Abstract
The electricity consumption in residential/office buildings corresponded to 45% of the total annual electricity demand in hot-arid climates. This accounted for 27.2 TWh of electricity consumption with 14.2 MWh/capita/year in Kuwait. In this research, four offices in an educational building were equipped with a meteorological data logging system using temperature, humidity, and illuminance sensors. All four offices had double-glazed windows. Moreover, two offices were equipped with two types of commercially available window films. Two million data were stored in iCloud using Wi-Fi and an Internet of Things (IoT) system for the 3 months of June, July, and August 2019. Here, histograms and the kernel density estimation (KDE) of temperature/humidity were analyzed and compared for the two offices with/without 3M Neutral 20 window films. Two floors of the same building consisting of 31 offices were also modeled and simulated to study energy saving and CO2 footprint reduction using various window films. The results of simulations for the month of July 2019 using SOL 101 and SOL 102 window films, respectively, showed that about 250 kg and 255 kg of production of CO2 could be reduced and energy saving counted for 416 and 422 kWh. Measurements from offices with 3M Neutral 20% and 3M Neutral 70% window films for the month of July 2019 indicated that the carbon footprint could be reduced by about 82 kg and 0.43 kg and energy saving counted for 147.11 and 0.71 kWh, respectively. It was observed that an annual energy saving and CO2 footprint reduction of 2.76% could be achieved using window films in a hot-arid climate.
Highlights
There are different sources of renewables that can be harnessed, but solar is the most popular since it is available in most areas (Ahmadi et al, 2020)
More peaks appeared in the results for 3M Neutral 20 windows which obviously indicate the effects of the window films
Energy saving and CO2 footprint reduction in residential/office buildings is becoming a national priority in many countries
Summary
There are different sources of renewables that can be harnessed, but solar is the most popular since it is available in most areas (Ahmadi et al, 2020). With increasing temperature of our planet due to greenhouse effects of using fossil fuels, tremendous efforts were devoted to decrease CO2 footprints, increase energy efficiency, use renewable and other resources, replace carbon fuels with hydrogen, and more (Peel et al, 2007; King et al, 2015). It seems we are arriving in an era where energy security and oil prices are being brought down from the top, and environment protection and electricity production from renewable resources are becoming of prime importance (Lund, 2009). According to Kuwait energy outlook 2019, the electricity demand for AC systems was about 70% and the annual electricity use was over 45% in residential buildings in Kuwait (KISR, 2019)
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