Thermal performance of four sunspaces in a cold climate

✍ Scribed by Greg J. Schoenau; Allan J. Lumbis; Robert W. Besant

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 913 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0378-7788
• DOI: 10.1016/0378-7788(90)90090-6

✦ Synopsis

The thermal performance of four sunspaces operating in a cold climate is examined in this study. The sunspaces are fairly representative of North American construction and range from an airtight energy-efficient construction, with most of the glazing facing south, to lower quality construction with non-south glazing orientation. The sunspaces are located in Sashatoon, Canada. Extensive hourly monitored performance was used to develop and validate an analytical model. Simulations were conducted to predict annual performance of the sunspaces. Without auxiliary energy, the sunspace temperature was outside the comfort range most of the time, particularly in winter. The effect on annual sunspace heating and cooling energy requirements of a number of operating strategies were examined. These included the use of blinds, exhaust fans, utilization of excess energy for house space heating, and closing off the sunspace during the coldest three months. The combination of all these measures was found to result in energy selfsufficient operation but only for those sunspaces where the majority of the glazing was south.facing.