Research work between Professor Wangda Zuo and other collaborators culminated in a paper published in the journal Energy and Buildings, titled “Climate change sensitive sizing and design for nearly zero-energy office building systems in Brussels.”
The paper analyzed climate change’s predicted impacts on European building performance and found that risk of overheating in buildings skyrocketed by the end of the 21st century. To address this issue, he researchers created an HVAC system design and sizing method to minimize climate change-caused overheating and cooling considering the changes in temperature, humidity, solar irrandiance, etc. of the building, which they found significantly decreased risks of overheating and overcooling during the investigated timeframe in a case study of a Brussels, Belgium office building model. They also suggested incorporating electric HVAC equipment and associated building renovations where possible, as electricity is predicted to become cleaner as more renewables are introduced to the grid.
The paper can be found here.