Towards the Reduction of Cooling Loads in Ghanaian Glazed Office Buildings: Orientation as a Recommendation by the Ghana Green Building Council (GHGBC)

Christian Koranteng

Authors

Christian Koranteng

cooling loads, glazing, office buildings, GHGBC, orientation

Abstract

Designing to make use of the climatic conditions of the site has always been a challenge; especially when buildings are to be naturally ventilated. The current study examines how effective orientation is as a parameter for the reduction of cooling loads in multi-storey office buildings. The approach is experimental in nature where a case-study building was selected and a parametric simulation with T as the software was applied. The results indicated among others that whiles the annual cooling load for the actual orientation is 288.43kWh.m².a¹; there is an 11.81kWh.m².a¹ reduction when the orientation is 270° away from the actual of 0°. Again, in terms of cooling loads per unit floor areas, the 270° angle performed better. This indicates that if attention is paid to orientation and aspect ratio as parameters during the design of a structure, it would go a long way in ensuring that the design behaves sustainably. It is recommended that the orientation along the north and south axis should be adhered to as it aids in the free flow of natural ventilation through the indoor spaces.

Downloads

How to Cite

Towards the Reduction of Cooling Loads in Ghanaian Glazed Office Buildings: Orientation as a Recommendation by the Ghana Green Building Council (GHGBC). (2016). Global Journal of Science Frontier Research, 16(13), 7-14. https://journalofscience.org/index.php/GJSFR/article/view/

Download Citation

References

M. Adebamowo, O. Akande (2010) Indoor Thermal Comfort for Residential Buildings in Hot-Dry Climate of Nigeria, pdf, from. http://nceub.org.uk

M. Alfris (2014) Green Star SA-Ghana - Local Context Report rev 0. http://www.gbcsa.org

A. Al-Najem (2010) The Effects of Orientation, Ventilation and Varied WWR on the Thermal Performance of Residential Rooms in the Tropics. http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article

Nedhal Al-Tamimi, Sharifah Syed Fadzil (2011) Thermal Performance Analysis for Ventilated and Unventilated Glazed Rooms in Malaysia (Comparing Simulated and Field Data). 20(5), 534-542. https://doi.org/10.1177/1420326x11411235

American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, Air- Engineers (2004) Standard 55-2004. Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy. 5, 55-2004.

Samuel Amos-Abanyie, Fred Akuffo, Victor Quagrain (2009) Unveiling Energy Saving Techniques for Cooling in Residential Buildings in Ghana. International Journal of Ventilation, (8), 1, Coventry. 8(1), 23-35. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733315.2006.11683829

D. Arasteh, S. Selkowitz, T. Apte (2006) Zero Energy Windows.

A. Beizaee, S. Firth, K. Vadodaria, D. Loveday (2012) Assessing the Ability of PMV Model in Predicting Thermal Sensation in Naturally Ventilated Buildings in UK. 12-15. http://nceub.org.uk

F. Binarti (2009) Energy-Efficient Window for Classroom in Warm Tropical Area. Eleventh International IBPSA Conference Glasgow, Scotland. 1655-1662.

N. Bouchlaghem (1996) A computer model for the design of window shading devices. 24(2), 104-107. https://doi.org/10.1080/09613219608727509

H. Bulow-Hube (2001) Energy Efficient Window Systems: Effects on Energy use and Daylight in Buildings.

(2011) College of Design. http://www.csbr.umn.edu

R. De Dear, G. Brager (2002) Thermal comfort in naturally ventilated buildings: revisions to ASHRAE Standard 55. 549-561.

B. Givoni (1997) Climate considerations in building and urban design. 109.

Neveen Hamza (2008) Double versus single skin facades in hot arid areas. 40(3), 240-248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2007.02.025

D. Hawkes (1996) The Environmental Tradition: Studies in the Architecture of Environment, E & FN SPON. 36-45.

Shahin Heidari, Steve Sharples (2002) A comparative analysis of short-term and long-term thermal comfort surveys in Iran. 34(6), 607-614. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0378-7788(02)00011-7

Ruey-Lung Hwang, Tzu-Ping Lin, Chen-Peng Chen, Nai-Jung Kuo (2009) Investigating the adaptive model of thermal comfort for naturally ventilated school buildings in Taiwan. 53(2), 189-200. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-008-0203-2

N. Jamaludin, M. Khamidi, S. Wahab, M. Klufallah (2014) Indoor Thermal Environment in Tropical Climate Residential Building. 3, 01026. https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/20140301026

G. Khakzar (2014) Evaluation of Facade Performance, in Terms of Thermal Comfort for Health Center Building.

Joseph Lam, Kevin Wan, Liu Yang (2008) Solar radiation modelling using ANNs for different climates in China. 49(5), 1080-1090. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2007.09.021

J. Lam, S. Hui (1993) Computer simulation of energy performance of commercial buildings in Hong Kong. 129-135.

W. Lauber (2005) Tropical architecture: sustainable and humane building in Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia.

Danny Li, Liu Yang, Joseph Lam (2013) Zero energy buildings and sustainable development implications - A review. 54, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2013.01.070

D. Ossen, R. Abdulmajid, M. Ahmad (2008) Tropical Building Design Principles for Comfortable Indoor Environment.

A. Pino, B. Waldo, R. Escobar, F. Pino (2012) Thermal and lighting behavior of office buildings in Santiago of Chile. http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enbuild

P. Rathi (2012) Optimization of Energy Efficient Windows in Office Buildings for Different Climate Zones of the United States.

C. Salmon (1999) Architectural Design for Tropical Regions, First Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 124-125.

K. Seok-Hyun, K. Sun-Sook, K. Kwang-Woo, C. Young-Hum (2013) A Study on the Proposes of Energy Analysis Indicator by the Window Elements of Office Buildings in Korea. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2013.12.061

S. Szokolay (2004) Introduction to Architectural Science: The Basis of Sustainable Design, First Edition.

Rosangela Tenorio (2007) Enabling the hybrid use of air conditioning: A prototype on sustainable housing in tropical regions. 42(2), 605-613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2005.10.003

V. Treeck (2011) Indoor Thermal Quality Performance Prediction.

Athanassios Tzempelikos, Andreas Athienitis (2007) The impact of shading design and control on building cooling and lighting demand. 81(3), 369-382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2006.06.015

J. Wasley, M. Utzinger (1996) Glazing Performance.