Effect of external shading and window glazing on energy consumption of buildings in Bangladesh

Energy efficiency of buildings is attracting significant attention from the research community as the world is moving towards sustainable buildings design. With fast increasing energy consumption attributed to residential buildings in Bangladesh, there is a need to concentrate on construction and design of building in order to improve the energy performance of buildings. This paper provides some guidelines to minimize the building energy use choosing best window glazing types of residential buildings in Bangladesh. External shading influences the solar energy on a window and the transmitted energy within the room through the window. In the present study using EnergyPlus software, advanced glazing and shading on the solar energy transmitted into or lost from the room through the fenestration areas have been evaluated for usual residential buildings in Jessore, Bangladesh. Huge reduction in the annual energy transferred into the buildings is possible with appropriate overhangs or side fins in the windows. Also, proper shaded simple glazing can have an energetic behaviour equivalent to high-performance glazing. From the results, it has been seen that choosing the best window with different glazing, overhangs and side fins based on energy evaluation is achievable.