Housing refurbishment using the Earth, Wind & Fire System The issue of climate change is getting bigger and affecting the world in serious ways. The world needs continuous improvement and innovation to progress towards achieving sustainability in the future. This research is a step to help mitigate these adverse effects through technological development in the building industry. Earth, Wind & Fire (EWF) system is an innovative air-conditioning system which bridges the gap between architecture and climate technology and works as an integrated part of the building to reduce the energy consumption and provide a good indoor environment. The research thus aims to answer the following question: “How can the Earth, Wind & Fire system be integrated in the Housing refurbishment in the Netherlands to achieve a nearly energy neutral design and improve the indoor comfort of the building?” A case study building is selected to carry out the said
BT-Bundle |2021
investigation. Several design strategies were incorporated for the case study building to design the EWF system with highest technical performance. The study also incorporated dynamic simulations to evaluate the energy performance of the building after installing the EWF system. The results of the simulations show that the annual energy consumption of the case study building reduces by 14% after installing the EWF system and keeping the other installations and the façade intact. However, when the existing façade is refurbished in addition to installing the EWF system, the annual energy consumption reduces by 57%. It is concluded that the integration of the Earth, Wind & Fire system has a great potential to reduce the energy consumption of the old apartment buildings in the Netherlands thereby also improving the indoor comfort. Moreover, it is also derived that the transformation of the old housing stock into a nearly energy neutral building requires a deep refurbishment strategy.
Air inlet and exhaust mechanism
Entrance view EWF scheme
Entrance view
Name Graduation year Tutors
Air supply and exhaust scheme
Facade refurbishment & duct integration in gallery
Yamini Patidar 2021 Regina Bokel, Marcel Bilow, Ben Bronsema 11
