The use of horizontal shading devices to alleviate overheating in residential buildings in the severe cold region and cold region of China

Global warming is resulting in higher summer indoor temperatures in the severe cold region and cold region of China, and this is affecting thermal comfort. Local building design codes consider these regions as cool in summer, and do not consider the phenomenon of overheating or propose countermeasures. This paper studied the possibility of overheating in residential buildings in these areas. It suggested alleviating this phenomenon using external horizontal shading, and discussed how to integrate thermal comfort into the building design and save energy consumption. The IESVE software was used to simulate 18-storey residential buildings with natural ventilation in Yichun, Harbin, Shenyang, Dalian, and Beijing, and to calculate the change in indoor operative temperature. Horizontal shading was designed for case study building to attempt to alleviate the overheating phenomenon in summer. The results showed that the case study building in the five cities experienced different degrees of overheating. External horizontal shading was successful in reducing indoor overheating, especially in the severe cold B and C zones and the cold A and B zones. The relevant building codes should be modified to take this into account. Reasonable design of horizontal shading can effectively reduce energy consumption, particularly when compared with air-conditioned buildings.