Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo

NOVASINERGIA, 2020, Vol. 3, No. 2, junio-noviembre (124-142)

ISSN: 2631-2654

https://doi.org/10.37135/ns.01.06.10

Review Article

http://novasinergia.unach.edu.ec

Improving building energy performance by addressing today's demand-

side challenges: A review of contributions from Latin America

Mejoras al desempeño energético en edificaciones abordando los desafíos actuales

del lado de la demanda: Una revisión de contribuciones de Latinoamérica

Miguel Chen Austin

1

, Carlos Boya

2

, Dafni Mora1

1,3*

1

Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica, Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá, Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá, 0819-07289;

miguel.chen@utp.ac.pa

2

Dirección de Investigación, Universidad Interamericana de Panamá, Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá, 07095;

carlos.boya@uip.pa

3

Centro de Estudios Multidisciplinario en Ciencias, Ingeniería y Tecnología, Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá

* Correspondence: dafni.mora@utp.ac.pa

Recibido 27 septiembre 2020; Aceptado 30 octubre 2020; Publicado 01 diciembre 2020

Abstract:

Due to the current global energy crisis, the United Nations' following measures to overcome

related challenges have been established with the participant nations' agreements. Despite

the efforts to include underdeveloped and developing countries in such a decision process,

most contributions continue to be shifted to the northern hemisphere. This work highlights

the efforts made by Latin American (LA) countries, between 2018-2020, in contributing

specifically to the improvements regarding building energy performance to address current

demand-side challenges. Such challenges are related to the demand-side management: (i)

uncontrolled peaks in demand and (ii) insufficient transmission and distribution capacity in

the power network. LA contributions are classified as independent (studies with LA

affiliations for LA countries), collaboration (studies with LA affiliations but not for LA

countries), and application (studies with non-LA affiliations for LA countries). Studies were

also classified as theoretical, experimental, the combination of both, and reviews. The two-

stage filtering methodology implemented resulted in a total of 176 documents as a starting

literature list. By focusing only on occupants' aspects, passive and low-consumption

solutions, and forecasting techniques for smart buildings, the processed literature list

resulted in 73 studies. Results showed that LA countries' efforts reside mostly in

implementing strategies previously developed and proposed by developed countries to carry

out case studies either independently or in collaboration. Finally, a strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis is presented to explain the results obtained.

Keywords:

Building performance, demand-side, energy efficiency, energy use, Latin America.

Resumen:

Debido a la actual crisis energética mundial y como resultado de los acuerdos de las

naciones participantes, se han establecido medidas por las Naciones Unidas para superar

los desafíos relacionados. A pesar de los esfuerzos para incluir a los países

subdesarrollados en dicho proceso de decisión, la mayoría de las contribuciones continúan

estando inclinadas al hemisferio norte. Así, este trabajo se enfoca en destacar los esfuerzos

realizados por los países Latinoamericanos (LA), entre 2018-2020, para contribuir

específicamente en las mejoras en el desempeño energético en edificaciones para abordar

los desafíos actuales del lado de la demanda. Dichos desafíos están relacionados con la

gestión de la demanda: (i) picos de demanda no controlados y (ii) capacidad de transmisión

y distribución insuficiente en la red eléctrica. Las contribuciones de LA se clasifican en

independientes, colaboración y aplicación. Los estudios también se clasificaron en teóricos,

experimentales, ambos y revisiones. La metodología de filtrado de dos etapas implementada

dio como resultado un total de 176 documentos como lista inicial. Al centrarse sólo en los

aspectos relacionados con los ocupantes, las soluciones pasivas y de bajo consumo y las

técnicas de previsión para edificios inteligentes, la lista procesada resultó en un total de 73

estudios. Los resultados mostraron que los esfuerzos realizados por los países LA residen

en su mayoría en la implementación de estrategias previamente desarrolladas y propuestas

por países desarrollados, para realizar estudios de caso como independiente o en

colaboración. Finalmente, se presenta un análisis de fortalezas, oportunidades, debilidades

y amenazas (FODA) para explicar los resultados obtenidos.

Palabras clave:

Desempeño energético de edificios, eficiencia energética, lado de la demanda,

Latinoamérica, uso de la energía.

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1 Introduction

The current global energy crisis has encouraged

researchers and developers since the United Nations

(UN) established the Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs) agreed upon in 2015. Within these SDG, three

are directly related to achieving more sustainable

strategies in the energy sector. The seventh SDG,

affordable and clean energy, was set to increment

clean energy access, energy efficiency, and renewable

energy usage. The eleventh SDG focuses on the

sustainability of cities and communities. The twelfth

SDG looks for collective efforts to promote people's

sense of responsibility regarding water consumption,

energy, and food consumption.

The transition to systems with a more significant share

of renewable energy and decarbonization pathways is

a global phenomenon. That involves paradigm shifts

in energy infrastructure, markets, and innovative

business models. Renewable energy sources are

dependent on the climate. Their incorporation into a

grid system must be necessary and maintain the

market's supply and demand conditions. Possible

ways of integration and implementation can be

considered, such as creating policies, energy

efficiency strategies measures and indicators, on-site

generation technologies, demand-side management,

and storage systems.

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries

have developed different paths by achieving energy

efficiency with a diverse degree of implementation

and compliance (OLADE, BID, & CEPAL, 2017).

The categorization of types of energy efficiency

policies and initiatives in LAC has been described on

the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)

webpage (International Renewable Energy Agency

(IRENA), 2020).

LAC region is still trying to find adequate solutions

according to the local climate, cultural, social,

technical, and economic context. Policies and

regulatory measures regarding energy usage have

been implemented over the last decade. Some LAC

countries as Panama, Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil,

Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and

Uruguay have building energy efficiency regulations.

1.1 Motivation and objective

The three SDG mentioned before can be achieved, to

a great degree, by focusing on the demand-side

management regarding energy-related challenges.

