Energetic and Economic Impact of Using Bioclimatic Design Technics and of Solar Water Preheating System Integration on Tertiary Building

Abstract

In this paper, a real case study about energy efficiency improvement of the building of the Software and Services Development Companies' Space at the Technological Center of 'EL GHAZALA' is presented. On the one hand, this study aims to highlight the importance of the energetic and financial gains realized upon the respect of some bioclimatic design rules and solar water preheating system integration. It also aims to present the Tunisian thermal regulation limits. On the other hand, it provides a method for the design of glazed surfaces and overhangs or fins while introducing the way to use the SOLO and CLIP software for the energetic and financial gains calculation. In a first step, building thermal needs were studied, using the CLIP software, for two specific cases: a first case where the building is under the most common standard conditions in Tunisia and where only glazed surfaces dimensions and orientations are optimized; and a second case where higher performance materials and overhangs and fins are used. It came out that half of the thermal energy needs could be saved and low investment payback of about nine years could be reached. Another outcome is that Tunisian thermal regulation should be updated in order to further promote the use of more efficient building materials. Then, in a second step, the effect of solar water preheating system integration was studied using the SOLO software. It turned out that its integration could cover about 64% of the building's heating needs.