Progress 03/01/10 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience reached by our research and outreach efforts isthegreen building community, including building owners (both public and private owners), designers and contractors involved, and building occupants (residents and other building users). Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We provided training to two graduate students through research and paper writing activities. The reseachers also attended conferences to present papers and share research ideas with peers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Conference and journal articles were developed and published to disseminate the research results and products to broader audience. We also organized the Symposium on Building Energy and Environment in collaboration with other OSU faculty to provide education to academic and industry attendees. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This year's research continued to refine the causes for inferior building energy performance of OSU campus LEED buildings, and how the Green Building and Energy Policy from OSU could be improved to address these issues. A journal article was revised and accepted for publication by Journal of Green Building. We utilized a more advanced data analysis method (i.e., neural networks) to predict the structural performance of green concrete that is made with alternative and/or recycled waste materials beyond our original modeling and experimental approaches. The research results were developed into a journal article, which is currently under review. We also developed two journal papers based on a completed Ph.D. dissertation and submitted them for review. Finally, we were performing the proposed research in the area of cyber-physical systems in future sustainable buildings funded by a 3-year NSF grant (1/1/2015-12/31/2017) and finished the building simulation and comfort analysis tasks. One additional accomplishment is that we received an internal 2-year education and outreach grant that aims to enhance education, research, and outreach on energy efficient, healthy, green homes.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Jin, R and Chen, Q. 2015. "Investigation of concrete recycling in the U.S. construction industry." In: Proc. of the International Conference on Sustainable Design, Engineering and Construction 2015, Chicago, IL, 8 pages.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Chen, Q., Acey, C., and Lara, J. 2015. "Sustainable futures for Linden Village: A model for increasing social capital and the quality of life in an urban neighborhood." Sustainable Cities and Society, 14, 359-373.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Chen, Q. and Jin, R. 2015. "A comparison of subgroup construction workers' perceptions of a safety program." Safety Science, 74(4), 15-26.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Liu, J., Kou, T., Chen, Q., and Sherali, H. D. 2015. "On wireless network infrastructure optimization for cyber-physical systems in future smart buildings." International Journal of Sensor Networks, 18(3/4), 148-160.
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Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience is the green building community including building owners (both public and private owners), designers and contractors involved, and building occupants (residents and other building users). Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? We involved both graduate and undergraduate students in our research and paper writing activities.One of them is an African American student under OSU's Summer Research Opportunities Program.Financial support was also provided to allow one graduate student to attend an international conference, presenthis paper, and network with peer researchers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Conference and journal articles were developedand published to disseminate the research results and products to broader audience. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Quantitative research will be conducted to model campus buildings that have much higher energy intensities thanthe peer group ofbuildings. New algorithms will be developed based on the identified problems and optimization will be performed to enhance current control schemes. While developing research papers, we will alsodevelop educational papers that focus on using service learning to enhance student learning and knowledge dissemination among communities to be served.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This year's research continued to explore the causes for inferior building energy performance of OSU campus LEED buildings, and how the Green Building and Energy Policy from OSU could be improved to address these issues. A journal article was submitted to Journal of Green Buildings and is now under revision for resubmission. We also investigated the LEED approach taken by Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) to build Ohio greenschools, which led to a conference publication. We advanced thecase study of urban neighborhood redevelopment in the Linden Village neighborhood (near downtown Columbus) andfurther developed our early conference paper published in 2012 into ajounal article. This articlewas accepted for publication in April 2014. In addition,we utilized a more advanced data analysis method (i.e., neuralnetworks)to predict the structural performance of green concrete that is made of alternative and/or recycled waste materials beyond our original modeling and experimental approaches. The research results were published in a conference paper. Finally, we were able to secure a 3-year NSF grant to carry outresearch in the smart, high performance building area.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Baird, D., Chen, Q., and Holmes, G. "Investigation of LEED school projects in Ohio." In: Proc. of ASC 50th Annual International Conference, Mar 2014, Washington, DC. 8 pages. [Peer-Review].
