Designing an Energy-Efficient Building in a Context of Helping Self-Build

Abstract

This article presents a study of the performance of a typical building with walls made of local materials. The work consisted in evaluating the thermal comfort in a building built of cut lateritic blocks. This study is a contribution to the development of thermal regulations in Burkina Faso, a country with a dry tropical climate. It will also contribute to solve housing problems in rural and peri-urban areas through the construction of decent housing. The proposed standard building was modelled using TRNSYS software and the simulation determined the atmosphere (relative air temperatures and humidity) in the building's rooms. Air temperature values range from 25.5°C to 31.6°C in the Yako side block rooms. A reduction in the temperature and relative humidity values of the internal air and a high damping of the internal thermal amplitudes have been observed. However, the temperature values have shown that thermal comfort is not achieved in the rooms during the hot periods of the year. This comfort is improved with the use of Reo blocks, because there is a decrease from 1.0 to 1.5°C in the monthly average values of the internal temperature. However, comfort deteriorates when the walls are made of Bobo-Dioulasso lateritic bricks due to the minimum increase in the average temperature of 0.5°C. The values of energy consumption ratios, thermal phase shift times and damping factors show that the building has good energy performance.