Architectural Engineering Commons^™

Developing A Workflow To Integrate Tree Inventory Data Into Urban Energy Models, Farzad Hashemi, Breanna L. Marmur, Ulrike Passe, Janette R. Thompson

Farzad Hashemi

Building energy simulation is of considerable interest and benefit for architects, engineers, and urban planners. Only recently has it become possible to develop integrated energy models for clusters of buildings in urban areas. Simulating energy consumption of the built environment on a relatively large scale (e.g., such as a neighborhood) will be necessary to obtain more reliable results, since building energy parameters are influenced by characteristics of the nearby environment. Therefore, the construction of a 3-D model of urban built areas with detail of the near-building environment should enhance simulation approaches and provide more accurate results. This paper describes the …

The Impact Of Trees On Passive Survivability During Extreme Heat Events In Warm And Humid Regions, Ulrike Passe, Janette R. Thompson, Baskar Ganapathysubramanian, Boshun Gao, Breanna L. Marmur

Breanna L. Marmur

Communities are increasingly affected by excessive heat. The likelihood of extreme heat events is predicted to increase in the Midwest region of the United States. By mid-century (2036–2065), one year out of 10 is projected to have a 5-day period that is 13°F warmer than a comparable earlier period (1976–2005). The frequency of high humidity/dew point days (“extra moist tropical air mass days,” MT++ synoptic climate classification system) has also increased significantly during a similar period (1975–2010) and between 2010 and 2014 included 8 of 26 heat events. This impact is exacerbated by the fact that many residences in low-income …

Thermoelectric Materials In Exterior Walls: Experimental Study On Using Smart Facades For Heating And Cooling In High-Performance Buildings, Ajla Aksamija, Zlatan Aksamija, Christopher H. Counihan, Dylan Brown, Meenakshi Upadhyaya

Ajla Aksamija

Experimental Study On Integration Of Thermoelectric Materials In Exterior Walls For Heating And Cooling In High-Performance Buildings, Ajla Aksamija, Zlatan Aksamija, Christopher H. Counihan, Dylan Brown, Meenakshi Upadhyaya

Zlatan Aksamija

Thermoelectric Materials In Exterior Walls: Experimental Study On Using Smart Facades For Heating And Cooling In High-Performance Buildings, Ajla Aksamija, Zlatan Aksamija, Christopher H. Counihan, Dylan Brown, Meenakshi Upadhyaya

Zlatan Aksamija

Experimental Study On Integration Of Thermoelectric Materials In Exterior Walls For Heating And Cooling In High-Performance Buildings, Ajla Aksamija, Zlatan Aksamija, Christopher H. Counihan, Dylan Brown, Meenakshi Upadhyaya

Ajla Aksamija

Thermal, Energy And Daylight Analysis Of Different Types Of Double Skin Façades In Various Climates, Ajla Aksamija

Ajla Aksamija

Effects Of Reverberation And Noise On Speech Comprehension By Native And Non-Native English-Speaking Listeners, Z. Ellen Peng, Lily M. Wang, Siu-Kit Lau, Adam M. Steinbach

Lily M Wang

Previous studies have demonstrated the negative impact of adverse signal-to-noise-ratios on non-native English-speaking listeners' performance on speech recognition using recall tasks, as well as implied that comprehension skills were more impaired than recognition skills under reverberation and noise. The authors have themselves previously conducted a pilot study on three native and three non-native Englishspeaking listeners to examine the effects of reverberation and noise using speech comprehension tasks. Those results suggested that speech comprehension performance is worse under longer reverberation times (RT), and that a longer RT is more detrimental to speech comprehension by non-native listeners than native listeners. This paper …

How Tonality And Loudness Of Noise Relate To Annoyance And Task Performance” Noise Control Eng. J. 65(2), 71-82., Joonhee Lee, Jennifer M. Francis, Lily M. Wang

Lily M Wang

Audible tones in noise generated by building mechanical equipment can be a leading cause of complaints from occupants. A number of metrics have been developed to quantify prominence of a tone, but previous work has shown that the impact of a certain tonality appears to vary with the level of the broadband noise signal. More work on how tonal signals of varying tonality, tone frequency and broadband noise levels relate to annoyance and task performance is needed. This paper investigates such relationships between current noise metrics, annoyance and task performance under assorted tonal noise conditions through subjective testing. Participants rated …