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Abounia Omran, B., Chen, Q., and Jin, R. "Prediction of compressive strength of green concrete using artificial neural networks." In: Proc. of ASC 50th Annual International Conference, Mar 2014, Washington, DC. 8 pages. [Peer-Review]
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Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience is the green building community including building owners (both public and private owners), designers and contractors involved, and building occupants (residents and other building users). Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? This project provided training opportunities for residents and communities to learn cost-effective energy efficiency measures. Students involved in the green building education and outreach program conducted multiple service learning projects, which enhanced their technical skills and awareness of community service. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? A series of brochures and posters were developed and used for community education and outreach. Hands-on community workshops were held forthe Linden Village neighborhood.Articles were written and published in community newletters. Conference and journal articles were developed to disseminate the research results and products to broader audience. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Research will be performed to develop a modelthat can guide the research, education, and outreach programs in the green building and community redevelopment area.An exhibition will be organized, whichwill display educational materials, posters, models, and other project findings touniversity faculty and students, as well as residents and students from the Linden Village community.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Through interviews and focus group studies on a selected green building, the green building research garnered a deeper understanding on how the building performed in providing a comfortable environment to occupants, how the building was operated and maintained after occupancy, what were the causes for inferior building energy performance, and how the Green Building and Energy Policy from owners could be improved to address these issues. Studies were also performed to investigate the LEED approach taken by Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) to build Ohioschools. The case study of urban neighborhood redevelopment inthe Linden Village neighborhood (near downtown Columbus)found that the area experienced the same sprawl-driven population loss and economic decline facing many inner city communities in the United States. In this case, local redevelopment is hampered by the deteriorating environment. Moreover, old houses without proper maintenance, repairs, and upgrades are subjected to elevated energy use, high utility costs, and poor environmental quality, placing a burden on remaining residents. The project sought to increase community awareness of and involvement in sustainable housing and neighborhood development. Activities included identifying community development priorities, conducting a neighborhood health assessment, providing technical assistance and on-the-job training for local residents in green home rehabilitation and new construction, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) based mapping for neighborhood development and economic growth. Findings from this project provide baseline results for more wide-ranging studies and facilitate informed decision-making for the creation of healthy and sustainable urban environments. To improve the overall sustainability of building development, this research also analyzed the sustainability of different structural members and new green concrete that is made of alternative and/or recycled waste materials by using modeling and experimental approaches.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Danatzko, J. M., Sezen, H., and Chen, Q. 2013. Sustainable design and energy consumption analysis for structural components, Journal of Green Building, 8(1), 120-135.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Chen, Q., Jin, R., and Soboyejo, A. 2013. Understanding a contractors regional variations in safety performance, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(6), 641-653.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Chen, Q. and Jin, R. 2013. Multi-level safety culture and climate survey for assessing new safety program, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(7), 805-817.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Jin, R. and Chen, Q. 2013. Safety culture: Effects of environment, behavior and person, Journal of Professional Safety, 58(5), 60-70.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Jin, R. and Chen, Q. 2013. An investigation of current status of green concrete in the construction industry, in Proc. of ASC 49th Annual International Conference, Apr. 10-13, San Luis Obispo, CA. 8 pages.
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Masters Project Report: Chou, Miao-Chen, A Predictive Model of a Multi-zone University Building: New Dreese Laboratory.
