A study on roof design strategies for energy conservation in indian buildings

Abstract

Buildings contribute a major portion of total primary energy demand across the world. Energy efficiency in buildings is considered as high priority subject in order to mitigate the adverse effects of energy consumption in buildings. Heating and cooling loads have been observed to take a major share in buildings' energy demand, which are further contributed by the performance of building envelope components. Designing a Roof has always been a significant factor of heat gain in buildings for passive cooling/ heating strategies. Unlike walls, the roof is exposed to solar Radiation throughout the day and hence heat transfer from the roof is considerably notable for its impact on the user comfort. Various research studies have focused on the properties of roof's surface to reduce radiative and conductive heat gain through the roof in buildings. This study attempts to carry out a comprehensive technical review of the various Roof design strategies such as Shaded roofs though canopy/ pergola, ventilated double roofs, and roof shading through photovoltaic panels etc. Research papers which aimed at assessing the above-mentioned roof design strategies, either for the impact on the heat gain/ heat loss through the roof structure or for the overall energy conservation in buildings, are considered for this study. The study reveals that the roof design strategies have significant impact on the energy performance of buildings. Also, it is observed across the studies that optimising the parameters of roof design is very important to maximise the impact on energy performance of buildings. © 2019 and published by the Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA).