Bioclimatic Design and Advanced Strategies' Impacts on Energy Performance of Residential Buildings

Abstract

The construction sector covers a significant percentage of the energy consumption in the world. Human actions on energy use are gradually being identified as the primary cause of climate change, global warming, and significant environmental changes. In response to these problems, the concept of sustainability has become one of the most crucial solutions for reducing the construction sector's high energy demand. Bioclimatic architecture is a sustainability approach that brings forward the strategies of vernacular architecture into the present by adapting the building systems to their climatic and topographic conditions. It is also an option for affecting the building sector in Turkey to prevent energy overconsumption by initiating efficiency improvements. This study examines the design requirements and physical characteristics of a building in the Marmara region (Turkey) and how these features impact its overall energy consumption. The case study building is a 9 storey apartment building in Erenköy, İstanbul, located in the humid-temperate climatic region of Turkey. Since that, the design scenarios consisting of different bioclimatic strategy combinations are chosen about this climatic region's features. The software DesignBuilder, empowered with an EnergyPlus simulation engine, is used to test the design scenarios' impacts on final energy consumption. The present condition of the case study building is monitored to calculate its energy consumption to evaluate the difference between the design scenarios. The impact on the primary energy use of different passive strategies, HVAC systems, electricity generation, and a bioclimatic set of standards implemented to the building was then assessed using parametric analysis of various scenarios. The results showed that the combination of passive strategies with earth pipe installation and thermal assisted radiant floors reduced the energy use by approximately 30%. Passive strategies significantly impact the residential building systems' energy efficiency showing how bioclimatic architecture criteria can meet the requirements of high-efficiency standards in the humid-temperate climatic region of Turkey.