Comparison analysis of temperature and thermal energy needs of two earth-based constructions in the hot semi-arid climate

Abstract

ABSTRACT As climate change is globally widespread and intensifying, there is an urgent call for buildings to undergo energy reduction and decarbonization in order to reach carbon-neutrality by 2050. This article comes in response to this need, by comparing the thermal energy savings and discomfort mitigation from implementing climate-responsive design strategies with respect to the hot semi-arid climate of Morocco. To do so, we’ve used EnergyPlus to evaluate the thermal energy performance and indoor thermal comfort conditions of two passive unoccupied homes: Home_1 and home_2; and the accuracy of the building energy models has been approved via forty days of indoor temperature measurements in two different thermal zones for each home. Furthermore, the comparison of the annual thermal needs of both passive homes has demonstrated that passive design strategies influence heavily the thermal performance of the buildings and help mitigate indoor comfort conditions, especially in the cooling period. A combination of semi-arid climate-responsive passive design strategies for home_2 has allowed to reach a thermal energy intensity of 23.31 kWh/m2/year, which is less by 73.3% in comparison with the thermal energy needs of home_1 and also Discomfort Hours (DH) in home_2 is 2069 h, against 5744 h in home_1.