bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Origin of tradeoff between movement velocity and attachment duration of kinesin motor on a microtubule
Authors: Liu 刘 Yuying 玉颖 , Zhang 张 Zhiqiang 志强
Published: December 2023

Kinesin-1 motor protein is a homodimer containing two identical motor domains connected by a common long coiled-coil stalk via two flexible neck linkers. The motor can step on a microtubule with a velocity of about 1 μm⋅s−1 and an attachment duration of about 1 s under physiological conditions. The available experimental data indicate a tradeoff between velocity and attachment duration under various experimental conditions, such as variation of the solution temperature, variation of the strain between the two motor domains, and so on. However, the underlying mechanism of the tradeoff is unknown. Here, the mechanism is explained by a theoretical study of the dynamics of the motor under various experimental conditions, reproducing quantitatively the available experimental data and providing additional predictions. How the various experimental conditions lead to different decreasing rates of attachment duration versus velocity is also explained.
Molecular dynamics simulations on the interactions between nucleic acids and a phospholipid bilayer
Authors: Xu 徐 Yao 耀 , Huang 黄 Shu-Wei 舒伟 , Ding 丁 Hong-Ming 泓铭 , Ma 马 Yu-Qiang 余强
Published: December 2023

Recently, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have been extensively investigated as non-viral carriers of nucleic acid vaccines due to their high transport efficiency, safety, and straightforward production and scalability. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the interactions between nucleic acids and phospholipid bilayers within LNPs remains elusive. In this study, we employed the all-atom molecular dynamics simulation to investigate the interactions between single-stranded nucleic acids and a phospholipid bilayer. Our findings revealed that hydrophilic bases, specifically G in single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) and single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), displayed a higher propensity to form hydrogen bonds with phospholipid head groups. Notably, ssRNA exhibited stronger binding energy than ssDNA. Furthermore, divalent ions, particularly Ca2+, facilitated the binding of ssRNA to phospholipids due to their higher binding energy and lower dissociation rate from phospholipids. Overall, our study provides valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying nucleic acid-phospholipid interactions, with potential implications for the nucleic acids in biotherapies, particularly in the context of lipid carriers.
Preparing highly entangled states of nanodiamond rotation and NV center spin
Authors: Li 李 Wen-Liang 文亮 , Zhou 周 Duan-Lu 端陆
Published: December 2023

A nanodiamond with an embedded nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center is one of the experimental systems that can be coherently manipulated within current technologies. Entanglement between NV center electron spin and mechanical rotation of the nanodiamond plays a fundamental role in building a quantum network connecting these microscopic and mesoscopic degrees of motions. Here we present a protocol to asymptotically prepare a highly entangled state of the total quantum angular momentum and electron spin by adiabatically boosting the external magnetic field.
Holevo bound independent of weight matrices for estimating two parameters of a qubit
Authors: Niu 牛 Chang 畅 , Yu 郁 Sixia 司夏
Published: December 2023

Holevo bound plays an important role in quantum metrology as it sets the ultimate limit for multi-parameter estimations, which can be asymptotically achieved. Except for some trivial cases, the Holevo bound is implicitly defined and formulated with the help of weight matrices. Here we report the first instance of an intrinsic Holevo bound, namely, without any reference to weight matrices, in a nontrivial case. Specifically, we prove that the Holevo bound for estimating two parameters of a qubit is equivalent to the joint constraint imposed by two quantum Cramér–Rao bounds corresponding to symmetric and right logarithmic derivatives. This weightless form of Holevo bound enables us to determine the precise range of independent entries of the mean-square error matrix, i.e., two variances and one covariance that quantify the precisions of the estimation, as illustrated by different estimation models. Our result sheds some new light on the relations between the Holevo bound and quantum Cramér–Rao bounds. Possible generalizations are discussed.
CISBAT 2023 International Hybrid Conference on the Built Environment in Transition
Authors: Andersen Marilyne , Smith Barbara
Published: December 2023

Preface to the CISBAT 2023 Journal of Physics: Conference Series special issue

CISBAT 2023 took place from 13 to 15 September 2023 at the Swiss Tech Convention Center on the campus of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland as well as online through a dedicated hybrid platform.

Hosted jointly by EPFL and the Smart Living Lab, a research centre on the future of the built environment bringing together researchers from EPFL, the University of Fribourg and HEIA-FR, the School of Engineering and Architecture of Fribourg, this was the 17th edition of the conference organised at EPFL and the 1st under the aegis of the Smart Living Lab. Offering an international platform for scientific exchange on the advances emanating from research towards a more sustainable built environment, CISBAT 2023 assembled 400 participants from universities and companies around the World for three days of presentations, workshops, networking events and visits.

