Umberto Berardi

Windows are considered the least-efficient components in the thermal envelope driven by their low thermal resistance and static transmittance to solar gains. Thermochromic coatings are promising to address the latter. Nevertheless, current building energy simulation (BES) tools were not originally developed for the performance assessment of adaptiv...

Due to the increasing demands of energy conservation and emission reduction, the efficient control of indoor thermal environment aims at realizing thermal comfort with the least energy consumption. Taking an ultra-low energy public building as the case study, a physics-based model was established based on the measured datasets in order to provide d...

This paper presents and discusses the development of a procedure required for the future application of machine learning (ML) in the review and investigation of infrared (IR) thermography images for building envelopes. A background on ML and existing applications within the building science industry is presented to capture an understanding of the p...

In the ancient Rome the shows entertained by gladiators were very numerous, due to the always growing request from the spectators. After the disuse of the amphitheaters, a wide number of philosophers, writers and poets have been experienced to tell what happened in these arenas. Nowadays this type of shows represents continuous source of inspiratio...

Keywords: Energy flexibility Radiant ceiling panel Thermal energy storage Phase change material Thermally active building systems a b s t r a c t This study focuses on evaluating the energy flexibility potential of an innovative cooling technology that consists of a standard radiant ceiling panel incorporating macro-encapsulated phase change materi...

An integrated approach, including statistical data elaborations and microclimate simula-10 tions, was presented in this paper to assess the impact of increasing the urban greenery cover in two 11 communities in Ontario on the urban environment, air quality levels, health, and economic re-12 sponses. The study also aimed to prove the association bet...

Nel settore dell'acustica applicata negli ultimi anni è cresciuto l'interesse verso i metamateriali, che rappresentano un nuovo campo di ricerca nel controllo del rumore. I metamateriali sono strutture artificiali con elementi periodici, realizzati mediante una configurazione geometrica reticolare regolare. Nei metamateriali, l'attenuazione del suo...

In recent decades, reducing the energy demand of the building sector has become a major goal of global policies. Proper design of the building-plant system is hence strategic to achieve nearly zero energy building (NZEB) target. This paper reports the results of modeling the building-plant system of an NZEB in Southern Italy. The case study is a mu...

This paper investigates fibrous thermal insulation materials of various densities to assess the change in their thermophysical properties at high temperatures. The thermal conductivity of fibrous thermal insulation materials is discussed as a function of the temperature in the range from 50 °C to 500 °C. It is shown that the thermal insulating prop...

Providing sufficient daylight and view access to the outdoors is crucial to creating a productive work environment and ensuring employees' wellbeing and mental health in offices. To these aims, determining an optimum shading form can be challenging for designers. This study applied an 'external shading form-finding' and a novel 'dynamic view access...

Aerated geopolymers are low calcium alkali-activated materials with induced porosity. These materials are reported to have huge potential to modulate the thermal and hydric conditions within buildings. The performance of these materials as a passive hygrothermal controller depends on various factors. However, studies in this area are limited. This...

The use of refrigerators and air conditioners has been increasing in domestic and commercial buildings constantly over the last century, resulting in a significant increase in energy demand. Thermal energy storage (TES) system may be able to reduce energy and temperature fluctuations and enhance the overall need or the performance of cooling system...

Proper design of the ventilation system is strategic to achieve nearly zero energy building (NZEB) target while providing high IAQ standards. This paper investigates a multi-family complex of eight dwellings NZEB in Italy built on a former industrial shed. The planned HVAC system foresees the combined use of primary ventilation with fan-coil units...

Demand-side management (DSM) strategies in buildings generally rely on short-term heat storage in structural thermal mass. However, the thermal storage capacity is limited by the available thermal mass as buildings are increasingly built using lightweight technologies. In addition, the structural thermal mass generally has a low heat storage and re...

This study investigates the use of air source heat pumps (ASHPs) in detached residential homes in cold climates. The study aims to assess if ASHPs can provide reliable heating responses in mild, cold, and very cold climate zones across Canada. Moreover, it investigates how the use of ASHPs in a warming climate will affect the energy use intensity (...

The use of refrigerators and air conditioners has been increasing in domestic and commercial buildings constantly over the last century, resulting in a significant increase in energy demand. Thermal energy storage (TES) system may be able to reduce energy and temperature fluctuations and enhance the overall need or the performance of cooling system...

In recent decades, reducing the energy demand of the building sector has become a major goal of global policies. Proper design of the building-plant system is hence strategic to achieve nearly zero energy building (NZEB) target. This paper reports the results of modeling the building-plant system of an NZEB in Southern Italy. The case study is a mu...