Among these challenges are: (i) uncontrolled peaks in

demand, which can increase the operating costs for

energy companies and increase the electricity tariffs

for consumers; and (ii) insufficient transmission and

distribution capacity in the power network. In

principle, both challenges can be addressed by

controlling the energy demand of the building sector.

The control of the power demand at the building sector

can be achieved by contributing to improving: (i)

occupants' (consumers') behavior, (ii) more efficient

passive and semi-passive solutions, (iii) systems'

energy efficiency, (iv) power generation systems such

as on-site renewable sources, and (v) energy storage

methods. Such demand-side management can bring

substantial benefits, such as cost reductions, more

resilient power networks. While expensive upgrades

to the power network can delay or prevent an increase

in renewable variable on-site sources.

As shown in figure 1, it is known that most developed

(developing) countries have already addressed these

demand-side issues (Antonopoulos et al., 2020). They

have developed innovative strategies related to

consumption and sustainability in the construction

sector, thereby closing the gap to meet the UN SDG

2030 with these contributions. Other countries have

adopted those contributions to perform case studies or

serve as a framework to build strategies adjusted to

local conditions. The latter is the case of some Latin

American countries, agreeing to the UN SDG, present

a more significant gap yet to meet such goals.

Regardless of possible cultural or political drawbacks

preventing underdeveloped countries from increasing

the efforts towards reducing this gap, an increment in

collaboration among European and Latin American

countries can be spotted.

Therefore, this investigation focuses on performing a

comprehensive review of recently reported literature

regarding only Latin American countries and their

actions in achieving the SDG to assess and classify

most of their contributions in the past two years.

1.2 Scope and document structure

This review extends to building applications from the

demand-side perspective, only regarding the studies

and investigations where LA countries play an

essential role through (i) co-authorship (countries as

collaboration), (ii) case studies in LA countries

(countries as applications), and (iii) individual

authorship (countries as independent).

The category "countries as collaboration" refers to

developing a particular study where the co-authors'

affiliations lie in a LA country. The Latin American

contribution is made by collaboration only. However,

the main study was made or applied somewhere

outside LA countries. The category "countries as

applications" refers to studies in which an LA country

served as an application, i.e., an LA country used as a

case study. Moreover, in which any LA country

affiliation does not represent the primary co-

authorship. Finally, the category "countries as

independents" refers to studies where the primary co-

authorship affiliation belongs to a LA country. Such

studies are performed in a LA country.

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Figure 1: Latin America challenges compared with developed countries.

The research flow adopted here starts by recalling the

challenges most countries face in trying to meet the

SDG through research regarding energy building

performance. The motivation, objective, and scope of

conducting this review are established, followed by

the methodology for data collection, filtering, and

classification. The selected data (mostly research

articles) is analyzed by strategies that improve

buildings' energy performance, leading to globally

assess the role and status of LA countries'

contributions.

2 Methodology

The methodology implemented here consists of three

stages: data collection, process filtering, and

classification to perform further analysis. Figure 2

presents a schematic with the overall procedure

implemented to choose the final literature list. Here,

three main search engines were employed by

distinguishing the indexed quality: Scopus, JCR, and

not Scopus nor JCR, i.e., Latindex, choosing

publications only from the year 2018 to 2020.

2.1 Literature search strategy

The literature search approach adopted here consisted

of applying the Boolean operators in the combination

of identified keywords. Three main co-words drive

such keyword combination: "building energy

performance," "demand-side," and "Latin American

countries." These co-words can generate different

keywords, as presented in figure 3. To relate the

resulting keyword presented in figure 3, building

energy performance relates to every aspect of the

building envelope and systems and its operation.

The factors influencing total energy use in buildings

and the role of occupant behavior in buildings' energy

consumption have been identified as causing the

discrepancy between the designed and real total

energy use in buildings (International energy agency

& energy in buildings and communities program,

2016). Wei, Jones, & De Wilde (2014) showed at least

27 factors that influence occupants' behavior in

residential buildings.

Different physical and behavioral characteristics

regarding buildings (type, year of construction, floor

area), weather, appliances and lighting, heating

system, Domestic Hot Water (DHW) systems,

households (age and number of household members,

gender) have a relationship in driving residential

electricity demand (Guerra-Santin et al., 2010; Mora,

Carpino, & De Simone, 2017; Mora, Carpino, & De

Simone, 2015). In this matter, a recent study

performed a robust sensitivity analysis to identify the

most influential input variables by using a low-income

house in Brazil and EnergyPlus-based simulations.

The results showed that the most influential input

variable for each criterion was: thermal transmittance

and solar absorption of the roof and window

ventilation area (Silva & Ghisi, 2020). The search for

more energy-efficient systems, by passive and semi-

passive (or low-consumption) solutions, lead to the

conception of greener buildings such as the ones

categorized as Passive House, nearly Zero Energy

Buildings (nZEB), Net Zero Energy Buildings

(NZEB), and the Plus Energy Buildings (PEB). The

incorporation of these highly energy-efficient

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buildings by defining the ZEB concept is associated

with the implementation of low-carbon power

generation systems such as renewable energies, and

consequently, the necessity of energy storage systems

automation and domotic approaches to regulating

indoor thermal comfort. However, fully automated

buildings might not ensure indoor thermal comfort

and reduce energy consumption (Energy in Buildings

and Communities program, 2019). It has been shown

that the more efficient the building systems and

equipment, the more the energy consumption is

influenced by occupants' behavior.

Furthermore, such energy-efficient systems controlled

by occupant-centric-based domotics' aid might need to

gather information about the building's current

thermal and energy state and demand future weather

information to accomplish more significant energy

consumption reductions. This need for future weather

data has led to the development of conventional

forecasting techniques based on energy usage

patterns, weather forecasting models, Bayesian-based

approaches, and, more recently, the implementation of

artificial intelligence.

Finally, the Demand Side Respond (DSR) is about

efficient management of demand and energy sources

by the customer. DSR strategies can be divided into

three categories: time-based programs, incentive-

based programs, and energy-saving behaviors (Khan,

2019). The concept of demand-side management has

been used since the 1980s and has significantly

impacted developing countries. However, technical

requirements, such as the smart grid, including smart

meters and real-time home energy-monitoring

services, have not been widely implemented in

developing countries (Khan, 2019). One of the

Demand Side's fundamental challenges is the optimal

electricity demand forecast in the short, medium, and

long term (Hernández & Baeza, 2019). Demand Side

addresses commercial, industrial, and residential

customers, where buildings are significant players.

The short-term forecast issue stands out due to the

need for a dynamic response to heterogeneous

consumption and an electricity market with flexible

rates in which supply and demand must be made

promptly and automatically (Javed, Arshad, Wallin,

Vassileva, & Dahlquist, 2012).

Moreover, the increasing development of more

energy-efficient systems has led to better

implementation of Bibliometric analysis

Once the initial database has been gathered by

employing the co-word filtering, the metadata (title,

abstract, and keywords). Each document is accessed to

add a second filtering stage based on the BibTex files

drawn from each search engine (figure 2). The same

Boolean operators applied in the first filtering stage

are employed again to the metadata at the second

filtering stage. In this case, the resulting documents

will contain only studies where LA countries have the

role of "countries as independent" or "countries as

application."

After performing the second filtering stage, utilizing a

straightforward algorithm implementing the bib2df

Package within the R Software, the resulting sample

of processed literature list consisted of 176 documents

(figure 4a). Most of the documents were published in

2020. Such an algorithm allowed for each document's

association to a respective LA country. Brazil

presented the most considerable number of

publications (figure 4b). However, to further limit this

study's analysis, only the literature regarding passive

and low-consumption solutions, occupant behavior,

and smart buildings was allowed.

Figure 2: Search methodology to fill the literature database.

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Figure 3: Co-word generation strategy for database search.

Figure 4: Data regarding countries as independent and as an application. (a) The total amount of publications per year. (b)

Amount of publications per LA countries.

3 Results: Controlling the power

demand in the building sector

The effective demand-side management design

strategy depends on identifying factors responsible for

driving electricity demand for each building typology

and use (residential, commercial, or others). Hereafter,

all the studies encountered are further classified in a

type of study as theoretical (T), experimental (E), both

(T+E), and review (SoA). This before, only regarding:

(i) occupants' behavior, (ii) passive and low-

consumption solutions, and (iii) forecasting

techniques.

3.1 Occupants' behavior and aspects

Occupants' behavior in buildings include several

aspects and greatly influences energy consumption.

However, Latin American countries have played a

significant role in three main aspects (table 1):

Occupancy state and profiling, energy usage, and

occupants' comfort.

The energy-saving behaviors can be classified in two

ways: investment behavior and curtailment behavior.

The literature shows the success of energy-saving

behavior strategies, reducing demand between 0.5%

and 21.9%, with an average of 10.05% and a median

of 8.2% (Khan, 2019).

3.1.1 Occupant's preference

Few LA countries have been found to perform studies

regarding occupants' preferences. Bavaresco & Ghisi

(2020) proposed a low-cost framework to assess

internal blind control patterns (interior window

shading). It consisted of a questionnaire-based

evaluation to infers self-reported behavioral patterns,

and non-physical parameters, and building

characteristics that influence internal blind

adjustments in Southern Brazil. Results from the

questionnaire were analyzed using hierarchical cluster

analysis. A field study covering 85 office spaces

within 11 buildings in Chile showed that occupants'

preferences and behavior might also be influenced by

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their spatial location within a room or building (Marín-

Restrepo, Trebilcock, & Gillott, 2020).

In Brazil, Bavaresco, D'Oca, Ghisi, & Pisello (2020)

assessed subjective aspects that drive occupants to

control building systems in offices, HVAC, windows,

and shades/blinds. These authors implemented a

theoretical-driven Structural Equation Modelling

approach. Subjective aspects, such as the intention and

perceived behavioral control, significantly explained

the effects on occupants' choices related to the control

of office systems mentioned before.

3.1.2 Occupancy state and profile

Similarly, few LA countries addressed ways to

determine the occupancy state and profiles in a space.

Chen, Chang, Bruneau, & Sempey (2020) performed

an experimental study in an office building in Italy

instrumented in terms of indoor environmental

parameters. Their results were statistically analyzed

by implementing the clustering technique and

correlation analysis. A heuristic model was developed

to determine the occupancy state based on measured

parameters, reaching an error of about 8% compared

to the office's actual occupancy. Later, the same

experimental results were employed in a theoretical

study implementing a frequentist statistical analysis to

establish an adequate sensor combination to determine

the office's occupancy state (Mora, Fajilla, Chen, De

Simone, 2019).

3.1.3 Energy usage

As an important aspect where the occupant behavior

and preferences strongly impact buildings' energy

consumption, studies focusing on energy usage or

energy usage intensity (EUI) have been performed by

a few LA countries. In Brazil, as in "countries as

independent," Geraldi & Ghisi (2020) performed a

statistical building stock model analysis. This model

shows the relevance of the EUI with building

characteristics, occupancy, and environmental

satisfaction on energy usage patterns.

Moreover, occupants' behavior and preferences can be

significantly influenced by errors (or failures) in

building design and construction and operating and

maintenance errors. In this regard, Borgstein,

Lamberts, & Hensen (2018) analyzed energy audit

results from 33 office buildings, identified 333

failures, and evaluated their impact on occupants. The

identified failures concerned building design,

construction, operation, and maintenance, where

adaptations could mostly amend their impact on

performance and occupants' satisfaction in operation

and maintenance, i.e., including automated systems,

rather than adaptations in the design HVAC system.

3.1.4 Occupants' comfort and indoor

environmental quality

The occupants' thermal comfort or thermal satisfaction

as an essential aspect that strongly impacts the

occupant's behavior and preferences ultimately affects

buildings' energy consumption. In fact, with the

current dynamics of demographic growth, by 2050,

nearly 50% of the world's population will likely reside

in tropical countries (Rodríguez & D'Alessandro,

2019). In this matter, contributions have been made by

LA countries based on a generalized lack of good

ways to consistently evaluate the thermal comfort in

cold-humid, hot-humid, tropical climates (Rodríguez

& D'Alessandro, 2019; García, Olivieri, Larrumbide,

& Ávila, 2019).

García et al. (2019) implemented 790 surveys (by

applying the same survey to 72 occupants for three

months) in eight naturally ventilated offices around

Bogota, Colombia. Results showed that 96.58%

percent of acceptability is reached for a comfortable

operative temperature of 23.47°C. Similarly, in Chile,

a field study using surveys and measurements was

conducted in 19 buildings. The results showed that

occupants adapt themselves to the indoor operative

temperatures with a neutral temperature range from

19.5 °C to 24.6 °C, and the preferred temperatures

range from 19.9 °C to 24.6 °C amongst all cases

studied (Trebilcock, Soto-Muñoz, & Piggot-

Navarrete, 2020). The findings of HVAC buildings in

summer do not match the steady-state method of

ASHRAE 55 (0.5 Clo) since the temperatures are

below the range stipulated. However, they do match

the TDRe comfort range.

Becerra, Jerez, Valenzuela, Garcés, & Demarco

(2018) investigated the relationship between thermal

comfort and indoor air quality with occupants' life

quality. The Predicted Mean Vote (PMV), along with

the Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied (PPD) and the

CO2 concentration, were employed as indicators for

measuring thermal comfort and indoor air quality. In

this case, 20 households, distributed in five

socioeconomically disparate communes. The National

Monitoring Network was used as a database.

Information about indoor environmental variables was

obtained for three winter months. Results indicated

that economic inequality is quickly confirmed for

thermal comfort aspects. A significant difference was

encountered for the cases with the lowest income,

which presented the worst conditions.

In contrast, Pérez-Fargallo et al. (2018) have

previously assessed current thermal comfort

regulations and compared them against international

regulations. Results showed that users in social houses

considered thermal comfort at temperatures below the

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standards' lower limits. A new model was then

proposed to fit best the thermal comfort conditions in

social housing in Chile.

Moreover, different studies also focused on

determining an adequate comfort temperature in

Brazil (Rupp, Kim, de Dear, & Ghisi, 2018; Maykot,

Rupp, & Ghisi, 2018; de Abreu-Harbich, Chaves, &

Brandstetter, 2018). Maykot et al. (2018) aimed to

determine a comfortable temperature but separately

for women and men within an office building with a

mixed-mode operating strategy (air-conditioned and

natural ventilation) office building with full air-

conditioning. Here, to collect indoor environmental

data, microclimate stations were installed. Results

showed that the comfort temperature was 24.0 °C for

women and 23.2 °C for men. In the mixed-mode

operating strategy, comfort temperature was

statistically higher for women than for men: 23.7 °C

and 23.0 °C, respectively. On the contrary, in the fully

air-conditioned building, the comfort temperature was

significantly different for women and men: 24.2 °C

and 23.4 °C, respectively. Similarly, de Abreu-

Harbich et al. (2018) performed in situ measurements,

recorded users' perceptions by interviewing 200 users,

and conducted simulations. Approximately 69.52% of

respondents were dissatisfied with natural ventilation,

60.67% with evaporative cooling, and 70.18% with air

conditioning. The neutral temperature resulted in

25.90 °C.

Besides addressing the lack of a useful index to

evaluate thermal comfort in Brazil, Cóstola, Carreira,

Fernandes, & Labaki (2019) conducted field studies

on the long-term thermal performance of dwellings

with no HVAC system through the introduction of an

original performance indicator known as the Seasonal

Thermal Sensation Vote (S-TSV). The S-TSV is based

on the perceived overall thermal sensation recalled by

the user of the building for specific seasons and times

of day, specifically for buildings with no HVAC.

Results demonstrate the capabilities of S-TSV to

describe trends in building performance in this

sample. Regarding buildings with or without HVAC

systems, Costa, Freire, & Kiperstok (2019)

investigated the reasons for installing air conditioning

equipment in buildings even under adverse economic

conditions and awareness of their negative

environmental implications in Brazil. Results of

thermal comfort indicated that 53% of the users felt

comfortable, despite the poorly maintained building,

diminishing the building's thermal regulation capacity.

Furthermore, a related study was performed in Mexico

in four different climate zones by Rivera & Ledesma

(2019), focusing on enhancing thermal comfort in

social housing. Thermal comfort levels showed poor

building performance. Overheating was the primary

concern for warm semi-humid and sweltering dry

climates and overcooling for temperate climates.

In addition to thermal comfort, indoor environmental

quality (IEQ) plays a crucial role in determining

occupants' productivity. However, analyses

interconnecting the building's physical, attitudinal,

social, and demographic components in one study are

lacking. In this regard, Chen et al. (2020) investigated

these factors' influence on occupants' IEQ-

productivity belief, defined as personal subjective

evaluation on the linkage between the impacts of five

IEQ aspects (the quality of indoor temperature, air,

natural and electric lighting, and acoustics) and

productivity. A cross-sectional survey data was

collected in university offices from six countries

(Brazil was the only LA country). Results indicated

that IEQ satisfaction is the strongest positive predictor

of the IEQ-productivity belief being more robust in

private offices. Men were more likely to perceive the

IEQs as having a positive impact on their productivity

than women.

On the contrary, women were more likely to consider

all IEQs as having positive impacts on productivity

than men. A few years earlier, Sant'Anna, Dos Santos,

Vianna, & Romero (2018) applied semi-enclosed

questionnaires to collect occupants' perceptions about

the IEQ in buildings cataloged as green and

conventional buildings. Results indicated that both

building types of occupants could not differentiate

between the green and conventional buildings, but

more satisfied occupants with considered green

buildings.

