Assessing the duality of thermal performance and energy efficiency of residential buildings in hot arid climate of\xa0Laghouat, Algeria

Darda Bencheikh,Madani Bederina

doi:10.1007/s40095-019-00318-z

Abstract

Thermal comfort is the main driver of buildings energy consumption; it has been classified by building occupants to be of greater importance compared with visual and acoustic comfort. To respond correctly and quickly to the increase in energy price and pollution, thermal regulations and comfort approaches have emerged. This paper compares the thermal performances and energy demand of a vernacular and a low-income modern dwelling using two major thermal comfort approaches (Givoni’s approach and adaptive thermal comfort recommended by The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers in ASHRAE standards 55-2010) and the energy professional’s method presented in the French Thermal Regulations RT2012. It shows the effectiveness of bioclimatic and passive strategies in reducing energy demand, increasing the thermal comfort level for the buildings, and therefore reducing greenhouse emissions. The results show that the vernacular house was comfortable during the warm day, which approved a 100% cooling energy efficiency (the thermal comfort has been achieved in a passive way), contrary to the contemporary dwelling, in which the use of air-conditioning modern systems was essential to meet the occupant needs in terms of thermal comfort. The difference between the houses’ energy performances was estimated, including a 39% reduction in energy demand.

Highlights

The relatively recent awareness of planet endangerment has forced politicians to take measures to limit C O2 emissions into the atmosphere (Fig. 1) [45]
The construction is key sector to cope with greenhouse gas production, due to its major consumption of fossil fuels with high rates of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere [47, 51, 23]. It is responsible for nearly 40% of the total CO2 emissions, approximately two-thirds of halocarbon, and 25–33% of black carbon emissions [21], and 36% of global
Indoor thermal comfort is considered as a main driver of building energy consumption [52]—it is responsible for almost half of the global energy used in residential buildings (Fig. 2) according to IEA—and one of the energy poverty indicators [27] on the basis of the negative health effects, including excess winter and summer mortality of living in a cold or hot home [25, 32, 49]

Summary

Introduction

The relatively recent awareness of planet endangerment has forced politicians to take measures to limit C O2 emissions (a gas that absorbs and emits thermal radiation, creating the greenhouse effect, its global emission in Algeria increased 3.98 billion tons) into the atmosphere (Fig. 1) [45]. The construction is key sector to cope with greenhouse gas production, due to its major consumption of fossil fuels with high rates of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere [47, 51, 23]. It is responsible for nearly 40% of the total CO2 emissions (in other words, 842 million tons of C O2 each year), approximately two-thirds of halocarbon, and 25–33% of black carbon emissions [21], and 36% of global. It is classified by building occupants to be of greater importance compared with visual and acoustic comfort [19]

Methods

Results

Conclusion