Thermal performance of passive techniques integrated to a house and the concept of passive house in the six climates of Morocco

This paper aims at investigating the performance of some passive techniques integrated to a house in six climates ranging from Cold climate to Desert one. First of all, a case study of a house, located in Marrakech (Hot Semi-Arid climate), is monitored and a TRNSYS-based numerical model is constructed and calibrated using the resulting experimental measurements. Afterwards, thermal behavior as well as the heating and the cooling energy demand of the house were assessed by means of dynamic simulations in the studied climates. The impact of the house's envelope thermal insulation is assessed by a comparison with a reference case of the house where this insulation is lacking. The results showed that the thermal load of the house decreased by more than 70% in all climates except for the Cold one; where this reduction did not exceeded 57%. The application of the Passive House concept to the studied house enables to assess the technical requirements for its envelope thermal insulation to achieve this standard in each of the six considered climates. Furthermore, the corresponding extra cost was found to be in between 13,000 MAD and 280,000 MAD (around 1,300 to 28,900 USD) while the payback time ranges from 5 to 8 years.