Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
usage of natural ventilation during the year. This can be done based on the available
equations, normally should be provided in the standard. The calculated value of use
of natural ventilation then should be evaluated against a set of values, e.g., from zero
to better than three. If based on the presented calculations there is no possibility for
the design building to utilize the natural ventilation mode during the year, the score
will be zero, and if the calculations show there is a possibility of one (PI
NV
= 1), two
(PI
NV
= 2), three or more (PI
NV
= 3) months in the year for utilizing natural ventila-
tion in lieu of mechanical ventilation then the proposed building scores 1, 2, or 3
points for this PI
NV
. Building shall undergo all the different evaluating PIs, and the
combination of all the PIs represents the fi nal score and shows the building level of
sustainability.
As a fi nal note it should be said that one of the areas that most of the designers
hesitate to design and the code offi cials hesitate to accept performance based design
instead of prescriptive design is the fi re protection systems in the building. It is of
course because the fi re protection system has a direct effect on the life and safety of
the building occupants in case of breaking fi re in the building, and therefore follow-
ing the exact prescriptive guidelines are almost always preferred. For an in depth
discussion on performance based buildings see (Augenbroe
2011
) .
Reference
Augenbroe G (2011) The roll of simulation in performance based building. In: Hensen LMJ,
Lamberts R (eds) Building performance simulation for design and operation, Chapter II, Spon
Press
