Comfortable Net Zero Energy Buildings: A Building Optimization Process Based on the Minimization of Thermal Discomfort

The energy design of a building can be considered and formalized as a multivariable optimization problem. Once (and if) objectives are all clearly and explicitly spelled out, the challenge for the designers is how to explore the set of building variants compatible with the given constraints and to isolate the one(s) best fulfilling the objectives. The set of variants compatible with the constraints is generally much larger of what can be explored in a reasonable time span, even by making some a priori choices to guide the design based on previous experience and a first order approximation of physical laws. The goal of this research work is to develop and test an automated optimization process which may support designers in systematically exploring the domain of building variants in order to identify the most suitable one(s) to both guarantee a thermal comfortable indoor environment and minimize, or bring to zero, the energy needs for thermal control of such building.