Sustainability assessment framework for infrastructure: application to buildings / by Jonghoon Kim

In the United States, buildings account for 20–40% of the total energy consumption based on their operation and maintenance, which consume nearly 80% of their energy during their lifecycle. In order to reduce building energy consumption and related problems (i.e. global warming, air pollution, and energy shortages), numerous building technology programs, codes, and standards have been developed such as net-zero energy buildings, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers 90.1. However, these programs, codes, and standards are typically utilized before or during the design and construction phases. Subsequently, it is difficult to track whether buildings could still reduce energy consumption post construction. This dissertation fills the gap in knowledge of analytical methods for building energy analysis studies for LEED buildings. It also focuses on the use of green space for reducing atmospheric temperature, which contributes the most to building energy consumption. The three primary objectives of this research are to: 1) find the relationship between building energy consumption, outside atmospheric temperature, and LEED Energy and Atmosphere credits (OEP); 2) examine the use of different green space layouts for reducing the atmospheric temperature of high-rise buildings; and 3) use data mining techniques (i.e. clustering, isolation, and anomaly detection) to identify data anomalies in the energy data set and evaluate LEED Energy and Atmosphere credits based on building energy patterns. The results found that buildings with lower OEP used the highest amount of energy. LEED OEP scores tended to increase the energy saving potential of buildings, thereby reducing the need for renovation and maintenance. The results also revealed that the shade and evaporation effects of green spaces around buildings were more effective for lowering the daytime atmospheric temperature in the range of 2°C to 6.5°C. Additionally, abnormal energy consumption patterns were found in LEED buildings that used anomaly detection methodology analysis. Overall, LEED systems should be evaluated for energy performance to ensure that buildings continue to save energy after construction.