IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v189y2017icp711-724.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of outdoor PM2.5 on natural ventilation usability in California’s nondomestic buildings

Author

Listed:
  • Martins, Nuno R.
  • Carrilho da Graça, Guilherme

Abstract

In California, the majority of office and other nondomestic buildings use mechanical cooling and ventilation even when an optimized natural ventilation (NV) system could meet cooling and fresh air requirements. Unfortunately, in most large California cities, the outdoor environment is contaminated with noise, fine particles, heat, toxic gases or, in most cases, a combination of all four. This contaminated environment has a detrimental impact on naturally ventilated buildings due to their lack of filtration and outdoor noise attenuation systems. This paper presents a study on the impact of airborne particle pollution on the potential for NV cooling of office buildings in California. The study uses a multi-year database of measured hourly weather data and PM2.5 data for the five largest metropolitan areas in California, representative of 90% of the state’s population. The analysis is performed in two stages with increasing complexity. The first stage is a statistical analysis that identifies coincidence between high PM2.5 and outdoor air temperatures that are suitable for NV. In addition, this phase includes multivariable correlation to identify particular weather events or time periods that affect PM2.5 levels. The second level of analysis is more complex, using building thermal simulation (EnergyPlus) to perform a detailed assessment of NV potential in the five urban locations, calculating NV flow rates, resulting indoor exposure to PM2.5 and supplemental HVAC system energy consumption. The results show that using NV in moments when the outside weather is favorable can result in HVAC energy savings of 25–80%. However, limiting NV use to moments with outdoor particle levels below 12μg/m3 decreases this energy saving potential to 20–60%. In addition, in the majority of the cities analyzed in this study, the use of NV leads to an increase in indoor exposure to PM2.5 of outdoor origin of 400–500%.

