A new set of indicators to evaluate the bioclimatic performance of air conditioned buildings in a hot and humid climate

Abstract

The current challenge is to reduce the building energy consumption, in hot and humid climates, for which air conditioning is widespread. Up to now, the lack of criteria that identify the available cooling resources and the level of performance of technical solution has represented the major obstacle. To address these issues, the authors propose a new set of indicators to fully inform the decision-making process of the bioclimatic design of fully space-conditioned buildings in a hot and humid climate. This set of indicators provides an overview of the exploitable environmental resource (external air through external convection, natural ventilation and sky radiation cooling) referred as the Environmental Resource Indicators and of the capacity of the building to exploit those resources referred as the Building Performance Indicators. The indicators are implemented for a very basic two-story residential building in the hot, humid climate of Djibouti. The case study shows not only the ability of the indicators to reflect the bioclimatic performances of the buildings but also their ability to give an overview of the building heat exchanges, from which the implication of improper bioclimatic solutions on building cooling consumptions can easily be identified. These indicators are a means to help choose which technical solutions are most suited to the local climate, which is very useful for designers and architects in the early stages of building design.

Techno-Economic Potential of Wind-Based Green Hydrogen Production in Djibouti: Literature Review and Case Studies

“…As described in Figure 1, the Republic of Djibouti is located halfway between the equator and the Tropic of Cancer, between latitudes 10 • 9 and 12 • 7 N and longitudes 41 • 8 and 43 • 4 E. Bordered by Ethiopia along the north, west and south-west, and to the south-east by Somalia (250 km of land borders), Djibouti has about 370 km of coast, from Ras Doumeira in the north to Loyada in the south. The total area is about 23,000 km 2 . The Foehn effect of the winds-which, in summer, descend from the Ethiopian highlands towards the sea-make Djibouti one of the hottest regions in the world.…”

“…In addition to the use of renewable energies in order to reduce negative environmental impacts, developing economic activities with less energy dissipation, energy sobriety and efficiency has become one of the fundamental objectives. Energy access in the subregion is generally quite low; the situation in Djibouti (55%) in this regard is better than other countries in the Horn of Africa [2]. However, Djibouti is experiencing sustained economic growth with a doubled population projected by 2050 [3].…”

Review and Analysis of Bioclimatic Design Approach

“…It sought to enhance the decision-making process for designing fully space-conditioned buildings in hot and humid climates. [38] 2021 India This study aimed to investigate the implications of current and future bioclimatic potential for passive heating and cooling design strategies. [39] 2021 China This study aimed to review extant studies on bioclimatic architecture.…”

Analysis of a New Index for the Thermal Performance of Horizontal Opaque Building Components in Summer

“…With increasing complexity, a set of Environmental Resource Indicators (ERI) is proposed in [21] as building performance indicators, representing the exploitable environmental resources (external air through external convection, natural ventilation, and sky radiation cooling), but their calculation is not immediate. In ref.…”