Correlation of Ventilative Cooling Potentials and Building Energy Savings in Various Climatic Zones

Abstract

The introduction of cool outdoor air can help in reducing the energy consumption for cooling during summer. Ventilative cooling potentials (VCPs) have been defined in various ways in the literature to represent potential cooling hours in specified outdoor temperature ranges. However, the energy-saving potential of ventilative cooling can differ between buildings in the same climatic zone depending on the buildings’ thermal characteristics and system operations. In this study, new VCPs are introduced with an index of temperature shift based on adaptive thermal comfort. This index can be determined based on the balance temperature difference of the buildings, which is defined as the heat gain in the building divided by the thermal transmission and air exchange characteristics of the building envelope under quasi-steady state conditions. The proposed method was also compared with those reported in the literature, including a computer-based VCP tool. It is the objective of the present study to investigate the correlation between VCPs and actual energy savings via ventilative cooling. Simulations were conducted in an office building for a four-month period during summer to calculate the energy saved via ventilative cooling in comparison with that achieved with a mechanical cooling system. Eight cities representing four different climatic conditions were considered: tropical, dry, temperate, and continental. Our results revealed a strong correlation between the energy savings and the proposed VCPs in the case of a proper temperature shift estimation in all climatic zones. The computerized VCP tool also exhibited good correlation with the calculated energy savings and with the VCPs proposed herein.

Integrating Parametric Analysis with Building Information Modeling to Improve Energy Performance of Construction Projects

“…It divides climate zones into five major groups, namely Tropical Climates (A), Dry Climates (B), Mild Temperate Climates (C), Continental Climates (D) and Polar Climates (E) [29,30]. According to the Köppen-Geiger classification scheme, such five major climate groups are subdivided into 31 sub-types [29][30][31][32]…”

“…In these terms, designing for better energy performance is one of the key issues of sustainable construction [4,48], which involves a holistic approach to energy consumption and emissions to encourage environmental friendliness in buildings [49]. This way of creating buildings that are energy efficient [32,49], appropriately and architecturally designed for their context of use [50] and comfortable for occupation by people [51]. The majority of energy consumption in buildings is caused by heating, cooling and lighting purposes [52].…”

Relationship between Cooling Methods and Energy Consumption for the Development of Low-Carbon Collective Housing in Indonesia

“…Several studies have investigated the effect of NV on thermal comfort [22][23][24][25][26][27], of which, Gou et al [22] examined the occupant perception of the thermal environment in naturally ventilated residences in Singapore. The results showed that occupants showed a higher heat tolerance than that outlined by the specifications of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).…”

Post-occupancy evaluation in indoor comfort conditions for green office buildings

“…Energy usage per unit floor area in fully ventilated office buildings can be 10-20 times higher than in residential buildings [19]. Green office buildings have different heating and cooling loads depending on climate zones [20]. Conversely, the transparency of the building envelope has increased since the mid-twentieth century, leading to high energy heating and cooling loads, particularly in green office buildings [21,22].…”