Evaluation of thermal comfort and cooling performance of residential buildings in arid climates

In this paper, a parametric study on the thermal comfort and cooling performance of residential buildings is reported. The study was carried out in the hot arid climatic conditions of Qatar. The influence of diurnal variation of the solar flux, changes in the ambient temperature profiles and the thermal inertia of the building energy system were analyzed. Heat gains/losses for typical residential villas were found to have a profound effect on indoor air temperature while the building envelope was found to have significant influence on space cooling. A comparative analysis of a case study villa and an alternative design showed that simple non-capital intensive design changes can help to shift buildings' cooling performance towards human thermal comfort standards. Overall results indicate that although the currently employed air-conditioning systems are able to provide thermal comfort close to the comfort range as defined in ASHRAE-55, cost and energy savings can be realized by implementing non-capital-intensive changes to specific components that contribute to cooling performance of buildings.