Studies on Energy Efficient Design of Buildings for Warm and Humid Climate Zones in India

Abstract

In recent years, significant efforts have been made to improve energy efficiency and decrease energy consumption. The idea of energy efficiency in structures is related to the energy supply needed to achieve desirable environmental conditions that minimize energy consumption. The residential sector is liable for a significant piece of the energy consumption in the world. Most of this energy is used in cooling, heating and natural ventilation systems. In this work, the energy analysis of a residential building is carried out by varying building envelope parameters such as aspect ratio, orientation and window to wall ratio of the building in order to lessen the energy demand for the cooling and heating. The building is modeled in a software tool and various parameters are assigned to study the thermal efficiency in a warm and humid climate zone in India. The results indicate that a square building with an aspect ratio of 1:1 is more thermally efficient structure and North–South orientation of the building is better than East–West orientation. Also increasing window to wall ratio decreases the thermal efficiency of the building. The findings of this work would be helpful in design phase of an energy-efficient residential building.