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Reassessment of fenestration characteristics for residential buildings in hot climates: energy and economic analysis

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Abstract

This paper attempts to resolve the reported contradiction in the literature about the characteristics of high-performance/cost-effective fenestration of residential buildings, particularly in hot climates. The considered issues are the window glazing property (ten commercial glazing types), facade orientation (four main orientations), window-to-wall ratio (WWR) (0.2–0.8), and solar shading overhangs and side-fins (nine shading conditions). The results of the simulated runs reveal that the glazing quality has a superior effect over the other fenestration parameters and controls their effect on the energy consumption of residential buildings. Thus, using low-performance windows on buildings yields larger effects of WWR, facade orientation, and solar shading than high-performance windows. As the WWR increases from 0.2 to 0.8, the building energy consumption using the low-performance window increases 6.46 times than that using the highperformance window. The best facade orientation is changed from north to south according to the glazing properties. In addition, the solar shading need is correlated as a function of a window-glazing property and WWR. The cost analysis shows that the high-performance windows without solar shading are cost-effective as they have the largest net present cost compared to low-performance windows with or without solar shading. Accordingly, replacing low-performance windows with high-performance ones, in an existing residential building, saves about 12.7 MWh of electricity and 11.05 tons of CO2 annually.

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Abbreviations

B w :

Window luminance/(cd·m−2)

CF:

Cash flow/USD

E w10 :

Annual electrical energy consumed by the room using W10/kWh

E wi :

Annual electrical energy consumed by the room using window W1–W9/kWh

GC:

Glazing cost/USD

GCD:

Difference between window GC and window 10 GC/USD

i L :

Reference point index

i S :

Window shade index

I set :

Illuminance setpoint/lux

n :

Number of years

NPVws :

Net presen t value for windows with solar shading/USD

NPVwt :

Net present value for windows without solar shading/USD

PC:

Production cost of electrical energy/(0.126 USD·kWh−1)

PV:

Present value/USD

r :

Discount rate/1.5%

S w :

Window background luminance/(cd·m−2)

SSC:

Solar shading cost/(USD·m−2)

SPPws :

Simple payback period with solar shading/a

SPPwt :

Simple payback period without solar shading/a

U :

Overall heat transfer coefficient of windows/(W·m−2·K−1)

WFP:

Window facade parameter

ρ b :

Area-weighted average reflectance of zone interior surfaces

ω :

Solid angle subtended by the window/steradians

Ω:

Modified solid angle subtended by the window/steradians

ACH:

Air change

EUI:

Energy use intensity

GA:

Genetic algorithm

GCC:

Gulf council countries

IDF:

Input definition file

LT:

Light transmission

NZEB:

Net zero energy building

PMV:

Predicted mean vote thermal occupant’s comfort index

SHGC:

Solar heat gain coefficient

STD:

Standard deviation

TMY:

Typical meteorological year

W# :

Window number

WWR:

Window-to-wall ratio

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) under project number TS-08-14.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Technological Studies, PAAET, Kuwait City, Kuwait

    Ali Alajmi, Hosny Abou-Ziyan & Hamad H. Al-Mutairi

  2. Mechanical Power Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt

    Hosny Abou-Ziyan

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  1. Ali Alajmi
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  2. Hosny Abou-Ziyan
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  3. Hamad H. Al-Mutairi
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Correspondence to Hosny Abou-Ziyan.

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Alajmi, A., Abou-Ziyan, H. & Al-Mutairi, H.H. Reassessment of fenestration characteristics for residential buildings in hot climates: energy and economic analysis. Front. Energy 16, 629–650 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-021-0799-z

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