Parametric Study for Optimising Building Form and Height: An Approach toward Net Zero Energy & Carbon in Buildings

Abstract

Due to the excessive use of natural resources and fossil fuels, our planet has started to show its weak points. Several ecological and economic crises have occurred in the last decades. The building sector is held primarily responsible for one-third of global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and the advent of COVID-19 has not improved this with its containment. For this reason, improving the energy efficiency of buildings and reaching the net zero concept have become the primary objectives of all policies. Several measures are to be undertaken to achieve this concept, ranging from passive and active strategies to the use of renewable energy. This work aims to analyse and study the morphology of the building with geometric plan and height variables to know their influences on the energy consumption of residential buildings in three different types of Algerian climates, semi-arid, arid, and Mediterranean. Using SketchUp and the cloud-based simulation tool Sefaira, the results showed that the triangular-shape based plan has the best energy consumption, allowing a reduction of 18% from the worst-case scenario, and that the difference in height can save up to 17.5%, which is worth 51 kWh/m²/year.