A comparative study of the use of energy conservation techniques in office building: Passive and solar energy applications: The case of Jordan

Buildings contribute to a great amount of energy consumption in many countries reaching to 40% of global energy consumption. Population growth, demand for building services and more time spent inside buildings indicates that upward trend in energy demand of buildings will continue in the future. This paper looks towards the integration of energy efficiency in buildings with the overall passive design. Its goal is to identify low-energy requirements in buildings including thermal envelope performance and indoor-environment quality.An office building case study was chosen in Amman in Jordan, which was designed for reduced energy consumption for heating. A comparison was made with a control case study office building in Denmark, which has a significant reduced energy consumption of one third of national thermal code in Denmark as demonstrated by measurements and statistics. A similar measurement approach was followed in the office building in Amman to compare thermal efficiency in regard to national thermal code in Jordan. Assessment of the thermal performance of the case study office building in Amman include building construction and technical details, insulation thickness and U-value of the thermal envelope and indoor environment. The analysis compares results of the building thermal performance of the Amman case building with those of the control case study and national thermal insulation code. A questionnaire was conducted in July and November to evaluate user satisfaction of a number of indoor climate parameters, such as room temperature, internal air movements, air quality, artificial lighting, level of daylight and noise level.