Thermally future-proofing existing Libyan housing stock with biobased insulation materials and passive measures: An empirical and numerical study using a digital twin

Albarssi, Salwa, Hou, Shan Shan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8794-1510 and Latif, Eshrar ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3982-6929 2024. Thermally future-proofing existing Libyan housing stock with biobased insulation materials and passive measures: An empirical and numerical study using a digital twin. Buildings 14 (1) , 175. 10.3390/buildings14010175

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Abstract

Thermal refurbishment and retrofitting building envelopes with passive measures such as the optimisation of opaque and transparent fabric performance may play a key role in reducing cooling and heating load and promoting building energy efficiency. Furthermore, to reduce the embodied carbon impact of the building, the refurbishment measures need to consider the use of low-carbon building materials. This paper investigates ways to thermally future-proof typical Libyan houses using biobased materials. Several typical Libyan houses were monitored for one year to investigate the heating and cooling energy use and to thermally retrofit the building envelope. A digital twin was created in the DesignBuilder software using the real building data of one building for digital model calibration. Finally, multi-objective optimisation was carried out with low-impact biobased materials for insulation, including camel hair, sheep wool, and date palm fibre as well as using other optimisation variables such as shading and glazing types. The study reveals that thermally upgrading the building roof and wall with insulation materials and upgrading the windows with energy-efficient glazing and local shadings can achieve a reduction in cooling load from 53.51 kWh/m2/y to 40.8 kWh/m2/y. Furthermore, the heating load reduces from 19.4 kW/m2/y to 15 kW/m2/y without compromising the standard annual discomfort hours.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Architecture Engineering Energy Systems Research Institute (ESURI)
Publisher:	MDPI
ISSN:	2075-5309
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	16 January 2024
Date of Acceptance:	8 January 2024
Last Modified:	08 Feb 2024 10:31
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/165515

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