Effects of climate change in the thermal and energy performance of low-income housing in Brazil—assessing design variable sensitivity over the 21st century

Gustavo Nunes and Thalita Giglio

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2022, vol. 168, issue C

Abstract: To increase the accuracy of energy efficiency interventions over a building's lifetime, it is essential to predict the impact of climate change. Studies have analyzed building performance under future environmental conditions in Brazil, but the influence of design variables in the whole thermal and energy performance is a topic that still needs to be addressed. The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of climate change on the thermo-energetic performance of Brazilian low-income housing in the climates of two cities: Belém and São Paulo. For this, the research was based on computer simulations and Morris global sensitivity analysis, observing the influence of design variables in different periods. Weather files were generated to represent future environmental conditions according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change A2 scenario. The results prove that building design must necessarily consider climate change for a resilient built environment and highlight the importance of design variables, especially in the São Paulo climate. In view of future higher temperatures, the sensitivity indices indicate that natural ventilation is crucial for building performance improvements, followed by solar absorptance of the envelope and thermal transmittance of the walls. Finally, this study contributes to design decision-making for low-income housing in tropical climates and underscores the need for investigation of how to design resilient buildings, focusing on strategies to mitigate climate change and reduce pollutant emissions.

Keywords: Adaptive thermal comfort; Future weather files; Global warming; Resilient buildings; Sensitivity analysis; Thermo-energetic building performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032122007675
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:168:y:2022:i:c:s1364032122007675

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2022.112885

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().