Gordon Lowry

• Retired at University College London

Overheating in the indoor environment, specifically in domestic homes, schools and healthcare settings has become of great concern to us in the UK. This is due to frequent hot weather events as a result of the continually rising global average temperatures. Overheating is a result of the heat gains associated with occupancy and solar heat gains tra...

Electrical heating, ventilation and air-conditioning loads in buildings are suitable candidates for use in demand response activity. This paper demonstrates a method to support planned demand response actions intended explicitly to reduce carbon emissions. Demand response is conventionally adopted to aid the operation of electricity grids and can l...

Overheating in domestic homes, specifically in built up urban areas, has become a pressing problem throughout the UK.It is likely to become a costly energy problem in years to come if passive design strategies are not fully understood and integrated. This research looks to investigate how internal and external solar shading systems impact on operat...

Lighting systems consume a significant proportion of the energy used in commercial buildings, and the control of lighting use is an important determinant of the energy performance of buildings. A review and meta-analysis of lighting energy studies in commercial premises is undertaken to investigate difficulties with reported energy-saving claims fo...

1st Year PhD Poster Presentation

Blinds and Shutters in the UK are still thought of as an optional window dressing rather than a low cost sustainable building asset that can enhance a window/glazing system's performance and in return, save energy through passive thermal measures and measurable solar performance. Although the array of benefits is validated for blinds and shutters t...

In this study, a linear parametric autoregressive model with external inputs (ARX) and a neural network-based nonlinear autoregressive model with external inputs (NNARX) are developed to predict the thermal behaviour of an open office in a modern building. External and internal climate data recorded over three months were used to build and validate...

This study investigates a neural network-based non-linear autoregressive model with external inputs (NNARX), a non-linear autoregressive moving average model with external inputs (NNARMAX), and a non-linear output error model (NNOE) to predict the thermal behaviour of an open-plan office in a modern commercial building. External and internal climat...

The methods normally used to calculate daylight illuminance of rooms are limited in their capacity to model different sky luminance distributions and different window glazing properties. A spreadsheet-based model is presented in this paper using first-principle calculations, which allows for a free choice of sky luminance distribution and glazing m...

This study investigates Box–Jenkins (BJ), autoregressive with external inputs (ARX), autoregressive moving average with external inputs (ARMAX) and output error (OE) models to identify the thermal behaviour of an office positioned in a modern commercial building in London. These models can all be potentially used for improving the performance of th...

In this study, linear Box—Jenkins, output-error and non-linear neural network autoregressive NARX models are investigated to predict the thermal behaviour of an office positioned in a modern commercial building. External and internal climate data recorded over a summer season were used to build and validate models. The paper exploits the potential...

In order to account for variations in the performances of buildings, it is necessary to construct explanatory models of water and energy consumptions. In this paper, a modelling approach is illustrated for those parts of the variances in consumptions of water and energy that are neglected in conventional monitoring and targeting procedures. It is s...

Difficulties arise in the teaching of control concepts applicable to thermal systems in buildings because these systems are large and respond slowly. Also, traditional control system analysis does not easily accommodate the examination of real scenarios. In this paper, spreadsheet-based techniques are described that allow students to simulate therm...

This paper describes the application of system identification to the thermal response of a conventional office space using data collected from an existing building management system. Autoregressive models are estimated and it is found that the output-error model provides the best fit between simulated and measured internal-air temperature data. The...

This study examines user acceptance of building management systems (BMS) using a questionnaire survey. These systems are crucial for optimising building performance and yet it has been widely reported that users are not making full use of their systems' facilities. Established models of technology acceptance have been employed in this research, and...

It is widely reported that building management systems (BMS) are not fully utilized. The failure to exploit the potential of these systems leads to sub-optimal performance of building services plant in terms of both energy consumption and the maintenance of internal building conditions. In this paper the variation in BMS use, and the perceptions of...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brunel University, Jan 2000.

Many premises have been equipped with building and energy management systems in recent years. Users are now becoming very familiar with their use, and this paper presents and discusses feedback of their perceptions. Particular issues emerging are the increasing expectations for systems communications and the scope for improvements in system usabili...

This paper discusses initial findings of research carried out in conjunction with users of building management systems (BMS). Users evaluated their own systems, and the results were collected by the use of questionnaires and interviews. Feedback from users indicates a lower level of satisfaction with the performance of the graphical user interface...