Balancing Thermal Comfort and Energy Consumption in Residential Buildings of Desert Areas: Impact of Passive Strategies

Abstract

Modern building materials using reinforced concrete are considered the most popular in the production of housing in Algeria, specifically in desert areas such as the city of Ouargla, which is characterized by its hot and arid climate. These dwellings must be more adaptable to this difficult climate. An example is the Ouargla Ksar, which contains traditional dwellings that have proven their effectiveness in terms of the heat problem, as has been revealed in several previously conducted studies, but these dwellings have decreased in demand as they are not suitable for contemporary urban life. Therefore, the aim of this study is to improve the performance of the most recognized house typologies in the city of Ouargla in terms of thermal comfort and energy consumption by using passive strategies. In this regard, we used a research methodology based on field measurements and model simulations wherein we adopted TRNSYS 17 to determine the most often encountered problems. The simulated model was validated by statistical correlation; afterward, a simulation of a full year was run, during which many aspects of construction were studied and compared, such as insulation, the mass of the roof and walls, dimensions and types of windows, orientation, and solar shading. The results show that the studied modern house can be considered inappropriate for a desert climate, and the use of solar shading combined with insulated walls and roof allows for an increase of 35% in annual thermal comfort hours (−0.5 ≤ PMV ≤0.5) and for a 22.73% reduction in the energy consumption. We then compared the simulated scenarios with a traditional house characterized by a bioclimatic architectural design that we used as a reference building. The obtained results may be useful in guiding both refurbishment interventions on existing buildings and the design of new ones. Although the simulated interventions have been widely studied in the literature, it is very important to determine their impact on the perception of the indoor environment and on the energy consumption in this specific geographic area.