Roberto Stasi), francesco.ruggiero@poliba.it (Francesco Ruggiero), umberto.berardi@poliba.it (Umberto Berardi) J o u r n a l P r e-p r o o f The efficiency of hybrid ventilation on cooling energy savings in NZEBs. Abstract Proper design of the ventilation system is strategic to achieve nearly zero energy building (NZEB) target while providing high...

Green spaces and vegetation cover offer various environmental benefits, including air quality improvements and mitigation of the urban heat island (UHI) effect. Several UHI mitigation policies promoted over the last years in the Greater Toronto Area have targeted the enrichment of the urban vegetation. An integrated approach, including statistical...

The aim of Energies’ Smart Cities and Urban Management Section is to present new research results and new proven practices aimed at optimizing the energy use of smart cities and improving the energy efficiency in urban management[...]

The increased awareness of environmental issues has motivated researchers and manufacturers towards the use of natural acoustic absorbers, which are environmentally friendly, sustainable, and relatively cheap. One approach in this direction is to explore the use of waste fibers for potential applications in sound absorption. This study investigates...

Green spaces and vegetation cover offer various environmental benefits, including building energy-saving. Enriching the urban vegetation is fundamental in urban heat island (UHI) mitigation policies promoted over the last years in many large North American cities. For example, the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) has been promoting significant increases...

Experimental and numerical studies have demonstrated that thermally activated building systems (TABS) may lead to significant energy savings. However, TABS are generally incorporated into the building during the construction phase, limiting their adoption to new buildings. To encourage the application of TABS during building refurbishments, the aut...

The carbon footprint of buildings is mainly attributed to the embodied carbon of building materials and their hygrothermal performance. In recent years, the search for materials with low gray energy and better hygro-thermal performance has increased. Foamed geopolymers are among the materials that are attracting a lot of attention. Their high hygro...

Green building concept plays a fundamental role in reducing the use of resources and the impacts on human health and environment, during the whole building life cycle. Therefore, a method to measure the building sustainability rate is crucial for comparing various alternatives in terms of use of different materials, energy resources, production pro...

Climate-responsive facades (CRFs) are a potential solution to respond to transient energy exchanges in buildings to control and enhance the indoor environmental quality (IEQ). In addition to space heating and cooling, adequate ventilation within a thermally comfortable range is critical in new and retrofit constructions, particularly as current hig...

This paper focuses on validating a simulation model of a radiant ceiling panel (RCP) incorporating phase change materials (PCM) for heating and cooling applications in buildings. The development of an RCP with thermal energy storage capacity aims to encourage high thermal mass radiant systems in existing buildings to replace the traditional all-air...

An innovative natural fibro-granular composite made of kenaf fibers and waste rice husk granules is developed and presented in this paper. The optimization of the sound absorption coefficient (SAC) of the composites was investigated through the impedance tube method. The central composite design (CCD) technique with response surface methodology (RS...

Due to the increasing energy demand and severe environmental problems, buildings with low energy demands have achieved rapid development. Under the background of enhanced passive techniques and renewable energy multi-systems, the demand of reasonable switching and matching up among different strategies based on its unique load characteristics and i...

Studies on the factors that influence the thermal and hygric performance of aerated geopolymers are limited. One key factor that affects their hygrothermal performance is the activator ratio. In this work, the effect of the activator ratio on the thermal conductivity, porosity, moisture buffer capacity, vapor permeability, and adsorption-desorption...

An integrated approach, including statistical data elaborations and microclimate simul tions, was presented in this paper to assess the impact of increasing the urban greenery cover in two communities in Ontario on the urban environment, air quality levels, health, and economic responses. The correlations between meteorological parameters and air p...

Experimental and numerical studies have demonstrated the great energy savings potential and CO2 emission reduction that can be achieved with thermally activated building systems (TABS). However, one downside of TABS is that the system has to be incorporated in the building from the design stage, which limits its application to new buildings. To enc...

This paper presents a review of recent advancements in coating technologies for architectural glazing applications. Several coating technologies with static and dynamic optical properties are compared, and new material developments are presented. The paper shows that both static and dynamic technologies thrive to enhance optical and thermal perform...

Climate-responsive facades (CRFs) are a potential solution to respond to transient energy exchanges in buildings to control and enhance the indoor environmental quality (IEQ). In addition to space heating and cooling, adequate ventilation within a thermally comfortable range is critical in new and retrofit constructions, particularly as current hig...

This paper focuses on validating a simulation model of a radiant ceiling panel (RCP) incorporating phase change materials (PCM) for heating and cooling applications in buildings. The development of an RCP with thermal energy storage capacity aims to encourage high thermal mass radiant systems in existing buildings to replace the traditional all-air...

