Improvements of building envelope using passive cooling techniques to reduce the cooling load in hot‐dry regions

Abstract

In developed countries, the buildings are responsible for massive energy consumption. When the construction is based on the use of nonsustainable methods, the buildings were dependent on the active systems, for ensuring a maximal indoor comfort. This has increased energy consumption and related greenhouse gas emissions. In this study, a reduction technique of cooling load and power consumption in buildings is proposed.This technique involves the combination of three passive cooling techniques, thermal insulation, phase change materials (PCMs), and electrochromic double glazing. These techniques are applied through simulation software "DesignBuilder" to a building envelope model in various areas like walls, roofs, and glazing. For this purpose, a standard building model is compared with 16 other cases that incorporated the passive cooling techniques for determining the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that a combination of PCMs, thermal insulation, and double glazing can reduce the cooling load from 70.37 to 50.53 kW and the energy consumption from 1.51 to 0.90 kWh/m 2 .

Effect of Phase Change Material and Roof Shading on Cooling Load of Residential Unit in Basrah

“…When they compared their results to those of other cases without PCM, they discovered an (11-25 %) decrease in cooling load. Hussein [2] proposed a method that combines three passive cooling methods: thermal insulation, phase change materials (PCMs), and photovoltaic double glazing. Simulations were carried out using the designbuilder software to determine the most effective proposed strategies among 16 cases.…”

Computer Simulation of Passive Cooling of Wooden House Covered by Phase Change Material

“…Many kinds of thermal insulating materials are used for the optimal heat transfer and thermal accumulation through outside walls of buildings with regard to the climate conditions of their location [6]. Phase change materials (PCMs) have become very popular materials for both active [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] and passive heating and cooling of buildings [9,10,13,[15][16][17][18], and the research related to this topic is increasing, as shown in Figure 1a [19].…”