Influencing energy efficient occupant behavior through improved building and control design

There is growing pressure on the construction industry to deliver energy efficient, sustainable buildings but there is evidence to suggest that, in practice, designs regularly fail to achieve the anticipated levels of in-use energy consumption. One of the key factors behind this discrepancy is the behavior of the building occupants. This paper explores how insights from experimental psychology could potentially be used to reduce the gap between the predicted and actual energy performance of buildings. It demonstrates why traditional methods to engage with the occupants are not always successful and proposes a model for a more holistic approach to this issue. The paper concludes that achieving energy efficiency in buildings is not solely a technological issue and that the construction industry needs to adopt a more user-centred approach.

Comparative study of the performance of the M-cycle counter-flow and cross-flow heat exchangers for indirect evaporative cooling - paving the path towards sustainable cooling of buildings

This paper provides a comparative study of the performance of cross-flow and counter-flow M-cycle heat exchangers for dew point cooling. It is recognised that evaporative cooling systems offer a low energy alternative to conventional air conditioning units. Recently emerged dew point cooling, as the renovated evaporative cooling configuration, is claimed to have much higher cooling output over the conventional evaporative modes owing to use of the M-cycle heat exchangers. Cross-flow and counter-flow heat exchangers, as the available structures for M-cycle dew point cooling processing, were theoretically and experimentally investigated to identify the difference in cooling effectiveness of both under the parallel structural/operational conditions, optimise the geometrical sizes of the exchangers and suggest their favourite operational conditions. Through development of a dedicated computer model and case-by-case experimental testing and validation, a parametric study of the cooling performance of the counter-flow and cross-flow heat exchangers was carried out. The results showed the counter-flow exchanger offered greater (around 20% higher) cooling capacity, as well as greater (15%–23% higher) dew-point and wet-bulb effectiveness when equal in physical size and under the same operating conditions. The cross-flow system, however, had a greater (10% higher) Energy Efficiency (COP). As the increased cooling effectiveness will lead to reduced air volume flow rate, smaller system size and lower cost, whilst the size and cost are the inherent barriers for use of dew point cooling as the alternation of the conventional cooling systems, the counter-flow system is considered to offer practical advantages over the cross-flow system that would aid the uptake of this low energy cooling alternative. In line with increased global demand for energy in cooling of building, largely by economic booming of emerging developing nations and recognised global warming, the research results will be of significant importance in terms of promoting deployment of the low energy dew point cooling system, helping reduction of energy use in cooling of buildings and cut of the associated carbon emission.

Concord Grape Juice, cognitive function and driving performance: a 12 week, placebo controlled, randomised, crossover trial in mothers of pre-teen children

Background: Daily consumption of Concord grape juice (CGJ) over three to four months has been shown to improve memory function in adults with mild cognitive impairment, and reduce blood pressure in hypertensive adults. These benefits are likely due to the high concentration of polyphenols in CGJ. Increased stress can impair cognitive function and elevate blood pressure. Thus we examined the potential beneficial effect of CGJ in individuals experiencing somewhat stressful demanding lifestyles. Objective: To examine the effects of twelve weeks’ daily consumption of CGJ on cognitive function, driving performance, and blood pressure in healthy, middle-aged working mothers. Design: Twenty five healthy mothers of pre-teen children, aged 40-50 years, who were employed for > 30 hours/week consumed 12oz (355ml) CGJ (containing 777mg total polyphenols) or an energy, taste and appearance matched placebo daily for twelve weeks according to a randomised, crossover design with a four week washout. Verbal and spatial memory, executive function, attention, blood pressure and mood were assessed at baseline, six weeks and twelve weeks. Immediately following the cognitive battery, a subsample of seventeen females completed a driving performance assessment in the University of Leeds Driving Simulator. The twenty five minute driving task required participants to match the speed and direction of a lead vehicle. Results: Significant improvements in immediate spatial memory and driving performance were observed following CGJ relative to placebo. There was evidence of an enduring effect of CGJ such that participants who received CGJ in arm 1 maintained better performance in the placebo arm. Conclusions: Cognitive benefits associated with chronic consumption of flavonoid-rich grape juice are not exclusive to adults with mild cognitive impairment. Moreover, these cognitive benefits are apparent in complex everyday tasks such as driving. Effects may persist beyond cessation of flavonoid consumption and future studies should carefully consider the length of washout within crossover designs.

