Elevational earth-sheltered buildings with selective coated southern facade walls

Abstract

This paper presents a new passive solar design in buildings, which can be used to reduce the consumption of (final and primary) energy for heating and CO2 emissions. Namely, the positive effects from the construction of the elevational earth-sheltered buildings can be additionally enhanced by coating the southern facade walls (building elements that are not in direct contact with the soil) with appropriate selective (absorption and low-emission) coatings. The elevational earth-sheltered building on the territory of the city of Kragujevac, modeled by the Rulebook on Energy Efficiency of Buildings, was subjected to numerical research. The simulation scenario was based on the following variables: the thickness of styrofoam in the construction of the southern facade walls (the first variable) and the optical (absorptivity and emissivity) characteristics of the selective coatings (the second variable). Although the use of selective coatings is mostly limited to absorbers in thermal solar collectors, their application in buildings would also be of great importance.