As environmental and energy issues continue to emerge as global concerns, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification is becoming highly valued. However, since additional costs for LEED certification cannot be estimated before proceeding with certification projects, financial losses are often incurred. Additional construction costs are the most significant issue faced by enterprises aiming for LEED certification. Rough estimates of the range of additional construction costs are available, but it is difficult to identify factors that increase or decrease the price of a building. Thus, there is a need for a program that provides average data for LEED certification costs and suggests the easiest way to attain credits for a building. Considering that LEED certification is a rating system, this study develops an optimization algorithm that aims to derive the minimum score for a desired LEED level at minimal cost. Credits are studied and classified by their difficulty and the required cost, allowing for an algorithm that can suggest a customized approach to acquire the minimal required score. The practical, data-driven program developed herein helps shorten the consulting process and increases the accessibility of LEED certification.

This study analyzes the performance of thermal energy storage tanks and chillers in efficiently operating cooling systems for smart greenhouses in hot, arid climates such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The performance of chillers is heavily influenced by outdoor air temperatures, with the coefficient of performance (COP) of chillers decreasing and energy consumption increasing as daytime temperatures rise. This study found that when the outdoor air temperature reached 46.6 °C, the COP of the chiller dropped to 2.18, representing a 24.6% decrease compared to the COP of 2.89 at 35 °C. Conversely, at night, when the outdoor air temperature dropped to 28.3 °C, the chiller’s performance recovered, with the COP rising to 3.67. To address this, a strategy utilizing thermal energy storage tanks to store chilled water at night for use during the day was proposed, compensating for the decline in chiller performance. The results showed that when the thermal energy storage capacity was set at 40%, energy consumption decreased by up to 15%. However, while increasing the thermal energy storage capacity beyond 50% effectively reduced the peak load on the chiller, further increasing it beyond 60% led to a rise in chiller capacity and energy consumption. Therefore, this study concludes that setting the thermal energy storage capacity to no more than 50% is the most effective strategy to maximize chiller performance and reduce energy consumption. These findings provide crucial guidelines for the design and operation of cooling systems, offering valuable strategies to optimize the operation of smart greenhouses in hot climates.