The energy saving potential of using the optimum external fixed louvers configurations in an Office Building in UAE climate condition
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Date
2011-01
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The British University in Dubai (BUiD)
Abstract
Studies on the effect of external fixed louvers shading device on office buildings energy performance in UAE climate condition have shown that the louvers application caused a significant energy saving potential for the South, East and West orientations. However, the different louvers configurations and properties estimate a different performance in energy saving. This research aimed to exploring the influence of changing the louvers Aspect Ratio AR, louvers color, louvers slat tilt angles and louvers material in the energy performance of office building in Dubai city.
A virtual office unit model with the same parameters of existing office building in Dubai was used to evaluate the energy consumption performance of external fixed louvers for the South, North, East and West orientations. The IES-VE computer simulation software was used to predict the energy consumption in order to evaluate the effect of difference louvers configurations and properties in energy performance.
This study found that the louvers shade application with the same AR value of Louvers Width / Lovers Spacing distance (LW/LS) results approximately the same effect in energy saving. This is important as we can focus on the effect of AR only without having to test the different combination of LS and LW that give similar AR. The study found that the optimum energy saving reduction was recorded by using lovers (AR=3.0) with semitransparent material with Visible Transmittance (VT) 50% was achieved 33.16% annual average energy saving comparison with the base case (without louvers shading and light dimming system) for the South orientation. The optimum louvers AR configuration was AR=3.0 with annual average percentage of reduction in energy saving 29.33%, 25.06% and 23.47% for the South, East and West orientations, respectively. The study found also that the changing in louvers AR is more efficient in energy saving than the changing in louvers angles.
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Keywords
office buildings, climate, United Arab Emirates (UAE), energy performance, energy saving, Dubai, energy consumption, louvers configurations