Simulation of Energy Performance of Buildings: A Case Study in Prague

Abstract

Energy used in buildings represents the largest contribution in Europe of fossil fuel use and emissions of carbon dioxide. For these reasons, and to demonstrate the need for sustainable design buildings, a study of a building has been made to analyze its original state (with no energy saving design taken into account), and to arrive to possible improvements to improve the energy efficiency. The objective is also to show the possibility to achieve comfortable buildings with a reduced amount of energy. To do that, the DesignBuilder software has been used to analyze a kindergarten located near Prague, Czech Republic. To begin, the building is sketched and simulated according to the current situation. Results show that the building needs to be modified to improve its thermal performance, because the indoor temperature should be higher in winter and lower in summer. Then, new solutions are needed to reach this objective, and a 2nd simulation is performed, which shows that the changes to the temperature control devices have worked perfectly, but the consumption is too high. In order to reduce it, the objective of the 3rd simulation is to prevent heat losses in the building.