Multi-agent collaboration for decision support in shared zones of intelligent buildings

In domain of intelligent buildings, saving energy in buildings and increasing preferences of occupants are two important factors. These factors are the important keys for evaluating the performance of work environment. In recent years, many researchers combine these areas to create the system that can change from original to the modern work environment called intelligent work environment. Due to advance of agent technology, it has received increasing attention in the area of intelligent pervasive environments. In this paper, we review several issues in intelligent buildings, with respect to the implementation of control system for intelligent buildings via multi-agent systems. Furthermore, we present the MASBO (Multi-Agent System for Building cOntrol) that has been implemented for controlling the building facilities to reach the balancing between energy efficiency and occupant’s comfort. In addition to enhance the MASBO system, the collaboration through negotiation among agents is presented.

Proceedings of the West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Conference 2010

FOREWORD Welcome to this West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) conference taking place here in Ghana. Thank you for coming and welcome to Accra. The main aims of the WABER conference are: to help young researchers and early-career scholars in West Africa to develop their research work and skills through constructive face-to-face interaction with experienced academics; to provide a platform for networking and collaborative work among senior built environment academics in West Africa; and to serve as a vehicle for developing the field of construction management and economics in Africa. Waber 2009 The WABER event in 2009 was held at the British Council in Accra, Ghana on 2-3 June. The event was a resounding success. It attracted participation from 32 researchers, from 12 different institutions, who presented their work to an audience of approximately 100 people. Each presenter received immediate and constructive feedback from an international panel. The event was opened by Professor K.K. Adarkwa, Vice Chancellor of KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana, with several senior academics and researchers from universities, polytechnics, and other institutions in Ghana and Nigeria in attendance. There was also a significant level of attendance by senior construction practitioners in Ghana. Thank you to the School of Construction Management and Engineering, University of Reading, UK for funding the inaugural event in 2009. We are also grateful to all of you who helped to make the event a success and to those of you who have joined us here today to build upon the success and legacy of WABER 2009. Waber 2010 This year, we have 60+ peer-reviewed papers and presentations on topics relating to Building services and maintenance, Construction costs, Construction design and technology, Construction education, Construction finance, Construction procurement, Contract administration, Contract management, Contractor development, Decision support systems, Dispute resolution, Economic development, Energy efficiency, Environment and sustainability, Health and safety, Human resources, Information technology, Marketing, Materials science, Organisation strategy and business performance, Productivity, Project management, Quantity surveying, Real estate and planning, Solar energy systems, Supply chain management and Urban development. We hope that these papers will generate interest among delagates and stimulate discussion here and beyond the conference into the wider community of academia and industry. The delegates at this conference come from 10 different countries. This provides a rich international and multicultural blend and a perfect platform for networking and developing collaborations. This year we are blessed to have three high profile keynote speakers in the persons of Professor George Ofori (National University of Singapore), Dr Roine Leiringer (University of Reading, UK) and Professor Will Hughes (University of Reading, UK). We are also thankful to Dr Chris Harty (University of Reading, UK) who is facilitating the Research Skills Workshop on ‘Writing a scientific article’. Thank you to Dr Sena Agyepong of our conference organising team for her capable management of local organising arrangements. And above all, thank you to all of you for coming to this conference. Enjoy and have a safe journey back home. Dr Samuel Laryea School of Construction Management and Engineering University of Reading, July 2010

