The Influence of Window-Wall Ratio on Heating Energy Consumption of Rural House in Severe Cold Regions of China

Abstract

Rural houses in severe cold areas of China are mostly single-storey independent buildings with large shape coefficient. Compared with urban residential, it has larger contact area between envelope and outdoor environment of each household. Meanwhile, the heat transfer coefficient of window is usually greater than that of external wall and roof. The window-wall ratio is one of the important indicators affecting the energy consumption of rural house. This paper takes window-wall ratio as the main variable, building orientation, thermal performance of envelope and window heat transfer coefficient as the auxiliary variables, and applies DesignBuilder software to quantitatively analyse the mechanism of window-wall ratio on rural house’s heating energy consumption under the interactive influence of multiple factors. Results show that the influence rule of window-wall ratio with different orientations on heating energy consumption will change when the thermal performance of envelope or window heat transfer coefficient changed. The synthetic effect of various factors should be considered in the design to reasonably determine the windowwall ratio of rural house.

Contribution of advanced windows and façades to buildings decarbonization: A comprehensive review

“…Ozel and Ozel (2020) investigated the effect of WWR on the thermal performance of different wall materials and concluded that for the case of bare wall the wall material affected the glazed area, whereas in the case of the insulated wall, the effect was marginal. Shao et al (2020) used the Design builder software to determine the optimum value for WWR for rural house design considering other parameters such as building orientation and thermal performance among others. Their recommendation is that the effect of various factors should be considered in the design to determine the WWR of rural houses.…”

Cost-Optimal Renovation Solutions for Detached Rural Houses in Severe Cold Regions of China

“…Rural houses in this region are mainly constructed by local builders with few restrictions from building codes. The survey results indicate that only 28% of them have thermal insulation installed on external walls, and 2% of houses consider ground floor insulation [3]. Because of the poor envelope performance combined with the extremely low temperature in winter, these houses have a considerable level of heating demand.…”

“…Without access to district heating, the primary heating systems in these rural houses are Chinese Kangs (heated beds as living and sleeping platforms) and boilers with waterbased radiators, representing 99% and 51% of heating choices, respectively [3]. These traditional heating systems consume coal or biomass and have an efficiency of 30-50% [4,5].…”