Using energy plus simulation tools for improvement cooling load in office buildings at semi-arid climates: A case study North Iraq.

This paper deal with the improvement of cooling load in office buildings in Semi-Arid Climates. Generally, the building in North Iraq consumes a lot of energy to satisfy cooling need due to the climate in northern Iraq is a hot atmosphere, as well as lack of sufficient construction techniques, materials, and operations without providing satisfactory comfort and health levels for the occupants, that lead to using a mechanical device (split unit) to achieve thermal comfort. Therefore, this paper aims to test some applying passive cooling strategies to reduce energy consumption and improve thermal performance in office buildings. Design builder and Energy plus are used to present the dynamic role of the simulation tool in architecture. This study proposed a conventional office to be baseline module for simulation and selected one room from each orientation to simulate the current situation and then with various passive cooing variables to improve the office space cooling load. The study concluded that Window shading by the overhang, low solar transmittance, and decreasing window-to-wall ratio scored the best results for minimizing cooling loads by 17% -40% compared to the base case. The primary objective, which has been achieved through this article, emphasizes the importance of using Building Performance Simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]