Abstract
Buildings, commercial and residential combined, account for around 40% of total energy consumption in Iran. Energy consumption in buildings is predicted to increase in the the coming decades decades and immediate actions are required to meet the needs of future generations. Zero energy building (ZEB) is an important concept that can help nations to have a sustainable future. An important step for building a ZEB is to minimize the energy lost from the building, and the envelope of buildings plays a vital role in achieving minimal energy losses. In this paper, a life cycle cost (LCC) analysis is adopted to find the optimum insulation thickness for the common wall structure in Iran. Then, the Iranian standard (Chapter 19) for building envelopes have been reviewed and compared with the minimum requirements of the ASHRAE standard 90.2. The comparison shows that the Iranian standards for buildings envelopes are comparable with the ASHRAE standard 90.2 for the external wall, while ASHRAE requires higher minimum thermal resistance for ceiling compare to chapter 19. The optimization results suggest smaller minimum thermal resistance compare to chapter 19; this is mainly resulting from the characteristic of the Iranian economy (high inflation rate) and subsidized energy sector. Therefore, energy policy in the country needs to be reformed to promote energy conservation in buildings and hence zero energy buildings.
Highlights
Due to the accelerating depletion of fossil fuel and raising awareness of climate change, energy efficiency has become one of the main concerns globally
Regardless of the ambiguity of the definition of Zero energy building (ZEB), this can be accepted that in a zero energy building, the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy generated
What is stand at the first glance in this table is the considerable difference between the minimum thermal resistance for ceilings prescribed by ASHRAE 90.2 and the results suggested by chapter 19 and insulation thickness optimization
Summary
Due to the accelerating depletion of fossil fuel and raising awareness of climate change, energy efficiency has become one of the main concerns globally. Population (millions) Percentage of people living in urban areas (%) Average household size (person) Floor area per person (m2/person) Estimate private sector investment in new buildings in urban areas (billion USD) (bank Markazi) Number of the permits issued for new buildings in urban areas (thousands) Residential and commercial share of energy consumption (%) Share of renewable energies in total final consumption (%) Share of electricity use in residential, public and commercial buildings (%) Share of natural gas use in residential, public and commercial buildings (%) Share of petroleum product used in residential, public and commercial buildings (%) Share of Co2 emission from residential, public and commercial buildings (%) Energy intensity (MJ/USD 2011 PPP)
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