Architecture, Building and Planning - Research Publications
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ItemBeyond the “premium-for-height” framework for designing the structural systems of tall buildings(The Architectural Science Association and RMIT University, 2018)
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ItemEstablishing a comprehensive database of construction material environmental flow coefficients for Australia(The Architectural Science Association and RMIT University, 2018)
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ItemA comprehensive model for quantifying the environmental and financial performance of cities(The Architectural Science Association and RMIT University, 2018)
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ItemTowards a comprehensive hybrid life cycle inventory for Chilean building materials(The Architectural Science Association and RMIT University, 2018)
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ItemNo Preview AvailableHouse size and future building energy efficiency regulations in Australia(The Architectural Science Association and The University of Melbourne, 2015)The size of houses in Australia has significantly increased over the last decades. New houses have higher embodied and operational energy requirements due to their increased use of materials and larger area. Yet, current building energy efficiency regulations fail to adequately capture the effect of house size because of their omission of embodied energy and their sole use of a spatial functional unit for operational energy (e.g. MJ/m²). This study quantifies the effect of house size on life cycle energy demand in order to inform future building energy efficiency regulations. It uses a parametric model of a typical suburban house in Melbourne, Australia and varies its floor area from 100 to 392 m² for different household sizes. Both initial and recurrent embodied energy requirements are quantified using hybrid analysis and all operational energy end-uses (thermal and non-thermal) are calculated in primary energy terms over 50 years. Results show that larger houses appear to be more energy efficient per m² than smaller houses while actually having a much higher life cycle energy demand. Also, embodied energy represents 49-70% of the energy demand across all 360 variations. Guidelines are provided to improve current building energy efficiency regulations.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableDoes current policy on building energy efficiency reduce a building’s life cycle energy demand?(The Architectural Science Association and The University of Melbourne, 2015)Building energy efficiency regulations often focus solely on thermal energy demands. Increasing the thermal performance of the building envelope through additional insulation and efficient windows is the typical approach to increasing building thermal energy efficiency. This can result in a significant increase in embodied energy which is currently not considered in building energy regulations. A case study house in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia is used to investigate the life cycle primary energy repercussions of increasing building energy efficiency levels over 50 years. Embodied and operational energy are quantified using the comprehensive hybrid approach and a dynamic software tool, respectively. Energy efficiency is improved by material or design changes as well as a combination of both. Results show that while increasing the envelope thermal energy performance yields thermal operational energy savings, these can be offset by the additional embodied energy required for additional insulation materials and more efficient windows. The point at which increasing the thermal performance of the envelope does not yield life cycle energy benefits is just above current minimum energy efficiency standards in Australia. In order to reduce a building’s life cycle energy demand, a more comprehensive approach that includes embodied energy and emphasises design changes is needed.
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ItemA comparison of the life cycle energy profile of residential buildings in different countries(Green Building Council Spain, 2014)
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ItemA holistic building life cycle energy assessment model(Griffith University, 2012)