The impacts of climate zones on the energy performance of existing Thai buildings

The paper is reviewed and proposed new parameters for the overall thermal transfer value (OTTV) calculation corresponding to the real climate zones in Thailand. These parameters are the equivalent temperature difference and the temperature difference, which are affected the estimation of heat gains through building envelope in different parts of the country, including northern, north-eastern, central and southern regions. Accordingly, the impacts of different climate zones on thermal performance are discussed. The study developed new parameters and estimated the OTTV with respect to different climate zones and compared to the current practice. The impacts of equivalent temperature difference of wall materials and temperature difference for glazing were examined and proposed to the existing OTTV calculation. The proposed parameters are significantly expected to the existing building regulation and ultimately reducing the energy consumption in buildings. The study found that the new parameters are influenced to the OTTV of the reference building, which are varied from 9.1, 2.4 and 5% within different climate zones.