Determination of acceptable U-values for naturally ventilated residential building façades in Singapore

Abstract

U-value is an important property of façade materials which control the heat gain and loss from building façade. U-valves great impact on building energy consumption and indoor thermal comfort. Many countries have developed standards for facade U-values for residential buildings. However, these standards cannot be adopted for the Singapore context since the hot and high humidity weather conditions in Singapore differ greatly from that of temperate countries. Though Singapore has developed a set of standards for controlling the amount of heat gain through facades for air-conditioned commercial buildings, there is no provision for non air-conditioned residential buildings. This paper discusses the determination of acceptable U-values for naturally ventilated residential building facades in Singapore by means of parametric computational simulations. The study takes into consideration the effects of various factors such as orientation and window size as well as the effect of shading devices. © 2006 University of Sydney. All rights reserved.