Envelope improvements for thermal behavior of rural houses in the Colca Valley, Peru

Rural housing in the Andes of Peru is precarious and does not protect communities from the ravages of cold temperatures. This problem has justified the development of projects to improve thermal behavior; however, they have not been developed massively due to their high cost and technical requirement. This article analyzes the thermal behavior of the housing in Colca Valley and offers improvements that can be implemented by the villager. It reviews climatic conditions, typological and constructive aspects of the dwelling and proposes strategies to improve energy efficiency that are evaluated through a dynamic simulation, and a comparative evaluation of costs. Due to precision limitations of the software used, it is recommended that the results be complemented with other thermal simulation programs. It is concluded that the roof improvement has a greater impact on the thermal behavior, it decreases energy requirement in 23%; and applying all strategies, does it in 29%. It is recommended to apply strategies in a progressive way, giving priority to the night-time spaces, to achieve an affordable expense.