Parasonis, J; Keizikas, A and Kalibatiene, D (2012) The relationship between the shape of a building and its energy performance. Architectural Engineering and Design Management, 8(4), pp. 246-256. ISSN 1745-2007
Abstract
The article considers the effect of architectural volumetric design solutions on the demand for energy and material resources for a building. The method used in the research aims at determining the potential of measures reducing the energy losses of buildings without improving thermal properties of the external envelope elements or applying mechanical energy-saving devices. It has been found that buildings of similar areas but different external envelope areas have different demand for energy at their operation stage and different demand for building materials at the construction stage. It follows that the efforts aimed at determining the appropriate geometric properties of buildings and their effect on the demand for energy and material resources of a building, as well as possibilities to use them for maintaining this demand within reasonable limits, make sense. The size, compactness and geometric efficiency of a building as well as the criteria for their evaluation are considered while performing the comparative analysis of a building's shapes. The method of determining rational values by finding their deviation from the best result is applied. The results obtained show that the geometry has the strongest effect on the demand for energy and material resources of the buildings, enclosing up to 3,000 m2 of the internal area, and that buildings with various proportions are found in the geometric efficiency range of 20%.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | a/s ratio; a/v ratio; building compactness; energy efficiency; geometric efficiency |
| Index terms: | deviation, comparative analysis, energy efficiency, efficiency, geometry, thermal property, energy performance, energy-saving, building material |
| Subjects: | mathematical modelling, financial and cost management, data analysis and analytics, energy systems, sustainability and energy, building materials, material properties and characteristics, performance management |
| Topics: | Design Practice, Quality Management, Cost Management, Construction Materials, Research Practice, Sustainability |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here