With the support of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Energy Efficiency Laboratory made official its participation in the International Energy Research Program in Buildings and Communities (EBC) of the International Energy Agency (IEA). This program proposes the development of research and development among 26 member countries. The study groups, called Annexes, are structured initiatives to advance research in an area of knowledge with a limited duration, generally 5 years. The final products are reports, books, scientific articles, guidelines for the development of public policies and guides for the civil construction sector.
Currently, LabEEE participates in the activities of two annexes, IEA EBC Annex 79, Annex 80 and Annex 87.
Annex 79 - Occupant-Centric Building Design and Operation
Duration: 2018-2023
Participating countries:Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, France, India, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America.
Annex 79 addresses the design and operation of buildings geared towards occupant satisfaction. More information can be found at:https://annex79.iea-ebc.org/. Additionally, the following article features the attachment:10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106738.
The laboratory is participating in the following activities in this annex:
- Study with building operators to understand how occupants are considered and what are the most common practices;
- Study with designers, operators, architects and consultants to understand how occupants are considered in the design of architectural, engineering or operational projects;
- Construction of a database of case studies of buildings aimed at user satisfaction (involving controls, systems, operation, awareness, among others);
- Construction of the ASHRAE database on occupant behavior and proposition of behavior models for computational simulation;
- Survey of untold stories of researchers on the study and implementation of systems aimed at occupant satisfaction;
- Study on the comfort of people during COVID-19 working at home office;
- Study on how occupant behavior is considered in computer simulation;
More information about Annex 79clicking here.
Annex 80 - Resilient Cooling of Buildings
Duration: 2018-2023
Participating countries:Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, United States of America, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, United Kingdom, Singapore, Sweden and Turkey.
Annex 80 aims to study the resilience of buildings in relation to overheating, from the perspective of global warming, the intensification of heat waves and the occurrence of power outages. More information can be found at:https://annex80.iea-ebc.org/.
The laboratory is involved in the following activities in this annex:
- Preparation of climate files for future global warming scenarios, considering forecasts for 2060 and 2100, as well as the preparation of a climate file for 2020 (completed);
- Elaboration of climate files of heat waves, considering variations in duration and intensity, in different future scenarios (concluded);
- Simulation of passive cooling strategies, with the objective of evaluating the resilience of the building when exposed to hot periods, considering future scenarios of global warming, heat waves, and power outages;
- Survey of international regulations that incorporate cooling strategies for buildings, with the aim of proposing guidelines for public policies that promote resilience (concluded);
- Elaboration of recommendations for the formulation of public policies that promote the resilience of buildings.
On October 20th and 21st, 2022, LabEEE hosted the 7th Expert Meeting of Annex 80. The Expert Meetings are face-to-face meetings, which take place every six months, andgather the members of the annex todiscuss on the overall progress of the project and each of its activities. The location of the Expert Meetings changes with each edition, always located in cities belonging to the project's members. The seventh and final edition was held in Florianópolis, Brazil.
Annex 87 - Energy and Indoor Environmental Quality Performance of Personalised Environmental Control Systems
Duration: 2021-2026
Participating countries:Germany, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, United States of America, Denmark, Italy, United Kingdom, Singapore, Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, England, Switzerland, Poland, Korea, Turkey, Lebanon.
The purpose of annex 87 is to establish guidelines and technical reference materials for individual conditioning systems to be incorporated into projects and buildings in operation. In addition, it aims to quantify the benefits of these systems for health, comfort and energy efficiency. The personal or individual systems included are those that mainly produce heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting.More information can be found at:https://annex87.iea-ebc.org/.
This annex is still in its infancy, and the laboratory participates in the following activities so far:
- Review of PECS definitions and benefits and definition of comparison indicators;
- Performance comparison of multiple systems through computer simulation;
- Review of forms of integration of PECS with HVAC and proposal of guidelines for design and operation;
Publications in which LabEEE has participated so far:
O'BRIEN, L. et al. An international review of occupant-related aspects of building energy codes and standards. Building and Environment, v 179, 2020. ISSN 0360-1323.
DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106906.
CHINAZZO, G. et al. Quality criteria for multi-domain studies in the indoor environment: Critical review towards research guidelines and recommendations. Building and Environment, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109719
ANDRÉ, M. et al. Practical differences in operating buildings across countries and climate zones: Perspectives of building managers/operators. Energy and Building, v. 278, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2022.112650
SARRAN, L. et al. Untold Stories from the Field: a Novel Platform for Collecting Practical Learnings on Human-Building Interactions. ASHRAE Topical Conference, 2021, Athens.
DONG, B. et al. A guideline to document occupant behavior models for advanced building controls. Building and Environment, v. 219, 109195, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109195
DONG, B. et al. A Global Building Occupant Behavior Database. Scientific Data, v. 9, p. 369, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01475-3
CUREAU, R. J. et al. Bridging the gap from test rooms to field-tests for human indoor comfort studies: A critical review of the sustainability potential of living laboratories. Energy Research & Social Science, v. 92, 102778, 2022.DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2022.102778