The impact of HVAC system selection and operation on energy conservation in an office building in hot and humid climates of Saudi Arabia

This thesis presents the results of the study on the impact of HVAC systems selection and operation on thermal comfort and energy conservation in office buildings in hot and humid climates of Saudi Arabia. In order to enhance comfort and well being of the occupants of any building, thermal requirements are controlled with extensive and often complicated HVAC systems. In Saudi Arabia, the growth of demand for electrical energy in the rapidly expanding towns, cities and industries exceeds the growth of the power being made available. Therefore, energy conservation is becoming an increasingly important issue in Saudi buildings.; The objective of this study was to investigate the HVAC systems design and operation and its impact on energy requirements in office buildings. The study was conducted on a five storey office building located in Dammam which has been in use since 1998. Different types of HVAC systems were selected and different feasible and practical operational energy conservation measures (ECMs) were evaluated using the energy simulation software of Visual DOE 4.0. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...