3.2 Passive and low-consumption

solutions

Regarding passive solutions implemented in

buildings, they are used to improve thermal and

energy performance. These solutions include

vernacular architecture and bioclimatic strategies

(orientation, local shading, materials, promotion of

weather as natural ventilation). Depending on the type

of climate, biomimicry strategies that can be applied

directly to building skin and structure, and the

innovations regarding building envelope layout

configurations (i.e., including phase change materials

(PCM) as part of the external walls and windows, or

the development of new insulating materials). In this

case, table 2 shows that Latin American countries have

contributed mostly by investigating both the

bioclimatic strategies and new envelope layout

configurations.

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Table 1:Summary of contributions from LA countries related to occupants' behavior and aspects.

T: Theoretical study and simulations; E: Experimental study; SoA: State of the Art (reviews).

Such low-consumption solutions are generally

implemented to aid in reducing the use of

conventional air conditioners. As most Latin

American countries present hot and humid climates,

contributions regarding new semi-passive strategies

seemed crucial to lowering energy consumption and

the carbon footprint.

3.2.1 Biomimicry approaches

In building applications, the implementation of

biomimicry strategies, such as the problem-based and

solution-based approaches, was found not to be

widely addressed by LA countries in the processed

literature list. However, an inspection of various

biomimicry strategies to address building climate-

related challenges has been performed by Chen,

Garzola, Delgado, Jiménez, & Mora (2020). This

study analyzed existing organism-based strategies

applied in buildings at the envelope-, structure-,

shape-, and systems-level. The main idea is

identifying organism-based strategies that can help

coastal, arid, and humid zones in Panama. The

introduction of such nature-concept-based strategies

in new buildings design was then discussed and

analyzed using a SWOT analysis. A potential

biomimicry-based framework for its application was

created.

3.2.2 Envelope configurations

From the processed literature list, in 2020, most

contributions have been encountered regarding

improvements to the buildings' envelope through

passive solutions, mostly to reduce cooling needs

(table 2). Most research studies considered the

assessment of the introduction of phase change

materials as part of the envelope layout in different

types of climate (Triano-Juárez, Macias-Melo,

Hernández-Pérez, Aguilar-Castro, & Xamán, 2020;

Xamán et al., 2020; Geraldo, Canaes de Aguiar, &

Camarini, 2020; Bimaganbetova, Memon, &

Sheriyev, 2020).

Through the implementation of numerical

simulations, Triano-Juárez et al. (2020) found that

when including PCM as an intermediate layer within

a concrete roof, a reduction in the temperature of the

interior surface (6.4 °C) and the heat gains (22.2 %)

was obtained when a 2 cm thickness PCM layer close

to the interior surface of a gray coated roof. No

significant differences were encountered for a white-

coated roof. A typical summer week of warm, humid

weather in Mexico was chosen in this study.

However, the PCM melting cycles were affected due

to the closeness to the roof's interior surface, and its

thickness increased. Moreover, incorporating a white

reflective coating reduced the maximum interior

surface temperature and the cooling load by 14.7–

15.4 °C, and 58.1–62.7 %, respectively. A similar

numerical study, also in a concrete roof, was

performed in a warm-weather zone in Mexico, but

including different PCM thickness layer for Paraffin

wax - MG29 (R-PCM1), N-Eicosane (R-PCM2), and

Salt Hydrates (R-PCM3), and comparing results to a

conventional concrete roof (Xamán et al., 2020). The

results showed a 57 % reduction in thermal load

respecting the conventional R-C, using a 2 cm

thickness R-PCM1 layer.

Moreover, a numerical simulation study was

performed for eight representative cites of seven

different countries with tropical savanna climates,

Occupant

behavior

aspects

Type of contributions with Latin-American countries

Independent

Collaboration

Application

T

E

T+E

T

E

T+E

SoA

T+E

Occupant

preference

(OP)

(Bavaresco

& Ghisi,

2020)

(Marín-

Restrepo et

al., 2020)

(Bavaresco

et al.,

2020)

Occupancy

state and

profiles

(OS)

(Chen et

al., 2020;

Mora et al.,

2019)

(Mora,

Simone,

Austin, &

Austin, 2020)

Energy

usage (EU)

(Geraldi &

Ghisi, 2020)

(Borgstein

et al.,

2018)

(Wong,

Krüger,

Loper, &

Mori, 2019)

Occupants'

comfort

(OC)

(García et

al., 2019;

Sant’Anna

et al.,

2018)

(Maykot et

al., 2018;

Trebilcock

et al., 2020;

Becerra et

al., 2018)

(de Abreu-

Harbich et

al., 2018;

Costa et al.,

2019)

(Cóstola et

al., 2019;

Rivera &

Ledesma,

2019)

(Rupp et

al., 2018;

Pérez-

Fargallo et

al., 2018)

(Rodriguez &

D’Alessandro,

2019)

(Chen et al., 2020)

http://novasinergia.unach.edu.ec 132

being Brazil the only LA country (Bimaganbetova et

al., 2020). Residential buildings' thermal behavior

and energy performance were assessed using Design

Builder software by integrating eleven different

PCMs (PCM21 to PCM31) with different

thicknesses, locations within walls, and different

surface areas. Results showed that during a summer

day, temperature fluctuations dropped by up to

2.76 °C even when the HVAC system was switched

off. From energy analysis, for this climate zone, the

PCM25 to PCM29 was found to be optimum,

obtaining energy consumption reduction up to 68.63

%. Furthermore, superior energy savings were found

when considering the thinner PCM layer with greater

surface area and constant volume.

On the other hand, another study in Brazil

investigated the thermal performance of cross-

laminated timber (CLT) construction system as part

of a eucalyptus heartwood panel for low-income

housing under several different climate conditions

(Nunes, de Melo Moura, Güths, Atem, & Giglio,

2020). The simulated envelope combinations showed

that different layers and insulation could be adapted

depending on the bioclimatic zone.

