Toward energy-efficient governmental buildings in Egypt: investigating the impact of nano aerogel glazing on energy performance

Abstract

Abstract The application of advanced materials in energy conservation is mostly among the urgent issues worldwide. In this context, nanosilica aerogel has received growing attention in the last decade due to its remarkably lower thermal conductivity. Aerogel panels laminated to drywall boards initiated to be used in substantially the energy sufficient buildings. Nevertheless, the greatest and most promising application of silica aerogel appears to be in substantially insulating glazing systems. The present research has concentrated on evaluating the energy performance of the nano aerogel glazing if implemented to the El-Dakahliya governmental headquarters building located in Mansoura city in Egypt, compared with single-glazed windows (base case) and double-glazed windows. The modeling was carried out in Autodesk Revit, and the process of energy performance simulation was carried out by Autodesk Ecotect Analysis by adopting the weather data of Mansoura. The results show that the nano aerogel glazing system succeeds in conserving approximately 19% in the annual energy consumption for a set-point temperature band of 19–27°C. The paper attempts to present significant research especially in studied country. Selected category of buildings may add more originality in term of implementation scope.