Radiative Cooling to Cover Cooling Demands of an Earthbag Building in a Training Medical Cernter in Burkina Faso
Abstract
Comfort conditions in buildings of developing countries are seldom achieved. Moreover, electricity is usually scarce and unreliable. Therefore, the use of a renewable energy source can be a solution. In this paper the use of radiative cooling to achieve human thermal comfort in an Earthbag building of a Training Medical Center in Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso is studied. The building demands are determined by simulation using EnergyPlus, and are compared to the energy production of a Radiative Cooling (RC) system, which is simulated using Trnsys. Peak cooling powers are expected to be around 3.5-4 kW, with a total annual cooling demand of 2081.58 kWh. The maximum cooling demands appear during April and May (567.18 kWh and 554.07 kWh respectively). Different radiative cooling installed surfaces and inlet water temperatures (Tin) are analyzed, achieving annual cooling demand coverages of around 35% for the case of 10 m2 and Tin=25 ºC. Further research is necessary to determine the interaction between the RC and the HVAC distribution system, which is not considered in this paper.