Journal: Building and Environment

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Elsevier

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0360-1323
1873-684X

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Publications 1 - 10 of 101
  • An adaptive temperature wall function for mixed convective flows at exterior surfaces of buildings in street canyons
    Item type: Journal Article
    Allegrini, Jonas; Dorer, Viktor; Defraeye, Thijs; et al. (2012)
    Building and Environment ~ An adaptive temperature wall function for mixed convective flows at exterior surfaces of buildings in street canyons
  • The antibacterial performance of positively charged and chitosan dipped air filter media
    Item type: Journal Article
    Sun, Zhaoxia; Yue, Yang; He, Weidong; et al. (2020)
    Building and Environment
    The bacteria and fungi captured on heat insulating materials or air filter media in the ventilation system in civil flights may reentrant into the indoor air which poses a threat to passengers’ health. The E. coli and B. subtilis bacteria survival rates on the heat insulating blankets typically used as padding materials inside the aircraft walls under the mimicked environmental condition were studied. Then the antibacterial performance of positively charged electret and chitosan modified filter media which can be used in the ventilation systems against E. coli bacteria was investigated. Our results showed that the E. coli survival rate deceased to less than 0.2% and that of the B. subtilis decreased to less than 2.1% of the control samples on the hydrophilic and hydrophobic blankets under the mimic conditions after one flight cycle. The survival rate of E. coli on the positively charged electret filter media decreased to less than 30% compared to the uncharged filter media after six hours due to the disruption of their metabolic balance by the positive charges on the fibers surface. Moreover, the E. coli survival rate on the pure nylon, nylon/chitosan and chitosan dipped nylon-6 nanofibrous filter media decreased to 8.4%, 7.1% and 2.8% after 120 min, respectively. This study sheds light on fabrication of the eco-friendly antibacterial filter materials for the ventilation systems.
  • Occupants’ willingness to share information for improved comfort and energy efficiency in offices
    Item type: Journal Article
    Schweiker , Marcel; Potoglou , Dimitris; AlAtrash , Farah; et al. (2026)
    Building and Environment
    Background Human environmental perception and occupant behaviour are influenced by a multitude of factors, including demographic variables and individual preferences. Advancements in data collection allow the acquisition of extensive personal information, such as heart rate, skin temperature, and emotional responses to environmental conditions. These data can enhance research on multi-domain influences and on optimizing building operations but raise questions regarding individuals' willingness to share personal information. Methodology This study investigates how factors like data type, data collector, and anonymity level are associated with occupants’ willingness to share information for improved indoor environmental conditions or energy efficiency. A stated preference discrete choice experiment was developed and applied, with responses collected from participants in 29 countries, resulting in a dataset with 791 samples. The discrete choice analysis was conducted using mixed logit models and based on Random Utility Theory. Results The outcomes indicate that respondents exhibit relative indifference toward sharing demographic and physical environmental data, while having heightened concerns about sharing psychological and activity-related information. Anonymity and control over the data appear to be of crucial importance. Additionally, data collection by academic institutions is preferred to that by for-profit entities. Variability in willingness to share data across and within samples of countries suggests a necessity for tailored strategies. Impact This research underscores the necessity of balancing advancements in energy efficiency and thermal comfort with societal needs that respect individual rights. Practical recommendations for effective personal data collection are provided and methodological limitations due to scenario complexity and participant engagement are highlighted.
  • Modelling indoor air and hygrothermal wall interaction in building simulation
    Item type: Journal Article
    Steeman, H. J.; Janssens, A.; Carmeliet, J.; et al. (2009)
    Building and Environment
  • From limit values to carbon budgets: Assessing comprehensive building stock decarbonisation strategies
    Item type: Journal Article
    Marin, Pellan; Denise, Almeida; Mathilde, Louërat; et al. (2024)
    Building and Environment
    Several countries are moving towards imposing mandatory limit values that consider the life-cycle greenhouse gases emissions (GHGE) of new construction projects. While they offer valuable guidance towards low-carbon practices, they may not be sufficient to ensure the building activities alignment with ambitious climate goals. To do so, it is imperative to integrate all stock-level activities dynamics and consider the evolving nature of limit values influenced by the decarbonisation efforts in the energy and industry sectors. This article introduces a methodological framework designed to explore the potential evolution of the dwelling stock GHGE, with the ultimate goal of assessing their alignment with climate objectives. By using a national building stock database, alongside drivers of stock-level activities and scenarios for the decarbonisation of upstream sectors, it facilitates the creation of multiple scenarios and the calculation of yearly and cumulative Whole-Life Carbon (WLC) emissions. France is taken as a case study to investigate the compatibility of its recent implementation of climate and sectoral policies. The findings suggest that prioritising the elimination of fossil fuel usage emerges as an optimal strategy for decreasing operational GHGE. Regarding embodied GHGE, the more ambitious the scenario, the greater its relative contribution, potentially accounting for up to half of the WLC emissions by 2050. In addition to the ambitious transformation of energy-inefficient dwellings, the deep decarbonisation of energy carriers and construction materials plays a pivotal role in the overall decarbonisation of the dwelling stock, while sufficiency measures significantly impact embodied GHGE.
  • A novel population-based occupancy modeling approach for district-scale simulations compared to standard-based methods
    Item type: Journal Article
    Mosteiro-Romero, Martín; Hischier, Illias; Fonseca, Jimeno A.; et al. (2020)
    Building and Environment
