A 3 year PhD scholarship is available within the Energy and Indoor Environment research group at the Department of Energy and Process Engineering (EPT) on the topic of “Active heating and cooling systems adapted for highly-insulated buildings”. The Energy and Indoor Environment group has a well-established expertise as regards energy supply systems and services in buildings. For instance, the group is strongly involved in the Norwegian FME research centre on Zero Emission Buildings (ZEB) (http://www.zeb.no) as well as in various IEA Tasks or Annexes.
Reducing energy use in buildings is the central part of the efforts to reach national and international targets for improved building energy performance (e.g. Nearly Zero Energy Buildings or Zero Emission Buildings). The main strategy to minimize this building energy use is to firstly reduce the energy needs, such as reducing the space-heating needs using thermal insulation of the building envelope, and secondly to implement energy-efficient systems to cover these limited needs. New buildings concepts are thus consistently based on highly-insulated building envelopes where the space-heating needs have been drastically reduced (e.g. passive house level). Nevertheless, current active heating and cooling systems are not properly adapted for these high-performance envelopes so that their actual energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness is questioned. Simultaneously, highly-insulated building envelopes offer the opportunity to simplify the heating system so that this chance should be properly investigated.
The purpose of the PhD project is to determine the active heating and cooling strategies that are adapted for highly-insulated buildings, with a special focus on heat pump technologies and cold climate. The systems performance will be analyzed in terms energy efficiency, cost-effectiveness, thermal comfort and robustness for users (each of these dimensions is essential to ensure market penetration, user acceptance and correct operation). Consequently, current design procedures for active heating and cooling systems will also be analyzed for the specific context of highly-insulated envelopes. Essentially, the role of building performance simulation to support the design of the active heating and cooling systems will have a central place in the PhD project. Results and conclusions will be validated and supported using existing field measurements.
Qualifications: We seek a highly motivated candidate with a Master’s degree (or equivalent) within HVAC systems for buildings, applied mathematics or in energy engineering. The candidate should present a strong interest for multi-disciplinary analysis of building systems (i.e. technical, economics and user perspectives), as well as for the modelling and simulation of complex multi-physical systems including heat and mass transfer. A prior and concrete experience with the aforementioned disciplines will be considered as an advantage.
For further information, please contact: Associate Professor Laurent Georges, tel. +47 73592484, email: laurent.georges@ntnu.no.
Conditions of appointment:
PhD Candidates are remunerated in code 1017, and are normally remunerated at wage level 50, gross NOK 430 200 before tax. There will be a 2 % deduction to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund from gross wage.
Engagement as a PhD Candidate is done in accordance with “Regulation concerning terms and conditions of employment for the posts of post-doctoral research fellow, research fellow, research assistant and resident”, given by the Ministry of Education and Research of 19.07.2010. The goal of the positions is to obtain a PhD degree. Applicants will engage in an organized PhD training program, and appointment requires approval of the applicants plan for a PhD study within three months from the date of commencement.
See http://www.ntnu.edu/ivt/phd for more information.
The engagement is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants. The positions adhere to the Norwegian Government’s policy of balanced ethnicity, age and gender. Women are encouraged to apply.
According to the new Freedom of Information Act, information concerning the applicant may be made public even if the applicant has requested not to be included in the list of applicants.
The application must contain information of educational background and work experience. Certified copies of transcripts and reference letters should be enclosed.
Applications with CV, grade transcripts and other enclosures should be submitted.
Application deadline: June 21, 2015