Abstract
Energy consumption in new buildings can be reduced at the design stage. This study optimizes the ventilation system design of a new residential building located in a warm climate (Southern Italy). Different system options of horizontal air-ground heat exchangers (HAGHEs), also called earth-to-air heat exchangers (EAHX), have been considered to search for the optimal configuration. The thermal behaviour of the obtained configurations has been modelled by the dynamic simulation software TRNSYS 17. The pipe numbers, the air flow rate, and the soil thermal conductivity are among the simulated building components. For each of them, different design options have been analysed to study how each parameter impacts the building thermal behaviour in winter and summer. The operative air temperature (TOP) has been evaluated inside the building prototype to investigate the indoor comfort. The paper demonstrates that HAGHEs permit to assure a suitable indoor climatization if the building envelope is optimized for a warm area. These conditions require high values of heat storage capacity to keep under control the internal temperature fluctuations, especially in summer. The paper confirms the importance of geothermal systems and design optimization to increase energy savings.
Highlights
IntroductionAt the European level, the improvement of energy efficiency in buildings has become the focus of energy and climate policies [2,3]
Containing greenhouse gas emissions and climate change is a global priority [1]
The analysis developed in [50] shows the real advantages in the use of horizontal air-ground heat exchangers (HAGHEs) in buildings located in warm areas during the summer season, with short pipes
Summary
At the European level, the improvement of energy efficiency in buildings has become the focus of energy and climate policies [2,3]. Energies 2018, 11, 2122 approach is a promising tool developed to find an appropriate building design [10]. These tools that can cover a wide range of applications with the purpose of reducing energy consumption investigating different design variables [11,12]. A simulation-based optimization approach has the advantage of evaluating specific design options dealing with many measures and maintaining a manageable calculation scheme [19,20]
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