[New Paper] Overheating analysis of optimized nearly Zero-Energy dwelling during heatwaves coincided with a cooling system outage

How to optimize the building for final HVAC energy use and thermal comfort using passive design strategies during heat waves and under-cooling power outages?

Overheating or accumulating heat in buildings forfeits occupants’ productivity, comfort, and health, which in severe cases, can lead to heat exhaustion, dehydration, and heat stroke. According to the UK Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), indoor temperatures above 25 °C can increase mortality rates. Over 2500 excess deaths were reported across Europe during the summer 2019 heatwaves [12], of which 716 died in Belgium [13], 1435 in France [14], 400 in the Netherlands [15], 900 in the UK [16], and 500 in Germany [17]. It is urged to optimize and enhance the thermal performance of buildings to act as a shelter and keep the occupants safe during hot weather conditions.

Therefore, this research aims to broaden the knowledge on overheating risk evaluations in high-performance residential buildings during critical conditions in the context of climate change. The research questions are:

✅  Q1: What will be the changes in outdoor weather conditions assuming a plausible scenario for climate change in Brussels?
✅  Q2: How to optimize the building for final HVAC energy use and thermal comfort using passive design strategies?
✅  Q3: How will optimal solutions perform in current and future heatwave scenarios coinciding with the outage of the cooling system?

The methodology consists of two main stages. In the first stage, a multi-objective optimization is performed to minimize the final HVAC energy use and thermal comfort, considering 13 passive design strategies. Three optimal solutions are then selected on the resulting Pareto front to proceed with the second stage. In the second stage, the simulations are performed for the selected optimal solutions during the short-term heatwave events assuming the outage of the cooling system.

Citation: Rahif, R., Kazemi, M., & Attia, S. (2023). Overheating analysis of optimized nearly Zero-Energy dwellings during current and future heatwaves coincided with a cooling system outage. Energy and Buildings, 287, 112998.

📣 Read and share the 📄 article. The paper is available in Open Access format: https://lnkd.in/edm8E2Ej

Ramin Rahif leads this joint research with Mustafa Kazemi and Shady Attia. Looking forward to his Ph.D. graduation. As members of the International Energy Agency (IEA) EBC Annex 80 – ‘‘Resilient cooling of buildings” project, we carried out this research to address the abovementioned knowledge gap inspired by the frameworks and guidelines developed within the project: https://lnkd.in/d-g9ra3g

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