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Thermally dynamic building envelope is a promising technology to achieve building energy saving while improving thermal comfort. Their performance is highly dependent on the local climate conditions as well as on the way the dynamic properties are operated/controlled. The evaluation of whole building performance through building energy simulation can be useful to understand the potentials of different dynamic opaque envelope with active insulations in a specific context. This paper evaluates the potential to use model-free online reinforcement-learning (MFORL) control to regulate the behavior of dynamic building envelopes. Specifically, two control strategies were formulated and evaluated on dynamic opaque envelopes that consist of a concrete layer sandwiched between two active insulations on both sides of the thermal mass: (i) simple temperature-driven rule-based control, and (ii) MFORL control. The controllers were preliminarily tested in two scenarios with 10-day representative behavior under mild climate or during transitional seasons. The results show that MFORL control is promising in achieving adaptive thermal behavior for dynamic building envelopes and may have advantages over traditional rule-based controllers under complex environment.
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This content will become publicly available on April 1, 2026
Review of Dynamic Building Envelope Systems and Technologies Utilizing Renewable Energy Resources
Dynamic building envelopes integrated with renewable energy sources, termed Dynamic and Renewable Source Building Envelopes (DREBE), provide an innovative approach to optimizing building envelope designs. Yet, these systems are not mature enough and not widely adopted in the industry and few literature resources are employed to understand them. These systems dynamically respond and adapt to various environmental, energy, and occupancy demands for higher energy efficiency and comfort levels compared to traditional building envelopes while simultaneously producing energy. Their potential in climate change mitigation and fostering sustainable urban development warrants great attention from industry and urban planners. Especially in positive energy districts, which aim to reach net-positive energy goals through utilizing smart energy efficient building systems on the district level. This paper reviews innovative systems like dynamic photovoltaic shading devices and phase change materials and evaluates their performance by answering two research questions, what are the current DBE trends and are they feasible in achieving net-positive energy consumption? The analysis conducted reveals the dominance of solar-based dynamic renewable energy systems and a great need for alternatives. The study suggests that alternatives like wind as a renewable energy source should be studied with dynamic systems. Moreover, the study highlights current research gaps including insufficient data on long-term application and economic costs associated with such systems. To address this gap, the study suggests exploring in depth some of these systems and then branching into various combinations of dynamic envelope systems with multiple renewable or adaptive components to further enhance the overall building performance. By synthesizing the current body of literature, this paper gives insights into advancing the application of the dynamic building envelope systems and highlights their crucial role in the future of sustainable urban environments.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2001207
- PAR ID:
- 10611698
- Publisher / Repository:
- MDPI
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Designs
- Volume:
- 9
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 2411-9660
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 41
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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