The impact of microclimate on energy performance of office buildings within urban contexts located in a composite climate, the city of Indore

Abstract

The energy consumption and thermal performance of a building depend not only on the internal factors, geometry and orientation but also on the external microclimatic factors such as vegetation, solar radiation, air temperature, wind speed and wind direction. Further, it is also influenced by the surrounding built environment characteristics such as street geometry, buildings and surface characteristics. The main objective of the current research paper is to record the energy performance of office buildings within urban contexts, located in a composite climate, for instance, the city of Indore and to determine the influence of the external parameters on energy consumption of the built space so as to optimize the built environment factors and achieve low energy consumption. The current study involves the identification of two office buildings in Indore with different built environmental characteristics. Field measurements were carried out on street canyons along the south and west façades of the buildings and the impact of external microclimatic parameters and the surrounding built environment characteristics on energy consumption of the building was quantified in this study. It was found that the street geometry, H/W ratio, street orientation, building material, urban density and vegetation has significant effects on microclimate and energy consumption of the buildings.