Repository logo
 

New and Advanced Materials and Technologies in Ultralow-Energy Buildings

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

No Thumbnail Available

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Kwok, A 
Steemers, K 
Grondzik, WT 

Abstract

The building sector is one of the largest contributors to energy consumption worldwide, representing 32% of the total energy consumption in the world and accounting for 60% of the world’s electricity use. Thus, there have been significant efforts to reduce energy consumption in buildings. Ultralow-energy buildings are one successful approach to reducing carbon emissions in the building sector, attracting a growing interest worldwide. The principles of ultralow-energy building emphasize a passive building design and high-performance heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. Typical features include superinsulation, airtight envelopes, daylighting, high-performance windows, energy-efficient HVAC, and electrical lighting, which present significant technical challenges. For example, a low heat transfer coefficient of a passive building design, typically 0.10 to 0.15 W/(m2K), requires new and advanced materials for insulation in order to avoid unfeasibly thick construction. The realization of zero energy buildings has sparked innovations in HVAC systems by applying new materials and technologies. New materials and technologies are also indispensable for high-performance windows because they require both a low thermal transmittance and a high total solar transmittance.

Description

Keywords

4005 Civil Engineering, 40 Engineering

Journal Title

Advances in Civil Engineering

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1687-8086
1687-8094

Volume Title

2018

Publisher

Hindawi Limited