The effects of microclimate and air-infiltration on energy and long-term thermal comfort in high-rise buildings in tropical climate

Abstract

An increase in the number of high-rise buildings in most developing cities affects the surrounding microclimate. In this study, the influence of microclimate due to height variations and air infiltration were investigated for a building’s energy and long-term thermal comfort performances. A 20-storey high-rise office building with full glass façade in a hot and humid climate of Malaysia was studied using EnergyPlus to simulate the energy performance and RStudio programme for thermal comfort performance analysis. It was found that the building energy consumption reduced up to 2% when the air infiltration was removed from the building. However, the effect of microclimate showed insignificant reduction in energy consumption, but it had a significant difference in discomfort hours up to 17%. Air infiltration had less effect on thermal comfort with only 3 % reduction in discomfort hours. Microclimate should be considered to accurately evaluate the building performances in the densely built with high-rise buildings area. Removal of air infiltration from space helped in providing comfort and at the same time reduced the building energy consumption.