An Approach to Optimize Multi-family Residence HVAC Systems Using Digitalization

As mentioned by National Geographic(2017),70%of world’s population is expected to live in large apartment buildings by 2050.Today,buildings in cities generate 30%of world’s greenhouse gas emission or GHG(National Geographic,2017).Major urban centers are committed to reducing greenhouse gases by 80%by 2050(IEA,2021).However,achieving such goals in rental properties is not easy.Landlords are hesitant to use high-efficiency technologies because,typically,tenants pay the utilities bill.However,that situation is rapidly changing.For example,New York City like other US cities,is considering a carbon cap on all large buildings(Local Law 97,2019).That means landlords will pay a carbon penalty if the building’s carbon footprint exceeds certain threshold no matter who uses that carbon.The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory(PNNL)has received funds from DOE(US Department of Energy)with the collaboration of a commercial partner to address emerging energy efficiency market opportunity in multi-family or rental housing as discussed above.It has partnered with a large national real estate owner in order to test a novel energy optimization method at a rental property in Tempe,Arizona.By using a seamless-integrated method of acquiring building’s operating data,the optimization approach essentially resets setpoints of different energy consuming equipment such as chillers,boilers,pumps,and fans.Data-driven optimization approach is pragmatic and easily transferrable to other buildings.The authors shall share the problem background,technical approach,and preliminary results.

Multi-family therapy for veteran and refugee families: a Delphi study

Background: Research indicates that Posttraumatic stress disorder(PTSD) has an extensive impact on family relationships. Nevertheless, there is a dearth of empirically supported interventions addressing family functioning and PTSD. In the Netherlands, it is considered good clinical practice to offer multi-family therapy(MFT) to veteran and refugee families. MFT for traumatized families aims to address the dysfunctional family patterns that have evolved to address the consequences with trauma.Methods: The aim of this study is to generate a common framework for the practical impact and active ingredients of MFT in families confronted with trauma. The Delphi method was used to study the expert opinion of 11 therapists in Dutch expert trauma institutes.Results: The results indicate that MFT is a promising treatment for families dealing with the consequences of trauma. According to experts, positive outcomes include an increased understanding between family members,particularly visible in the de-escalation of conflicts within the family, and improved parenting. One explanation for the effectiveness of MFT with these target groups is its defining feature of therapy with several families.Conclusions: The findings support the importance of considering family relationships and the family context in interventions for traumatized individuals.

An Optimization Method for a Single Machine Multi-family Scheduling Problem with Qualification Run Constraints

The qualification run(qual-run) as a technique to avoid possible quality problems of products inevitably leads to much longer cycle time. To effectively balance the trade-off between the qual-run and setup times,a scheduling model of a single machine with multiple families was developed and an adaptive differential evolution algorithm based on catastrophe with depth neighborhood search was applied to resolve the problem. First,a scheduling problem domain was described,and a mathematical programming model was set up with an objective of minimizing makespan. Further,several theorems were developed to construct feasible solutions. On the basis of differential evolution,the depth neighborhood search operator was adopted to search a wide range of solutions. In addition,the adaptive process and catastrophe theory were combined to improve the performance of the algorithm. Finally,simulation experiments were carried out and the results indicated that the proposed algorithm was effective and efficient.

Assessing the adequacy and sustainability performance of multi-family residential buildings in Anambra State,Nigeria

