Energy-saving potential of deeply retrofitting building enclosures of traditional courtyard houses – A case study in the Chinese Hot-Summer-Cold-Winter zone

Zhao, Mosha; Mehra, Schew‐Ram; Künzel, Hartwig M.

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109106

Cited by 23 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…It was conducted for the Chinese HSCW zone, where the renovation of traditional wooden buildings for further occupation only establishes the old appearance and few studies of deeply renovating traditional building envelopes are available. Furthermore, as indicated by Zhao et al (2022), even though the payback time to improve the thermal performance of traditional building envelopes in this climate region is only 2.5 years, there are still many challenges from the technical and socio-cultural aspects to practice energy retrofits in Chinese traditional buildings, such as the integrity of architectural preservation and energy-retrofits, and the air-sealing concept for building envelopes. However, this study could still make a limited contribution to providing a suitable method and promising technical solutions to improve the energy-efficiency of traditional buildings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With a growing expectation of their occupants regarding energy consumption, indoor thermal comfort, the improvement of the indoor climate in these buildings is, however, mainly achieved by active measurements, such as air-conditioners and electric heating devices (Hao, 2016). The required energy for these devices could be reduced by about 56% in traditional courtyard houses in the Chinese HSCW zone if deeply renovating their building envelopes to meet contemporary Chinese energy-efficiency standards (Zhao et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Design hygrothermally functional wooden insulation systems: A parametric study for mixed climate

Zhao

Künzel

Mehra

2023

Journal of Building Physics

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According to existing measurements and simulation results, the indoor thermal comfort in traditional wooden buildings (still remaining in a large amount) in the Chinese Hot-Summer-Cold-Winter zone is very poor in winter. However, few studies can be found regarding the energy retrofitting of their wooden enclosures, which is increasingly regarded as essential for improving indoor thermal comfort and maintaining built heritage. Therefore, this study demonstrates a method based on parametric study applying the widely validated WUFI®Plus software to help design hygrothermally functional insulation systems for this area. The parametric study was conducted on the example of traditional exterior wooden walls in Tongren in southern China. Five parameters were investigated, including internal and external insulation systems, vapor-open (mineral wool) and vapor-tight (XPS) insulation materials, a U-value of 0.8 W/(m2K) as well as a lower U-value of 0.24 W/(m2K) for the insulated walls, different capabilities and positions of an additional vapor control layer, as well as different cooling/dehumidification conditions in the warm period of a year. It has been found in this study that, if possible, a lower U-value than the current Chinese design standard for energy efficiency of buildings (0.8 W/(m2K) should be preferred for energy retrofitting. This can limit the yearly duration of a high internal surface relative humidity over 80% shorter than 30 days without any dehumidification devices. Besides, this study provides some feasible wall configurations with instructions on their limitations to guide future work regarding the design of insulated building components and the operation of renovated traditional wooden buildings.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design hygrothermally functional wooden insulation systems: A parametric study for mixed climate

Zhao

Künzel

Mehra

2023

Journal of Building Physics

Self Cite

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“…(8) ) [ 29 , 30 ] to further validate the linear relationship indicated by the Pearson correlation coefficient. The goodness of fit is between 0 and 1, and larger goodness of fit is preferred [ 31 , 32 ].

Where s is the square mean error of the fitted value and reference value of the airborne infection risk, σ is the standard deviation of the reference values of the airborne infection risk.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ventilation indices for evaluation of airborne infection risk control performance of air distribution

Niu

Zhang

et al. 2022

Building and Environment

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“…Deep learning and multiobjective optimisation methods were used to design courtyards [23,24], showing the importance that design variables (window-to-wall ratio and building geographical location) have on thermal performance. Finally, simulations have been employed to determine the cooling energy demand [25] and the energy saving potential [26] associated with courtyards in the second study for traditional houses.…”

Section: Courtyards In Warm Humid Climatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the thermal performance of traditional courtyard houses in a warm humid climate: Colima, Mexico

Toris-Guitron

Lopez

Luna-León³

et al. 2022

Herit Sci

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With the recent need to decrease energy use and promote indoor thermal comfort in overheating conditions, attention has been drawn to the passive cooling function of courtyards. This paper aims to determine the effect of proportions and orientations of courtyards on the indoor thermal performance of traditional houses in a warm, humid region so that this could guide further improvement and reinterpretation of this building type. The results of this parametric study were obtained through computer simulations of different cases with the aim to determine the influence of orientation, courtyard size and proportions on the indoor thermal energy balance and thermal comfort of a traditional building in a warm-humid region. Rather than promote passive cooling in the building, the findings suggest that the courtyard greatly increases solar heat gain, raising the temperature during the day. Higher solar heat gains and ventilation rates were observed in the courtyard cases with greater width and length. Nevertheless, this does not cause important differences in the average operative temperature of the entire building between the cases. As for orientation, lower heat gains were obtained in courtyards with the long axis-oriented east to west. Regardless of the cases, the study finally emphasizes the importance of the inhabitants controlling the opening of windows in the enclosed rooms since this could decrease the temperature by 1.1 °C from night to the early morning (23.00 hrs to 11.00hrs) and thus influence its thermal comfort. Conversely, opening the windows outside that time-lapse could cause an increase in temperature and more hours above the upper comfort limit.

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Energy-saving potential of deeply retrofitting building enclosures of traditional courtyard houses – A case study in the Chinese Hot-Summer-Cold-Winter zone

Cited by 23 publications

References 35 publications

Design hygrothermally functional wooden insulation systems: A parametric study for mixed climate

Design hygrothermally functional wooden insulation systems: A parametric study for mixed climate

Ventilation indices for evaluation of airborne infection risk control performance of air distribution

Evaluation of the thermal performance of traditional courtyard houses in a warm humid climate: Colima, Mexico

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