Investigating the impacts of passive design solutions on building energy consumption using OpenStudio: Case study of a primary school, Hanoi, Vietnam

Abstract

It is very important to investigate the factors influencing building energy expenditure to ensure sustainable buildings in the circumstance of a global energy crisis. The building energy simulation model is a crucial tool to support architects and engineers during different stages of building construction and operations to optimize the design solutions and operation schedules. The objective of this study is to analyze the unexplored combination of some passive design solutions including a one-story-primary school in Hanoi, Vietnam. The obtained results indicated that using sunshades, reduction of window to wall ratio (WWR), and improving the thermal insulation and glazing resistance to solar radiation of the building envelope would decrease the annual energy used intensity (EUI) of the building. More specifically, the building can reduce energy consumption from 2.87% to 5.10% by replacing double-glazing glass with low-E glass. In addition, decreasing the WWR by 30%, the annual EUI of the building reduced from 5.05% to 8.49%. Similarly, displacement of the red brick by aerated concrete brick to construct the external wall would reduce energy consumption from 0.45% to 1.36%. Furthermore, the presence of sunshades on the west side of the building would decrease annual EUI from 1.04% to 2.52%.