List of Editorial Committee, Steering Committee, Sponsors, Scientific Committee, Programming Committee, Invited keynote speakers & panelists, Session chairs, Conference management are available in this pdf.
EvalCADair: tool for assessing air quality improvement after the deployment of a district heating network
Authors: Schneider S , Hollmuller P
Published: December 2023

Switching from individual fossil fuel boilers to a district heating network not only allows the reduction of CO2 emissions but may also lead to significant reduction of other air pollutants such as SO2, NOx and PMx, which have well known negative effects on the human health. EvalCADair makes it possible to estimate the annual evolution of the emissions of atmospheric pollutants during the construction phase of a district heating network. This generic tool is applied to the case of the district heating network CADéco, whose heat production consists of centralized heat pumps and gas boilers. Located in Geneva, the case study includes 154 buildings with a total heated surface of 547’000 m2 and an annual heat demand of about 55 GWh. Approximately half of the total surface aera is dedicated to collective residential housing and the rest to various activities. By the end of 2022, 40% of these buildings were connected to the district heating network. Using the tool to estimate the emissions from 2011 to 2022 shows only a small reduction in CO2 emissions, mainly due to the replacement of individual oil boilers with centralized gas boilers. The gain will be more significant when the heat pumps will be activated. The future impact of the activation of the heat pumps is estimated using EvalCADair as a prospective tool.
Outdoor micro-climate: Air temperature measurements around an office building in Denmark during summer
Authors: Johra Hicham , Lenoël Mathilde , Jensen Rasmus Lund , Larsen Olena Kalyanova
Published: December 2023

The outdoor micro-climate caused by the presence of buildings can significantly differ from that around weather stations located outside of urban areas. However, the latter is often used to design buildings and size building systems. This could lead to significant mistakes and performance gaps. To date, there is a certain lack of experimental studies assessing the micro-climate around buildings, especially in Scandinavian countries. The current paper presents the preliminary results and analysis of a measurement campaign of the temperature gradient in the two-meter air layer around the envelope of a multi-storey office building in Denmark in the summertime. Depending on the orientation of the external building surface (South/North façade or rooftop), the distance from the latter and the weather conditions, the temperature in this two-meter air layer can vary significantly and differ from the air temperature measured at nearby open fields or recorded by the reference weather station. During sunny days, a temperature gradient of up to 3.4 °C and 13.6 °C was measured in the air layer around the South façade and the rooftop, respectively. These results could help to validate urban climate models and bridge the gap between building design and real-condition performance. The curated dataset of this measurement campaign is available in open access.
Quantifying national household air pollution (HAP) exposure to PM2.5 in rural and urban areas
Authors: Mohajeri N , Hsu S , Milner J , Taylor J , Kiesewetter G , Gudmundsson A , Kennard H , Hamilton I , Davies M
Published: December 2023

According to WHO (World Health Organization), in 2020, 14% of people in global urban areas relied on polluting solid fuels and technologies, compared with 52% of the rural population. The health impacts of such inequality are massive. It was estimated that 3.2 million premature deaths per year (2020), particularly in low-income and middle-income countries due to household air pollution (HAP). Several studies provide estimates of the exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from household air pollution (HAP-PM2.5) for users of different fuel/cookstove types in rural and urban areas. However, hardly any studies estimate the population-weighted exposure to HAP-PM2.5 at the global scale. A Bayesian hierarchical model was developed to estimate PM2.5 exposure coefficients and their uncertainties for an annual average of HAP-PM2.5 personal exposure. The predicted HAP-PM2.5 exposure at the user level was used to estimate the national-level exposure for the population living in urban and rural areas. The results suggest that switching from polluting solid fuels (biomass, charcoal, coal) to cleaner fuels (gas and electricity) for heating and cooking can potentially reduce the national-level HAP-PM2.5 personal exposure on average by 53%. However, there exists a significant disparity between rural and urban areas, partly reflecting inequality in energy access. More specifically, switching from polluting solid fuels for heating and cooking to cleaner fuels can reduce the personal exposure to HAP-PM2.5 in rural areas by 54% and in urban areas by 38%. The study indicates that increased access to clean fuels and improved stove interventions are needed to achieve the goals of universal energy access and equality between urban and rural areas.
Towards healthy and energy-efficient buildings in the context of Egypt: Modelling demand-controlled ventilation to improve the indoor air quality in a generic office space in Cairo
Authors: Hamada A T Auf , Hong S , Mumovic D , Raslan R
Published: December 2023

