Abstract
In harsh climatic regions, buildings require air-conditioning in order to provide an acceptable level of thermal comfort. In many situations buildings are over cooled or the HVAC system is kept running for a much longer time than needed. In some other situations thermal comfort is not achieved due to improper operation practices coupled with poor maintenance and even lack it, and consequently inefficient air-conditioning systems. Mosques represent one type of building that is characterized by their unique intermittent operating schedule determined by prayer times, which vary continuously according to the local solar time. This paper presents the results of a study designed to monitor energy use and thermal comfort conditions of a number of mosques in a hot-humid climate so that both energy efficiency and the quality of thermal comfort conditions especially during occupancy periods in such intermittently operated buildings can be assessed accurately.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 607-614 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Energy and Buildings |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2009 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This paper is part of project grant no. AT-13-18 funded by King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Saudi Arabia. The financial support of KACST as well as the support facilities provided by King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) is highly appreciated.
Keywords
- Energy use
- Hot-humid climate
- Intermittent operation
- Mosques
- Saudi Arabia
- Thermal comfort
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Civil and Structural Engineering
- Building and Construction
- Mechanical Engineering
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