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Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Assessed the applicability and cost-effectiveness of energy efficiency measures (EEMs) applied to residential and commercial buildings, energy performance of public housing units after energy retrofits, and newly developed LEED buildings on the university campus. The public housing study was mainly based on 1) a survey of EEMs used in Columbus Public Housing Authority's recent energy retrofitting projects and 2) whole building energy simulation. The results were presented in a published journal article. The LEED building study, part of the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Research to Practice program, included an investigation of energy performance level of three LEED buildings, two focus group studies among building occupants and operation and maintenance staff, and an evaluation of OSU's Green Building and Energy Policy. The results were included in the project report submitted to USGBC, a Master thesis, and a journal paper currently under preparation. Continuously performed the case study of the "Safety4Site" program. In addition to developing three new journal articles based on early findings, how the safety program contributed to building a positive safety culture for the general contractor (GC) was thoroughly studied. Specifically, a safety culture model with three interdependent dimensions (environment, behavior and person) was borrowed from the literature and used as a framework to evaluate whether and how the safety program enhanced these three safety culture dimensions. A journal article oriented to industry practitioners was written and submitted to a professional journal. Furthered the study on the application of wireless network technologies on building and construction environments. Both the global optimization and heuristic approaches were attempted to find ideal access point (AP) locations to minimize energy use of mobile devices used in the network while maintaining the network coverage. A software tool was also developed for building/construction site network managers. The study led to one published journal article and two conference papers. PARTICIPANTS: Collaborators: Liu, J. and Sherali, H. contributed to the development of the optimization algorithm for AP placement in building environments. Dial, A. provided professional insights and assistance for the LEED building study. Acey, C. and Lara, J. were collaborators in an integrated education, research and outreach project targeting home energy retrofitting and rehabilitation. Training was provided to three graduate students, Omran, B., Jin, R. and Kleinman, L. in researching optimum AP placement, construction jobsite safety, and building energy efficiency, respectively. TARGET AUDIENCES: Building Industry, Public Agencies, General Public, Home/Building Owners and Students. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
The research on public housing energy efficiency retrofitting projects found that the EEMs used in these projects were not the most cost-effective options. The resulted energy performance improvement of the studied houses was also limited: only 7.6% better than that prior to green renovation. Another 38.5% reduction would be needed to meet the performance requirement of the current building energy code. This research recommended some more cost-effective energy efficiency upgrades and offered valuable insights to help public agencies (e.g., public housing authorities) make informed decisions for their future green renovation projects, especially under a limited budget. The LEED building research revealed a surprising fact that a newly built campus LEED building used twice the energy as what was predicted by the design engineer, and also performed more poorly than a similar building built under regular building code in terms of energy use and human comfort. Outcomes of this research help increase the awareness of building owners that LEED building certification does not necessarily guarantee energy savings and their active involvement in the design, measurement and verification phases of a LEED project is crucial for project success. The research results from the safety program study demonstrated that the safety program investigated was very helpful for the GC to build a positive safety culture for itself and the hired subcontractors and suppliers. The program's key elements and how it helped build the safety culture was presented among industry practitioners on the 7th OSU-OSHA Annual Safety Day. This will benefit contractors in their safety management and help improve their safety performance. The research on AP placement provides not only optimization algorithms but also a software tool that can be used by building/construction site network managers to design site-specific, goal-oriented, and energy efficient wireless networks, which will help improve the information technology infrastructure on the construction jobsites to enhance productivity as well as benefit building energy and environment monitoring and control.
Publications
- Liu, J., Kou, T., Chen, Q., and Sherali, H. D. 2012. On wireless network infrastructure optimization for cyber-physical systems in future smart buildings. In: Proc. of 7th International Conference on Wireless Algorithms, Systems, and Applications. Yellow Mountains, China. 607-618.
- Liu, J., Chen, Q., and Sherali, H. 2012. Algorithm design for femtocell base station placement in commercial building environments. In: Proc. of the 31st Annual IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications, Mar. 25-30. Orlando, FL. 3233-3237.
- Chen, Q., Acey, C., and Lara, J. 2012. Sustainable futures for Linden Village: A model for rehabilitation and sustainable development of urban neighborhoods. In: 2nd International Conference on Sustainable Design, Engineering, and Construction, ASCE, Nov. 7-9, Fort Worth, TX.
- Chen, Q. and Jin, R. 2012. Safety4Site commitment to enhance jobsite safety management and performance. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. Vol. 138, no. 4: 509-519.
- Chen, Q. and Ma, Q. 2012. A study of the energy efficiency renovation on public housing projects. Journal of Green Building. Vol. 7, no. 1: 192-212.
- Chen, Q., Dial, A., and Kleinman, L. 2012. Energy performance analysis of LEED buildings on OSU's Campus: Implications for OSU's Green Building and Energy Policy. Research Project Report to U.S. Green Building Council. 34 pages. U.S. Green Building Council 2101 L Street, NW Suite 500 Washington DC 20037.
- Liu, J., Kou, T., Chen, Q., and Sherali, H. 2012. Femtocell base station deployment in commercial buildings: A global optimization approach. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications. Vol. 30, no. 3: 652-663.
