IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v9y2017i10p1708-d113017.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of Geometry Parameters on Energy and Thermal Performance of School Buildings in Cold Climates of China

Author

Listed:
  • Anxiao Zhang

    (School of Architecture, Tianjin University, No. 92 Weijin Street, Nankai District, Tianjin 300072, China)

  • Regina Bokel

    (Department of Architectural Engineering and Technology, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 5043, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands)

  • Andy Van den Dobbelsteen

    (Department of Architectural Engineering and Technology, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 5043, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands)

  • Yanchen Sun

    (School of Architecture, Tianjin University, No. 92 Weijin Street, Nankai District, Tianjin 300072, China)

  • Qiong Huang

    (School of Architecture, Tianjin University, No. 92 Weijin Street, Nankai District, Tianjin 300072, China)

  • Qi Zhang

    (School of Architecture, Tianjin University, No. 92 Weijin Street, Nankai District, Tianjin 300072, China)

Abstract

This paper discusses the role of geometry parameters including building shape, window to wall ratio, room depth, and orientation on the energy use and thermal comfort of school buildings in cold climates of China. The annual total energy demand and summer thermal discomfort time were compared through computer simulations with DesignBuilder. Furthermore, a questionnaire was conducted that related to the students’ subjective preference for various building geometry parameters. Results showed that a maximum of 13.6% of energy savings and 3.8% of thermal comfort improvement when compared to the reference case could be achieved through variations in geometry parameters. The H shape performed the best when the building thermal performance and students’ preferences were considered, as well as the various design options for architects. Window to wall ratio, room depth, and orientation should also be carefully addressed in terms of different building types. The results of this study can serve as a reference for architects and school managers in the early design stages of schools in cold climates of China.

