Contribution of shading in improving the energy performance of buildings

The effect of shading in reducing the energy consumptionof office buildings in Athens is investigated in this article. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the role of shading devices in the improvement of energy efficiencyof urban buildings especially in Southern Europe.The first phase of research consisted of detailed data collection from 10 office buildings in the region of Athens, employing questionnaires, in-situ visits as well as interviews. Afterwards, a thermal building model was developed in TRNSYS 16 simulation program.The model takes into account the weather data of Athens and the collected data of the 10 office buildings and calculates the anticipated annually thermal /cooling loads and the total annual energy consumption for each of them. The post retrofit heating/cooling loads and the total annual energy consumption were calculated and compared to the pre-retrofit ones. After an appropriate processing of the simulation results, the energy savings due to the implementation of shading devices and the overall efficiency of this retrofit are estimated, allowing us to draw conclusions for the shading factor contributionin energy saving techniques for urban buildings.