The influence of the architecture form in the performance analysis of a passive house in Moldavia

Abstract

Over time, a building’s energy consumption in the use phase was not decisive in the design process. However, in recent years, energy efficiency and energy autonomy have become a defining criteria in buildings’ performance. In 2020, residential buildings became the space for rest, recreation, personal activities, but also for professional activities. Thus, it is essential to ensure optimal temperature, air, humidity and psychological comfort due to architectural quality. The passive house concept sets the maximum allowable energy consumption to heat the building and limit the total primary energy consumption. Passive houses improve energy-efficient buildings by ensuring a comfortable indoor environment in all seasons without requiring a conventional heat distribution system. Based on local characteristics, creating and analysing model study cases is important and could solve cities’ fast development. The shape of a building influences the solar input and the total energy consumption through the total surface exposed to the outside and subject to heat loss. In order to gain knowledge about the influence of the buildings’ form on energy balance, this paper presents a case study of simple shape buildings with numerical analysis according to the passive house principles in the Moldavia area of Romania. The case study of a parallelepiped model with various dimensions, varying aspect ratio and storey, was made with the planning tool Passive House Planning Package. The conclusions suggest further case studies with various roof shapes and windows’ areas.