Cairo is characterised by high concentrations of ambient air pollutants, especially air particulate matter of diameter less than 2.5 micrometre (PM2.5). Many studies have emphasized the impact of PM2.5 on people’s health and wellbeing including a World Bank report that has attributed 12% of the total annual deaths in Cairo to the exposure to ambient PM2.5. On one hand. improving the energy efficiency of buildings may involve implementing energy efficiency measures that aim to achieve indoor thermal comfort by maximizing the use of natural ventilation and minimizing mechanical air-conditioning. However, while natural ventilation can help reduce CO2 levels, it can also potentially lead to an increase in indoor PM2.5 levels. This study aims to investigate the impact of multiple air filtration scenarios on the energy consumption and the indoor air quality for a shoebox model that aims to represent generic offices Cairo. The study uses EnergyPlus simulations that leverage an Energy Management System script to model the demand-controlled ventilation, apply air filters when required, and simulate the increase in energy use due to the relevant pressure drops in the air system. The results for the scenarios investigated in the study highlighted that air filters can reduce the average indoor PM2.5 levels by nearly 40% during occupancy hours while causing an estimated increase of around 2-7% in the total operational energy. Given data and assumptions relevant to the study context, it was found that filtering the recirculated air while minimizing the introduction outdoor fresh air can be sufficient to minimize indoor PM2.5 levels.
Exploring spatiotemporal dynamics in light-dosimetry
Authors: Hartmeyer S L , Rudawski F R , Knoop M , Andersen M
Published: December 2023

Light-dosimetry aims to measure personal light exposure in real-life settings, allowing to investigate the role of light in visual, physiological, and behavioural processes. One aspect not yet considered in light-dosimetry is the spatial distribution of light in the field of view. Therefore, we developed and tested a novel measurement setup for spatially resolved light-dosimetry. The setup consisted of an industry-standard wide-angle video-radiometer (LMK) worn at the chest and two novel sensor prototypes: a miniature video-radiometer (alphaOmega-meter) and a spectrally resolved dosimeter (Spectrace), both worn at the chest and forehead. The LMK recorded melanopic radiance images at a sampling frequency of 0.5 Hz, achieved with a custom developed algorithm. The alphaOmega-meter recorded α-opic radiance images at 0.1 Hz and Spectrace recorded 14-channel spectral irradiance at 0.03 Hz. A series of test measurements were then conducted in various urban environments, to assess the potential of the measurement setup. Suitable evaluation methods for spatially resolved light-dosimetry data are presented, which may offer novel insights into the effects of light on visual and non-visual responses by enabling a closer approximation of retinal illumination compared to the spatially integrated measurements that are commonly used. Together, this study demonstrates the feasibility of incorporating spatial characteristics in light-dosimetry.
Impact of model detail on daylighting metrics in residential buildings
Authors: Grobe L O , Jakubiec J A
Published: December 2023

Daylight metrics that shall guide performance-driven design must be applicable to models that reflect the limited knowledge at the time of planning decisions. In particular in residential buildings, the furnishing is beyond the control of such decisions and therefore unknown in the planning phase. The impact of model detail on illuminance- and luminance-based metrics is tested on a residential unit in Singapore. At two elevations, representing a work-plane and the eye level of a standing inhabitant, the metrics are computed from a) a detailed model incorporating furniture and shading devices, b) a model with only shading devices, and c) a minimalist model representing only the design decisions of the architect. As a potential approximation to the detailed model, d) a variant of the minimalist model with wall reflectance reduced to 0.20 is tested. The results for the three levels of detail are compared and indicate the significant impact of detail on all assessed daylight metrics.
Development and evaluation of highly thermally insulating aerogel glass bricks
Authors: Ganobjak Michal , Malfait Wim J. , Just Janis , Käppeli Marcel , Mancebo Francisco , Brunner Samuel , Wernery Jannis
Published: December 2023

Since we increasingly spend time indoors, natural light inside of interiors becomes more and more important for visual comfort and overall human health through setting of circadian rhythm, and can additionally help with energy savings. Aerogel glass bricks are a new building component for perimeter walls, combining structural properties of glass and the thermal insulation capabilities of aerogel with the aesthetic and daylight-transmitting qualities of both. This paper describes the development and thermal and structural characterization and simulation of a highly thermally insulating aerogel glass brick. The aim was to create an aesthetically pleasing building component with excellent thermal insulation properties that is capable of transmitting daylight.

This paper explores the design, development, and thermal simulations of an aerogel glass brick, as well as guarded hot-plate measurements and a compression experiment. Measurements of thermal insulating properties and simulations revealed that the aerogel glass brick could reduce energy consumption significantly compared to other conventional building materials for perimeter walls, while also transmitting daylight. Additionally, its aesthetic qualities can make it suitable not only for use in modern construction projects, but also in refurbishment of older objects.

