Modeling and Simulation of Energy Efficiency Measures Related to Passive Solar Building Design

Abstract

Sustainability in the construction field must respect the environment, the human health, and the ecology of the area, decreasing the impact and the pollution to the environment. Thus, the use of solar spaces, also called atriums, have been studied for many years. In this thesis, four configurations (Cases 1-4) will be defined and studied by using an energy system model to quantify the reduction of heating and cooling, the availability of the atrium in different climates and to explain how to prevent the overheating. The results showed that the atrium and the insulation save a lot of energy in any climate, but in high radiation countries the atrium is a better option than the insulation, and the opposite for low radiation countries.