Abstract
The building sector is one of the largest energy consumers in the world, comprising about 40% of the total energy consumption in numerous countries. Early design decisions have a significant impact on the energy performance of buildings. The paper presents the multi-variable optimization of the selected design parameters in a single-family building in temperate climate conditions. The influence of four types of windows, their size, building orientation, insulation of external wall, roof and ground floor and infiltration on the life cycle costs (LCC) is analyzed. Optimal selection of the design parameters is carried out using genetic algorithms by coupling the building performance simulation program EnergyPlus with optimization environment. The simulations were conducted for seven optimization cases. The analysis is performed for two variants of a building with heating and cooling systems and with a heating system only. Depending on the analyzed case, the life cycle costs decreased from 7% to 34% LCC value of the reference building. In the case of temperate climate, the building optimization (in terms of heat demand only) substantially reduces the heating costs, yet the summer thermal comfort conditions deteriorate significantly.
Highlights
Energy consumption in buildings accounts for a considerable part of the total worldwide energy consumption
Residential buildings are responsible for a major part of the energy consumption of the building sector [9]
Internal heat gains were assumed according to the literature [45,46] for occupants, two computers, a TV set and kitchen equipment and lighting
Summary
Energy consumption in buildings accounts for a considerable part of the total worldwide energy consumption. As energy consumption is rapidly increasing due to the population growth, urbanization and industrialization, energy conservation in buildings has become an important part of national energy strategies in multiple countries [10]. This led to the development of building energy efficiency regulations. These regulations introduce a minimum of energy efficiency requirements that need to be met by all new buildings and retrofitted buildings [11]. An example of such regulations is the Energy
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