Bridging the Energy Performance Gap in Buildings: Thinking Beyond Energy Labels and Certificates

In 1987, Brundtland coined the term "sustainable development" to tackle the worldwide issue of environmental deterioration. Subsequent to that, swift progressions in science and technology have resulted in climate change, characterized by a rapid increase in global temperatures. The primary objective of the Paris Climate agreement is to limit...

Urban Symbiotic Greenhouse: An integrated approach to improve building performance

The population of the world is increasing at a rapid rate and is expected to reach 9.7billion by 2050. Out of this, around 6.3billion people will be living in urban areas. With an ever increasing population, the demand for energy and resources is also increasing. It is becoming difficult to meet these demands with the existing supply conditions....

Humble Giants: Computational Intelligence for Designing More Sustainable High-rise Buildings using Surrogate Models

As urbanization increases around the world, high-rise buildings will continue to become a more prevailing typology, nonetheless, due in part to cumbersome computational simulations, rarely do designers have enough information during the early stages of design, which is the time when their choices affect the most the efficiency of their building....

Energy Space Layout: Designing space layout with optimised energy performance

The current housing market in the Netherlands depicts a need for energy-efficient buildings for young professionals. Performative Computational Architecture (PCA), as computational methodology, is a valuable source of knowledge and design support to integrate the buildings’ performances at early stages. By applying PCA, this thesis explores and...

When energy savings become a waste: How the environmental- and energy performance requirements of buildings can stimulate the building industry towards sustainable design of office facades in the Netherlands

The life cycle of a building has a tremendous impact on the environment. This is due to its energy demand, production and transportation of building materials, and its maintenance. Actually, the building industry is one of the most polluting industries that contribute to climate change. In the Netherlands alone, this sector is chargeable for 50%...

Computational Design Method Based on Multidisciplinary Design Optimization and Optioneering Techniques for Energy Efficiency and Cost Effectiveness

One of the cutting-edge interests gaining relevance among design offices, notably in the sphere of architecture firms, is computational design. With its inception embedded in the 60s and later reformed through the CAD revolution that boomed in the 80s, the use of the computer as a design tool has evolved to such lengths that it became...

Thermal Morphology: A Geometrically Optimized Trombe Wall

Recently, there has been a growing interest in passive climate design aimed at reducing the large energy demand arising from existing buildings. Sustainable consumption of quantities of energy by buildings has necessitated research into innovative designs for comfortable and energy-efficient buildings. This graduation project branches out from...

Ship Performance Management and the added value of a Ship Performance Monitoring System: A Spliethoff Group Case

Harsh market conditions make optimising the performance in shipping more and more important. Shipping companies are becoming more and more data driven due to developments in data systems and these harsh market conditions. The goal of this research is to determine how and how much added value can be realised through shipping performance...