    District-scale building energy models can be a powerful tool for the integration of renewable energy sources and efficiency measures in urban areas. One key limitation of these models, however, has been their rather simplified treatment of building occupants. Since it is their activities which create the needs for energy in an area, an improved analysis of the effects of occupants on demand at the district scale is needed. This paper presents a novel population-based approach (PopAp) inspired by agent-based transportation models, in which a population of occupants was defined based on class and employee registers and each was given an individual daily schedule. This approach was then used to assess the effect of occupant presence modeling on district-scale energy demand simulations by comparing the data-centric PopAp method to standard-based deterministic and stochastic approaches. The maximum number of occupants in the area was found to be 33% higher for the deterministic model compared to the data-centric PopAp results, a deviation that was especially pronounced in education buildings. The results for space heating, space cooling and electricity demand for lighting and appliances show that while the mean deviation between models on a yearly basis is within 10% for all demands, on an hourly scale the deviation for space cooling and electricity exceeded 15%. Given the importance of the hourly scale for peak demand prediction for technology sizing, more detailed occupant modeling approaches should be considered when planning energy systems.
  • A review on artificial intelligence applications for facades
    Item type: Review Article
    Duran, Ayça; Waibel, Christoph; Piccioni, Valeria; et al. (2025)
    Building and Environment
    This review applies a transformer-based topic model to reveal trends and relationships in Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven facade research, with a focus on architectural, environmental, and structural aspects. AI methods reviewed include Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL), and Computer Vision (CV). Overall, a significantly growing interest in applying AI methods can be observed across all research areas. However, noticeable differences exist between the three topics. While CV and DL techniques are applied to image data in research on the architectural design of facades, research on environmental aspects of facades often uses numerical data with relatively small datasets and classical ML models. Research on facade structure also tends to use image data but also incorporates numerical performance prediction. A major limitation remains a lack of generalizability, which could be addressed by more comprehensive datasets and novel DL techniques. These include concepts such as Physics-Informed Neural Networks, where domain knowledge is integrated into hybrid data-driven models, and multi-modal diffusion models, which offer generative modeling capabilities to support inverse and forward design tasks. The trends and directions outlined in this review suggest that AI will continue to advance facade research and, in line with other domains, has the potential to achieve a level of maturity suitable for adoption beyond academia and into practice.
  • Hygrothermal behavior of a massive wall with interior insulation during wetting
    Item type: Journal Article
    Guizzardi, M.; Derome, Dominique; Vonbank, Roger; et al. (2015)
    Building and Environment
  • Developing a weighting scheme for building operational performance: A case study from the Netherlands
    Item type: Journal Article
    Luo , Wei; Johra , Hicham; Borkowski, Esther; et al. (2025)
    Building and Environment
    Building operations must balance the often-competing performance objectives of occupants’ needs, energy efficiency, and power grid demand, posing a complex multi-criteria decision-making problem. Tailored weighting schemes offer practical approaches to synthesize these diverse performance aspects onto a common scale, effectively informing building operations and overall performance evaluations. However, such schemes remain underdeveloped. To address this gap, a stakeholder ontology was first developed to analyze power dynamics and information flows among stakeholders involved in building operational performance. Building managers were identified as key stakeholders to determine weights of such a scheme. Subsequently, building on the Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) framework, a survey was conducted to calculate the weights for commercial buildings using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Inputs from 27 building managers in the Netherlands were collected, along with 13 building owners and 13 international researchers. Results showed that performance aspects were not equally weighted. Building managers prioritized occupants’ health and wellbeing, building service downtime, and occupant comfort, while assigning the lowest weight to operational cost. Building owners and researchers also agreed with these top three priorities. However, considerable individual variation in priorities was observed, even after accounting for stakeholder roles, building types, and country. These findings suggest that the SRI weighting scheme should be adapted to regional contexts and highlight the necessity for customizable building management dashboards tailored to specific building conditions. Finally, the proposed weighting scheme offers pragmatic insights to support decision making in building operations, policy development, certification systems development, and smart building control and management.
  • Ten questions concerning the design of urban energy systems
    Item type: Journal Article
    Koirala, Binod; Bendiek-Laranjo, A.; Biéron, Marianne; et al. (2025)
    Building and Environment
    Urban energy systems (UES) design must adapt to the multifaceted challenges of an evolving global energy landscape. This study examines ten critical questions that define current challenges, methodologies, and future priorities in UES design, providing a comprehensive understanding of techno-economic and socio-institutional aspects. It first examines the lateral and vertical interactions across spatial scales, sectors, and time, as well as the evolving needs in heating, cooling, transportation, and renewable integration. Consequently, the study critically assesses the capabilities and limitations of current energy system modeling practices, highlighting challenges related to data requirements, system complexity, scalability, and uncertainty analysis. It then discusses building energy demand and building stock modeling to provide high-resolution analyses of decarbonization pathways and to support effective demand-side management and storage solutions. As these approaches require data, the role of data availability and governance in UES design through the integration of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence is reviewed. Moreover, it is important to consider dimensions beyond digital tools. The study discusses the inclusion of broader environmental dimensions beyond greenhouse gas emissions into UES planning to ensure sustainable pathways. It also emphasizes the role of governance, policy, business models, and social engagement in successful deployment of UES. Finally, this study analyzes how UES design can enable emerging urban visions and address the unique challenges faced by low- and middle-income countries in the Global South. By answering the ten most relevant questions on UES design, this paper aims to examine the future priorities of UES design and to offer actionable solutions for creating more resilient, fair, and sustainable urban energy futures.
Publications 1 - 10 of 101