Influence of absorptance in the building envelope of affordable housing in warm dry climates

© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. In Mexico, as in many other countries, the energy crisis has permeated throughout many sectors, particularly the construction sector. Mexico has started to develop and implement actions for the efficient use of energy in order to reduce its consumption. The field of building construction has been particularly active in studying ways to optimize the use of energy, especially regarding energy use indoors. One of the main goals of architectural design is to create the proper indoor conditions so individuals can carry out their daily activities in a comfortable area. Interior space must be designed and calculated to provide a comfortable temperature, appropriate lighting, sound control and ventilation for individuals to carry out their daily activities, but must also address the energy required to provide all these characteristics. In warm dry climates, air-conditioning is responsible for a significant amount of the energy consumed in buildings. Proper building design is necessary in order to reduce energy consumption in this sector. This paper shows the results of simulations with the Energy Plus software to compare the thermal performance of a low-cost housing located in a warm dry climate, Hermosillo, Sonora, with similar construction systems in the envelope. Furthermore, an analysis of the effect of the color exterior finish, represented as a gradual change in the absorptance to solar radiation. The simulation is performed for two conditions of use of low-cost housing, the first condition considers the room without air conditioning and the second considers the air conditioned room. To simulate analyzed housing with air conditioning, is used an air conditioner from the database Energy Plus, corresponding to a Mini-split system compact unit zone cooling with a COP (Coefficient of performance) of 1.83.