Suggested Citation

  • Anxiao Zhang & Regina Bokel & Andy Van den Dobbelsteen & Yanchen Sun & Qiong Huang & Qi Zhang, 2017. "The Effect of Geometry Parameters on Energy and Thermal Performance of School Buildings in Cold Climates of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-19, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:10:p:1708-:d:113017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/10/1708/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/10/1708/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dimoudi, A. & Kostarela, P., 2009. "Energy monitoring and conservation potential in school buildings in the C′ climatic zone of Greece," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 289-296.
    2. Evans, Meredydd & Yu, Sha & Song, Bo & Deng, Qinqin & Liu, Jing & Delgado, Alison, 2014. "Building energy efficiency in rural China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 243-251.
    3. Liu, Long & Zhao, Jing & Liu, Xin & Wang, Zhaoxia, 2014. "Energy consumption comparison analysis of high energy efficiency office buildings in typical climate zones of China and U.S. based on correction model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 221-232.
    4. Perez, Yael Valerie & Capeluto, Isaac Guedi, 2009. "Climatic considerations in school building design in the hot-humid climate for reducing energy consumption," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 340-348, March.
    5. Cantón, María Alicia & Ganem, Carolina & Barea, Gustavo & Llano, Jorge Fernández, 2014. "Courtyards as a passive strategy in semi dry areas. Assessment of summer energy and thermal conditions in a refurbished school building," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 437-446.
    6. Taleb, Hanan M. & Sharples, Steve, 2011. "Developing sustainable residential buildings in Saudi Arabia: A case study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 383-391, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qi Zhen & Anxiao Zhang & Qiong Huang & Jing Li & Yiming Du & Qi Zhang, 2022. "Overview of the Role of Spatial Factors in Indoor SARS-CoV-2 Transmission: A Space-Based Framework for Assessing the Multi-Route Infection Risk," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-38, September.
    2. Carla Balocco & Alessandro Colaianni, 2018. "Modelling of Reversible Plant System Operations in a Cultural Heritage School Building for Indoor Thermal Comfort," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-16, October.
    3. Athanasia Apostolopoulou & Mingyu Zhu & Jiayi Jin, 2023. "Parametric Assessment of Building Heating Demand for Different Levels of Details and User Comfort Levels: A Case Study in London, UK," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-29, May.
    4. Chen, Yaowen & Chen, Zhihua & Wang, Dengjia & Liu, Yanfeng & Zhang, Yaya & Liu, Yanming & Zhao, Yiting & Gao, Meng & Fan, Jianhua, 2023. "Co-optimization of passive building and active solar heating system based on the objective of minimum carbon emissions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    5. Radwa Salem & Ali Bahadori-Jahromi & Anastasia Mylona & Paulina Godfrey & Darren Cook, 2018. "Comparison and Evaluation of the Potential Energy, Carbon Emissions, and Financial Impacts from the Incorporation of CHP and CCHP Systems in Existing UK Hotel Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-15, May.
    6. Giacomo Caccia & Matteo Cavaglià & Fulvio Re Cecconi & Andrea Giovanni Mainini & Marta Maria Sesana & Elisa Di Giuseppe, 2025. "AI-Driven Morphological Classification of the Italian School Building Stock: Towards a Deep Energy Renovation Roadmap," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-29, September.
    7. Reza Khakian & Mehrdad Karimimoshaver & Farshid Aram & Soghra Zoroufchi Benis & Amir Mosavi & Annamaria R. Varkonyi-Koczy, 2020. "Modeling Nearly Zero Energy Buildings for Sustainable Development in Rural Areas," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-19, May.
    8. Ljiljana Đukanović & Dušan Ignjatović & Nataša Ćuković Ignjatović & Aleksandar Rajčić & Nevena Lukić & Bojana Zeković, 2022. "Energy Refurbishment of Serbian School Building Stock—A Typology Tool Methodology Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-20, March.
    9. Yuang Guo & Dewancker Bart, 2020. "Optimization of Design Parameters for Office Buildings with Climatic Adaptability Based on Energy Demand and Thermal Comfort," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-23, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chung, Mo & Park, Hwa-Choon, 2012. "Building energy demand patterns for department stores in Korea," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 241-249.
    2. Wei, Jin & Ni, Yang & Zhang, Yue-Jun, 2020. "The mitigation strategies for bottom environment of service-oriented public building from a micro-scale perspective: A case study in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    3. Dervishi, Sokol & Baçi, Nerina, 2023. "Early design evaluation of low-rise school building morphology on energy performance: Climatic contexts of Southeast Europe," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    4. Alyami, Saleh. H. & Rezgui, Yacine & Kwan, Alan, 2013. "Developing sustainable building assessment scheme for Saudi Arabia: Delphi consultation approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 43-54.
    5. Mohammad S. M. Almulhim & Dexter V. L. Hunt & Chris D. F. Rogers, 2020. "A Resilience and Environmentally Sustainable Assessment Framework (RESAF) for Domestic Building Materials in Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-24, April.
    6. Juan Rojas-Fernández & Carmen Galán-Marín & Jorge Roa-Fernández & Carlos Rivera-Gómez, 2017. "Correlations between GIS-Based Urban Building Densification Analysis and Climate Guidelines for Mediterranean Courtyards," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-26, December.
    7. Xiaodong Xu & Fenlan Luo & Wei Wang & Tianzhen Hong & Xiuzhang Fu, 2018. "Performance-Based Evaluation of Courtyard Design in China’s Cold-Winter Hot-Summer Climate Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, October.
    8. Jan Kočí & Jiří Maděra & Yulia Khmurovska & Petr Štemberk & Robert Černý, 2023. "A Fuzzy Logic Concept for Predicting the Seasonal Thermal Performance of Building Envelopes Based on Structural and Geographical Parameters," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-12, November.
    9. Wahhaj Ahmed & Ayman Alazazmeh & Muhammad Asif, 2022. "Energy and Water Saving Potential in Commercial Buildings: A Retrofit Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    10. Mohammed Awad Abuhussain & Nedhal Al-Tamimi & Badr S. Alotaibi & Manoj Kumar Singh & Sanjay Kumar & Rana Elnaklah, 2022. "Impact of Courtyard Concept on Energy Efficiency and Home Privacy in Saudi Arabia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-18, August.
    11. Zhenying Zhang & Jiaqi Wang & Meiyuan Yang & Kai Gong & Mei Yang, 2022. "Environmental and Economic Analysis of Heating Solutions for Rural Residences in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-15, April.
    12. Lin Zhang & Shan Guo & Zezhou Wu & Ahmed Alsaedi & Tasawar Hayat, 2018. "SWOT Analysis for the Promotion of Energy Efficiency in Rural Buildings: A Case Study of China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, April.
    13. Ahmed, Wahhaj & Asif, Muhammad, 2021. "A critical review of energy retrofitting trends in residential buildings with particular focus on the GCC countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    14. Dias Pereira, Luísa & Raimondo, Daniela & Corgnati, Stefano Paolo & Gameiro da Silva, Manuel, 2014. "Energy consumption in schools – A review paper," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 911-922.
    15. Areej A. Malibari & Daniyal Alghazzawi & Maha M. A. Lashin, 2021. "Coalition Formation among the Cooperative Agents for Efficient Energy Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-18, August.
    16. Capeluto, I. Guedi & Ochoa, Carlos E., 2014. "Simulation-based method to determine climatic energy strategies of an adaptable building retrofit façade system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 375-384.
    17. Yu, Jinghua & Yang, Changzhi & Tian, Liwei & Liao, Dan, 2009. "Evaluation on energy and thermal performance for residential envelopes in hot summer and cold winter zone of China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(10), pages 1970-1985, October.
    18. Marian Ahmed & DN Ayesha Mushtaq, 2019. "To Study Relationships Between Men and It’s Environments by Enlivening Bedouins Heritage in Modern Dubai," Current Research in Diabetes & Obesity Journal, Juniper Publishers Inc., vol. 12(3), pages 49-63, October.
    19. Aldossary, Naief A. & Rezgui, Yacine & Kwan, Alan, 2015. "Consensus-based low carbon domestic design framework for sustainable homes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 417-432.
    20. Soršak, Marko & Leskovar, Vesna Žegarac & Premrov, Miroslav & Goričanec, Darko & Pšunder, Igor, 2014. "Economical optimization of energy-efficient timber buildings: Case study for single family timber house in Slovenia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 57-65.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:10:p:1708-:d:113017. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.