Elaboration of global quality standards for natural and low energy cooling in French tropical island buildings

TL;DR

This paper develops and tests global quality standards for natural and low-energy cooling in tropical island buildings, emphasizing bioclimatic design, passive cooling, and energy efficiency to reduce peak loads and improve thermal comfort.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive set of quality standards based on optimized bioclimatic planning, passive cooling, and energy-efficient systems, validated through simulations and pilot projects.

Findings

Reduced peak electrical loads in pilot dwellings

Improved thermal comfort through passive design strategies

Validated standards with simulation and real-world implementation

Abstract

Electric load profiles of tropical islands in developed countries are characterised by morning, midday and evening peaks arising from all year round high power demand in the commercial and residential sectors, due mostly to air conditioning appliances and bad thermal conception of the building. The work presented in this paper has led to the conception of a global quality standards obtained through optimized bioclimatic urban planning and architectural design, the use of passive cooling architectural components, natural ventilation and energy efficient systems such as solar water heaters. We evaluated, with the aid of an airflow and thermal building simulation software (CODYRUN), the impact of each technical solution on thermal comfort within the building. These technical solutions have been implemented in 280 new pilot dwelling projects through the year 1996.