The Role and Place of Traditional Chimney System Solutions in Environmental Progress and in Reducing Energy Consumption

Dariusz Bajno, Łukasz Bednarz and Agnieszka Grzybowska
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Dariusz Bajno: Department of Building Structures, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture, University of Science and Technology, 85796 Bydgoszcz, Poland
Łukasz Bednarz: Department of Building Structures, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, 50370 Wrocław, Poland
Agnieszka Grzybowska: Department of Building Structures, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture, University of Science and Technology, 85796 Bydgoszcz, Poland

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 16, 1-32

Abstract: Buildings, energy, and the environment are key issues facing construction around the world. The energy efficiency of buildings is a key topic when it comes to reducing the world’s energy consumption, releasing harmful gases, and global climate change, as they consume about 40% of the world’s energy supplies. Heat losses in buildings reduce the energy performance of buildings and are basically important to them. In the paper, the authors focus on the main problems related to heat losses generated by chimney systems, which are inseparable equipment of building structures, resulting in lower energy efficiency and, at the same time, technical efficiency and durability of the building partitions themselves. Authors present thermal imaging with its contribution to the detection of heat losses, thermal bridges, insulation problems, and other performance disturbances, and then verifications using appropriate simulation models. The mathematical apparatus of artificial neural networks was implemented to predict the temperature distributions on the surfaces of prefabricated chimney solutions. In Europe, we can often find a large building substance equipped with traditional chimneys, which disrupts the current trend of striving to reduce energy consumption, especially that derived from fossil fuels. Speaking of energy-efficient buildings, one should not ignore those that, without additional security and modern installations, are constantly used in a very wide range. Therefore, the article deals with an essential problem that is not perceived in design studies and during the operation period as having a basis in incorrect architectural solutions and which can be easily eliminated. It concerns the cooling of internal partitions of buildings on their last storeys, in places where chimneys are located, regardless of their function. The authors of the paper decided to take a closer look at this phenomenon, which may allow the limiting of its effects and at the same time reduce its impact on the energy performance of technologically older buildings.

Keywords: efficiency; operational safety; gravity; ventilation; natural ventilation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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