Design of energy efficient buildings

Environmental challenges like global warming, climate change and fresh water supply have recently become important issues. Large amounts of energy consumption and water use all over the world result from buildings and also a large part of human lifetime is spent in buildings. All these reasons bring energy efficient buildings into the front scene that are environmental friendly, sustainable, more comfortable, energy efficient and low consuming structures. In this thesis, a two storey energy efficient building called "İnönü Energy Efficient Building" is designed at Inonu University Campus. The building, which is designed in accordance with the existing legal regulations, is called the "reference building" and this building is modeled with DesignBuilder v5. Simulation of the reference building is done with EnergyPlus v8.5 to calculate the energy consumption, internal heat gains, heat losses, heating load and CO2 production of the building. Alternative designs according to energy efficient building design principles and passive house / green building criteria are established. Alternative designs are investigated by grouping them under the headings of "Reduction of Energy Demands", "Use of Renewable Energy Resources" and "Efficient Use of Water Resources". Three alternatives, "Building exterior shell opaque components alternative", "Building window alternative" and "Airtight sealing alternative", are examined in order to reduce the energy demand of the reference building. Within the scope of the use of renewable energy resources in the reference building, four different alternatives are investigated as "Heat pump alternative", "Trombe wall alternative", "Photovoltaic system alternative" and "Wind turbine alternative". In addition, the design of "Use of Rainwater Storage System" is examined for efficient use of water resources. The value of employing each alternative is explored. Initial investment costs and annual energy consumption of all systems have been calculated and duration of repayment of the money has been found over the values obtained. When all simulation results are examined; air sealing alternative, Trombe wall alternative, photovoltaic panel alternative and rainwater storage system alternative are found to be economical in today's conditions.