Investigation of High-rise Building Ventilation for Achieving Safety and Energy Efficiency

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Canada has made a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 80% below 2005 levels by 2050. The buildings sector accounts for roughly 29% of energy use in Canada and almost 25% of GHG emissions. Compared with other types of buildings, high-rise buildings have a higher cooling load and are more energy intensive, which leads to periods of peak electricity demand on the utility grid in Canada during the summer. Therefore, reducing the cooling load of high-rise buildings is critical to energy savings and reduction of peak electricity demand. High-rise ventilative cooling (HVC) has proved to be an effective solution for reducing cooling load. Due to Canada's cold climate, HVC is available for a long time throughout the year, not only during the shoulder season, but also in summer. Wide application of HVC in Canada could help Canada realize its commitment in transitioning to a competitive and resilient low-carbon economy. However, fire safety is a major concern for wide HVC application. The stack effect in the large vertical spaces of high-rise buildings is beneficial for HVC but is also a great challenge for high-rise fire smoke protection. Although previous studies have focused on the issue of energy efficiency or safety of HVC, few of them have investigated these two aspects simultaneously and the associated optimum HVC design. Therefore, the conflict between high-rise ventilation and safety has not been solved, which has impeded the promotion of HVC application and become an obstacle for Canada in realizing its commitment. The overall objective of this research program is to optimize HVC design in cold climates by considering both aspects of building safety and energy efficiency. To achieve this, the research program will address the following gaps in the literature: (1) theoretical study of heat and mass transfer in high-rise ventilation and fire smoke control; (2) optimum HVC design in cold climates by considering both aspects of building safety and energy efficiency; (3) case study of high-rise ventilation for achieving safety and energy efficiency. This will be one of the first interdisciplinary research programs on building energy efficiency and safety. It will contribute to a deep understanding of heat and mass transfer in high-rise ventilation and smoke control, optimum HVC design and real HVC application in Canada. With support from the NSERC Discovery Grant, the applicant will pioneer the research and application of ventilative cooling in high-rise buildings in the world. It will promote the application of HVC across Canada and worldwide and contribute to safety, economical (energy efficiency) and environmental aspects (e.g. GHG emissions) related to high-rise buildings. It will also support the training of two PhD, two MSc, and two undergraduate students with expertise in both building safety and energy efficiency, which is highly sought after in a fast expanding area.