Improving the Building Energy Efficiency and Thermal Comfort through the Design of Walls in Compressed Earth Blocks of Agricultural and Biopolymer Residues Masonry

Abstract

Buildings should be assessed in their energy behaviour to identify the most suitable construction material for the climatic context. This paper studies the influence of construction materials for the wall in housing hygrothermal behavior and energy efficiency. Three types of construction material for the wall, which are CSEB of fonio straw and Shea butter cakes, cement blocks, and cut laterite blocks were selected and the building design was modeled in the DesignBuilder interface. The thermal comfort and total amount of energy required for building cooling were calculated using dynamic modelling using EnergyPlus software. The simulation was run according to the meteorological parameters of Ouagadougou city and we noted that the housing thermal behaviour is impacted by the wall in earth-based. The results show that the number of warm thermal discomfort hours and the cooling energy loads are respectively reduced by an average rate of 10.60% and 93.86% in housing with the wall in CSEB of fonio straw and Shea butter residue masonry, in comparison with the wall in cement or cut laterite blocks masonry. In terms of the indoor environment, the effect of this wall in earth-based makes it possible to maintain an average internal temperature and indoor operating temperature respectively at 28.64°C and 25.82°C. The average indoor temperature peaks damping is achieved to 6.54°C (i.e. 22.83%). It is thus noted that these CSEB walls are an efficient contribution to sustainable dwelling construction in a hot region.

Improving the Building Energy Efficiency and Thermal Comfort through the Design of Walls in Compressed Earth Blocks of Agricultural and Biopolymer Residues Masonry: A Recent Study

“…Sustainable development is becoming increasingly important in the construction sector. Therefore, building techniques that reduce environmental impacts by minimizing industrial processes and using locally available materials, such as earth, are receiving a new impetus [9]. The authors in [9] presented a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis in order to assess and support the introduction of such a ZEB definition and framework.…”

“…In perspective to reach this study objective, the comparative approach is used by an analyzing process based on dynamic energy simulation with Design Builder tool integrated to Energy+ calculation engine [31] available in Sustainable Building Design Lab of Liege University. The building energy and environmental performances and thermal comfort need reliable dynamic thermal simulation tools [32].…”

“…The comparative study approach was chosen to evaluate the thermal and energy performance of the building constructed with walls in CSEB formulated by at the Laboratory of Construction Materials of Liege University in comparison to other common construction materials. The wall's thermal properties have both great influences on wall temperature distribution and heat transfers from the wall [31]. The wall's nature-level adaptation is of particular interest in solar radiation management, creating a barrier between the inside and outside of a room that modifies the thermal exchanges.…”

“…This could contribute to Burkina Faso and other UEMOA (West African Economic and Monetary Union) country governments for the integration political of building energy efficiency requirements code in their area [39]. Indeed, building with earth materials has many advantages, such as its availability and required thermo-physicals and thermal properties in habitat construction, cost reduction, and environmental impacts reduced by minimizing industrial processes [9].…”

Influence of phase change materials on thermal comfort, greenhouse gas emissions, and potential indoor air quality issues across different climatic regions: A critical review

“…Thus, the building reduced only 10% of 2363.3 discomfort hours, causing a high duration of thermal discomfort to the building occupants. 9 Another building constructed with sustainable building materials (bio-based insulating materials, reed, straw) has demonstrated emission levels of indoor air pollutants such as semi-volatile organic compounds and formaldehyde (HCHO) which most green buildings rarely consider since the focus is on energy efficiency performance. 10 To overcome these challenges, phase change materials (PCMs) have emerged as a passive strategy capable of improving the thermal inertia and energy efficiency of buildings owing to their unique latent heat storage thermophysical properties.…”