Optimization of thermal behavior and energy efficiency of a residential house using energy retrofitting in different climates

Abstract

The poor performance of buildings does not only play a major role in energy consumption but is also responsible for thermal discomfort inside the building. Prior to planning the building retrofitting, decision-makers need to evaluate different retrofitting strategies and their potential measures of energy savings on the current energy scenario. Therefore, this paper aims to integrate these factors and provide guidance on the most appropriate building retrofitting solution for reduced energy demand and better thermal comfort using as reference a typical Indian single-family house. This house is evaluated under five different climates of India. The work is focused on the comparative energy and thermal comfort analysis by considering the building as a stand-alone object. The building envelope of the example house model is improved for each climatic zone by retrofitting and compared with the reference condition to determine the potential energy savings and thermal comfort using TRNSYS18. This work provides a competitive analysis of more than 20 building retrofitting scenarios. The research provides a suggestion by using the “feasible envelope features” for design codes which propose feasible and optimized retrofitting strategy by maintaining thermal comfort and a baseline reference specifically formulated for thermal energy efficiency.