Abstract
Chinese rural construction is currently booming, but faces considerable challenges in terms of energy performance. The objective of this research was to analyze the energy performance of tubular houses, which are a unique type of rural house in southern China, with a particular architectural form and environmental adaptations. Previous field measurements showed that there was much room for improvement, with both winter and summer cases requiring particular attention. Numerical simulations of the annual energy consumption were conducted using Open-Studio. The results show that various levels of reduction in energy consumption (varying from 1.6% to 30.5%) were achieved by combining different renovations. Among them, using solar energy with a sunroom was found to be the most effective approach, with an energy-saving rate of 28%, followed by the approach of attaching insulation to the walls and roof, with an energy-saving rate ranging from 13.2% to 30.5%. The integrated optimization measures had an energy-saving rate of 47.4% with a total renovation cost of CNY 41,143.1, and the payback period of investment was within five years. If a tubular house with improved thermal insulation can be inherited as a component in the process of urbanization, it will aid in energy conservation and natural ecosystem protection for southern China.
Highlights
The construction industry today consumes 40% of the total energy production, generates between 30% and 40% of all solid waste, and emits 35–40% of total CO2 emissions [1,2]
In China, the energy consumption of the construction industry accounts for 30% of the total energy production, with rural areas accounting for 37% of that value [9,10]
According to the results of field measurements, the thermal environment of traditional tubular houses is not always optimal, whereby both the cooling and heating loads account for approximately 27% of the total energy consumption
Summary
The construction industry today consumes 40% of the total energy production, generates between 30% and 40% of all solid waste, and emits 35–40% of total CO2 emissions [1,2]. In China, the energy consumption of the construction industry accounts for 30% of the total energy production, with rural areas accounting for 37% of that value [9,10]. Numerous investigations of rural residences have shown that the poor thermal insulation properties of building envelopes, as a function of nonstandard traditional construction materials and methods, results in substantial energy consumption [11,12,13,14]. There is an increasing trend in annual energy consumption due to the generally improving living conditions in rural areas
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