A New Approach to Evaluate Energy Savings, Thermal Comfort and IAQ from Occupant-Centric Building Controls.
This project aims to develop a new approach to evaluate energy savings, thermal comfort, and indoor air quality from occupant-centric building controls and demonstrate the approach with full-scale experiments in the SyracuseCoE’s Total Indoor Environmental Quality Laboratory (TIEQ Lab)
In collaboration with Bing Dong, Meng Kong, and Steven VonDeak.

This project initiates the development of an innovative Green Design Studio (GDS – a software framework) for fast generation of creative design options/solutions at the early/conceptual building design stage. The GDS will consist of logically defined functional building blocks, called green building entities (GBEs), and algorithms for integration of compatible GBEs to form optimal designs of buildings or community systems according to the criteria for human comfort, health and well-being and urban sustainability. In collaboration with Amber Bartosh.

Professor Zhang is developing a model for indoor air quality which will leverage an existing model developed by his research group. The IAQ model is being developed by first completing analyses in small environmental chambers using selected materials and then analyzing a large chamber where an indoor residential space will be mocked. Ultimately, the project will develop indoor air quality design and control strategies for low-energy residential buildings.