Environmental retrofittings of office buildings in Sao Paulo

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April 28th, 2010
Guest author: Ricardo Messano

The purpose of this dissertation is to demonstrate that office buildings in Sao Paulo have the potential to decrease their overall energy consumption by reducing their dependence on artificial sources through environmental strategies.

Analysing Sao Paulo´s office building evolution it was possible to identify that the buildings from the 1960s and 1970s, located in Paulista Avenue, had potential for their energy consumption reduction. The climate study indicated that to achieve a better energy performance the building should take into account external solar shading, Sao Paulo´s high sky illuminance, thermal mass and night time ventilation. In addition, the energy matrix pointed out that office buildings with dependence on artificial sources use almost 50% of their energy for cooling and almost 25% for artificial lighting

A field work was carried out to investigate an office building energy and environmental performance followed then by thermal and lighting simulations to investigate and demonstrate their energy reduction potential. The Eluma building constructed in the late 1970s was selected and further investigated. All dynamic simulations were divided into four different categories regarding relative cost of intervention for a more practical approach. Using Sao Paulo´s high sky illuminance and building adjustments it was possible to reduce the total energy consumption by 40%. Furthermore, by applying the same conclusions to office buildings with similar typologies in Paulista´s Avenue it was possible to reduce the area´s consumption by 1,7 GWh/annum.

By comparing the results from the simulations it was possible to reduce the Eluma office building’s energy consumption from 293 KWh/m2 to 175 KWh/m2 through environmental retrofitting.

Tags: architectural association, brazil, energy performance, environmental retrofitting, office building, refurbishment, research, sustainble environmental design
This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 at 10:37 AM.
Category: Research Initiatives.

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