Furthermore, other passive strategies to reduce

cooling needs have been studied recently, such as

implementing solar facades (Hernández-López et al.,

2020) and the influence of thermal inertia in tropical

climates. In a tropical wet zone in southeast Mexico,

a room with a solar facade's thermal behavior was

numerically assessed for a typical summer and winter

day (Avendaño-Vera, Martinez-Soto, & Marincioni,

2020; Hernández-López et al., 2020). By

implementing computational fluid dynamic analyses,

the effects and impact of vents' size, inlet air location,

channel width, wall thickness, and materials were

analyzed to optimize solar facade configuration. The

study showed promising results when comparing

consumption reduction of about 0.7 kWh/d in

conventional fan equivalency. Moreover, Avendaño-

Vera et al. (2020) determine optimum values for

thermal conductivity, density, and specific heat

capacity, using simulation carried out in Design-

Builder for maintaining the indoor operative

temperature inside the comfort range for standard

dwellings in Chile. In this case, minimum values for

thermal conductivity were presented as optimal for all

climate zones tested. In contrast, density values

depended on the climate zone. The specific heat

capacity appeared not to have a significant influence

on thermal comfort.

3.2.3 Heating and cooling systems

Few recent studies aimed to develop or assess low-

consumption techniques related to the building

HVAC systems to reduce the necessary heating and

cooling needs (table 2). Most of the studies found

performed a theoretical analysis. A numerical

assessment based on EnergyPlus was performed and

validated to compare the use of green (GR) and

conventional roofs under eight cities in Mexico

(Ávila-Hernández et al., 2020). Results showed that

the GR reduced the indoor temperature up to 4.7 °C

in warm weather locations. The GR reduced the

cooling demand by up to 99% in temperate weather

locations and increased the heating demand by 25%.

On the other hand, Porta-Gándara, Fernández-Zayas,

& Chargoy-del-Valle (2020) carried out an

experimental study during summertime in a warm and

dry zone in Mexico. They assessed the use of natural

thermosiphon convective cooling during the night to

aid air conditioning systems and reducing energy

consumption. Results showed that such a radiative

cooling strategy could be of significant help for small

dwellings. Since the principle is based on a water-

cooling process, it enables coupling with commercial

HVAC systems such as chillers.

Moreover, in a related study, an experimental

assessment in a real-scale residential building during

summertime in southwestern France was undertaken

in collaboration with Panamanian researchers

(Ortega del Rosario et al., 2020). Here, the thermal

performance of coupling of an air-PCM heat

exchanger unit with an automated night natural

ventilation strategy was evaluated in terms of indoor

thermal discomfort hours and operating time. Results

suggested that such an air-PCM unit reduces the

rising of the indoor air temperature, thus keeping the

temperature within thermal comfort levels.

3.2.4 Automation and domotics

Furthermore, concerning studies aiming at

introducing strategies involving control systems.

Such as automated natural ventilation strategies, i.e.,

natural ventilation openings activate when the

outdoor temperature drops below the indoor

temperature, lighting controls to maximize benefits

from natural light or adaptive-thermal-comfort-based

control systems. In this regard, an experimental study

in a merely natural ventilated full-scale building

performed during summertime in southwestern

France served to evaluate, in collaboration with

Panamanian researchers, different control-theory-

useful approaches to model the thermal behavior of

such building (Chen et al., 2020). The evaluation

included the state-space, the process model, and the

nonlinear representation and was based on the system

identification process approach by considering only

the outdoor and indoor air temperature measurements

as inputs. Results showed that the nonlinear

representation model fitted best with an accuracy of

71%.

http://novasinergia.unach.edu.ec 133

Table 2: Summary of contributions from LA countries related to passive and low-consumption solutions.

Solutions

Type of contributions with Latin-American countries

Independent

Collaboration

Application

T

E

T+E

SoA

T

E

T+E

T

T+E

Passive

Vernacular

and

bioclimatic

architecture

(BA)

and

Biomimetics

approaches

(BioA)

(F[lores-Larsen,

Filippín, & Barea,

2019; Maciel &

Carvalho, 2019;

González-Julián et

al., 2018; García

Kerdan et al., 2019)

(Costa et al.,

2019; Soares

Gonçalves,

Roberta,

Mulfarth, Lima,

& Ferreira,

2018)

(Hernández-

Pérez et al.,

2018)

(Chen

et al.,

2020)

(RChenossi

et al., 2019;

Dalbem et

al., 2019)

(Chen,

Bruneau,

Sempey,

& Mora,

2019)

Envelope

configuration

s

(EC)

(Arauz, Mora, &

Chen, 2019; de la Paz

Diulio, Mercader-

Moyano, & Gómez,

2019; Mazzocco,

Filippín, Sulaiman, &

Larsen, 2018;

Silveira, Pinto, &

Westphal, 2019;

Tubelo, Rodrigues,

Gillott, & Soarez

GonçalvesUriarte,

2018; Nunes et al.,

2020; Ramalho de

Freitas & Grala da

Cunha, 2018; Neves,

Melo, & Rodrigues,

2019; Ceballos-

Fuentealba, Álvarez-

Miranda, Torres-

Fuchslocher, del

Campo-Hitschfeld, &

Díaz-Guerrero, 2019;

Venegas, Vasco,

García, & Salinas,

2018; Hernández-

López et al., 2020;

Triano-Juárez et al.,

2020; Xamán et al.,

2020)

(Canto, Batista,

Sanchez,

Moreno, &

James, 2018;

Carvajal,

Robles, Solís,

Vargas, &

Marín, 2018;

Boutet,

Hernández, &

Jacobo, 2020;

Carvajal et al.,

2018; Rojas et

al., 2019;

Hernández-

Pérez et al.,

2019)

(Uriarte-

Flores et al.,

2019)

(Silvero,

Rodrigues,

&

Montelpare,

2019;

