Adaptations to reduce electricity demand and CO2 emissions in office buildings in Caracas, Venezuela
This dissertation examines the adaptation of office buildings with over‐glazed facades in the city of Caracas‐Venezuela, to reduce their current high levels of energy consumption for cooling and its derived CO2 emissions. It also tackles the climate change scenarios for the region, and how building modifications are needed to cope with the projected increasing temperatures.
The building envelope and some other design factors influence in the total cooling load of the building; these factors are discussed and tested to quantify this influence, how they could be modified to reduce these cooling loads and achieve a better adaptation to the local climate. This study aims to elucidate the impact of different design adaptations in office buildings on their total cooling load, how some of these modifications could perform better if combined, and ultimately quantify and extrapolate the findings from the case study to visualize a wider scale reduction on electric energy consumption and CO2 emissions, that could minimize the damaging effects it is causing to the planet.
The study concluded with a reduction of 85% in the energy consumption for cooling the case study building, if using a combination of four modifications on the envelope and internal temperatures, which represents a reduction of around 39% of the total electric demand of a typical office building in Caracas.
The building envelope and some other design factors influence in the total cooling load of the building; these factors are discussed and tested to quantify this influence, how they could be modified to reduce these cooling loads and achieve a better adaptation to the local climate. This study aims to elucidate the impact of different design adaptations in office buildings on their total cooling load, how some of these modifications could perform better if combined, and ultimately quantify and extrapolate the findings from the case study to visualize a wider scale reduction on electric energy consumption and CO2 emissions, that could minimize the damaging effects it is causing to the planet.
The study concluded with a reduction of 85% in the energy consumption for cooling the case study building, if using a combination of four modifications on the envelope and internal temperatures, which represents a reduction of around 39% of the total electric demand of a typical office building in Caracas.