Assessment of Current Energy Consumption in Residential Buildings in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), residential buildings' energy consumption accounts for almost 50% of the building stock electricity consumption. The KSA's economy relies heavily on fossil fuel sources, namely oil reservoirs, whose depletion will negatively affect the future development of the country. The total electricity consumption is...

Personal control and environmental user satisfaction in office buildings: Results of case studies in the Netherlands

Personal control is one of the influential factors for user satisfaction and environmental comfort due to its physical and psychological impacts. This paper aims to identify the relationship between the degree of personal control over indoor environmental conditions and user satisfaction with thermal and visual comfort. Trying to answer the...

Superposition matrix for the assessment of performance-relevant adaptive façade functions

The environmental boundary conditions and the demand for comfort change constantly during the use of a building. By dynamically balancing changing conditions and requirements, adaptive façades contribute to the energy efficiency of buildings. The façade fulfils a multitude of functions that are interdependent and relate to environmental...

A Holistic Decision Support Tool for Facade Design

This paper presents a holistic decision support tool developed for use during the early stages of facade design. The tool is based on the interdependent relationships between facade performance, facade parameters, and conditions (environmental and spatial). It assumes that a decision maker has the ability to enhance the performance of a facade...

Bio-inspired transparent microfluidic platform as transformable networks for solar modulation

The glazed envelopes on buildings play a major role in operational energy consumption as they define the boundary conditions between climate and thermal comfort. Such a façade is viewed as an uncontrolled load that sets the operational performance requirements for artificial lighting and air-cooling mechanical systems. This is in contrast to...

Refurbishment of Residential Buildings: A Design Approach to Energy-Efficiency Upgrades

Refurbishing the existing building stock is an acknowledged issue in the building industry. Even though awareness has been raised, the design phase of refurbishment projects is often problematic. The decisions taken in the early stages of the design determine the final result; however, the assessment of the environmental performance only happens...