The measured thermal conductivity is 53 mW/(m·K), in agreement with thermal simulation results of 51 mW/(m·K), and the measured compressive strength of the brick is 45 MPa. These data suggest that the aerogel glass brick is a viable option for architects and engineers looking for a sustainable and efficient construction component for perimeter walls. Structurally, the brick should allow building large and high spans and its thermal insulation properties can significantly reduce energy consumption, while its aesthetic and daylight-transmitting qualities make it visually appealing.
Green view factor and satisfaction with window views in urban offices
Authors: Koga Y , Okamoto T , Majima R , Jarrin F , Kojima Y , Ohki C , Kawano A , Takagi N
Published: December 2023

Greenery is a key element of quality window views. This study aims to clarify the quantitative effect of greenery on view satisfaction in urban offices. Green view factor (GVF) is proposed to measure greenery visible through windows. Subjective evaluation experiments were conducted using a virtual reality system for different GVFs between 0% and 100%. It was found that greenery increases view satisfaction by up to 20 to 30 points on a 100-point scale. But the view satisfaction does not simply depend on the GVF. The layout and spacing of greenery are important. Greenery occupying about 50% of the window width at intervals maximizes the view satisfaction in the case of full-window walls.
The Potential of Switchable Glazing in Cooling Dominated Climates
Authors: Magri Etienne , Buhagiar Vincent , Overend Mauro
Published: December 2023

The design trend of most commercial and office buildings over the past three decades focused on attaining a façade design with the highest possible window to wall ratio. Whereas this approach appears to satisfy the aesthetic scope of developing buildings that look ‘modern and transparent’ to maximise on real estate value, the demand for heating and cooling of these buildings tends to fall short of what one should expect. Literature review shows the possible benefits of switchable glass. This paper proposes a methodology for a novel switchable glazing assembly identified as having the potential of offering increased occupant comfort, particularly in providing sufficient daylight and glare control without diminishing the view quality. The hypothesis is that switchable glazing may have a substantial potential to achieve lower cooling loads and improved indoor visual comfort without compromising views and a positive outlook.
Development of personalized predicted mean vote based on a real-time clothing insulation recognition system
Authors: Shih Kuan-Chun , Chan Ying-Chieh
Published: December 2023

As people’s standards for indoor environmental quality and life are getting higher and higher, many studies try to find ways to improve indoor thermal comfort through experiments and simulations. Predictive mean voting (PMV) is a widely used indicator, but personal factors used to calculate PMV are not easy to monitor. This study aimed to develop a real-time clothing insulation identification (R-CLO) system to estimate personal PMV. This study is mainly divided into three stages. The first stage is to issue questionnaires to obtain the value of the personal clothing level and analyze the correlation between different external temperatures and the clothing insulation (Icl). The second stage is to build a real-time clothing recognition model and analyze its recognition accuracy. The third stage is to use ANN to establish a clothing insulation transition model and use the outdoor temperature and the results of clothing recognition to estimate Icl. This research also established an experimental environment to verify the system’s feasibility. The results show that the system has more than 80% accuracy rate for clothes recognition, and the accuracy rate of short-sleeved tops, shorts, trousers, and skirts is more than 90%. Moreover, most of the Icl estimated by the ANN have less than 0.1 differences from the value reported by occupants. In the future, this system can also combine occupant behavior recognition to strengthen PMV prediction results to achieve more precise, comfortable air-conditioning control.
Management tool of highly efficient social housing to provide healthy indoor conditions and fight energy poverty
Authors: Ciria R. , Garayo S. Díaz de , Fernández M.
Published: December 2023

This research work presents and analyses the monitoring results of a 42 social dwellings building block during two year (2021 and 2022) showing indoor environmental conditions and energy consumption (DHW and heating), considering not only the energy consumption of the dwellings, but also the heat production in a centralized biomass boiler, and thus, the distribution energy losses. The building has been constructed under Passivhaus standard, so the paper studies the gap between expected and real performance, and highlights the importance of user behavior in the final results, showing the savings potential with the change in the usage of the heating systems.
Potentials of radar sensor detecting the presence of an imitated user for optimising short-range presence-sensing lighting in homes
Authors: Sithravel RatnaKala , Landré Jérôme , Hurtig-Wennlöf Anita , Aries Myriam
Published: December 2023

