Energy Reduction Potential of Biomimetic Building Facades for Different Building Typologies in Different Climate Zones

Abstract

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions leading to anthropogenic global warming continue to be a major issue for societies worldwide. One opportunity to reduce emissions is to improve the effectiveness of building envelope, leading to a decrease in operational energy consumption. Improving the performance of a building's thermal envelope can substantially reduce energy consumption from heating, ventilation and air conditioning while maintaining occupant comfort. In previous work, a computational model of a biomimetic building façade design was found to be effective in temperate climates in an office context. This paper tests the hypothesis that biomimetic building facades have a broader application through a case study example based on animal fur and blood perfusion. Using mathematical modelling and digital simulation methods, the energy reduction potential of the biomimetic façade was tested in a set of operational applications (office, school and aged care) and across different climate zones (tropical, desert, temperate, and cool continental). Results indicated that the biomimetic façade has potential to reduce energy consumption for all building applications, with the greatest benefit shown in residential aged care (67.1% reduction). Similarly, the biomimetic building façade showed potential to reduce operational services energy consumption in all climate zones, with the greatest energy reductions achieved in the tropical (55.4% reduction) and humid continental climates (55.1% reduction). Through these results the hypothesis was confirmed, suggesting that facades engineered to mimic biological functions and processes can improve substantially decrease building operational energy consumption and can be applied in different building classifications and different climate zones. Such facades can contribute to the further reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in a broad range of contexts. This study also exemplified a method by which other biomimetic building envelope features may be assessed. Further work is suggested to assess economic viability and constructability of the proposed facades.