Assessment of retrofitting smart glass on office building Façade to enhance thermal comfort and energy consumption in hot arid climates (Case study in Egypt)

Abstract

Thermal comfort and energy consumption are critical factors to consider while designing spaces to improve a building’s performance. Due to economic development, an increase in the number of commercial buildings has evolved. There are various elements in office buildings’ design that directly influence thermal comfort and electrical usage, such as the building’s envelope. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 of ensuring access to inexpensive and reliable energy is crucial when choosing building materials, particularly particle board, as its application has a significant impact on energy consumption. According to the current expansion in the number of office buildings having transparent building facades, a negative impact on indoor thermal comfort and energy consumption has been elevated. Therefore, innovative glazing technology such as smart glass is a suitable alternative to enhance the facade thermal performance. Thus, the aim of this research is to test both, the traditional and smart glass types on building’s façade through a calibrated model in a hot arid environment and optimize different smart glass alternatives to improve the indoor thermal comfort and reduce energy consumption. This is achieved through an analytical approach is conducted using quantitative simulation data using case study (The Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport AASTMT) to test the impact of smart glass on the energy consumption without compromising the thermal comfort using Design Builder. The obtained results demonstrate that integrating any type of smart glass into office building transparent façade significantly contributes to the achievement of better interior thermal comfort as well as reduction in building’s electrical consumption. For instance, the best results were obtained when the Suspended Particle Devices SPD smart glass was tested, which reduced the total site energy and unmet hours by 46 % and 92 % respectively.