Towards Net Zero Energy Building in Different North African Climates: A Case Study

This paper investigates the potential of Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) in different climates of North Africa. Three identical polyclinic buildings, sited in different North African climates, are simulated using EnergyPlus software with SketchUp and Open Studio software packages and compared with objective measures. Six energy-saving measures are applied individually and combined to evaluate energy saving. Implementing passive measures alone led to significant cooling load savings exceeding 50%, while the combined actions led to 92.6% to 97.3% savings. Insulating the building envelope reduces the annual energy requirements by 23% on average. Implementing better window glazing results in an average saving of about 13.2%, while optimizing external shading led to an average saving of 6.2%. In addition, applying flat plate solar heaters saves 13.5-16.3%, while Photovoltaic system usage leads to 30–34 % energy savings, and installing a solar absorption cooling system reduces the annual energy demand by 16-20%. Referring to the economic analysis performed, the total life cycle cost for the considered combined strategies is roughly 1.5 million USD, with a payback period of 4 years, achieving a yearly saving of 145,000 USD while accomplishing a reduction in CO2 emission by more than 380 Ton CO2/year per building. Therefore, implementing such strategies is highly feasible for the studied polyclinics and similar building styles within North African countries and leads to achieving energy and environmental sustainability.