Environmental and Economic Impact of Employing Solar Chimney and Photovoltaic Cells in Buildings with Various Climates

Abstract

In this research, Solar Chimney (SC) as a passive system in the building, is used to provide thermal comfort and reduction of energy consumption. The operation of SC will have different effects in different climates. Investigating this issue can make it possible to use this system in places where its operation is more efficient in terms of thermal comfort and economic issues. EnergyPlus was applied to model a house with SC. Potential of cooling and heating generated by SC was investigated in Humid (Babol) and Semi-arid (Tehran) climates. The result shows that in Babol, SC saves approximately 21% in cooling load and 16% in heating load consumption. On the other hand, in Tehran, using SC can save 35% in cooling load and 20% in heating load consumption. For both humid and semi-humid climates, Summer-SC (ventilation mode) performs better than Winter-SC (heating mode). In continue, for each city, the cost of saving electricity consumption by SC was spent on the purchase and installation of photovoltaic cells (PV). According to calculations, SC and PV systems annually produce 4717 kWh of clean energy in Babol and 6965 kWh in Tehran. In addition to producing clean energy, despite the low cost of grid electricity in Iran, employing these systems in each house, annually reduces the cost of electricity consumption by $ 8 and $ 14, respectively, in the cities of Babol and Tehran. Of course, this amount would be considerable for all the houses in a city.