Current presence-sensing technologies for energy-efficient lighting control and building optimisation are (i) catered to commercial and institutional environments, and (ii) focused on lamp technology and occupancy detection. They often ignore user behaviour characteristics, which significantly influence energy consumption. Therefore, this study aims to identify alternative sensing techniques as part of a lighting control system that can energy-efficiently support user’s behavioural needs in mixed-function residential spaces. An exploratory study investigated the optimal placement of a non-wearable radar sensor to detect an imitated user’s breathing frequency at varying pre-set horizontal distance positions, and the sensor’s performance was validated with a spirometer. The procedure measured a balloon’s radar-detected distance, radar-detected breathing frequency, and spirometer-registered breathing frequency at each pre-set position. The radar sensor detected all simulated breathing frequencies with almost 100% data accuracy but was not comparable in detecting all distances. The radar offers a less intrusive short-range presence-sensing for homes, accurately detecting breathing frequencies in a contactless way between 0.2m to 0.8m. Further investigations are recommended to develop radar sensing that could predict lighting options based on user’s objective feedback.
Eco-effective sustainability assessment in buildings: Status and future directions for life cycle studies
Authors: Kumar Manish , Mani Monto
Published: December 2023

Sustainability assessment is the process of estimating multidimensional impacts (environmental, social, economic) of a product, process, or activity. The concept is more evolved in the context of products and is emerging in the built environment domain. Sustainability assessment in buildings has aligned with the perspective of green buildings, encouraging sensitivity to the local environment and materials with lower energy and carbon footprint. There is an emerging focus on applying circularity principles, life cycle assessment, absolute sustainability, and estimating the long-term impacts of indoor toxic emissions in buildings mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, rising climate change concerns, and novel pollutants such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals and microplastics. This paper presents an overview of the existing literature on building life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) and scrutinizes the existing approaches from an eco-effectiveness perspective. A guiding framework is presented to integrate eco-effectiveness principles in the LCSA of buildings. The framework includes criteria for effectiveness in the context of the life cycle of buildings. This study attempts to integrate diverse perspectives, including limitations in this paper, to promote a holistic understanding of the impacts of a building over its life for improved sustainability. Such studies are crucial in the present context, where the role of the buildings is changing from reducing environmental impacts to ecosystem restoration.
Generic materializations for heightening of buildings and their effects on embodied carbon and costs
Authors: Zwicky D
Published: December 2023

Targeting urban and sub-urban building archetypes, generic but practice-oriented materializations of basic construction elements (slabs and walls) and their combinations were conceived for heightening of existing buildings by two to four floors. The developed concepts considered numerous construction materials and requirements from architecture, structural engineering, building physics, and fire protection. Evaluations explored the effects on embodied carbon, weight and estimated cost per surface unit of market-oriented element combinations, to identify suitable (and inappropriate) materializations and to detect governing elements and materials. Globally, a heightening by four floors is better than by two, in terms of relative carbon and cost impacts, but some trade-offs in architectural floor plan layout may be required. Seeking cost reductions is generally disadvantageous for embodied carbon while an investment increase does not necessarily provide a reduced carbon footprint. Overall, timber construction results in the lowest embodied carbon (around 5 kg CO2, eq/m2·a) while being up to 10% more expensive than the cheapest and up to 15% heavier than the lightest materializations (which depend on the floor plan layout). Lightweight concrete construction can be the most economic materialization but is also up to 200% heavier than the lightest (which can possibly not be supported by the existing building), and results in up to 45% more embodied carbon than constructing with timber.
Readjusting the climate change hyperfocus: how expanding the scope of impact categories will affect the evaluation of wood buildings
Authors: Hansen R N , Hoxha E , Andersen C E , Rasmussen F N , Ryberg M W , Birgisdottir H
Published: December 2023

The sole focus on reducing the climate impact of dwellings by using wood is neglecting other impacts on nature. Therefore, this study clarifies the potential burden shift by considering ten more impact categories than greenhouse gas emissions. It assesses four wood buildings and one reference concrete building by using the method of life cycle assessment. What stands out is that wood dwellings perform better than the concrete building in most impact categories except for abiotic depletion potential and ozone layer depletion potential (ODP). The latter also experiences an impact increase when wood is used to decrease climate impact as global warming potential (GWP). The wood dwellings have a general inverse correlation between GWP ranking and ODP and some resource use indicators where plastics and cement-based materials influence the latter. Bio-based materials’ contribution to acidification and eutrophication is more considerable than to GWP. Upon the findings, increased inclusion of impact categories among researchers and practitioners must follow to expand the knowledge base. A foundation for future conscious decisions of using wood in dwellings and the challenging debate of reaching consent of which other impact categories should attain focus for being improved.
Panorama of approaches to reuse concrete pieces: identification and critical comparison
Authors: Küpfer C , Fivet C
Published: December 2023

