— This lecture summary provides a short but comprehensive overview on the “energy and buildings” topic. Buildings account for roughly 40% of the global energy demands. Thus, an increased adoption of existing and upcoming materials and solutions for the building sector represents an enormous potential to reduce building related energy demands and greenhouse gas emissions. The central question is...

The objective of this paper is to assess the capability of existing lighting simulation methods to predict the performance of complex fenestration systems, which are becoming a commonly used component in buildings construction domain. A specific experimental protocol was conducted to collect reliable reference data based on illuminance measurements inside a black box with (and without) one comp...

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of polishing and glazing on the color and spectral distribution of monolithic zirconia. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty-five monolithic zirconia specimens (16.3 mm × 16.4 mm × 2.0 mm) were fabricated and divided into 5 groups according to the number of A2-coloring liquid applications (Group I to V). Each group was divided into 3 subgroups a...

Relative to solar water heaters, solar air heaters have received relatively little investigation and have resulted in few commercial products. However, in the context of a humidification-dehumidification (HDH) desalination cycle, air heating accounts for advantages in cycle performance. Solar collectors can be over 40% of an air-heated HDH system’s cost; thus, design optimization is crucial. Be...

The windows can be responsible for unnecessary energy consumption in a building, if incorrectly designed, shadowed or oriented. Considering an annual thermal comfort assessment of a space, if windows are over-dimensioned, they can contribute to the increase of the heating needs due to heat losses, and also to the increase of cooling needs due to over-exposure to solar radiation. When under-dime...

Current air-conditioning systems can reduce the fuel economy of high fuel-economy vehicles by about 50% and reduce the fuel economy of today’s mid-sized vehicles by more than 20% while increasing NOx by nearly 80% and CO by 70%. Automotive glazing has a significant impact on the peak and steady-state cooling loads of the vehicle. Glazing that reflects the infrared portion of the solar spectrum ...

High initial costs hinder innovative technologies for building envelopes. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) should consider energy savings to show relevant economic benefits and potential reduce consumption CO2 emissions. Cost (LCC) Energy (LCE) focus on investment, operation, maintenance, dismantling, disposal, and/or recycling the building. This study compares LCC LCE analysis of Water Flow Glazing...

Glazing for adaptive solar control is the most promising for energy efficient development, because the use of this technology in buildings can be expected to significantly impact energy use and efficiency by screening sunlight that enters a building in summer. To achieve autonomous adjustable transparency, we have developed photothermotropic material system by combining photothermal materials w...