Influence mechanism of window-to-wall ratio on energy consumption of rural buildings in southern Shaanxi, China

Abstract

In order to improve the of the indoor thermal environment quality of rural residential buildings in southern Shaanxi, China, a calculation model for the typical brick-concrete residential building in that area was established based on field survey results. A dynamic simulation was carried out to determine how the window-to-wall ratio (WWR) of different orientations and the heat transfer coefficient of the window affect the total energy consumption of the typical building in the study area, as well as the energy consumed in cooling and heating. The results show that, with the increase in the WWR of any orientation, the building consumed more energy in cooling and fewer energy in heating; the optimal window orientation in the study area should be south, north, east and west; in order to save energy, the south-facing WWR should fall within 0.3~0.7, the east-facing WWR should stay below 0.7, and the west-facing wall should not have any window or have a small window; the building energy consumption could be reduced by enhancing the insulation performance of the window, and the reduction rate increased with the WWR, especially with the east- or west- facing WWR.