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Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The new construction safety program was launched. This program focuses on increasing the safety awareness and accountability of the General Contractor's (GC) employees, all hired subcontractors, and material suppliers of all tiers, while achieving positive changes in safety attitude and behavior. The safety program consists of three key elements: 100% eye protection, daily "huddle" meeting and accountability for accidents, incidents, and near misses by holding all employees accountable for their safety and health responsibilities based on 20 non-negotiable behaviors identified. Performed a case study of Messer Construction Co's (GC) using this program. Compared various before-and-after incident rates and Total Recordable Incidence Rates (TRIR, also called IR) during the 17-month study period. Incident rates, safety violation rates (SVR, a new measurement created by the PI), and safety culture and climate scores were analyzed and effectiveness of the program quantitatively assessed. Findings were presented in one journal paper and two published conference papers. Conducted a survey of 71 top executives, 230 site management personnel, and 351 field workers for their awareness, perception, and acceptance of the Safety4Site program. This survey's results recommends improvement measures to enhance safety management programs and workers' safety performance. In addition to construction safety research, the potential application of wireless local area network (WLAN) on construction jobsites was studied. The initial finding on a global optimization approach for access point (AP) placement in 3-D building environments was summarized in a journal paper accepted for publication in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (JSAC). Effort was also made to enhance the research in energy efficiency of public housing and led to another accepted journal article. Collaborators Liu, J. and Sherali, H. contributed to the development of the optimization algorithm for AP placement in building environments. Training was provided to two graduate students, Tianyou Kou and Ruoyu Jin in researching optimum AP placement and construction jobsite safety. PARTICIPANTS: Collaborators: Liu, J. and Sherali, H. The collaborators contributed to the development of the optimization algorithm for AP placement in building environments. Training was provided to two graduate students, Tianyou Kou and Ruoyu Jin, in researching optimum AP placement and construction jobsite safety. TARGET AUDIENCES: Building Industry, Public Agencies, General Public, Homeowners and Students. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
The Safety4Site program has been started by a general contractor (Messer) in building construction to reduce injuries and workers' exposure to OSHA Focus 4 Hazards. Evaluation of the Safety4Site program showed it was effective in preventing and reducing jobsite accidents/incidents for Messer. In contrast, subcontractors' incident rates were not significantly impacted by the program. Data also showed that the program had a higher positive impact on Messer (with decreased SVRs) than on subcontractors in reducing unsafe behaviors. The research findings demonstrated the positive impact of this behavior-based safety management program and safety cultural intervention, which can be borrowed by other contractors. The research also found that the safety program was effective in reducing jobsite accidents/incidents and safety violations in the GC's organization while having less impact on subcontractors' safety performance. This disclosed that subcontractors' safety performance was becoming a big challenge to the industry. Survey results of building industry personnel found that Safety4Site program had been widely recognized and accepted by survey respondents. In general, Messer's employees had better awareness of the program than subcontractors. The insights generated through the survey can be used for contractors to enhance their safety management programs and workers' safety performance. The program has also achieved success in holding executives, site management, and workers accountable for jobsite safety. Safety4Site was perceived to have increased workers' safety awareness and improved the company's safety performance. It was also deemed to positively impact Messer's and subcontractors' organizational safety culture and the safety climate on construction jobsites. The research on AP placement distributed to industry through a journal publication) provides an optimization algorithm that can be used to set up an optimum WLAN on construction sites during different project stages . This WLAN provides an infrastructure for real-time onsite information collection, transmission, and processing and will help improve the productivity and efficiency of the construction industry. The WLAN infrastructure can also be used to support wireless sensor networks for monitoring building energy performance and indoor environment quality.
Publications
- Chen, Q. and Jin, R. 2011. An effective approach to enhancing jobsite safety management and performance: Case study. In: Proc. of ASC 47th Annual International Conference, Apr. 6-9, Omaha, NE. 427-436.
- Jin, R. and Chen, Q. 2011. A case study of safety performance variations among a general contractor's regional branches. In Prevention: Means to the End of Safety and Health Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities, CIB W099 Conference 2011. Aug. 24-26. Washington, D.C.
- Chen, Q., and Jin, R. 2011. Safety4SiteTM Commitment: Improving Safety Performance and Safety Culture. Research Report. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. pp72.
