Preliminary study of the condition of social housing in the city of Durango, México

Buildings in general, housing and specifically social housing in Mexico, have high demand of energy as a consequence of the use of heating and cooling systems; mainly due poor design and the use of thermally inefficient construction materials. An analysis of the thermal behavior and energy consumption was demanded by the local housing development chamber. One of the first steps towards the accomplishment of this objective is to complete a diagnostic of the condition of social housing in the city of Durango in México. Diagnostic not only including thermal comfort and thermal behavior of the dwelling, but a complete diagnostic consisting on: location, urbanization history and a climatic analysis. The study was focused towards housing intended for low income families, which are candidate to be financed by federal housing organizations, meaning that there is an important limitation on budget. It is thought that the final cost of such dwellings limit the quality of design and materials. This housing has to comply with NOM-020-ENER-2011 (Mexican norm of energy efficiency in buildings: residential dwellings) and the calculation of energy demand through the DEEVi tool (Calculation of energy efficient dwellings). This requirements need to be fulfilled so they can become candidates to be financed by the federal housing organizations. There are several previous studies analyzing the thermal behavior of social housing in Mexico that have been focused on hot or warm regions of the country, where the air conditioning needs are predominant. However, the weather of the city of Durango is ranked as BS in the Köppen classification, where the minimum and maximum ambient temperatures require the use of cooling and heating systems. The results shown in this preliminary study include: the identification and delimitation of the historic growth of the urban sprawl from 1775 to 2010 and a preliminary evaluation of the impact of passive strategies. The comfort hours provided by the passive strategies were calculated and design guidelines were enunciated. The considered parameters were: housing location, local weather conditions and the characteristics of the social housing construction (material and building systems).