Passive Design Strategies for Energy Efficient Housing in Nigeria

Abstract

The varying manifestations of climate change are greatly impacting our lives and livelihoods principally due to the activities of industries that pollute the atmosphere and use up non-renewable resources to fuel our growth and development. It is estimated that approximately one third of the worlds energy is consumed within buildings of which approximately 60% is through air conditioning systems. The aim of this research is to investigate various passive design strategies to improve the energy efficiency of a typical mass housing type in Nigeria. A case study of mass housing was carried out to select a sample that was used to conduct a thermal analysis using EnergyPlus tool. The first stage was optimising the building fabric which involved proposing a sustainable alternative to the conventional masonry material. Next was the application of passive strategies aimed at achieving lower energy load for cooling. The building simulation showed a significant 30% reduction in cooling. This is significant particularly because of the inadequate and unreliable electricity supply in Nigeria which leads to reliance on fuel based backup power generation systems.