Practices that reuse concrete pieces in new building or infrastructure projects are currently diversifying as concrete reuse gains more and more relevance for sustainability. The present research provides a yet missing identification of the main approaches to these practices and introduces a new set of criteria to compare them. Five types of sourced concrete pieces are identified, three resulting from careful deconstruction and two from demolition. The study shows that approaches allowing the best re-utilization rate of the structural capacities of the concrete pieces are less compatible with current demolition practices, in contrast to approaches reusing debris. The reuse of wall and slab panels, beams, and columns is a promising approach as it implies a low to medium level of constraints on the new design while recovering the capabilities of discarded reinforced concrete equivalently. A few dozen built precedents have already applied this approach to precast components, but applications reusing cast-in-place concrete are lacking, despite considerable CO2 emissions reduction.
Adaptability of buildings: to what extent do design-support models consider context-related factors? A literature review
Authors: Scialpi G , Declercq J , Gawlik K , Perrotti D
Published: December 2023

A growing interest for the adaptability of buildings has been expressed in the last years when talking about circular economy. The adaptability of a building indicates its ability to evolve and host different functions all along its life cycle with the minimum generation of waste. However, design-support models for adaptable buildings are still in development and they do not always include context-related factors on a local or large scale, such as data about building stock, socio-economic trends, policies, and regulations. This paper aims to provide an updated review of the existing design-support models and a critical reflection on their links to local contexts, to finally contribute to the research question: “to what extent the design-support models for adaptability consider context-related factors?”. A literature review was conducted using Scopus, including peer-reviewed journal papers, conference papers and books. The research provides an updated state of the art of the existing models to analyse and rate the adaptability of buildings with a special focus on the indicators that considers context-related factors. A series of recommendations are proposed to consider context-related factors with an impact on building adaptability, to facilitate the implementation of adaptability models to local contexts and to identify the barriers to such an adaptation. Finally, this paper aims to set the basis for future research on design-support models and their integration in a more context-related and accessible design workflow.
DeCO - Guidelines for the deconstruction of recent buildings
Authors: Gambato C , Henriquez L Guante , Zerbi S , Frontini F , Mosca C
Published: December 2023

The project “DeCO - Guidelines for the Deconstruction of recent buildings” developed standardized procedures (guidelines) for the deconstruction of recent and contemporary buildings. DeCO associated a Deconstruction Worksheet with each reference construction package, covering contemporary construction techniques almost entirely. End-of-life worksheets of the most common insulating materials complete this documentation. The authors developed practical procedures that can be used directly on site and may represent a direct and rapid impact in increasing construction material recycling and reuse rates within the perspective of Circular Economy models in the Construction sector thus reducing waste disposal. The project highlighted that deconstruction practices are more labour intensive than conventional mechanical demolition activities thus can cause an increase in estimated demolition costs while on the other hand a systematic disassembly could decrease costs and volumes of landfilling mineral CDW and can be a first step in increasing construction material recycling and reuse rates, within the perspective of Circular Economy models in the Construction sector.
Human energy. An anthropological perspective on labour and skills in circular construction
Authors: Kobi M , Sischarenco E , Feri V
Published: December 2023

The circulation of used building components is performed through human labour such as assessment, logistics, design, and (de-)construction. This paper analyses different kinds of human energy employed in the process of moving building components from demolition to construction sites for reuse. Based on ethnographic data from Switzerland, Italy, and Austria, we qualitatively assess human energy and labour at different stages of circular construction. Through the use of human skills and knowledge, energy is mobilised to evaluate, document, dismantle, design, store, transport, and construct with materials. Our anthropological approach focuses on people and services instead of treating materials and technologies as independent from the workforce handling them. The results underline the complexity and diversity of opinions regarding the value of labour in relation to overall project costs.
Circular Practices in Construction
Authors: Hubmann G , van Maaren V
Published: December 2023

The construction sector creates exorbitant amounts of emissions and waste. Adressing a livable future, we argue for a radical shift in the way we think, design, and use buildings. Therefore, we present findings of our ongoing research project Circular Material Systems (CMS) that contributes to an understanding of buildings as circular systems that produce reusable components or biodegradable materials by practices operating across a building’s lifecycle. The main question of this paper is: How to translate the Circular Economy (CE) concept for construction? The findings are based on in-depth case studies of 25 buildings across Europe. We use the notion of ‘practices’ to both enrich the academic debate on circular construction and create a best-practice collection for practitioners. The proposed framework includes strategies and practices that address the construction sector’s urgent need to reduce its environmental impact. We connected these strategies to the 9R framework to illustrate the harmonisation with the CE concept. What we found particularly interesting is that there are repeating patterns of practices applied in the analysed buildings while working with local materials, knowing and redesigning supply chains as well as collaboration models to involve a wide variety of necessary actors are characteristic practices for achieving circularity. To advance the paradigm of circular construction, every stakeholder in the building process is required to look beyond their responsibilities to find new innovative solutions for circularity while further research should focus on implementation pathways as well as legal and enabling factors.
Evaluation of the properties of a new circular building composite material to upcycle building wastes
Authors: Horvath Mélanie , Bollen Pierre , Pardoen Thomas , Trachte Sophie
Published: December 2023

