Atlas of heating: Identifying regional climate-dependent heat demands in residential buildings of Iran

Due to different latitudes and variation of altitude in geographical areas in Iran, the climatic conditions of Iran are such that the variations of the heating degree-days (HDD) are in a broad range of 60 to 3000 for residential buildings in different climatic regions. In addition, in many cases, the building design and construction processes follow patterns which do not necessarily meet national energy requirements and standards. Based on these two reasons, it is essential to identify the current status of energy consumption indicators in residential buildings. That way, it gets more convenient to adopt new strategies to improve the current state of energy consumption of buildings. In this study, heating energy consumption indices of residential buildings is investigated. Using the combination of the results of statistical data analysis, questionnaires, filled in for 500 buildings, and a reference building simulation in different climates of Iran, the heating atlas of residential buildings was prepared. According to the results, the average heating energy index (HEI) of buildings in Iran can be less than 1 to more than 41.3 (m3(N.G)/(m2·yr)) depending on climatic conditions and building design and construction quality. However, in the coldest center of province, the average of this index is 26.3 (m3(N.G)/(m2·yr)) in the hottest one that is equal 2.2. The variations of the thermal base load (supply of hot water) varied from less than 13.12 to more than 378.84 (m3(N.G)/(person·yr)). In provincial capitals, the lowest thermal base load index (TBLI) of buildings is 24.78 and the highest is 226.49 (m3(N.G)/(person·yr)). In this paper, beside charts and tables, results of heating energy consumption indices are also presented in the form of graphical atlases, i.e. color contour plots, to deliver a better picture of the whole country.