Energy efficiency and economic profitability between standard and high energy performance dwellings in a semi-arid climate

Abstract

This work focuses on the experimental study of a standard dwelling and a high energy performance dwelling, located in the city of Djelfa in Algeria whose climate is semi-arid, in order to study their thermal performance for 12 months. The high energy performance dwelling was built as part of the pilot project of 600 dwellings in 11 locations spread all over the different climatic zones in Algeria and the first to be finalised compared to the other locations. According to measurements, the temperature and the relative humidity were maintained in the thermal comfort range with the use of electricity for air-conditioning and the natural gas for heating. The results indicate that the reduction of heating demand is 57% and of air-conditioning is 51% by using the passives energy efficiency techniques in the buildings. In order to improve the economic profitability of the thermal insulation, new correlations were used for the payback period and financial profits realised that can be achieved in countries that subsidise energy. It was found that depending on the assumed correlation on the energy used, the investment in thermal insulation and double glazed window can be profitable from a payback period of 4 years or less. Highlights Monitoring done on two dwellings in semi-arid climate region. Comparison between a standard dwelling and high energy performance dwelling. Experimental determination of hygrothermal and energy consumption during twelve months. Use of new correlations to estimate the payback period for different scenarios and different energies. Estimation of realised profits by the reduction of energy consumption during building life cycle.