Energy performance and thermal proprieties of three types of unfired clay bricks

Abstract

The demand of air conditioning and heating for thermal comfort represents about 50 % of the energy consumption in the building, the energy is mainly supplied by conventional fossil fuels. Solutions must be found to reduce greenhouse gases. The building materials used in Morocco have a low thermal resistance which generates a huge expense in terms of energy consumption. Thus, a promising alternative for exploitation of insulating and ecological materials such as the unfired clay that can provide thermal comfort without using the heating or other air conditioning systems. In order to study the thermal performance of this environmental material, three types of unfired clay were taken from three different regions (Tamansort, Essaouira, Marrakech) and were characterized using the flash method and hot plate method in order to measure the thermal effusively and the thermal conductivity respectively. Then three types of envelopes built by these bricks were simulated to determine their thermal behaviors according to the meteorological data of Marrakech which is characterized by a dehydrated climate.