Conventional construction materials which rely on a fossil-based, nonrenewable extractive economy are typically associated with an entrenched linear economic approach to production. Current research indicates the clear interrelationships between the production and use of construction materials and anthropogenic climate change. This paper investigates the potential for emerging high-performance biobased construction materials, produced sustainably and/or using waste byproducts, to enable a more environmentally sustainable approach to the built environment. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is employed to compare three wall assemblies using local biobased materials in Montreal (Canada), Nairobi (Kenya), and Accra (Ghana) vs. a traditional construction using gypsum boards and rockwool insulation. Global warming potential, nonrenewable cumulative energy demand, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, and freshwater consumption (FWC) are considered. Scenarios include options for design for disassembly (DfD), as well as potential future alternatives for electricity supply in Kenya and Ghana. Results indicate that all biobased alternatives have lower (often significantly so) life-cycle impacts per functional unit, compared to the traditional construction. DfD strategies are also shown to result in −10% to −50% impact reductions. The results for both African countries exhibit a large dependence on the electricity source used for manufacturing, with significant potential for future decarbonization, but also some associated tradeoffs in terms of acidification and eutrophication.

Daylighting is considered one of the main passive strategies for enhancing indoor spaces quality. Shading device is usually used to prevent excessive sunlight from delivering into the building, especially in clear-sunny sky environment. The use of a per-formative shading device can help in reducing both cooling and lighting loads, as well as improving the quality of the space. Nevertheless if such devices are not designed with care it may cause to admitting more sun rays than needed or result into poor daylit spaces. Sun breakers are believed to enhance the performance of southern faced spaces, as it provides protection from the excessive solar rays which have direct effect on the cooling loads. This paper investigates the effect of using sun breakers on both daylighting and energy performance. Year-round daylighting and energy simulations were conducted for a south oriented office space, located in the city of Cairo, Egypt. Diva-for-Rhino a plug-in used to interface Radiance and Daysim was used for calculating the annual Daylight Availability of the space. While Viper another plug-in for rhino and used to interface Energy-Plus was used for annual energy consumption simulations. Sun breakers with different settings and parameters were compared and the results were analyzed for achieving the needed balance. Results showed that the performance of sun breakers is tremendously related to its position, depth and rotation angle. The daylighting performance could be significantly enhanced; the `Daylit' area percentage can reach more than 72% of the space, while the savings in the annual energy consumed had also reached up to 34%. The results also showed that there is a satisfactory balance between the daylighting solutions and the thermal ones.

Current strategies for net-zero buildings favor envelopes with minimized aperture ratios and limiting of solar gains through reduced glazing transmittance and emissivity. This load-reduction approach precludes strategies that maximize on-site collection of solar energy, which could increase opportunities for net-zero electricity projects. To better leverage solar resources, a whole-building strategy is proposed, referred to as “Quality-Matched Energy Flows” (or Q-MEF): capturing, transforming, buffering, and transferring irradiance on a building’s envelope—and energy derived from it—into distributed end-uses. A mid-scale commercial building was modeled in three climates with a novel Building-Integrated, Transparent, Concentrating Photovoltaic and Thermal fenestration technology (BITCoPT), thermal storage and circulation at three temperature ranges, adsorption chillers, and auxiliary heat pumps. BITCoPT generated electricity and collected thermal energy at high efficiencies while transmitting diffuse light and mitigating excess gains and illuminance. The balance of systems satisfied cooling and heating demands. Relative to baselines with similar glazing ratios, net electricity use decreased 71% in a continental climate and 100% or more in hot-arid and subtropical-moderate climates. Total EUI decreased 35%, 83%, and 52%, and peak purchased electrical demands decreased up to 6%, 32%, and 20%, respectively (with no provisions for on-site electrical storage). Decreases in utility services costs were also noted. These results suggest that with further development of electrification the Q-MEF strategy could contribute to energy-positive behavior for projects with similar typology and climate profiles.