Suggested Citation

  • Martins, Nuno R. & Carrilho da Graça, Guilherme, 2017. "Impact of outdoor PM2.5 on natural ventilation usability in California’s nondomestic buildings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 711-724.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:189:y:2017:i:c:p:711-724
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.12.103
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030626191631875X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.12.103?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Oropeza-Perez, Ivan & Østergaard, Poul Alberg, 2014. "Potential of natural ventilation in temperate countries – A case study of Denmark," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 520-530.
    2. Meng, Jing & Liu, Junfeng & Guo, Shan & Huang, Ye & Tao, Shu, 2016. "The impact of domestic and foreign trade on energy-related PM emissions in Beijing," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 853-862.
    3. Chen, Yujiao & Malkawi, Ali & Liu, Zhu & Freeman, Richard Barry & Tong, Zheming, 2016. "Energy Saving Potential of Natural Ventilation in China: The Impact of Ambient Air Pollution," Scholarly Articles 27733689, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    4. Li, Cheng & Hong, Tianzhen & Yan, Da, 2014. "An insight into actual energy use and its drivers in high-performance buildings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 394-410.
    5. Oropeza-Perez, Ivan & Østergaard, Poul Alberg, 2014. "Energy saving potential of utilizing natural ventilation under warm conditions – A case study of Mexico," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 20-32.
    6. Tong, Zheming & Chen, Yujiao & Malkawi, Ali & Liu, Zhu & Freeman, Richard B., 2016. "Energy saving potential of natural ventilation in China: The impact of ambient air pollution," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 660-668.
    7. Hughes, Ben Richard & Calautit, John Kaiser & Ghani, Saud Abdul, 2012. "The development of commercial wind towers for natural ventilation: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 606-627.
    8. Ramponi, Rubina & Angelotti, Adriana & Blocken, Bert, 2014. "Energy saving potential of night ventilation: Sensitivity to pressure coefficients for different European climates," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 185-195.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Yujiao & Tong, Zheming & Wu, Wentao & Samuelson, Holly & Malkawi, Ali & Norford, Leslie, 2019. "Achieving natural ventilation potential in practice: Control schemes and levels of automation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1141-1152.
    2. Cui, X. & Mohan, B. & Islam, M.R. & Chou, S.K. & Chua, K.J., 2017. "Energy performance evaluation and application of an air treatment system for conditioning building spaces in tropics," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 1500-1512.
    3. Seonghyun Park & Janghoo Seo & Sunwoo Lee, 2020. "Distribution Characteristics of Indoor PM 2.5 Concentration Based on the Water Type and Humidification Method," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-15, November.
    4. Costanzo, Vincenzo & Yao, Runming & Xu, Tiantian & Xiong, Jie & Zhang, Qiulei & Li, Baizhan, 2019. "Natural ventilation potential for residential buildings in a densely built-up and highly polluted environment. A case study," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 340-353.
    5. Yu, Bendong & He, Wei & Li, Niansi & Wang, Liping & Cai, Jingyong & Chen, Hongbing & Ji, Jie & Xu, Gang, 2017. "Experimental and numerical performance analysis of a TC-Trombe wall," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 70-82.
    6. Yu, Bendong & Hou, Jingxin & He, Wei & Liu, Shanshan & Hu, Zhongting & Ji, Jie & Chen, Hongbing & Xu, Gang, 2018. "Study on a high-performance photocatalytic-Trombe wall system for space heating and air purification," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 365-380.
    7. Yu, Bendong & Yang, Jichun & He, Wei & Qin, Minghui & Zhao, Xudong & Chen, Hongbing, 2019. "The performance analysis of a novel hybrid solar gradient utilization photocatalytic-thermal-catalytic-Trombe wall system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 420-435.
    8. Ding, Lili & Zhao, Zhongchao & Wang, Lei, 2022. "Probability density forecasts for natural gas demand in China: Do mixed-frequency dynamic factors matter?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    9. Ghahramani, Ali & Pantelic, Jovan & Lindberg, Casey & Mehl, Matthias & Srinivasan, Karthik & Gilligan, Brian & Arens, Edward, 2018. "Learning occupants’ workplace interactions from wearable and stationary ambient sensing systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 42-51.
    10. Yu, Bendong & Li, Niansi & Yan, Chengchu & Liu, Xiaoyong & Liu, Huifang & Ji, Jie & Xu, Xiaoping, 2022. "The comprehensive performance analysis on a novel high-performance air-purification-sterilization type PV-Trombe wall," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 1201-1218.
    11. Ahmed, Tariq & Kumar, Prashant & Mottet, Laetitia, 2021. "Natural ventilation in warm climates: The challenges of thermal comfort, heatwave resilience and indoor air quality," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    12. Chen, Jianli & Brager, Gail S. & Augenbroe, Godfried & Song, Xinyi, 2019. "Impact of outdoor air quality on the natural ventilation usage of commercial buildings in the US," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 673-684.
    13. Huyen Do & Kristen S. Cetin, 2022. "Mixed-Mode Ventilation in HVAC System for Energy and Economic Benefits in Residential Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-18, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen, Yujiao & Tong, Zheming & Wu, Wentao & Samuelson, Holly & Malkawi, Ali & Norford, Leslie, 2019. "Achieving natural ventilation potential in practice: Control schemes and levels of automation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1141-1152.
    2. Tong, Zheming & Chen, Yujiao & Malkawi, Ali, 2017. "Estimating natural ventilation potential for high-rise buildings considering boundary layer meteorology," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 276-286.
    3. Tong, Zheming & Chen, Yujiao & Malkawi, Ali, 2016. "Defining the Influence Region in neighborhood-scale CFD simulations for natural ventilation design," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 625-633.
    4. Sakiyama, N.R.M. & Carlo, J.C. & Frick, J. & Garrecht, H., 2020. "Perspectives of naturally ventilated buildings: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    5. Tong, Zheming & Chen, Yujiao & Malkawi, Ali & Liu, Zhu & Freeman, Richard B., 2016. "Energy saving potential of natural ventilation in China: The impact of ambient air pollution," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 660-668.
    6. Liwei Wen & Kyosuke Hiyama, 2018. "Target Air Change Rate and Natural Ventilation Potential Maps for Assisting with Natural Ventilation Design During Early Design Stage in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-16, May.
    7. Payam Nejat & Fatemeh Jomehzadeh & Hasanen Mohammed Hussen & John Kaiser Calautit & Muhd Zaimi Abd Majid, 2018. "Application of Wind as a Renewable Energy Source for Passive Cooling through Windcatchers Integrated with Wing Walls," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-23, September.
    8. Elaouzy, Y. & El Fadar, A., 2022. "Energy, economic and environmental benefits of integrating passive design strategies into buildings: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    9. Yu, Bendong & He, Wei & Li, Niansi & Wang, Liping & Cai, Jingyong & Chen, Hongbing & Ji, Jie & Xu, Gang, 2017. "Experimental and numerical performance analysis of a TC-Trombe wall," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 70-82.
    10. He, Yueer & Liu, Meng & Kvan, Thomas & Peng, Shini, 2017. "An enthalpy-based energy savings estimation method targeting thermal comfort level in naturally ventilated buildings in hot-humid summer zones," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 717-731.
    11. Ahmed, Tariq & Kumar, Prashant & Mottet, Laetitia, 2021. "Natural ventilation in warm climates: The challenges of thermal comfort, heatwave resilience and indoor air quality," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    12. Chen, Yujiao & Malkawi, Ali & Liu, Zhu & Freeman, Richard Barry & Tong, Zheming, 2016. "Energy Saving Potential of Natural Ventilation in China: The Impact of Ambient Air Pollution," Scholarly Articles 27733689, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    13. Fiorentini, Massimo & Tartarini, Federico & Ledo Gomis, Laia & Daly, Daniel & Cooper, Paul, 2019. "Development of an enthalpy-based index to assess climatic potential for ventilative cooling of buildings: An Australian example," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    14. Cui, X. & Mohan, B. & Islam, M.R. & Chou, S.K. & Chua, K.J., 2017. "Energy performance evaluation and application of an air treatment system for conditioning building spaces in tropics," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 1500-1512.
    15. Zhang, Shaohui & Guo, Qinxin & Smyth, Russell & Yao, Yao, 2022. "Extreme temperatures and residential electricity consumption: Evidence from Chinese households," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    16. Wei Xue & Qingming Zhan & Qi Zhang & Zhonghua Wu, 2019. "Spatiotemporal Variations of Particulate and Gaseous Pollutants and Their Relations to Meteorological Parameters: The Case of Xiangyang, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-23, December.
    17. Qing He & Haiyang Zhao & Lin Shen & Liuqun Dong & Ye Cheng & Ke Xu, 2019. "Factors Influencing Residents’ Intention toward Green Retrofitting of Existing Residential Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-23, August.
    18. Ádám László Katona & Huang Xuan & Sara Elhadad & István Kistelegdi & István Háber, 2020. "High-Resolution CFD and In-Situ Monitoring Based Validation of an Industrial Passive Air Conduction System (PACS)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-23, June.
    19. Alberto Meiss & Miguel A. Padilla-Marcos & Jesús Feijó-Muñoz, 2017. "Methodology Applied to the Evaluation of Natural Ventilation in Residential Building Retrofits: A Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-19, April.
    20. Chenari, Behrang & Dias Carrilho, João & Gameiro da Silva, Manuel, 2016. "Towards sustainable, energy-efficient and healthy ventilation strategies in buildings: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1426-1447.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:189:y:2017:i:c:p:711-724. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.