Analysis of Heat Transfer and Thermal Environment in a Rural Residential Building for Addressing Energy Poverty

Abstract

Reducing energy consumption and creating a comfortable thermal indoor environment in rural residential buildings can play a key role in fighting global warming in China. As a result of economic development, rural residents are building new houses and modernizing existing buildings. This paper investigated and analyzed a typical rural residential building in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in Northwest China through field measurements and numerical simulation. The results showed that making full use of solar energy resources is an important way to improve the indoor temperature. Reasonable building layout and good thermal performance of the building envelope can reduce wind velocities and convective heat loss. Insulation materials and double-glazed windows should be used to reduce energy loss in new buildings, although it is an evolution process in creating thermally efficient buildings in rural China. This research provides a reference for the design and construction of rural residential buildings in Northwest China and similar areas for addressing energy poverty.

Modeling the Evolution of Construction Solutions in Residential Buildings’ Thermal Comfort

“…In refurbishment processes, PCM boards can be added to walls, without changing considerably the existing design, while in new constructions several options are available, namely by encapsulating these materials in the building elements [30,32]. PCMs have unique properties that allow them to increase the thermal inertia of buildings without increasing the weight of the structures [32,33].…”

Sustainable Energy Systems Planning, Integration and Management

“…The field measurements and numerical simulation was carried out by Zhu et al [9] to assess the energy performance of a typical rural residential building in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in Northwest China. It was found that application of solar energy resources is an effective approach to improve the indoor temperature.…”

Big Data and Energy Poverty Alleviation

“…In addition, there is an ongoing debate about the type of social aid in both academic society (see References Karásek and Pojar [60], Oppenheim [61], Scarpellini et al [62]) and social/political campaigns (for instance, see References Thomson and Bouzarovski [22], Enet English [37], Daily Mail Press Association [63], Long-Bailey [64]). Three other popular strategies to alleviate energy poverty are to "increase energy efficiency of dwelling" [65,66], "increase energy affordability and demand management" [61,67,68] and "increase access to clean/modern energy" [69][70][71]. The first two strategies are more common in developed regions (regions with high access to clean/modern energy), while the third one is the policy in less developed regions.…”