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The aim of this research is to review the status and current trends about energy resources production potential and new energy policies in Madagascar to suggest possible solutions to help the government in its sustainable policy development. The results of this investigation showed that, nowadays in Madagascar, more than 80% of natural potential is remaining not exploited. What is more, in order to satisfy the demand of energy, the country will need to use up to 12,000 MW of its hydroelectric potential and 10% of its solar potential that can be easily reached with a good energy policy. In this sense, an operating of only 20% of solar, hydraulic and wind power resources, in Madagascar, can cover the energy needs of all five Indian Ocean countries on several years and, in particular, solar potential resulted significant in coastal zone of Madagascar. • In Madagascar, only 12% of the residents have the electricity, this rate should increase upto 30% in 2030. • An increase to 3 °C of the air temperature could generated an energy demand up to 40%. • The biomass produced 93% of the consumed energy in Madagascar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• In coastal tropical climate, an increase of 34% of comfort concentration corresponds to the optimal Pareto front. • Comfort potential was the highest in altitude tropical region and the lowest in hot tropical region. • The best solution allowing to reach Nearly Zero Carbon emission leads to 99.4% of the CO 2 reduction. The main objective of this research is to evaluate, analyse and compare the thermal comfort, the energy consumption, and the carbon emission rate in two types of neighbourhoods (existing and suggested neighbourhoods), located in Madagascar island. The same neighbourhood was designed in 14 cities selected in six climate zones which 13 of these cities, were located in the coastal zone. The simulation was carried out under the basic of Design Builder software which is one of the more recognized tools in energy and carbon optimization. The results showed that the comfort rate was estimated at 38% higher in suggested than existing neighbourhoods. The best solution allowing to reach simultaneously the objectives of "Net Zero Energy residential building", and, "Nearly Zero Carbon emission", required an annual expenditure of 1046$, with an emission concentration of 4783.2 kgCO 2 (or 2.6kgCO 2 /m2), during the operational phase of neighbourhoods. This solution leads to 7.9% savings in the total costs together with a 99.4% reduction in the CO 2 release. The best solution only allowing to reach "Net Zero Energy Costs "required an expenditure of 979$ per year, and accompanied by an emission of 51200 kg of CO 2. This solution leads to 13.6% savings in the costs; together with a 5.1% reduction in the embodied carbon release. This point of Pareto Front showed an improvement of comfort hours of 13.1% in the case of suggested neighbourhoods; of 33.8% in the case of existing neighbourhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have used passive strategies, such as the implementation of thermal insulation and the use of phase change materials (PCM), in several studies, but some problems have not yet been solved. It is the case of showing the real effect of external shading combined with thermal insulation and phase change materials to improve the thermal performance and energy efficiency of office buildings in tropical coastal areas. Another pending problem to be solved is to define the impact produced by passive strategies on the performance of workers in office buildings in coastal zones. It is with a view to answering all these questions that this study was envisaged with the main objective of evaluating, analyzing, comparing, and discussing the effect of thermal insulation and phase change materials on thermal comfort and energy demand in coastal areas of hot and humid tropical climates located in the island of Madagascar. In this sense, hourly climate data for the past 30 years have served as the basis for assessing environmental conditions of future climate. It was found that the PCMs have a more significant effect on the coastal zone of hot climates than humid tropical climates. The results of the statistical analyses showed that the application of passive strategies stabilizes indoor air temperatures to between 23 °C and 28 °C in the offices, which is the recommended comfort range in these regions. In the coastal regions of Madagascar, up to 30% of cooling energy is expected to be reduced by combining the introduction of thermal insulation and PCM materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indoor comfort, energy demand, carbon emissions and the cost of maintaining a building vary according to the structure of the building and the behaviour of its occupants. The main goal of this research is to analyse the bioclimatic potential of different Malagasy climatic zones. In addition, this study analyses and compares energy consumption and carbon emissions in six building categories commonly found in Sub Sahara African cities designed to be placed in thirteen cities unequally distributed in the six climatic regions in Madagascar. To reach this objective, hourly weather data for the last thirty years were analysed for two seasons. At the same time, the adaptive comfort model defined by the ASHRAE 55 served as a reference for the evaluation of different passive design potentials. The results showed that in the sub-Saharan or hot zone, the range of comfort varies according to with the geographical position and that the number of hours of thermal comfort and acceptability is in the majority of the cases outside the range recommended in the international standards (CIBSE, ASHRAE and ISO). Finally, it was concluded that Madagascar Island, such as other countries, should build their own standard due to the average demand for cooling energy increases every year up to 3.4% in the coastal towns and more than 80% of carbon emissions can be reduced in hospitals in Madagascar, as well as in Sub-Saharan Africa, by increasing the maintenance cost between 7% and 10% of the total life cycle cost of a building. In Madagascar Island, the building Life cycle cost ranges from 12% to 14% for the construction cost, 0–1% for the renovation cost, 36%–73% for the energy cost, 2%–3% for the maintenance cost on the whole LCC. • Cooling energy demand increases up to 3.4% per year in the coastal towns. • Life cycle cost ranges from 36% to 73% for the energy cost. • The neutral temperature is expected to reach up to 30 °C, in 2050 in the residential buildings. • The emission rate in the hospitals can be up to 98.7% higher than the one of residences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]