Cooling Load Reduction in a Single–Family House, an Energy–Efficient Approach

Year 2019, Volume: 32 Issue: 2, 385 - 400, 01.06.2019

Omar Algburı Figen Beyhan

Abstract

Energy depletion is considered one of the greatest challenges facing the planet. One way towards solving this challenge involves architectural adaptations to the local climate to decrease energy use. This study looks at the city of Erbil, located in northern Iraq. The city has seen rapid population growth that has resulted in an increased demand for housing. Unfortunately, most of the new houses are designed without considering the local climate conditions. As a result, people depend extensively on air conditioning systems that result in higher energy consumption. This study proposes implementing passive cooling techniques in residential buildings to decrease cooling energy consumption. Our methodology consisted of an energy simulation using the DesignBuilder program’s comparative thermal dynamic analysis. Using this simulation, we assessed the effects of passive cooling techniques on the reduction rate of cooling loads in an air-conditioned house. The simulation results illustrate that the proposed passive techniques lower the cooling load significantly, from 6997 kW/h to about 4461 kW/h during the peak-cooling load in July. This represents a 47.28% reduction of the total cooling load. The significance of this impact suggests that architects should be more mindful about utilizing passive cooling methods in residential buildings, reducing the consumption of energy for residents and prompt accomplishing environmental friendly buildings.

Keywords

Passive cooling, Design builder, Mashrabiya, Thermal insulation, Iraq

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