 18 PVSDs in Wuhan, a prototype city for China’s hot-summer–cold-winter climate zone, systematically generating 486 scenarios for comprehensive evaluation. Using Rhino–Grasshopper (7.0) with Ladybug (1.7), Honeybee (1.6), and EnergyPlus (9.4), we then examined urban block typology-PVSDs interactions across these scenarios. Our findings demonstrate that coordinated block typology and PVSD variables serve as critical determinants of energy-performance synergy. High-Rise Hybrid blocks emerge as the superior configuration for integrated performance, achieving maximal passive energy savings, optimal renewable energy utilization, and substantial carbon reduction. PVSDs that are 0.4 m in width, with specific distance-to-width ratios, yield the highest integrated benefits. This work advances sustainable urban design by establishing a morphology–energy nexus framework, providing architects and urban planners with actionable strategies for climate-responsive design in similar regions, with direct implications for maximizing energy–PV synergy through morphology-aware design approaches. Full article

Global warming and urban expansion impose far-reaching, negative implications on the quality of the outdoor thermal environment in residential areas. Due to its potential for microclimate regulation and easy configuration with less site restrictions, the transitional space is an effective mitigation measure to transform existing outdoor spaces for thermal discomfort. The point of this article is to explore the optimum design parameters of the transitional space for increasing outdoor thermal comfort, with a focus on its orientation, aspect ratio (H/W), plan aspect ratio (L/W), and enclosure degree. The ENVI-met micro-meteorological model is adopted to visualize the environmental parameters after field measurement whereas the Ecotect is applied to validate the thermal performance under different design variants. The simulation results show that the thermal performance of geometry and orientation for the transitional space is seasonally discordant. On account of giving consideration to balance the double demands of solar shading in summer and solar gain in winter, a south-oriented transitional space with the windward side enclosure, length-width ratio of 2:1, and aspect ratio with 1.2 produces a greater thermal environment in Tianjin, China. Combined with the previous literature, south-oriented transitional spaces have a comparative advantage in balancing year-round thermal comfort for most cases; the deviation of the preferred orientation in the corresponding cities from the due south orientation is within 90° of a counterclockwise rotation. The lower aspect ratio (approximately below 1), deeper shape, and lower enclosure of the transitional spaces is appropriate for tropical and subtropical areas to avoid excessive sunshine; for temperate climates with hot summers and cold winters, such as in Tianjin, the reverse happens. Full article