Energy consumption of bioclimatic buildings in Argentina during the period 2001-2008

The energy performance of two bioclimatic buildings located in Santa Rosa city, a temperate semi-arid agricultural region of central Argentina, is analysed. The bioclimatic design included direct solar gain, thermal inertia, natural ventilation, thermal insulation, external shading, building orientation, and dwelling grouping. Each double-story building is aligned on an East-West axis and it has a compact shape with 350 m(2) of useful Boor area (58 m(2)/apartment). The solar collection area is around 18% of the apartment's useful area on the ground floor and 14% on the upper floor. This paper describes the energy performance of the buildings during the period 2001-2008. The analysis includes: (a) the energy consumption (natural gas and electricity) during 2001-2007 (natural gas: annually, bimonthly; electricity: monthly); (b) the natural gas consumption and the thermal behaviour during the winters of year 2001 (between July 27 and August 3) and 2008 (between August 8 and 13); (c) the daily natural gas consumption and the thermal behaviour during 2001 and 2008 winters; (d) the comparison between the energy consumption for heating in bioclimatic and conventional buildings. The authors concluded that the results confirm the large potential of solar buildings design to reach significant levels of energy saving. The comparison of solar and conventional buildings in terms of natural gas consumption demonstrates the magnitude of such potential. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.