The impacts of climate zone, wall insulation, and window types on building energy performance

Building energy consumption tends to increase over the next few decades due to the increasing level of urbanization and population. These days much attention has been paid to the enhancement of energy performance of residential and non-residential structures. One should consider various factors for proper building thermal design and assessment. In this study, a simulation-based investigation is applied to analyze the influence of building envelope, climate region, and window's physical features on energy performance. Building's energy consumption and amount of CO2 emissions are studied. EnergyPlus tool interfaced with DesignBuilder software was used to perform energy simulations. Annual energy analyses are carried out on the reference house model over the five climate regions from the Koppen-Geiger climate classification map. According to results obtained, climate condition, wall envelope, window type, and window to wall ratio can significantly influence a building's energy performance. Application of insulating materials and the use of specific window type results in considerable energy savings and reduction of CO2 emission amounts