A new circular composite material for building applications is developed, made of two secondary raw materials coming from waste recycling: fibers and sand. Hydraulic lime is added as a binder. This new composite targets a low environmental impact thanks to benefits of upcycling buildings waste, low energy production process, lifetime up to 60 years and of a high potential of reversibility, reuse and upcycling. The research focused on mechanical and physical properties, as well as analysis of the microstructure by X-ray 3D microtomography and in-situ compression testing. The mechanical and physical test results show good and unexpected properties: a density of 390 to 1300 kg/m3; a compressive strength between 0.2 and 2.2 MPa, a bending strength of 0.1 to 1.9 MPa and a thermal conductivity of 0.06 to 0.14 W/mK. Further research will focus on circular construction and environmental aspects. Three applications are envisioned, according the standards of the building sector.
Potential for district heating networks from waste heat: an assessment tool and its application to sewage treatment plants in the Canton of Zurich
Authors: Peronato Giuseppe , Kämpf Jérôme H.
Published: December 2023

Industrial waste heat is a valuable heat source to provide a decarbonized supply to district heating networks. In particular, sewage water treatment plants are a widely-available source of waste water, which can be used as part of low-temperature district heating networks.

In this paper, we present an assessment framework to estimate the potential from existing heat sources to supply a new district network, in terms of heat supplied consumers (number, location and heat coverage) and plausible network layout.

The case-study application is an evaluation of the waste-water potential in the canton of Zurich. Considering 61 waste-water treatment plants for a total unexploited potential of 607 GWh, we show that 13,077 buildings could be connected to a district heating network originating from such plants. This value represents about 6% of the building stock in the canton of Zurich and 6% of the current estimated heating demand. By considering decentralized water-water heat pumps for each building connected to the network, we find that a 14% electricity saving could be obtained compared to standalone air-water heat pumps.

By clustering substations according to the potential net revenue for the network operator and automating the tracing of the shortest-path network layout, we estimate the pipework length and the related investment costs.
Global Transformer Architecture for Indoor Room Temperature Forecasting
Authors: Clemente Alfredo V , Nocente Alessandro , Ruocco Massimiliano
Published: December 2023

A thorough regulation of building energy systems translates in relevant energy savings and in a better comfort for the occupants. Algorithms to predict the thermal state of a building on a certain time horizon with a good confidence are essential for the implementation of effective control systems. This work presents a global Transformer architecture for indoor temperature forecasting in multi-room buildings, aiming at optimizing energy consumption and reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with HVAC systems. Recent advancements in deep learning have enabled the development of more sophisticated forecasting models compared to traditional feedback control systems. The proposed global Transformer architecture can be trained on the entire dataset encompassing all rooms, eliminating the need for multiple room-specific models, significantly improving predictive performance, and simplifying deployment and maintenance. Notably, this study is the first to apply a Transformer architecture for indoor temperature forecasting in multi-room buildings. The proposed approach provides a novel solution to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of temperature forecasting, serving as a valuable tool to optimize energy consumption and decrease greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector.
Identification of influential factors for combined energy consumption and indoor environmental quality in residential buildings
Authors: Sood Divyanshu , Alhindawi Ibrahim , Ali Usman , Andersen Rune Korsholm , Finn Donal , McGrath James A. , Byrne Miriam A. , O’Donnell James
Published: December 2023

The development of an overall building performance simulation model requires a multitude of input parameters which can be a challenging and resource-heavy task for building modellers. Furthermore, some parameters have little impact on a building’s overall performance and contribute little towards model prediction accuracy. Feature selection has been employed to identify the most influential input parameters to reduce complexity and computational time. However, previous studies focused mainly on identifying parameters that impact energy consumption in residential buildings, neglecting the important relationship between energy consumption and indoor environmental quality (IEQ). Therefore, this study proposes a novel simulation framework that integrates occupancy-based building archetypes, parametric simulation, and machine learning techniques to develop an overall building performance prediction model. Using this framework, the study generates a synthetic dataset of 40,000 simulations and performed embedded feature selection using two machine learning algorithms, Random Forest (RF) and Gradient Boosting Technique (GBT), to identify parameters that impact heating energy consumption, thermal discomfort hours, and CO2 concentration simultaneously. The results demonstrate that the ranking for importance and the number of required parameters vary depending on the target variable. Also, the set of parameters for combined analysis differs from individual target variable analysis. The GBT algorithm with embedded feature selection provides the most accurate prediction results with lower root mean square error (RMSE) and absolute error (AE) for individual and combined analyses. This study provides valuable insights for accurate parameter selection and analysis of overall building performance.
Model simplification of geometry and facilities, for energy and indoor environment towards more reliable energy labelling
Authors: Pomianowski M. Z. , Hu Y. , Larsen O.K.
Published: December 2023

