Parametric Design to Maximize Solar Irradiation and Minimize the Embodied GHG Emissions for a ZEB in Nordic and Mediterranean Climate Zones

Mattia Manni, Gabriele Lobaccaro, Nicola Lolli and Rolf Andre Bohne
Additional contact information
Mattia Manni: Department of Engineering, CIRIAF—Interuniversity Research Center on Pollution and Environment “Mauro Felli”, University of Perugia, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Gabriele Lobaccaro: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
Nicola Lolli: SINTEF Community—Architecture, Materials, and Structures, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
Rolf Andre Bohne: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-18

Abstract: This work presents a validated workflow based on an algorithm developed in Grasshopper to parametrically control the building’s shape, by maximizing the solar irradiation incident on the building envelope and minimizing the embodied emissions. The algorithm is applied to a zero-emission building concept in Nordic and Mediterranean climate zones. The algorithm enables conducting both energy and environmental assessments through Ladybug tools. The emissions embodied in materials and the solar irradiation incident on the building envelope were estimated in the early design stage. A three-steps optimization process through evolutionary solvers, such as Galapagos (one-objective) and Octopus (multi-objective), has been conducted to shape the most environmentally responsive ZEB model in both climates. The results demonstrated the replicability of the algorithm to optimize the solar irradiation by producing an increment of solar incident irradiation equal to 35% in the Mediterranean area, and to 20% in the Nordic climate. This could contribute to compensate the additional 15% of emissions due to the higher quantities of employed materials in the optimized design. The developed approach, which is based on the parametric design principles for ZEBs, represents a support instrument for designers to develop highly efficient energy solutions in the early design stages.

Keywords: life cycle assessment; zero-emission building; parametric design; evolutionary computing; solar irradiation (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: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/18/4981/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/18/4981/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:18:p:4981-:d:417523

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().