Evaluating the Impact of Air Infiltrations on the Thermal and Energy Performances for Different Types of Dwellings in Casablanca City

Abstract

Improving the energy and thermal performances of buildings involves studying all the internal and external factors that can affect them. These factors include air infiltration that can occur through the building envelope. In order to meet the requirements of their thermal regulations, the measurement of infiltration become a common practice in some European and North American countries. Although this practice is still very rare in Morocco even not applied. In order to estimate the impact of air infiltration on the energy consumption of the Moroccan residential sector, we have carried out measurements using pressurization by blower door in four houses located in Casablanca with different standings and characteristics. The dynamic modelling of houses with measured leakage rates allow us to quantify the thermal losses due to infiltration and the corresponding energy impact. The dynamic modelling results show that the interior temperatures of the four houses are negatively impacted by up to 3.5 degrees and that the additional energy cost reaches up to 26% of the winter electricity consumption.