Climate change and thermo-solar patterns of office buildings with/without window films in extreme hot-arid climate of Kuwait

Abstract

This research attempts to develop a systematic method to address climate changes by studying temperature-humidity patterns as the two major meteorological parameters and to moderate these effects using a commercially available window film on interior windows of an office building with double-glazing. A three-floor educational building at Australian College of Kuwait (ACK) was equipped with temperature, humidity and illuminance sensors for two similar size offices, one with 3 M Neutral 20 window films. Total readings of 50,000 entries from each sensor was recorded every 3 min by a home-designed microprocessor-based logging system for three months of June, July, and August 2019. In parallel, the ACK building was simulated in EnergyPlus and DesignBuilder software and calibrated with the experimental measurements. Histograms and a probability density function (PDF) of temperature and humidity are built by a representative rational function as a model of main climate parameters variations. By examining min-mean-max values of data, it is observed that the office with window films has increased indoor humidity and, in most instances, reduced temperature by 2–5 °C compared to double-glazed bare windows which can significantly reduce cooling loads in extreme hot-arid climates. Simulation results are presented on the energy saved and the reduced CO2 footprints by applying the solar window films in the ACK building.