Reliable building energy and indoor climate performance assessment require adequate and often time-consuming modelling. Currently, energy performance certification (EPC) is carried out in Member States (MS) using simple steady-state tools. These tools simplify not only building geometry but also HVAC systems, boundary conditions, and building loads. These simplifications can cause the so-called “performance gap”, which is the difference between modelled prediction and actual operation. This creates a lack of trust in the EPCs and scepticism. This paper is scouting toward shifting to dynamic models of different detail levels, considering the zoning, heating and ventilation facilitie’s complexity. In the scope of this dynamic thermal simulation study, a residential multi-apartment building located in Denmark is investigated. The thermal zone simplification has 5 levels of complexity, from modelling each room as a thermal zone to the whole staircase as one thermal zone. The heating system was modelled as: i) ideal loads, ii) electrical radiators, iii) water radiators. Ventilation was modelled as i) zone ventilation, and ii) airflow network. Modelling results are evaluated for heat demand, thermal and atmospheric comfort.
Performance gaps between energy system planning and operation: a study exploring the impacts of model fidelity and dispatch strategy
Authors: Beaud M , Cai H , Perera A.T.D , Heer P
Published: December 2023

Effective integration of renewables is essential in the energy transition, which necessitates efficient management of intermittent renewable energy generation, system cost minimization and continuous balance between supply and demand. Due to the problem’s multifaceted nature, tools with a simplified representation of energy system operation are often used to ensure computational tractability, causing performance gaps between planning and operation stages. This work quantifies the gaps focusing on the impacts of model fidelity and dispatch strategy, such as the representation of physical constraints at different levels and varying forecast horizons. More specifically, a real-world case study with three energy hubs is considered. A Pareto front is first obtained considering the trade-offs between cost and carbon footprint using the Ehub tool, a state-of-the-art energy system planning tool. Following that, the cost-optimal and the emission-optimal designs are selected for evaluating the performance gaps, using the dispatch strategies obtained from the Ehub tool as the baseline. Results show that detailed considerations of physical constraints influence grid dependencies and fuel consumption but there are no significant impacts on resultant total costs. The cost increase due to detailed physical constraints is higher for the cost-optimal system than for the emission-optimal system. Moreover, limiting the forecast horizon to 24 hours has significant impacts on the emission-optimal system with an increase in total system cost by 20.3 %. In contrast, there is only a marginal increase of 0.8 % for the cost-optimal system.
NTNU-SINTEF SolarNet: A solar irradiation monitoring network at high latitudes
Authors: Manni M , Nocente A , Bellmann M , Völler S , Sabatino M Di , Lobaccaro G
Published: December 2023

This study presents a monitoring network for solar irradiation at high latitudes, called NTNU-SINTEF SolarNet. The network collects, with a time resolution ranging from seconds to hours, solar irradiance data, e.g. global horizontal irradiation, diffuse horizontal irradiation, direct normal irradiation, global tilted irradiation, solar energy generation, which are required in solar irradiation modelling in built environments. The network will be used for specific applications, such as (i) anomalies detection, (ii) influences of ground albedo, and (iii) ageing/degradation of solar modules, that are described in this paper. Some characteristics that make the NTNU-SINTEF SolarNet relevant for solar energy research at high latitudes are identified: short distances among the sensors, the ease of data accessibility, the use of the same sensor typologies, and different solar module technologies. The research holds the potential to boost the solar energy digitalization, impacting on several aspects such as predictive and adaptive control strategies for energy management, design of renewable energy system, multi-scale optimization and efficient exploitation of solar energy.
Parametric design of a residential building system through solar energy potential: the case of Guelma, Algeria
Authors: Medjeldi Z , Kirati A , Dechaicha A , Alkama D
Published: December 2023

To evaluate the potential of retrofitting roofs of residential buildings in Algeria with building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). A case study of a family residential building in the city of Guelma, was selected to receive building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems as a retrofit to their roofs using Rhinoceros software and plugins Grasshopper, Ladybug, and Honeybee, adding photovoltaic panels on the roof taking into account the study of solar radiation analysis on the building, and meteorological data from Meteonorm Software 7.3. The method used, is based on measured data for final energy consumption (yearly average of 14600 kWh), building morphology, and photovoltaic module parameters. The results of the renovation of roofs with building-integrated photovoltaic solutions are presented for the existing residential building, it is also shown that a small photovoltaic area on the roofs can meet the demand of the buildings. The results identify the aspects that need to be improved in the development of future design tools and highlight the importance of integrating parametric design software and simulation tools for BIPV systems at the preliminary design stage, to ensure good building performance, both in terms of comfort and energy performance.