Avendaño-

Vera et al.,

2020)

(Chen,

Bruneau,

Sempey,

& Mora,

2018)

(Bimaganbetova

et al., 2020)

(Vicens et

al., 2018)

Low-consumption

Heating and

cooling

(HVAC)

(Flores-Larsen et al.,

2019; de Oliveira

Veloso, Gonçalves de

Souza, & dos Santos,

2020; Rodrigues,

Fernandes, Gomes,

Gaspar, & Costa,

2019; Dietz, Vera,

Bustamante, &

Flamant, 2020;

Salgado-Conrado &

Lopez-Montelongo,

2019)

(Labastid,

Bolobosky,

Mogollón, &

James, 2018;

Lugo, Morales,

Best, Gómez,

García-

Valladares,

2019)

(Ávila-

Hernández

et al., 2020;

Lugo et al.,

2019; Porta-

Gándara et

al., 2020)

(Ortega

del

Rosario

et al.,

2020)

(Kolokotron

i et al.,

2018)

Automation

and domotics

(AD)

(Bonilla,

Samaniego,

Ramos, &

Campbell, 2018)

(Diaz-

Mendez et

al., 2018)

(Chen,

2018;

Chen et

al., 2020)

T: Theoretical study and simulations; E: Experimental study; SoA: State of the Art.

3.3 Smart buildings forecasting

techniques

With the advent and expansion of SmartGrids and a

vision of a producer-consumer (prosumer) client, the

forecast extends to distributed generation, mainly

from photovoltaic and wind sources, in addition to

integrating them into the management of energy

storage systems. The short-term forecast usually has

a day-ahead horizon with the ability to forecast with

great accuracy for the next 24 hours, how much

generation and demand the prosumer can present.

Thus, this forecast integrated to a Demand Side

Management can appropriately manage the offers to

sell energy blocks, the consumption for an hourly

block, and the appropriate energy balances for a

building or industry on this horizon. In other words,

a good forecast can reduce the uncertainty presented

by a complex and dynamic electricity market, as well

as the operation of the electricity grid itself (Bunn,

2000).

http://novasinergia.unach.edu.ec 134

In recent years, LA countries have contributed novel

proposals in Demand Side Management, forecasting

models, and theoretical studies for forecasting

optimization (Cruz, Alvarez, Al-Sumaiti, & Rivera,

2020; Cruz, Alvarez, Rivera, & Herrera, 2019; Diaz,

Vuelvas, Ruiz, & Patino, 2019; García-Guarin et al.,

2019; García, Álvarez, & Rivera, 2020; García,

Zambrano & Duarte, 2018; Henríquez &

Kristjanpoller, 2019; Hernández & Baeza, 2019;

Jiménez, Pertuz, Quintero, & Montaña, 2019;

Marrero, García-Santander, Carrizo, & Ulloa, 2019;

Moret, Babonneau, Bierlaire, & Maréchal, 2020;

Paredes, Vargas, & Maldonado, 2020; Ramírez, Cruz,

& Gutiérrez, 2019; Rocha, Silvestre, Celeste, Coura,

& Rigo, 2018; Romero-Quete & Canizares, 2019;

Sanhueza & Freitas, 2018; Zavadzki, Kleina, Drozda,

& Marques, 2020; Zuniga-Garcia, Santamaría-Bonfil,

Arroyo-Figueroa, & Batres, 2019).

Researchers from Chile proposed a method that seeks

to improve the Short-Time Load Forecasting (STLF)

using autoregressive integrated moving average

(ARIMA) models (Marrero et al., 2019). The work

presented three stages to achieve the objective. First,

obtain a forecasting model where cyclical patterns are

removed, such as seasonal and weekly, daily, and

outliers. ARIMA is used to forecast the remaining

stochastic component of each hour of the day. As

ARIMA is a filter with parameters to be estimated and

depends on the data, particle swarm optimization

(PSO) is proposed to find the optimal set of

parameters. The second step is to forecast the horizon.

The last stage is the mechanism of control to get a

more automated process. In this work, the proposal is

validated with data from two load bars of a distributed

generation system in Sancti Spiritus City in Cuba. It is

essential to mention that comparison was not made

with other forecasting methods in this work, which is

critical to validate the methods in this area of study.

Moreover, Hernández & Baeza (2019) from Chile

proposed forecasting demand and distributed

generation for the operation and planning of electrical

systems, based on the Holt-Winters mathematical

models in their additive (HWA) and multiplicative

(HWM) versions. The possibility of fewer parameters

than the ARIMA model, estimated utilizing the

Montecarlo Method, was presented. The proposed

method was validated using real demand data from a

Chilean distribution company and meteorological

variables: wind, temperature, and solar irradiation of a

central Chile city. The proposed forecast model was

used to obtain forecasts in intervals of 2, 4, 8 horizons

for demand and photovoltaic generation.

An exciting and straightforward method for short-term

demand forecast using the Fourier series was proposed

by Garcia et al. (2020). In this case, residential and

commercial load data from two power transformers in

Colombia was used. The forecasting model was based

on identifying three parameters of the Fourier series of

the historical consumption data related to various

harmonic and phase orders. Another group of

researchers from Colombia proposed a nonlinear

symbolic regression model with differential

evolutionary particle swarm optimization to make

annual demand forecasts. This algorithm is an

assessment with real measurements creating models

that conform to 28 weather stations' load forecasting.

The learning variables are loads of demand and

temperatures grouped by hours for a two-year time

interval.

On the other hand, a method to control demand and

generation for buildings' distributed energy resources

using fuzzy logic was implemented by Ramírez et al.

(2019). It sought to deal with the problem of

uncertainty in consumer behavior and environmental

aspects with fuzzy logic. A fuzzy algorithm was

developed, employing rules obtained from users'

behavior and consumption preferences. This

algorithm managed the building's distributed

resources, achieved an optimal energy efficiency

level, and reduced the electricity rate by up to 30%.

