Comparative energy performance simulation for passive and conventional design: A case study in Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Buildings design at the time of climate change must enhance their energy performance and in turn to minimize the undesired impacts on our environment. In this work, a comparative simulation analysis has been conducted to an administration building in Cairo, Egypt, to assess its performance after the application of passive design features in comparison to its conventional construction. The proposed passive design features include courtyards, double walled envelope, shading devices, and cross ventilation whereas the base case include none. To do so, Design Builder simulations were made using the generated weather data for the site using Meteonorm. Results show the superiority of applying the passive design, which lead to 11 % reduction in the annual energy consumption.