Investigating the Impact of Local Streets Edge Geometry on Reducing the Energy Consumption of Residential Buildings

Madani Esfahani, F.; Motalebi, Gh.; Shahbazi, Y.; Mirgholami, M.

doi:10.22034/jumes.2021.249027

Investigating the Impact of Local Streets Edge Geometry on Reducing the Energy Consumption of Residential Buildings

Document Type : Case Study

Authors

F. Madani Esfahani ¹

Gh. Motalebi ²

Y. Shahbazi ¹

M. Mirgholami ¹

¹ Department of Urban planning, Faculty of Architecture and Urban planning, Islamic Art University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

² Department of Urban Planning, Faculty of Architecture, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran

10.22034/jumes.2021.249027

Abstract

Geometric features and horizontal arrangement of buildings on the site are among the items that have been studied in evaluating the amount of energy consumed in interior spaces. Among these cases, we can mention the street edge line as the regulator of these parts and the border between urban and private space. This study examines the effect of these depressions and protrusions of building components at the edge of local passages on the amount of heating and cooling energy consumption of residential units by keeping the rest of the components constant and focusing on the geometric features of the road network. In this study, a residential area in one of the old neighborhoods of Isfahan, which is organically formed and has a suitable distribution in terms of changes in the edge, was selected due to its location in hot and dry climates. Then, the existing buildings in two retreat modes, one based on the existing edge line and the other straight line, in order to equalize the conditions, the heating and cooling energy consumption of each were modeled to determine the effects of light access and shading on each other. According to the results, the total energy consumption, including heating and cooling energy, is 11% less in buildings with irregular edges than in buildings with smooth edges and identical edges. These results show the effect of street edge geometry as one of the physical features of roads in optimizing energy consumption.

Keywords

Energy efficiency

street edge geometry

local passages

urban blocks

energy consumption