Design Strategies for

Net-Zero Energy
Buildings
Fundamentals design considerations
(Lecture 7–9)
Test (30 min)
Outline
1. Sustainable design practices
2. Climate and site assessment (microclimate)
3. Building mass and geometry
4. Building type and zoning

3
The three-tier approach to sustainable building design. *part of solar-responsive design
Sustainable design practices
• Tier 1
– All decisions that are made in designing any building.
– Think of minimizing energy consumption during design state
 building itself can accomplish ~60% of the HCL (heating
cooling lighting).

• Tier 2
– Use natural energies through passive heating, passive cooling,
and daylighting systems.
– Can reduce the energy consumption by ~20%.

Tier 1 and 2 (purely architectural) reduce energy

consumption by ~80%!!!
Sustainable design practices
• Tier 3
– Design efficient mechanical and electrical equipment
– Can reduce energy consumption by ~5%.

Only ~15% of the energy needed as compared to a

conventional building  can be generated using
renewables.
 We must begin by taking note of the
countries and climates in which homes are
to be built if our designs for them are to be
correct. One type of house seems
appropriate for Egypt, another for Spain . . .
one still different for Rome. . . . It is obvious
that design for homes ought to conform to
diversities of climate.

The Ten Books on Architecture, Vitruvius

Architect, first-century bc.
Climate
• Read Sec 5.2 and 5.3 of textbook

• Designing buildings in harmony with their climates.

• Need to understand the microclimate of the site.

