Evaluating building energy consumption as a function of urban layout: A case study

The purpose of this paper is to develop a relative evaluation, from the energetic point of view, of different geographic orientations that a set of buildings can assume in space. The set of buildings considered is organised in a typical configuration, very often adopted by Portuguese urban planners. The buildings under analysis are typical from the Portuguese urban areas and from many Mediterranean countries in their form and type of construction. These are 7-floor buildings, where the ground floor is a commercial one and the other 6 floors are residential. The energetic consumption of each zone of the building for the heating and cooling seasons was determined as a function of the geographic orientation of the set of buildings. It was considered the exposition to solar radiation and the thermal comfort conditions usually accepted in Portugal for the interior air temperature (20 degrees Celsius in winter and 25 degrees Celsius in summer).