A Pedestrian Approach to Indoor Temperature Distribution Prediction of a Passive Solar Energy Efficient House

• Main Author: Golden Makaka
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2015-01-01
• Series: Journal of Renewable Energy
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/128496

With the increase in energy consumption by buildings in keeping the indoor environment within the comfort levels and the ever increase of energy price there is need to design buildings that require minimal energy to keep the indoor environment within the comfort levels. There is need to predict the indoor temperature during the design stage. In this paper a statistical indoor temperature prediction model was developed. A passive solar house was constructed; thermal behaviour was simulated using ECOTECT and DOE computer software. The thermal behaviour of the house was monitored for a year. The indoor temperature was observed to be in the comfort level for 85% of the total time monitored. The simulation results were compared with the measured results and those from the prediction model. The statistical prediction model was found to agree (95%) with the measured results. Simulation results were observed to agree (96%) with the statistical prediction model. Modeled indoor temperature was most sensitive to the outdoor temperatures variations. The daily mean peak ones were found to be more pronounced in summer (5%) than in winter (4%). The developed model can be used to predict the instantaneous indoor temperature for a specific house design.