• Microclimate can be quite different from the larger

climate
– Replacing farmland and forest with the hard and massive
materials of cities.
– Irrigating a desert and making it a humid area.
– Constructing high-rise buildings to form windy canyons.
The Koppen-Geiger
Climate Classification
System
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsOL9Fafo2w
(7-8 mins)
Climate
zones in
India
Climate zones of India
• IMD provide climate
summaries of
“smart cities”
– https://imdpune.go
v.in/caui/smartcities
.html
 Climate zones of India
Mean
Relative
monthly Precipitation No. of
Climate humidity
temperature (mm) clear days
(%)
(°C)
Hot and dry > 30 < 55 <5 > 20
Warm and
> 30 > 55 >5 < 20
humid
Moderate 25–30 < 75 <5 < 20
Cold cloudy < 25 > 55 >5 < 20
Cold sunny < 25 < 55 <5 > 20
Applies when 6 months or more do not fall in any of the
Composite
above categories
End of Lecture 7
 Hot and dry
Description • High temperature, low humidity and rainfall, intense solar
radiation and a generally clear sky.
• Hot winds during the day and cool winds at night.
• Sandy or rocky ground with little vegetation.
• Low water table and few resources of surface water.
• Rajasthan, Gujarat, Western MP, Central Maharashtra.
Summer (high) 40–45 °C
Summer (low) 20–30 °C
Winter (high) 5–25 °C
Winter (low) 0–10 °C
Diurnal variation 15–20 °C
Mean RH Very low (25–40 %)
Precipitation Low < 500 mm/year
Sky conditions Cloudless skies with high solar radiation causing glare.
 Warm and humid
Description • Temperature is moderately high during day and night,
very high humidity and rainfall. Usually diffused radiation
(causes glare), intense radiation if sky is clear.
• Calm to very high winds from prevailing wind directions
• Abundant vegetation.
• Kerela, Tamil Nadu, Coastal Orissa and AP.
Summer (high) 30–35 °C
Summer (low) 25–30 °C
Winter (high) 25–30 °C
Winter (low) 20–25 °C
Diurnal variation 5–8 °C
Mean RH High low (70–90 %)
Precipitation High > 1200 mm/year
Sky conditions Overcast (cloud cover ranging between 40–80%) causing glare.
 Moderate (Temperate)
Description • Moderate temperature, humidity, and rainfall.
• Solar radiation same throughout the year and sky is
generally clear.
• High winds during summer depending on topography.
• Hilly or high plateau region with abundant vegetation
• Bangalore (and surroundings) and Goa.
Summer (high) 30–34 °C
Summer (low) 17–24 °C
Winter (high) 27–33 °C
Winter (low) 16–18 °C
Diurnal variation 8–13 °C
Mean RH Variable (30–80 %)
Precipitation High > 1000 mm/year
Sky conditions Mainly clear, occasionally overcast with dense low clouds in
summer.
 Cold and cloudy
Description • High regions with abundant vegetation in summer.
• Moderate summer temperatures and very low in winter.
• High humidity and moderate year-round precipitation.
• Low solar radiation.
• Generally intense winds, especially during rainfall.
• Jammu and Kashmir, Uttaranchal, HP, Sikkim, AP, etc.
Summer (high) 20 to 30 °C
Summer (low) 17 to 21 °C
Winter (high) 4 to 8 °C
Winter (low) −3 to 4 °C
Diurnal variation 5 to 15 °C
Mean RH High (70 to 80 %)
Precipitation Moderate ~1000 mm/year (evenly distributed year-round)
Sky conditions Overcast most of the year, except during the brief summer period
 Cold and sunny
Description • Mountainous regions with little vegetation.
• Moderate summer temperatures and very low in winter.
• Low humidity and precipitation.
• Intense solar radiation with a low percentage of diffuse
radiation. Occasionally intense winds.
• Exceptionally harsh cold desert climate (Ladakh)!
Summer (high) 17 to 24 °C
Summer (low) 4 to 11 °C
Winter (high) −7 to 8 °C
Winter (low) −14 to 0 °C
Diurnal variation 20 to 25 °C
Mean RH Low (10–50 %)
Precipitation Very low < 200 mm/year
Sky conditions Fairly clear throughout the year with cloud cover less than 50 %
 Composite
Description • High temperature in summer and cold in winter.
• Low humidity in summer and high in monsoons.
• Intense radiation in the summer and winter with a low percentage of
diffuse radiation, but very low in monsoon with predominantly
diffuse radiation.
• Hot winds in summer, cold winds in winter, and strong winds in
monsoons. Variable landscape and seasonal vegetation.
• UP, Haryana, Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand, MP, etc.
Summer (high) 32 to 43 °C
Summer (low) 27 to 32 °C
Winter (high) 10 to 25 °C
Winter (low) 4 to 10 °C
Diurnal variation 3–22 °C
Mean RH In dry periods 20 to 55 % and in wet periods 55 to 95 %.
Precipitation Variable between 500 and 1300 mm per year, during monsoon reaching 250
mm in the wettest month. Little or no rain in the dry season
Sky conditions Varying, overcast and dull in the monsoon, clear during summer and winter.
Occasional dust haze during the summer period
Bioclimatic design (Givoni’s chart)
 Bioclimatic design (Givoni’s chart)
Comfortable 1,176 h (13%)
Too hot 4,798 h (55%)
Too cold 2,786 h (32%)

Plotting outdoor DBT and RH on the Psychrometric chart (Lucknow)

 Bioclimatic design (Givoni’s chart)
Comfortable 201 h (2%)
Too hot 7,680 h (88%)
Too cold 879 h (10%)

Plotting outdoor DBT and RH on the Psychrometric chart (Chennai)

 Bioclimatic design (Givoni’s chart)
Comfortable 1,361 h (15%)
Too hot 5,661 h (65%)
Too cold 1,738 h (20%)

Plotting outdoor DBT and RH on the Psychrometric chart (Jodhpur)

Ventilation
• Two ways in which ventilation can improve comfort
1. Comfort ventilation
• Open the windows!
• Direct effect by providing a higher indoor air speed.
• Enhances the cooling sensation of occupants directly.

2. Nocturnal convective cooling

• Ventilate building only at night and cool the mass of the building.
• Cooled mass reduces the rate of indoor temperature rise the next day.
Comfort ventilation
• Cross-ventilated building  temperature of the indoor
air and surfaces follow closely the ambient temperature.
• Apply ventilation only when indoor comfort can be
experienced at the outdoor temperature, with acceptable
indoor air speed.

