Abstract
Different from the high latitudes (24°N-53°N) of China, the low latitudes (4°N-24°N) present large solar elevation angle and strong solar radiation throughout the year. Radiation differences in all directions are smaller than that in high latitudes, which results in the building envelope optimization (BEO) in high latitudes is not applicable to low latitudes. Therefore, for the low latitudes, this research calculated the energy-saving effect of buildings with different shape parameters and the cooling load of thermal performance of different envelope by numerical simulation. In addition, the corresponding energy-saving indexes for cooling load reduction (CLR) are presented. And the energy saving priority of building envelope is mastered by analyzing the percentage of CLR per unit volume, the roofs have the greatest energy saving potential, followed by exterior walls, sunshade and exterior windows. Furthermore, the recommended insulation thickness for the exterior walls and roofs should be 30–40 mm, and of which the CLR value of per unit external wall area can reach 8.5 W/m2. The west exterior window has greater energy saving potential than other orientations. The effect of east and west sunshade on CLR is much greater than that of south sunshade. The recommended length of the north and south shading should be 500–600 mm, in which the cooling load from shading can be reduced by 95% and 15% respectively. The results can be the basis of the design method of the BEO in low latitudes of China.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abanda FH, Byers L (2016). An investigation of the impact of building orientation on energy consumption in a domestic building using emerging BIM (Building Information Modelling). Energy, 97: 517–527.
AlAnzi A, Seo D, Krarti M (2009). Impact of building shape on thermal performance of office buildings in Kuwait. Energy Conversion and Management, 50: 822–828.
Amaral AR, Rodrigues E, Gaspar AR, Gomes Á (2016). A thermal performance parametric study of window type, orientation, size and shadowing effect. Sustainable Cities and Society, 26: 456–465.
Axaopoulos I, Axaopoulos P, Gelegenis J (2014a). Optimum insulation thickness for external walls on different orientations considering the speed and direction of the wind. Applied Energy, 117: 167–175.
Axaopoulos P, Panagakis P, Axaopoulos I (2014b). Effect of wall orientation on the optimum insulation thickness of a growing-finishing piggery building. Energy and Buildings, 84: 403–411.
Axaopoulos I, Axaopoulos P, Panayiotou G, Kalogirou S, Gelegenis J (2015). Optimal economic thickness of various insulation materials for different orientations of external walls considering the wind characteristics. Energy, 90: 939–952.
Bichiou Y, Krarti M (2011). Optimization of envelope and HVAC systems selection for residential buildings. Energy and Buildings, 43: 3373–3382.
Freewan AAY (2014). Impact of external shading devices on thermal and daylighting performance of offices in hot climate regions. Solar Energy, 102: 14–30.
Gasparella A, Pernigotto G, Cappelletti F, Romagnoni P, Baggio P (2011). Analysis and modelling of window and glazing systems energy performance for a well insulated residential building. Energy and Buildings, 43: 1030–1037.
Goia F (2016). Search for the optimal window-to-wall ratio in office buildings in different European climates and the implications on total energy saving potential. Solar Energy, 132: 467–492.
Hu J, Wu J (2015). Analysis on the influence of building envelope to public buildings energy consumption based on DeST simulation. Procedia Engineering, 121: 1620–1627.
Huang JN, Lv H, Gao T, Feng W, Chen Y, Zhou T (2014). Thermal properties optimization of envelope in energy-saving renovation of existing public buildings. Energy and Buildings, 75: 504–510.
Kim S, Zadeh PA, Staub-French S, Froese T, Cavka BT (2016). Assessment of the impact of window size, position and orientation on building energy load using BIM. Procedia Engineering, 145: 1424–1431.
Kirimtat A, Koyunbaba BK, Chatzikonstantinou I, Sariyildiz S (2016). Review of simulation modeling for shading devices in buildings. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 53: 23–49.
Kurekci NA (2016). Determination of optimum insulation thickness for building walls by using heating and cooling degree-day values of all Turkey’s provincial centers. Energy and Buildings, 118: 197–213.
Lau AKK, Salleh E, Lim CH, Sulaiman MY (2016). Potential of shading devices and glazing configurations on cooling energy savings for high-rise office buildings in hot-humid climates: The case of Malaysia. International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment, 5: 387–399.
Liu X, Chen Y, Ge H, Fazio P, Chen G, Guo X (2015). Determination of optimum insulation thickness for building walls with moisture transfer in hot summer and cold winter zone of China. Energy and Buildings, 109: 361–368.
Lu M, Lai JHK (2019). Building energy: A review on consumptions, policies, rating schemes and standards. Energy Procedia, 158: 3633–3638.
Mangkuto RA, Rohmah M, Asri AD (2016). Design optimisation for window size, orientation, and wall reflectance with regard to various daylight metrics and lighting energy demand: A case study of buildings in the tropics. Applied Energy, 164: 211–219.
Méndez Echenagucia T, Capozzoli A, Cascone Y, Sassone M (2015). The early design stage of a building envelope: Multi-objective search through heating, cooling and lighting energy performance analysis. Applied Energy, 154: 577–591.
Mirrahimi S, Mohamed MF, Haw LC, Ibrahim NLN, Yusoff WFM, Aflaki A (2016). The effect of building envelope on the thermal comfort and energy saving for high-rise buildings in hot-humid climate. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 53: 1508–1519.
Ozel M (2011). Thermal performance and optimum insulation thickness of building walls with different structure materials. Applied Thermal Engineering, 31: 3854–3863.
Ozel M (2014). Effect of insulation location on dynamic heat-transfer characteristics of building external walls and optimization of insulation thickness. Energy and Buildings, 72: 288–295.
Pérez-Lombard L, Ortiz J, Pout C (2008). A review on buildings energy consumption information. Energy and Buildings, 40: 394–398.
Premrov M, Leskovar VŽ, Mihalič K (2016). Influence of the building shape on the energy performance of timber-glass buildings in different climatic conditions. Energy, 108: 201–211.
Zhao H, Wang L, Yuan J (2017). Natural environment, resources and development of the South China Sea Islands: The 70th anniversary of recovery of the South China Sea Islands (3). Tropical Geography, 37(5): 659–680. (in Chinese)
Zhou S, Zhao J (2013). Optimum combinations of building envelop energy-saving technologies for office buildings in different climatic regions of China. Energy and Buildings, 57: 103–109.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51590911, No. 51678468), the National Key Research and Development Program (No. 2016YFC0700400), and the Shaanxi Youth Science and Technology Nova project (No. 2017KJXX-22).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, T., Wang, D., Liu, H. et al. Numerical investigation on building envelope optimization for low-energy buildings in low latitudes of China. Build. Simul. 13, 257–269 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-019-0577-6
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-019-0577-6