Energy performance of the original house is not terribly bad but not satisfied, either. It wastes a huge amount of energy in cooling the living area. Strategies of achieving better passive heating and cooling will be illustrated as following. Reducing cooling energy consumption will be emphasized in designing the new house.
The original orientation (315 degrees with living room faces south-west) resulted in excessive heat gain during summer, especially in the afternoon, and insufficient heat gain during winter. Thus, changing the orientation to 135 degrees enables most openings of the house to face northern and eastern side, which contributes to improving energy performance of the house. The over-heating will be avoided by the south-west wall (resulting in 10.0 ML/m2a of cooling energy consumption lower than the initial) and abundant winter sun will be …show more content…
Although attic-discontinuous roof structure is relatively effective in weather controlling, thermal mass with external insulation is more efficient in avoiding heat loss during winter and preventing excessive heating during summer. After several trials, adding both roof and ceiling insulation to R4.0 is the way to achieve the best energy performance with the lowest cost. Thus, Suspended Slab-External insulation (SlabExt:) and roof insulation R4.0 and ceiling insulation R4.0 are chosen for the new roof structure (totally 32.5 ML/m2a energy will be saved). In terms of the original floor structure, the concrete slab covered with floating timber has relatively good energy performance. However, timber, a type of material with low thermal performance, weakens the energy efficiency of the whole floor structure. Changing the floor covering to high density material, tiles, will not only provide occupants with better thermal comfort, but also be lower in
The original orientation (315 degrees with living room faces south-west) resulted in excessive heat gain during summer, especially in the afternoon, and insufficient heat gain during winter. Thus, changing the orientation to 135 degrees enables most openings of the house to face northern and eastern side, which contributes to improving energy performance of the house. The over-heating will be avoided by the south-west wall (resulting in 10.0 ML/m2a of cooling energy consumption lower than the initial) and abundant winter sun will be …show more content…
Although attic-discontinuous roof structure is relatively effective in weather controlling, thermal mass with external insulation is more efficient in avoiding heat loss during winter and preventing excessive heating during summer. After several trials, adding both roof and ceiling insulation to R4.0 is the way to achieve the best energy performance with the lowest cost. Thus, Suspended Slab-External insulation (SlabExt:) and roof insulation R4.0 and ceiling insulation R4.0 are chosen for the new roof structure (totally 32.5 ML/m2a energy will be saved). In terms of the original floor structure, the concrete slab covered with floating timber has relatively good energy performance. However, timber, a type of material with low thermal performance, weakens the energy efficiency of the whole floor structure. Changing the floor covering to high density material, tiles, will not only provide occupants with better thermal comfort, but also be lower in