Activation of the concrete core
Thermally Active Building Systems Explained
That’s why there is an increasing trend in 21st-century green building design to move away from conventional all-air systems as the primary method of temperature control, and integrate them with TABS – thermally active building systems.
The reason for the upsurgence of TABS as a priority green design element in modern commercial construction is a simple two-fold one: they are far more cost-effective and energy-efficient than their counterpart systems. That alone should be reason enough to consider them for any and all building projects you plan to undertake. However, a slightly more in-depth explanation may be what you require to make informed project planning decisions.
How Do Thermally Active Building Systems Work?
A fundamental concept to understand about thermo-active building systems is that they make use of the existing thermal capacity of the building, rather than requiring any additional occupational space for the installation of a conventional HVAC system such as pipes for central air-conditioning. In modern multistory buildings, this would be the space between the concrete floors and ceilings of the structure.
Principally, thermo-active systems work by activating the mass of the building and employing the inherent heating and cooling characteristics of the building material to facilitate the process of temperature control. In radiant cooling systems, this would be done through a relationship known as thermal coupling – using water flow to influence the temperature of the concrete and thereby active the transfer of energy. Why is this so powerful and efficient? Because it takes away the strained need to individually regulate room temperatures with vastly different load requirements and instead uses the mass of the entire building to regulate temperature like a functioning organism.
How Do Thermally Active Building Systems Use Less Energy?
It would then be naturally acceptable to allocate a given amount of the 95% reduction in energy to run conventional HVAC systems concurrently with TABS – at a vastly reduced capacity to facilitate the search for optimal temperature in every indoor environment.
How Do Thermally Active Building Systems Save Costs?
The highlighted considerations make a strong case for thermo-active building systems to be incorporated as beneficial elements to your building’s green design objectives and certainly to carry it into the future as a cost and energy saving entity.
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