Glazed spaces: A simplified calculation method for the evaluation of energy savings and interior temperatures

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that temperatures inside glazed balconies are almost without exception higher than those of outside air. This is due to the space's ability to capture and store the building's heat losses and solar radiation. The interior temperatures and energy saving effects of glazed balconies are, however, not particularly good in Finland, because the implemented solutions are not optimized for these issues. The purpose of this study is to introduce simplified evaluation methods for the energy saving and interior air temperature evaluation of glazed spaces and to verify the method reliably with the help of measured and simulated values of typical Finnish 1970s apartment blocks. The presented method can be used for optimizing and showing the energy saving impact as well as the mean, maximum and minimum temperatures of different type of glazed spaces in the preliminary design stage. The results show that the accuracy of the method is sufficient for designing if nine parameters are changed at most. The accuracy is affected by the number of changes made in relation to the typical 1970s apartment blocks in Finland, which was chosen as a starting point for the method's development.