The increased awareness of environmental issues has motivated researchers and manufacturers towards the use of natural acoustic absorbers, which are environmentally friendly, sustainable, and relatively cheap. One approach in this direction is to explore the use of waste fibers for potential applications in sound absorption. This study investigates...

The current energy inefficiencies in relocatable temporary camps of the Armed Force troops create logistic challenges associated with fuel supply. The energy needs of these camps are primarily satisfied by diesel engine generators, which imply that a significant amount of fuel needs to be continuously provided to these camps, often built in remote...

In the context of global climate change, it is increasingly important for architects to understand the effects of their interventions on indoor and outdoor thermal comfort. New microclimate analysis tools which are gaining appreciation among architects enable the assessment of different design options in terms of biometeorological parameters, such...

This work investigates the hourly operation of the Uçkan configuration of the desiccant system that uses ground and solar energies in combination. In this system, the ground source heat exchanger (GSHE) is used as a cooling component after the desiccant wheel (DW) (post-cooler) together with using simultaneously before (pre-cooler) and after the DW...

Latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) using phase change materials (PCM) is one of the most promising ways for thermal energy storage (TES), especially in lightweight buildings. However, accurate control of the phase transition of PCM is not easy to predict. For example, neglecting the hysteresis or the effect of the speed of phase change proc...

Urban heat island (UHI) has proved to have an important effect in urban microclimate of large cities. In particular, the materials used for the pavements of urban spaces and sidewalks affect pedestrians' comfort significantly. Dark materials store solar radiation during the day and re-radiate it overnight. Reversely, cool materials, given their hig...

Foams age causing a deterioration of thermal and mechanical properties with time. • Blowing agents used in polyisocyanurate foams tend to leave the material matrix. • SEM allowed to analyse the changes of the cell microstructure after accelerated aging. • SEM showed differences in cell aspect ratio and cell wall thickness in polyurethanes. • The bl...

Aerogel-enhanced materials are known to have significantly lower thermal conductivity than traditional insulating materials. However, given the lack of long-term experiences with aerogel-enhanced products, the consistency of their superior thermal performance under the effect of the various climatic aging processes is still unknown. This study desc...

The current imbalance of carbon in the atmosphere is stimulating the search for carbon sequestration opportunities and for alternative processes and products with a reduced carbon footprint. Biochar, produced from residual biomass of the bio-ethanol industry (Dry Distillers Grains), was added as filler to a standard concrete, aiming at finding pote...

Kenaf fibers have long been utilized because of their remarkable properties, such as availability, durability, and strength. Recently, they have also been used as sound-absorbing composites for noise control purposes. This paper investigates the possibility of improving the tensile strength of kenaf fibers through optimizing the alkaline treatment...

The use of Acoustic MetaMaterials (AMMs) could answer several issues related to sound insulation for architectural or building Acoustics. In particular, it could indeed represent a useful tool in solving problems related to low frequency noise control. The purpose of this work was to assess the possibility of creating an AMM capable of maintaining...

The modelling of the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon is becoming critical to allow better prediction and assessment of mitigation strategies. This paper compares different urban canopy models to characterize the UHI in Toronto. In particular, the effects of urban parameterization modeling are investigated using the state-of-the-art Weather Resea...

Kenaf fibers have long been utilized because of their remarkable properties, such as availability, durability, and strength. Recently, they have also been used as sound-absorbing composites for noise control purposes. This paper investigates the possibility of improving the tensile strength of kenaf fibers through optimizing the alkaline treatment...

Nell’ambito delle attività di prevenzione e limitazione della diffusione della pandemia è consigliato e/o reso obbligatorio in-dossare mascherine. Le mascherine hanno lo scopo di limitare la diffusione delle particelle in sospensione durante l’espirazione, per cui è diventato normale indossarle in ambienti di lavoro, nei luoghi pubblici e anche all...

Geometric parameters in solar chimney power plants are numerically optimised for the purpose of better power output figures. Several parameters have been investigated in the pilot plant such as chimney height and diameter, collector diameter and slope, and slenderness. However, ground slope has not been studied to date despite its perspicuous impac...

In this paper, the acoustic characteristics of the ancient Roman theatre of Cassino are discussed. The theatre was built during the Imperial Age and was abandoned and destroyed after the Barbaric invasions. The theatre has been rebuilt in recent years and it is currently used for summer events ad performance. To measure the acoustic characteristics...