The method was validated by a simulator of multiple

smart electric managers. The simulator emulated the

electrical grid of a building in Mexico City for three

types of scenarios with differences differentiated by

attitudes regarding energy saving and environmental

awareness.

Boya (2019a) analyzed the relationship between

ambient temperature and electricity demand in two

areas in Panama is carried out. Two analysis tools are

used: Wavelet Continuous Transform and Wavelet

Coherence Transform, all from the Wavelet Analysis

field. This analysis allows us to recognize

consumption patterns at various levels of detail, with

a scale ranging from years to hours. From the study, it

is concluded that ambient temperature is a fading

predictor over time. It does not influence demand all

the time, a relevant finding for models that use

temperature as a dependent variable, i.e., linear

Regression or Neural Networks.

On the other hand, a new decomposition method of the

electrical demand time series using Independent

Component Analysis (ICA) was proposed by Boya

(2019b). Here, this method allows for the detection of

daily, weekly, seasonal, cyclical patterns, outliers, and

stochastic components automatically without the

assumption of any previous mathematical model. Data

from Panama City was used to validate the proposal.

4 Discussion

It recalls the challenges related to the demand-side

management: (i) uncontrolled peaks in demand and

(ii) insufficient transmission and distribution capacity

in the power network. This investigation's primary

motivation is to highlight the contributions made by

LA countries, specifically in building energy

http://novasinergia.unach.edu.ec 135

performance. As seen from the literature review,

currently, the efforts made from Latin-American

countries to overcome the demand-side challenges

mentioned before residing in the implementation of

strategies previously developed and proposed by

developed countries, to carry out case studies both as

independent and as collaboration.

This is the case of occupants' behavior (OB), passive

and low-consumption solutions (P&LCS), and

forecasting techniques (FT) (figure 5a). However, the

aforementioned is not so much the case for the

theoretical studies in forecasting techniques (refer to

section 3.3).

Figure 5: Summary of the research areas most contributed by LA countries. (a) According to the proposed classification. (b)

Among the building, energy performance aspects chose for analysis.

Table 3: SWOT analysis.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Internal

1. Most LA countries present diverse types of climate

within the same region.

2. Highly developed human resources educated in

developed countries.

1. Short investment in research and development.

2. A not low enough degree of analphabetism.

3. Lack of access to constructive and consumption data

makes it challenging to create a system for buildings'

energy consumption classification. (de Oliveira

Veloso et al., 2020).

4. Lack of incentives and finance as tax incentives,

green mortgages, non-financial incentives, tax-lien

financing, or others.

Opportunities

Threats

External

1. The need for more field studies involving in situ

measurements to contrast theoretical and simulation

studies.

2. The current dynamics on the demographic growth, by

2050, it is likely that nearly 50% of the world's

population will reside in tropical countries (Rodriguez

& D'Alessandro, 2019).

3. The necessity for more suitable ways to consistently

evaluate the thermal comfort in cold-humid, hot-

humid, tropical climates.

4. Few implementations of biomimicry approach in

numerical and experimental studies.

5. Reduced access to constructive and consumption data

makes it challenging to create a system for the energy

consumption classification of buildings (de Oliveira

Veloso et al., 2020).

6. Increment of funding calls promoted by developed-

countries organizations to favor collaborations with

LA countries.

1. Dependency on the development of new strategies

for building applications proposed by developed

countries.

http://novasinergia.unach.edu.ec 136

The efforts made from LA countries are mainly

focused on contributing to the building energy

performance through envelope layout configurations

(EC) with a 29%, forecasting techniques (FC) with a

16%, occupants' comfort (OC) with a 15%, heating

and cooling systems (HVAC) with a 13%, and

bioclimatic architecture strategies (BA) with an 11%.

Besides, such studies in building-energy-performance

aspects are primarily addressed through theoretical

evaluations, including mathematical formulations,

numerical simulations, and energy-and-thermal

performance-based simulations, followed by

experimental studies using questionnaires. This

approach addressing the building energy performance

aspects might be explained by insufficient funding of

research that only allows high-performance

simulation software, but not enough to perform full-

building-scale experimental studies. It should be noted

that starting a research study through simulations

might be the safest way.

To further evaluate such results, a SWOT analysis is

presented (table 3). This SWOT analysis put forward

the strengths that can allow LA countries to increase

their contributions to the global energy crisis and

recognize the weaknesses that most of them face.

Finally, some critical threats that can push back the

role of LA countries.

5 Conclusions

This work has focused on the efforts made by LA

countries, between 2018-2020, in contributing

specifically to the improvements regarding building

energy performance to address current demand-side

challenges. Such challenges are related to the demand-

side management: (i) uncontrolled peaks in demand

and (ii) insufficient transmission and distribution

capacity in the power network. LA contributions are

classified as independent (studies with LA affiliations

for LA countries), collaboration (studies with LA

affiliations but not for LA countries), and application

(studies with non-LA affiliations for LA countries).

Studies were also classified as theoretical,

experimental, the combination of both, and reviews.

The two-stage filtering methodology implemented

resulted in a total of 176 documents as a starting

literature list. By focusing only on occupants' aspects,

passive and low-consumption solutions, and

forecasting techniques for smart buildings, the

processed literature list resulted in 73 studies.

Results showed that LA countries' efforts reside

mostly in implementing strategies previously

developed and proposed by developed countries to

carry out case studies either independently or in

collaboration. The work highlights can be summarized

in the following:

- Recent studies regarding the energy performance

building field were mostly focused on improvements

to the envelope layout configuration, forecasting

techniques, and occupants' comfort.

- Such studies were mostly performed via theoretical

analysis, such as the energy and thermal

performance simulations and mathematical

formulations.

- Most studies were identified as "independent,"

followed by "collaboration."

The SWOT analysis has shown that LA countries

indeed have many opportunities to increase their

contributions significantly. However, a crucial

concern that can hold back such contribution

increment relates to the short investment towards

research and development.

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