Numerical simulation integrating passive cooling strategies for building thermal comfort in Guinea's climates

Due to the increased demand for indoor air conditioning, the residential sector in tropical regions is becoming more and more energy intensive. In this study, several passive cooling strategies in the building sector in Guinea, such as natural ventilation, thermal insulation, and cool coating roof, as well as the coupling between these different solutions, have been evaluated. Therefore, the thermal behaviour of a residential building in two climatic zones of Guinea is evaluated. The building thermal discomfort is assessed by the adaptive and conventional approaches, as well as the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) thermal stress indicators and the PMV-PPD indices. The results show that high levels of discomfort and thermal stress are present in the reference building. The use of the combination of passive cooling strategies allowed a reduction of the thermal discomfort evaluated by an adaptive approach of 74% in Conakry and 65% in Kankan. The WBGT index was improved by 42% in Conakry and 45% in Kankan. The operative temperature also decreased to 4.4 degrees C for Conakry and 3.61 degrees C for Kankan.