Sustainable Environments and Pro-Environmental Behavior

This thesis examines the ability of the sustainably designed building to alter occupant behaviors using LEED for New Construction and Major Renovation, Green Building Rating System™ as a standard of measure. A cross sectional survey compares the pro-environmental behaviors, intentions, environmental knowledge, and pro-environmental orientation of occupants working in a traditionally designed building and occupants working in a LEED-NC certified building located on the University of Nebraska - Lincoln Campus. While there is a visible increase in the pro-environmental variables for occupants working in the sustainable environment, data analysis indicates that these differences are not statistically significant for any of the measured variables. Significant correlations were discovered between an individual's environmental knowledge and pro-environmental behaviors as well as between an individual's pro-environmental orientation and pro-environmental intentions. These correlations support past findings of multiple research studies completed in the field of environmental psychology. Due to limitations of this research these findings must be clarified through continued study in the area of behavior influencing design.

Feasibility Study of Solar Driven Underground Cooling System

In the United States the peak electrical use occurs during the summer. In addition, the building sector consumes a major portion of the annual electrical energy consumption. One of the main energy consuming components in the building sector is the Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems. This research studies the feasibility of implementing a solar driven underground cooling system that could contribute to reducing building cooling loads. The developed system consists of an Earth-to-Air Heat Exchanger (EAHE) coupled with a solar chimney that provides a natural cool draft to the test facility building at the Solar Energy Research Test Facility in Omaha, Nebraska. Two sets of tests have been conducted: a natural passively driven airflow test and a forced fan assisted airflow test. The resulting data of the tests has been analyzed to study the thermal performance of the implemented system. Results show that: The underground soil proved to be a good heat sink at a depth of 9.5ft, where its temperature fluctuates yearly in the range of (46.5°F-58.2°F). Furthermore, the coupled system during the natural airflow modes can provide good thermal comfort conditions that comply with ASHRAE standard 55-2004. It provided 0.63 tons of cooling, which almost covered the building design cooling load (0.8 tons, extreme condition). On the other hand, although the coupled system during the forced airflow mode could not comply with ASHRAE standard 55-2004, it provided 1.27 tons of cooling which is even more than the building load requirements. Moreover, the underground soil experienced thermal saturation during the forced airflow mode due to the oversized fan, which extracted much more airflow than the EAHE ability for heat dissipation and the underground soil for heat absorption. In conclusion, the coupled system proved to be a feasible cooling system, which could be further improved with a few design recommendations.