An increasing interest in the possibilities of converting agricultural wastes to value-added products has emerged. Annually, 200,000 tons of date palm waste are generated, which are charred or released as agricultural wastes. This work describes the efforts to fabricate low-cost sound-absorbing panels from date palm waste fibers and assess their pe...

Office buildings are responsible for a substantial portion of the energy demand in the commercial sector. To better understand and address the impacts of climate change on their energy demand and comfort levels, this paper investigates office buildings located in extremely cold, cold-humid, and cool-humid Canadian climate zones. Building energy sim...

Understanding the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon aids in the better predictions and analyses of its mitigation strategies. The mesoscale Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) tool has been increasingly proposed to assess the UHI and to perform microclimate analysis. In this tool, mesoscale models are coupled separately with urban canopy...

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the current state-of-the-art coating technologies for glazing applications. The main objective is to collect and present current commercially available technologies on today's market and future research prototypes to identify the most promising coating technologies. Several static coating technologies w...

This study analyzed the building energy performance of apartment buildings using retrofit systems with phase change materials (PCMs). The apartment type, building orientation, and height are considered to evaluate the implementation of an innovative PCM system. The building models selected were a flat-type apartment and tower-type apartment. Accord...

Enhancing the thermal comfort of low-income housing in developing countries located in tropical areas is one of the main challenges for engineers and architects worldwide. The coconut mesocarp fibre (coir) has shown enormous potential for improving some properties of modified concretes or mortars, such as low-weight and high-acoustic isolation. In...

Thermal performances of window frames and glazing represent a field of growing research efforts - worldwide - aiming to reduce energy consumption and achieve indoor comfort. A combination of newly designed super-insulated window frames and innovative glazing technologies may enhance the performance of windows. Aerogel-based “thermal breaks” for win...

Infrared thermography (IRT) has become a commonly applied non-destructive testing method for assessing building envelopes. Like any diagnosis tool, IRT requires an appropriate experience and principle understanding, mainly when the method is used for quantitative analyses. The challenges of the IRT often deal with the dynamic properties of building...

In the last years, many papers have reported the results of researchers on acoustic metamaterials. The study of acoustic metamaterials represents a new research field in noise control. Metamaterials are artificial structures with periodical elements, made by the arrangement of scatterers in a square or triangular lattice configuration. The reason f...

This research assesses the effect of outdoor parameters, including solar radiation and shading and glazing configurations, on indoor thermal comfort and air quality in multi-purpose halls in Auckland, New Zealand. The Design of experiment (DOE) method by using CFD simulation has been used for this study. Input parameters are windows length, overhan...

Climate-responsive facades (CRFs) present a new paradigm for high-performance building façade design as they provide a dynamic response to exterior environmental loads. CRFs represent a new approach compared to typical façades constructed as static barriers with a fixed performance to separate the indoor and outdoor conditions. CRFs regulate the mu...

The catacombs, burial sites for early Christians, were constructed during the Roman Empire until the Christian religion was recognized in 313 AD. The catacombs were cementeries, which were organized according to precise rules and were dug into the ground on several levels, to occupy as little space as possible. The catacombs became places of worshi...

The renovation of old building facades should be performed mainly considering the building energy demand reduction. For this purpose, it is necessary to select retrofitted solutions that should be able of minimizing heat losses through walls. However, it is not only the nominal thermal transmittance that influences the amount of heat transported th...

This paper presents the study of the intervention for the acoustic correction of a Medieval church, the cathedral of Carinola in Italy. The investigated church built on site where a Paleochristian church existed, was completed between the XIV and the XV century. The hard materials, including a marble floor and hard plastered walls, make its reverbe...

Cool coatings show high solar reflectance and have been proposed to decrease the building energy demand by reducing solar heat gains. However, cool coatings may have a negative effect during cold seasons when solar gains would be beneficial. Thermochromic coatings, thanks to their ability to change their solar reflectance at different temperatures,...

Egg cartons have been used as sound-absorbing materials since the 1970s for the acoustic control of music recording studios and small private radios. Egg cartons are recyclable materials made with waste from the separate collection of paper and could be valid sound-absorbing systems to be used in a simple and inexpensive way for room acoustic corre...

Green materials can be a valid alternative to traditional ones as they are produced and disposed without damaging the environment. In the present paper, materials developed from agricultural wastes from Saudi Arabia are presented. The natural materials considered are: date palm tree leaves, wheat straw fibres and eucalyptus, globules leaves. The va...

The use of natural fibers in the buildings and construction industries as a sustainable and biodegradable product with the aim of noise pollution control has attracted the attention of many researchers. This work aims to study the acoustic behavior of porous absorbers made of natural Kenaf fibers. To this end, samples of sound absorber were fabrica...