Evaluation of facade systems in different climate zones regarding energy, comfort, emission, and cost

Abstract

Currently, advanced technologies have been developed to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. The fact that the building envelope causes energy losses of up to 73% leads to the search for the right solutions in the design of building systems. Providing human comfort in interiors with current design strategies would decrease the need for using active systems and bring along energy gains. As a result, less fuel will be consumed, and fewer emissions will be generated, contributing to a healthier environment on a global scale. In the scope of this study it is aimed to evaluate different facade applications on a reference building for three provinces located in different climate zones, which are Karabük, Konya, and Mersin in Turkey. In addition, façade scenarios in the direction of east-west and north-south axes were evaluated to determine the energy waste or gains caused by orientation. The scenarios were analyzed considering heating-cooling energy demand, thermal comfort, carbon emissions, and payback periods. REVIT and Design Builder were used for 3D modeling and simulations. Results indicated that an opaque ventilated wall is the most advantageous scenario for the Mediterranean climate zone in all parameters. This façade system performs better than the others in reducing carbon emissions and saving costs for all the regions. Although the solar chimney makes a significant contribution to the reduction of especially heating loads for all regions, this system is not applicable when the payback period is considered. In terms of thermal comfort, southward orientation minimizes the humidity and temperature fluctuations indoors throughout the year.

Keywords:

• Building envelope
• carbon emission
• climate
• heating-cooling loads
• orientation
• payback period
• thermal comfort

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.