Acoustic Tweets And Blogs: Using Social Media In An Undergraduate Acoustics Course, Lily M. Wang

Lily M Wang

Each fall, the author teaches an undergraduate architectural acoustics course to around 40 third-year architectural engineering students at the University of Nebraska. Beginning in 2011, a social media component was introduced to explore the use of this technology and how it may supplement the students' learning experience. Students were given an opportunity to receive extra credit by using Twitter and/or blogging about course material using a set hashtag (#AE3300) or through the course website. Results were positive, and the author will discuss pros and cons that she has experienced in adding this social media component. Suggestions for future implementations and …

A Need For Evidence-Based And Multidisciplinary Research To Study The Effects Of The Interaction Of School Environmental Conditions On Student Achievement, Josephine Lau, Lily M. Wang, Clarence Waters, James A. Bovaird

Lily M Wang

With funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Healthy Schools initiative, a research team from the University of Nebraska– Lincoln (UNL) is currently working on establishing how environmental conditions in K-12 school buildings impact student scholastic achievement. The objectives of the research project are: (1) to study comprehensively the impacts of a wide set of indoor environmental factors (including indoor air quality, thermal, lighting and acoustic conditions) on student achievement; (2) to investigate how these environmental conditions interact with each other to impact student achievement; (3) to rank order the environmental variables in terms of their relative impact on …

Thermal And Energy Performance Of Double Skin Facades In Different Climate Types, Ajla Aksamija

Ajla Aksamija

Umass Amherst Campus Green Building Resources, Ludmilla D. Pavlova-Gillham

Ludmilla D Pavlova

UMass Amherst is a STARS Gold institution that has received numerous awards for its sustainability efforts in higher education. To celebrate the physical elements of the campus sustainability achievements, and to inform campus staff, faculty and students how to support green building projects, Campus Planning and Design & Construction sponsored a presentation to the campus community on Campus Green Building Resources: LEED and Beyond. Ludmilla Pavlova-Gillham, Senior Campus Planner reviews the commitment UMass Amherst has made to sustainable design and construction and the range of sustainability/LEED resources available to campus staff, faculty and students as they work on planning, designing …

Umass Amherst Green Building Guidelines 2013, Ludmilla Pavlova-Gillham, Ted Mendoza, Ezra Small, Patricia O'Flaherty, Nariman Mostafavi, Mohamed Farzinmoghadam, Somayeh Tabatabaee Pozveh

Ludmilla D Pavlova

Facilities & Campus Services, Sustainable UMass and Campus Planning support sustainability and energy conservation initiatives by providing in-house resources to campus staff as well as designers and contractors working with the University. The UMass Amherst Green Building Guidelines provide a framework for approaching new construction and major renovation projects at UMass Amherst that are undergoing LEED certification by focusing the conversation on green building aspects that are most important to the campus. They are intended to be the beginning of a dynamic conversation between designers, environmental consultants and constructors, university stakeholders, and users of new high performance buildings.

Making Better Decisions About Built Assets: Learning By Doing, Craig Langston

Craig Langston

Climate change presents significant challenges to society (e.g. Stern, 2006; Bouwer and Aerts, 2006). Many have concluded that climate change is the most important problem facing humankind, and indeed other life on Earth. The construction industry, which contributes 5-10% of national GDP globally, has a prominent role to play in meeting this challenge given that the built environment demands 40-50% of global resources and generates a proportional amount of waste (Langston and Ding, 2001). Climate change adaptation is about human response to this challenge, thus mitigating the impacts of a changing climate (Burton et al., 2005).

Divergence: Creating A Closed-Loop Mobile Seaworthy Civilization, Marcus Lafond

Marcus Lafond

Today there are more cities localized on our coastlines than ever before. Unfortunately, this fact poses an immediate danger due to the rising tides of our oceans. Together with the increase in global population and coastal erosion, the world will increasingly become a more difficult place to live. With our overcrowding cities, mercurial changes in weather and over three quarters of the earth's surface being uninhabited oceans; we need cities that are mobile, seaworthy and capable of avoiding natural disasters. Thus, by creating these types of cities, architects will lead the way to ensure the safety of the public and …