The proliferation of multi-family residential building in Anambra State of Nigeria due to increasing demand without recourse to performance has broughtconcerns about the adequacy and sustainability of this housing type.This study therefore,assessed the adequacy and sustainability performance of multi-family residential buildings in urban areas of Anambra State.The study sampled the opinions of 384 households living in multi-family residential buildings through a questionnaire survey.We conducted data analysis based on 214 responses that were useful for analysis.The study found that internal and building component variables and supporting neigh-borhood variables were adequate,but the surrounding environment variables were inadequate based on Mean Score Index.However,based on Sustainability Performance Index,the occupant sperceived social sustainability performance of the buildings as satisfactory,while environmental and economic sustainability performance were perceived as fairly satisfactory.The Pearson correlation coefficient result further established that adequacy of internal and building component variables was significantly and positively related to the residents'perceived social sustainability performance.Adequacy of the surrounding environmental variables was also found to be positively and significantly related to the residents'perceived environmental sustainability performance,whereas adequacy of supporting neighborhood facilities was found to be negatively and significantly related to the residents’perceived economic sustainability performance.This sug-gested that investors and owners of multi-family residential buildings should direct more efforts towards improving the surrounding environment to supplements other facilities and increase the economic benefit of the renters or occupiers with increasing economic sustainability performance in terms of value for money.

A Case Study of VäxjöMunicipality’s Actions to Increase the Construction of Wooden Multi-family Buildings

Sweden has a housing shortage,which the Swedish authorities expect to continue until 2025.Producers of wooden multi-family houses have a relatively small market share in comparison to traditional building materials.The limited capability to fulfil the increased building demand also restricts the possibilities for development towards innovation,bio-economy and sustainability.The municipalities in Sweden have responsible for planning of the building development in their region based on their projected requirements and strategies.Combining this with a desire to develop sustainable building solutions based on wood increases the complexity.Currently,public building developments are achieved through the public procurement act or the land allocation activity,dependent on their development strategy.This normally involves the development of local strategies regarding,e.g.design,material choice and geographical development.By identifying market drivers enables improved market entry activities related to public building initiatives using wood-based solutions.Hence,by improving transparency in the land allocation activity generate enhanced possibilities for the companies to respond successfully to the requests submitted by the municipalities.This knowledge is used to better understand the required strategic development for the companies,the government and the municipalities to increase the use of sustainable building materials in Swedish multi-family housing projects.

Development of a short duration method to assess the envelope thermal performance of multi-family housings

Building energy efficiency is a key factor in reducing CO_(2) emissions.For this reason,European Union(EU)member states have developed thermal regulations to ensure building thermal performance.These results are often based on results achieved with building simulation software during the design stage.However,the actual thermal performance can deviate significantly from the predicted one,and this difference is known as the energy performance gap.Accurate indicators of the actual thermal performance are a valuable tool to guarantee building quality.These indicators,including the heat transfer coefficient(HTC)and the heat loss coefficient(HLC),can be estimated by the application of in situ methods.As multi-family housing and tertiary sector buildings are an important part of the building stock,mature methods to measure their thermal performance are needed.This paper presents a short-duration method for assessing the HTC in large building typologies using a sampling approach.The method was applied in a four-storey building model under different conditions to study the limits of the method and to improve indicator bias and uncertainty.Indicator quality was strongly influenced by the external weather conditions,the temperature variation during the protocol and the heat exchange with the adjacent apartments.Under winter conditions and with stable indoor temperatures,the method had a high accuracy when the protocol was applied for half a day.It is recommended that the protocol be used over two days to improve indicator quality under less favorable test conditions.

Preservation and Regeneration of Beijing's Courtyard Houses Based on Typology Methods

Courtyard house is one of the symbols of Beijing's traditional culture.However,illegal self-constructions,over population and the phenomenon of multiple families crowding in one courtyard house have seriously damaged the traditional courtyard houses and urban texture of Beijing.This article insists that due attention should be paid to the traditional cultures of the original residents and their actual requirements in the preservation and regeneration of the courtyard houses.It proposes a new prototype of multi-family courtyard house which might be a feasible mode for the preservation and regeneration of Beijing's traditional courtyard houses.In addition,based on the typology methods,the article analyzes the evolution of multi-family courtyard houses through investigating the layout of courtyards,and brings forward an idea for its preservation and regeneration.Finally,taking some specific areas of Hutongs and courtyard houses as examples,it also presents a simulation model to validate the feasibility of this mode.