- Welsh, M. 2011. Green Roofs as a Solution to Stormwater Management Issues: A Problem with October Planting in Columbus, OH. Honor Thesis. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
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Progress 01/01/10 to 12/31/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The findings of the three workshops held in 2008 and 2009 among OSU researchers and homebuilding related practitioners were summarized into a journal publication. The cost effectiveness of home energy efficient (EE) improvement measures was researched in an honor thesis study of an undergraduate student by using the following methodology. The EE measures including replacing 2x4 with 2x6 in stud walls, upgrading the interior and exterior finishes, altering the framing and truss style for more insulation in the attic, etc. were added into three selected home plans in 2500, 3700, and 6000 square feet. The energy performance of these three EE enhanced houses and their conventional counterparts was simulated in the eQuest program. The reduction of annual energy consumption of each of these houses compared to its counterpart was tracked and related cost savings were calculated. The cost differences between implementing the EE improvement measures in the enhanced houses and building conventional components in normal houses were estimated. A payback year calculation for those selected EE improvements was performed to assess their cost effectiveness. The effectiveness of EE improvement measures implemented in public housing was also researched by a graduate student for her Master's Thesis. In particular, questionnaire surveys were conducted among residents living in Columbus's public housing to understand the thermal performance and energy consumption of these public houses. Interviews with the director and management staff in Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) were performed to learn the current status of public housing projects in Columbus, OH and green renovation projects CMHA is carrying on. Interviews with project architects were also conducted to identify EE improvement measures they were putting into place. Based on the collected information, energy simulation for a selected house was performed in eQuest under three conditions: before renovation, after renovation and under current codes. The simulated energy uses in these three houses were compared to determine how effective these EE improvement measures are. The cost effectiveness of several EE improvement measures proposed by researchers was also evaluated by adopting a similar approach as described above. The PI is teaching a green building course at OSU that incorporates research findings on super energy eneficient (SEE) homes. A guest lecture on energy-efficient building technologies was given by the PI to the students in the Department of FABE's graduate student seminar. Another guest lecture on green construction was taught to students taking the Department of Industrial Engineering's seminar series on Energy and the Environment. PARTICIPANTS: Collaborators: Kinzel, G., Zimmerman, A., Potter, S., and Lichtensteiger, M. These collaborators and the PI organized three workshops that involved participants of the housing industry to identify barriers to the wide acceptance and application of SEE home technologies and solicit comments and buy-in for a holistic approach to increasing the number of SEE homes being built. Training was provided to one undergraduate student, M. Kellermeyer, and one graduate student, Q. Ma in researching energy efficient homes and performing whole house energy simulation. TARGET AUDIENCES: Building Industry, Public Agencies, General Public, Homeowners and Students PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
The workshop findings included in the journal publication established a thorough understanding about the major barriers to the wide spread adoption of SEE homes and proposed a holistic approach to promoting SEE homes. The workshop results also revealed that it is not only necessary to build each new home as an integrated system, but we must also think of the home building industry as a system where all of the stakeholders need to be involved in the process to change the home building culture. This document will offer useful insights to researchers, practitioners, and public agencies in promoting SEE homes. In the comparable research performed by the undergraduate student, the cost differences between the EE enhanced houses and conventional houses in 2500, 3700, and 6000 square feet were found to be $5461, $6530 and $8271, respectively. The total energy and utility bill cost savings for these EE enhanced houses are 9343kWh ($432), 13060kWh ($612), and 20314 kWh ($1139), resulting in a payback period of 12.5, 10.5, and 7.2 years, respectively. This analysis proved that the longer payback period makes EE improvement measures unattractive to homeowners since most of them would sell their houses within five years. This barrier should be well addressed for any EE home program to work. Through the questionnaire survey among residents in Columbus public housing, it was found that most of residents were satisfied with the thermal comfort in their houses but not their high energy costs. Energy simulation and analysis disclosed that the green renovation being performed by CMHA could only improve a house's energy performance by 12%. When compared to the requirements of current building energy codes, another 57% reduction in the house's energy consumption needs to be achieved. This research further proposed several cost-effective EE improvement measures that can be added to the renovated house to further cut down its energy consumption. These measures, including improving shell tightness, adding window shading and blinds, implementing an economizer for the HVAC system, and promoting behavior changes, could achieve additional 24.2% energy savings. The associated project costs could be paid back in approximately 2.7 years based on a simple economic analysis. The completed thesis was provided to CMHA and hopefully will benefit their future green renovation projects. The information was also developed into a journal publication currently under review.
Publications
- Chen, Q., Kinzel, G., Zimmerman, A., Potter, S., and Lichtensteiger, M. 2010. Barriers and Impediments to a Holistic Approach to Promoting Super-Energy-Efficient (SEE) Homes. Journal of Green Building. Vol.5, no. 4. In press
- Kellermeyer, M. 2010. An Economic Comparison of Super-Energy-Efficient Houses to Standard Built Houses. Honor Thesis. The Ohio State University, Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Columbus,OH.
- Ma Q. 2010. A Study of the Energy Efficiency Improvement of Public Housing in Columbus, OH. Master's Thesis. The Ohio State University, Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Columbus, OH
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