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Design for the Climate
Published in Dorothy Gerring, Renewable Energy Systems for Building Designers, 2023
Solar heat gain can either be direct, indirect, or isolated. The heat gained is often stored in a mass of material, called a thermal mass, which then will radiate stored heat into the space over time. Thermal mass can be provided by a variety of items such as water, concrete, or phase change materials. For solid materials, darker colors on the surface absorb more heat, while lighter colors will reflect heat. The mass needs to have thickness to store the heat. For example, a concrete floor slab should be 4–8” (100–200mm) thick. Any time you are using solar gain for heating, you need to pay attention to the HDD vs. the CDD and provide appropriate shading. It is quite easy to overheat quickly in shoulder seasons.
Heating and Cooling
Published in Stan Harbuck, Donna Harbuck, Residential Energy Auditing and Improvement, 2021
Central air-conditioner sizing is typically done by licensed air-conditioning contractors using Manual J (published by the Air-Conditioning Contractors of America). Sizing of air-conditioners is measured in “tons” of cooling capacity with 1 ton equaling 12,000 Btus per hour. A good air-conditioner sizing rule of thumb is about 1 ton for every 400 square feet in older, less efficient homes and 1 ton for every 700 to 1200 square feet in newer more efficient homes. Cooling load is more difficult to calculate than heating load because of the variability of solar heat, internal gains, and air leakage. Thermal mass of the building has an effect on calculating both the cooling and heating load—the greater the thermal mass the more it reduces daily temperature variation in the building and the energy demands. Air leakage has a double negative effect on cooling load in that it not only brings in warm air from outside but it also takes energy to remove the moisture in the that air.
Thermal mass in office buildings
Published in Paul Fazio, Hua Ge, Jiwu Rao, Guylaine Desmarais, Research in Building Physics and Building Engineering, 2020
M.T. Gorgolewski, Z. Liao, R. Clarida
Thermal mass, (or thermal capacity) is the ability of a material to absorb, store and release heat. It is measured in the number of Joules of thermal energy stored per unit of mass (J/kg.K), or per cubic meter of material (J/m3K). Generally heavy materials such as concrete and masonry can store more heat per unit of volume than lightweight materials such as timber or insulation (Table 1). The basic principle of using heavy structural elements such as masonry walls as sinks to absorb heat during the occupied period of the day is an age-old strategy used for vernacular designs in warm countries such as in the Mediterranean. Such buildings use high mass, variable air change rates, large surface areas, shading and low internal heat loads to control over-heating. However, often there were penalties in the form of poorer comfort in winter or increased need for heating.
Experimental investigation on energy saving potential for thermally activated buildings integrated with the active cooling system
Published in Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 2022
Rakesh Chandrashekar, Balaji Kumar
Cooling demand in commercial buildings contributes to significant electrical consumption. Activating the thermal mass of the building by cooling/heating plays a vital role in removing trapped heat and better energy efficiency. The utilization of a thermally activated building system (TABS) for building cooling has incredible potential to minimize energy consumption and improve occupant comfort in indoor conditions (Michalak 2021). TABS consists of pipe structures embedded in the building envelope. These pipe-embedded structures trap the heat from the indoor environment. As a result, the TABS can harness maximum heat flux in the building surface, even at a lower temperature difference between the supply water and indoor air. Therefore, TABS integrated with building structures improves the performance of boilers and chillers and has the potential to integrate and operate with low-grade energy sources (Romaní, Pérez, and de Gracia 2016). Moreover, TABS can be utilized for peak load shifting to reduce the system’s energy consumption. Researchers have compared the performance of the traditional air conditioning system with the TABS in terms of its energy performance and thermal comfort.
Energy conservation assessment of traditional and modern houses in Sydney
Published in Building Research & Information, 2021
Haider Albayyaa, Dharmappa Hagare, Swapan Saha
Figures 5 and 6 show the comparison of relative energy consumptions between different thermal mass constructions. Considering the total energy consumed by fibro houses as a reference, it can be seen that the energy consumed by the brick houses can be reduced by about 40%. This can be attributed to the higher thermal mass in the case of brick houses. Brick houses have better insulation properties due to solid walls and flooring. Even improving the flooring in the fibro house can reduce the energy consumption for heating and cooling by 10–15%. Thus, thermal mass can have significant impact on the energy consumption of a typical house. This phenomenon is well explained by Balaras (1995), who explained that the high mass building has a smaller interior air temperature variations than a low mass building. This yields energy savings in HVAC operation for buildings with high thermal mass.
The impact of thermal mass on building energy consumption: A case study in Al Mafraq city in Jordan
Published in Cogent Engineering, 2020
A building cover provides thermal balance for humans through its design and materials. An important element of this balance is the thermal mass of the materials making up the building coat (Klepeis & Nelson, 2001). heavy thermal mass materials enable buildings to resist thermal fluctuations, also called “thermal flywheel effect.” Materials with high thermal mass can absorb external heat and store it, then transmit it to areas of lower temperatures. As a result, the thermal fluctuation and conductivity of the building decrease. This allows for more efficient heating or cooling in the building and less energy consumption (Granadeiro et al., 2013). Thermal mass is equivalent to thermal capacitance or heat capacity, which is the ability of a body to store thermal energy (Slee et al., 2014).It is typically referred to by the symbol Cth and its SI unit is J/°C or J/K (which are equivalent). When using thermal mass for buildings the term “heat capacity” is used instead. The equation relating thermal energy to thermal mass is: Q = Cth ΔT, where Q is the thermal energy transferred, Cth is the thermal mass of the body, and ΔT is the change in temperature (Halliday et al., 2018).