The effects of cool materials,façade orientation,and morphological parameters on energy consumption at the residential neighborhood scale

Building surface cool materials are novel materials that can reduce urban heat island intensity and decrease building energy consumption.This study investigated the impact of radiative properties of materials,façade orientation,and morphological parameters on energy consumption in six typical residential neighborhoods in Nanjing,China.The neighborhood energy consumption of 16 application schemes considering the façade orientation factor is compared to determine the best energy-saving scheme.Seasonal and annual energy-saving rates,savings in electricity costs,and the price ceiling for materials per unit area are analyzed.The results show that for low-rise buildings,using cool materials only on the roof can reduce the annual energy consumption by 1%.When cool or super cool materials are also used on the building façade,the annual energy saving rate can be up to 3.4%and 4.3%,respectively.Using cool materials on the south façade of buildings is not recommended due to significant heat loss in winter.Considering savings in electricity costs and the price ceiling for materials per unit area,the price of cool and super cool materials should be less than 3.0 and 3.7 RMB/m2,respectively,assuming a lifespan of eight years in Nanjing.

Application of CFD plug-ins integrated into urban and building design platforms for performance simulations:A literature review

The transformation of urban and building design into green development is conducive to alleviating resource and environmental problems.Building design largely determines pollutant emissions and energy consumption throughout the building life cycle.Full consideration of the impact of urban geometries on the microclimate will help construct livable and healthy cities.Computational fluid dynamics(CFD)simulations significantly improve the efficiency of assessing the microclimate and the performance of design schemes.The integration of CFD into design platforms by plug-ins marks a landmark development for the interaction of computer-aided design(CAD)and CFD,allowing architects to perform CFD simulations in their familiar design environments.This review provides a systematic overview of the classification and comprehensive comparison of CFD plug-ins in Autodesk Revit,Rhinoceros/Grasshopper,and SketchUp.The applications of CFD plug-ins in urban and building design are reviewed according to three types:single-objective,multi-objective,and coupling simulations.Two primary roles of CFD plug-ins integrated into the design process,including providing various micro-scale numerical simulations and optimizing the original design via feedback results,are analyzed.The issues of mesh generation,boundary conditions,turbulence models,and simulation accuracy during CFD plug-in applications are discussed.Finally,the limitations and future possibilities of CFD plug-ins are proposed.