Glazed balconies as passive greenhouse systems – Potential of their use in Poland

Abstract

The paper discusses the possibilities of using passive greenhouse systems, such as glazed balconies, in an example residential building. The analyses were carried out for five localities in Poland, different in terms of external air temperature and insolation. Typical meteorological years were used as the source of climatic data needed in calculations. Two types of balcony’s casing were evaluated, with high and low thermal insulating properties. Demand for heating and cooling in a flat was determined with the use of dynamic computer simulations, and the outcomes were compared with the energy performance of a flat with an open balcony. Additionally, the number of hours with the internal operative temperature exceeding 26℃ was taken as a measure of overheating the apartment when natural airing by opening windows was included in simulations. The calculations showed diversification in the effectiveness of greenhouse systems resulting from climatic conditions, and allowed areas which are the most suitable for the passive use of solar radiation to be identified.

Practical application: Analyses present energy savings in a typical dwelling achieved thanks to glazed balconies, and allow to choose the most efficient type of balcony’s envelope taking into account the heating and cooling demand, and the risk of overheating. The results are diversified in respect of building’s location, showing the areas of Poland where the passive use of solar energy would be most beneficial. The calculations may become the basis for further economical evaluation of greenhouse systems effectiveness.

Keywords

Passive solar systems glazed balconies energy demand in buildings

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Jones

McFarland

. The sunspace primer. A guide for passive solar heating, New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1984.

Wall

. A design tool for glazed spaces – part I: description. ASHRAE Transac 1995; 101: 1261–1271.

Fredlund

. A design tool for glazed spaces – part II: examples. ASHRAE Transac 1995; 101: 1272–1286.

Mihalakakaou

Ferrante

. Energy conservation and potential of a sunspace: sensitivity analysis. Energ Conserv Manage 2000; 41: 1247–1264.

Bakos

Tsagas

. Technology, thermal analysis and economic evaluation of a sunspace located in northern Greece. Energ Build 2000; 31: 261–266.

Laskowski L. Systems of passive solar heating. Problems of functioning and energy-efficiency. Warsaw: Polish Academy of Science, Civil Engineering Studies No 34, 1993.

Asdrubali

Cotana

Messineo

. On the evaluation of solar greenhouse efficiency in building simulation during the heating period. Energies 2012; 5: 1864–1880.

Bataineh

Fayez

. Analysis of thermal performance of building attached sunspace. Energ Build 2011; 43: 1863–1868.

PN – 74/B – 02403. Heating. Exterior calculated temperatures, Polish Standarization Committee, Warsaw 1974.

10.

EN ISO 15927-4. Hygrothermal performance of buildings. Calculation and presentation of climatic data. Part 4. Data for assessing the annual energy for cooling and heating systems PN – EN ISO 15927–4, Polish Standarization Committee, Warsaw 2007.

11.

Huang

. The impact of different weather data on simulated residential heating and cooling loads. ASHRAE Transac 1998; 104: 516–527.

12.

Regulation on the methodology of preparing energy certificates for buildings or their parts. Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure and Development of 27 February 2015, Journal of Laws, item 376 of 2015.

13.

Wall

. Distribution of solar radiation in glazed spaces and adjacent buildings. A comparison of simulation programs. Energ Build 1997; 26: 129–135.

14.

Oliveti

De Simone

Ruffolo

. Evaluation of the absorption coefficient for solar radiation in sunspaces and windowed rooms. Sol Energ 2008; 82: 212–219.

15.

Oliveti

Arcuri

De Simone

. Solar gains and operative temperature in attached sunspaces. Renew Energ 2012; 39: 241–249.

16.

Roux

Teodosiu

Covalet

. Validation of a glazed sunspace simulation model using full-scale experimental data. Energ Build 2004; 36: 557–565.

17.

Mottard

Fissore

. Thermal simulation of an attached sunspace and its experimental validation. Sol Energ 2007; 81: 305–315.

18.

Wittchen

Johnsen

Grau

. BSim user’s guide, Hørsholm: Danish Building Research Institute, 2004.

19.

Perez

Stewart

Arbogast

. An anisotropic diffuse radiation model for sloping surfaces: description, performance validation, site dependency evaluation. Sol Energ 1986; 36: 481–497.

20.

Włodarczyk

Nowak

. Statistical analysis of solar radiation models onto inclined planes for climatic conditions of Lower Silesia in Poland. Arch Civil Mech Eng 2009; 9: 305–310.

21.

Grudzińska

. Glazed balconies as greenhouse systems. The influence of glazing surface on energy gains. Izolacje 2014; 9: 50–55.

22.

Strom

Joosten

Boonstra

. Passive house solutions. Intell Energ Eur 2006. Available at: http://erg.ucd.ie/pep/pdf/Passive_House_Solutions.pdf.

23.

Hastings

Wall

. Sustainable solar housing, London: Earthscan, 2007.

24.

Kisilewicz

. The influence of resistive, dynamic and spectral features of the building walls on the thermal balance of the low energy buildings, Cracow: Cracow University of Technology Publishing House, 2008.

25.

Persson

Roos

Wall

. Influence of window size on the energy balance of low energy houses. Energ Build 2006; 38: 181–188.

26.

PN − EN ISO 13789. Thermal performance of buildings. Transmission and ventilation heat transfer coefficients. Calculation method, Polish Standarization Committee, Warsaw 2008.

27.

PN − EN ISO 13790. Energy performance of buildings. Calculation of energy use for space heating and cooling, Polish Standarization Committee, Warsaw 2009.