• For every increase of 0.6 m/s of airspeed, the comfort

zone will shift ~1 °C warmer.
Comfort ventilation

The right side of the comfort zone extended to 32 °C with increased airspeeds.
Outdoor and indoor temperature of a room cooled by nocturnal ventilation, in Negev, Israel
End of Lecture 8

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Nocturnal convective cooling
• High-mass building ventilated during the evening/night
and openings closed during the daytime.
• Structural mass is cooled during the night and absorbs
heat during the day  only a small elevation of the
indoor temperature during daytime.
• Lower average indoor daytime temperatures below the
outdoor average.
Nocturnal convective cooling
• Design consideration in high-mass well shaded and
insulated buildings
– Indoor average temperature (when the building is closed day and night),
would be about 1–2 °C above the outdoor average.

– Indoor temperature swing is about 10–20% (take 15%) of the outdoor

temperature swing ( ).
Nocturnal convective cooling
• Design consideration in high-mass well shaded and
insulated buildings
– Indoor average temperature (when the building is closed day and night),
would be about 1–2 °C above the outdoor average.

– Indoor temperature swing is about 10–20% (take 15%) of the outdoor

temperature swing ( ).
Nocturnal convective cooling

The right side of the comfort zone can be extended by 5–7 °C

Nocturnal convective cooling
With night ventilation

The right side of the comfort zone can be extended by 6–9°C.

Nocturnal convective cooling
• Design consideration in high-mass well shaded and
insulated buildings
– Without NV, the hot boundary of the comfort zone can be
extended by 5–7 °C.
– With NV, the hot boundary of the comfort zone can be
extended by 6–9 °C.
– For outdoor temperature swing ( ) between 15–20 °C.
Nocturnal convective cooling

High thermal
mass with night
ventilation

The right side of the comfort zone extended to ~35 °C with high thermal mass.
Evaporative cooling
• Direct evaporative cooling of air can be done in hot and
dry climates.
– In direct evaporative cooling, the air temperature is reduced
by about 70–80% of the WBT depression.

– Boundary defined below the comfort zone bounded by the

wet bulb temperature lines tangential to the two corners of
the zone.

– Between WBT limits of ~10 °C and ~22 °C.

Evaporative cooling

Evaporative
cooling
Evaporative cooling
• Design consideration
– Assume that the ambient air temperature reduces by 70–80% of the wet
bulb depression.

–
All passive cooling strategies

Comfort
ventilation High thermal
mass
Evaporative
cooling
High thermal
mass with night
ventilation
Givoni’s chart (with cooling strategies)

Daily max
temperature with
corresponding
Daily min
RH
temperature with
corresponding
RH
Jodhpur (Dec-Feb)
Jodhpur (Mar to Aug)
Jodhpur (Sep to Nov)
Jodhpur (hot-dry climate)
Complete Givoni’s chart

Comfort

• If climate conditions are to the right of the vertical shade line, the
sun should be prevented from entering windows
Complete Givoni’s chart

Comfort

• Internal heat gains from machines, people, and lights sufficient to

heat the building in slightly cool outdoor conditions (14 °C).
Orientation and form
Orientation and form
• Orientation
– Longer façade facing north-south is ideal for India.
– Openings on north and south side.
– Typical aspect ratios between 1.3 and 2.0.
– Details in the next module.

• Surface to volume ratio (S/V)

– Convey the compactness of a building.
– S/V typically between 0.1–0.6 m−1
– Lower S/V to reduce thermal transfer through the envelope
 conserves energy.
– Higher S/V to expand the area where passive design
strategies can be utilized  maximize free energy.
Orientation and form
• Surface to volume ratio (S/V)

• Although volumes are equal, the less compact form has 60%
more surface area and 60% more heat gain and heat loss.

What do you think about the compactness?

Orientation and form
• For envelope dominated buildings
– Compact designs more sustainable.
– Less use of resources and land.
– Exceptions
• When natural ventilation is the dominant cooling strategy and the
climate has mild winters, an open, spread-out plan might be best.
• If daylighting in a large multistory building is a high priority, a more
spread-out plan might also be in order.

• For internally dominated buildings

– Compactness could be a disadvantage.
End of Lecture 9

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