A comparison of energy use in conventional and integrated arable farming systems in the UK

The LINK Integrated Farming Systems (LINK-IFS) Project (1992-1997) was setup to compare conventional and integrated arable farming systems (IAFS), concentrating on practical feasibility and economic viability, but also taking into account the level of inputs used and environmental impact. As part of this, an examination into energy use within the two systems was also undertaken. This paper presents the results from that analysis. The data used is from the six sites within the LINK-IFS Project, spread through the arable production areas of England and from the one site in Scotland, covering the 5 years of the project. The comparison of the energy used is based on the equipment and inputs used to produce I kg of each crop within the conventional and integrated rotations, and thereby the overall energy used for each system. The results suggest that, in terms of total energy used, the integrated system appears to be the most efficient. However, in terms of energy efficiency, energy use per kilogram of output, the results are less conclusive. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Coordinated management of intelligent pervasive spaces

The content of this paper is a snapshot of a current project looking at producing a real-time sensor-based building assessment tool, and a system that personalises workspaces using multi-agent technology. Both systems derive physical environment information from a wireless sensor network that allows clients to subscribe to real-time sensed data. The principal ideologies behind this project are energy efficiency and well-being of occupants; in the context of leveraging the current state-of-the-art in agent technology, wireless sensor networks and building assessment systems to enable the optimisation and assessment of buildings. Participants of this project are from both industry (construction and research) and academia.

Multi-agent building control in shared environment

Multi-agent systems have been adopted to build intelligent environment in recent years. It was claimed that energy efficiency and occupants' comfort were the most important factors for evaluating the performance of modem work environment, and multi-agent systems presented a viable solution to handling the complexity of dynamic building environment. While previous research has made significant advance in some aspects, the proposed systems or models were often not applicable in a "shared environment". This paper introduces an ongoing project on multi-agent for building control, which aims to achieve both energy efficiency and occupants' comfort in a shared environment.

Modelling energy consumption of relay-enabled MAC protocols in ad hoc networks

To enhance the throughput of ad hoc networks, dual-hop relay-enabled transmission schemes have recently been proposed. Since in ad hoc networks throughput is normally related to their energy consumption, it is important to examine the impact of using relay-enabled transmissions on energy consumption. In this paper, we present an analytical energy consumption model for dual-hop relay-enabled medium access control (MAC) protocols. Based on the recently reported relay-enabled distributed coordination function (rDCF), we have shown the efficacy of the proposed analytical model. This is a generalized model and can be used to predict energy consumption in saturated relay-enabled ad hoc networks via energy decomposition. This is helpful in designing MAC protocols for cooperative communications and it is shown that using a relay results not only in a better throughput but also better energy efficiency.

Co-ordinated management of intelligent pervasive spaces

The content of this paper is a snapshot of a current project looking at producing a real-time sensor-based building assessment tool, and a system that personalises work-spaces using multi-agent technology. Both systems derive physical environment information from a wireless sensor network that allows clients to subscribe to real-time sensed data. The principal ideologies behind this project are energy efficiency and well-being of occupants; in the context of leveraging the current state-of-the-art in agent technology, wireless sensor networks and building assessment systems to enable the optimisation and assessment of buildings. Participants of this project are from both industry (construction and research) and academia.

A model of intelligent building energy management for the indoor environment

People's interaction with the indoor environment plays a significant role in energy consumption in buildings. Mismatching and delaying occupants' feedback on the indoor environment to the building energy management system is the major barrier to the efficient energy management of buildings. There is an increasing trend towards the application of digital technology to support control systems in order to achieve energy efficiency in buildings. This article introduces a holistic, integrated, building energy management model called `smart sensor, optimum decision and intelligent control' (SMODIC). The model takes into account occupants' responses to the indoor environments in the control system. The model of optimal decision-making based on multiple criteria of indoor environments has been integrated into the whole system. The SMODIC model combines information technology and people centric concepts to achieve energy savings in buildings.

