Revision Notes - Section

Building Environment 4
Revision Notes Andy Shea
Passive Design
PassivHaus Summary
MVHR systems commonly used

Allow in daylight, heat and airflow
Exclude when they are not beneficial
Include the storage of ambient energy where possible, e.g. trombe
walls (thermal mass)
Site Planning
The Sun rises in the East and sets in the West. North can receive Solar Gain in
peak summer.
Climate Responsive Architecture

Altitude of the sun has great influence on buildings. Different strategies
Internal Blinds keep out solar gain. Block out visible light, user control.
Still get solar heat gains!
External gains keep out solar gain. Pain to maintain
Tinted Glazing extra artificial lighting required, higher cost, visual impact,
lack of visible light
External horizontal shading device
External vertical shading device only help to block horizontal East and
West projection
Most expensive aspect of building is the faade
Six Principles for Passive Design
Orientation towards the equator for maximum sunshine when needed

and control when its not.
Glazing used to trap Suns warmth, with shading from unwanted heat
gains and/or loss
Thermal Mass used to store the heat
Insulation reduce unwanted heat losses or heat gains through building
fabric
Ventilation provide fresh air and cooling breezes
Zoning allow different thermal requirement in sections of a building.
Orientation
For heating and ventilation.
Living areas should be sited to gain maximum benefit from cooling breezes in hot
weather and shelter from undesirable winds in winter. Doesnt mean it needs to
be orientated towards the leading wind direction.
Glazing
Can have significant impact on energy consumption.
Need to be designed and sized for avoiding overheating in summer and heat loss
through poor insulation in the winter.
Triple Glazing
PROS
Lower U-values better for thermal
comfort
Temperature similar to surrounding
surface
CONS
Transmittance value lower than
double
More expensive than double
Hardly any solar heat gains
Low-Emissivity Coatings (benefits):
Reflect back long wave (low intensity) light

High energy low wave straight through.
Trapping in heat.
Standard in Double and Triple glazing
Thermal Mass
The greater the specific heat, the more energy is required to heat the material
Affects temperature by:
Stabilising internal temp by providing heat source/sink for all heat

exchange processes
Providing a time-lag in the equalisation of external and internal
temperatures
Providing a reduction in extreme temperature swings
Heat capacity and conductivity give rise to what is known as the thermal mass
effect
Time lag of 10-12 is a good target in design. The thicker and more resistive the
material, the longer it will take for heat to pass through.
A material with a decrement factor of 0.5 which experiences a 20 degree diurnal
variation in external surface temp would only experience a 10 degree internal
surf temp variation.
Thermal mass is more important in environments with a high diurnal range
(extreme at 40 degrees). With careful design and design of time lag, the cold
outside heat can be used to cool in peak heat at midday and vice versa.
In places with constant temperature, thermal mass can be detrimental! I.e. warm
tropical and equatorial climates building are very open and lightweight! Cold
and sub-polar regions highly insulated with very little exposed thermal mass!
Design considerations:
Where mass is used for warmth, it should be exposed to incident solar

radiation
Cooling place in shaded zone
Night purge ventilation requires significant amount of exposed mass and

air flow. Condensation can be an issue! Can work in concert hall
Beneficial where there is a large diurnal range
A degree of thermal mass is desirable
Insulation
Building envelope provides a barrier against extreme external conditions.
Allowing internal thermal comfort to be controlled.
Energy demand can be significantly reduced if a building envelope is well
insulated therefore reducing incidental losses.
Insulation reduces the rate at which heat flows through the building fabric, either
outwards or inwards. Results in heavy energy savings and increased thermal
comfort.
Ventilation
Wind-driven
Air moves when pushed or pulled (by prevailing wind) and/or heated or
cooled (by solar radiation, evaporation and/or thermal mass)
Pushed and pulled by producing localised areas of high or low pressure.
Wind causes positive pressure on windward side and a negative pressure
on the leeward side. To equalise, air will enter windward opening and be
drawn out of leeward openings
Building form is therefore fundamental to wind-driven natural ventilation
system.
Stack (Buoyancy)
Design for this and rely on degree of wind-driven ventilation

Buoyancy results from differences in air density. Density of air depends on
temperature and humidity.
Cool air is heavier than warm air (at same humidity). Dry air is heavier
than humid air (at the same temperature)
Heat and humidity are given off by occupants causing air to rise.
Stale, heated air escapes from opening in the ceiling or roof. Lower
openings draw in fresh air to replace it.
Thermo-syphon effect
Requires a large amount of equator facing glass.

Dark surfaces beneath the glass absorb the direct sunlight. Therefore
increasing in temperature and re-radiating long wave infrared radiation
heat back into the enclosed space.
Heat energy is trapped within the space and is eventually absorbed by the
air.
Other variations include solar chimneys and atrium spaces.
Night-purge
Requires a high level of exposed internal thermal mass.
Open up natural ventilation pathways at night in order to cool down the

thermal mass.
Mass must be exposed
Zoning
Strategies for zoning in winter air locks to main entries into building and similar
rooms grouped together.
Thermal Design, Plant Sizing, and Energy Conservation

Installed Capacity (Boiler size)
For intermittently heated buildings the ratio of installed capacity to design heat
loss increases with increasing levels of thermal insulation.
With high insulated buildings, may be a case of minimising overall costs by using
smaller plant and operating continuously. Requires an estimate using dynamic
modelling.
The degree to which plant output can be reduced will depend upon:
Building type and purpose

Level of insulation
External temperature/severe climate?
Pre-heating a space to the required level prior to occupancy within a reasonable

period will require the installation of plant with a greater capacity than the
steady state design capacity.
Excess capacity will be depend upon:
Heat up time
Dynamic characteristic of the boiler plant and distribution network
Thermal storage characteristics of the building.
Pre-heat time calculation is complex! Simplistic models are likely to be

unsuccessful
Plants with rapid response are most suitable for intermittent use in order to
minimise the preheat time and energy losses due to the storage of thermal
energy within the heating system.
Admittance theory

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Building Environment 4

Revision Notes Andy Shea

MVHR systems commonly used

Climate Responsive Architecture

Most expensive aspect of building is the faade

Six Principles for Passive Design

Orientation towards the equator for maximum sunshine when needed

Low-Emissivity Coatings (benefits):

Reflect back long wave (low intensity) light

Stabilising internal temp by providing heat source/sink for all heat

Where mass is used for warmth, it should be exposed to incident solar

Night purge ventilation requires significant amount of exposed mass and

Design for this and rely on degree of wind-driven ventilation

Requires a large amount of equator facing glass.

Requires a high level of exposed internal thermal mass.

Open up natural ventilation pathways at night in order to cool down the

Thermal Design, Plant Sizing, and Energy Conservation

Building type and purpose

Pre-heating a space to the required level prior to occupancy within a reasonable

Pre-heat time calculation is complex! Simplistic models are likely to be

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