Modeling building semantics: providing feedback and sustainability

Even minor changes in user activity can bring about significant energy savings within built space. Many building performance assessment methods have been developed, however these often disregard the impact of user behavior (i.e. the social, cultural and organizational aspects of the building). Building users currently have limited means of determining how sustainable they are, in context of the specific building structure and/or when compared to other users performing similar activities, it is therefore easy for users to dismiss their energy use. To support sustainability, buildings must be able to monitor energy use, identify areas of potential change in the context of user activity and provide contextually relevant information to facilitate persuasion management. If the building is able to provide users with detailed information about how specific user activity that is wasteful, this should provide considerable motivation to implement positive change. This paper proposes using a dynamic and temporal semantic model, to populate information within a model of persuasion, to manage user change. By semantically mapping a building, and linking this to persuasion management we suggest that: i) building energy use can be monitored and analyzed over time; ii) persuasive management can be facilitated to move user activity towards sustainability.

A data framework for measuring the energy consumption of the non-domestic building stock

The transition to a low-carbon economy urgently demands better information on the drivers of energy consumption. UK government policy has prioritized energy efficiency in the built stock as a means of carbon reduction, but the sector is historically information poor, particularly the non-domestic building stock. This paper presents the results of a pilot study that investigated whether and how property and energy consumption data might be combined for non-domestic energy analysis. These data were combined in a ‘Non-Domestic Energy Efficiency Database’ to describe the location and physical attributes of each property and its energy consumption. The aim was to support the generation of a range of energy-efficiency statistics for the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors of the non-domestic building stock, and to provide robust evidence for national energy-efficiency and carbon-reduction policy development and monitoring. The work has brought together non-domestic energy data, property data and mapping in a ‘data framework’ for the first time. The results show what is possible when these data are integrated and the associated difficulties. A data framework offers the potential to inform energy-efficiency policy formation and to support its monitoring at a level of detail not previously possible.

Office sustainability: occupier perceptions and implementation of policy

Purpose – The purpose of this research was twofold. First, to investigate the views of occupiers in a typical UK city on the importance of various sustainability issues, their perceived impact of different sustainability drivers and willingness to pay. Second, the environmental and social performance of existing buildings in that city was examined. Design/methodology/approach – The research focuses on buildings of 10,000 feet2 or more that have been constructed in the Bristol city-region in the UK over the past 50 years. The buildings in the sample are located in the city centre and in out-of-town business parks. A questionnaire survey investigated the views of occupiers and follow-up interviews looked more closely at the sustainability performance of the existing stock. Findings – The findings indicate that, as far as occupiers are concerned, the strongest drivers are consumer demand and staff demand. Green features of a building appear to rank low in the overall building selection preference structure and a willingness to pay a premium for green features was indicated. The interviews uncovered barriers to progress as well as initiatives to reduce both energy consumption and the environmental impact of office space. Practical implications – The paper identifies progress and issues which could form obstacles to improving the environmental performance of office buildings. It is argued that there is a need to focus on energy efficiency. Originality/value – This paper explores the linkage between the perception and use of office space by occupants and how this affects the environmental performance of this space.

Energy policy and standard for built environment in China

Trends in China's energy future will have considerable consequences for both China and the global environment. Though China's carbon emissions are low on a per capita basis, China is already ranked the world's second largest producer of carbon, behind only America. China's buildings sector currently accounts for 23% of China's total energy use and is projected to increase to one-third by 2010. Energy policy plays an important role in China's sustainable development. The purpose of this study is to provide a broad overview of energy efficiency issues in the built environment in China. This paper, firstly briefly, reviews the key national policies related to the built environment and demonstrates the government's environmental concern. Secondly, the authors introduce recent energy policies in the built environment. Energy efficiency and renewable energy in the built environment, which are the key issues of the national energy policy, have been reviewed. Discussion of the implementation of energy policy has been carried out.