Abhatoo - Centre Nationale de Documentation

The energy consumption and environmental sustainability of buildings in Morocco are of significant concern. Current regulations, such as the Moroccan Thermal Construction Regulation (RTCM), do not fully account for the potential benefits of air infiltration and natural ventilation. This oversight may lead to suboptimal energy performance and hinder the goal of achieving sustainable building practices in Morocco. This comprehensive study titled REVAMPING MOROCCO'S BUILDING ENERGY EFFICIENCY: ENGINEERING & POLICY ' investigates the importance of air infiltration and natural ventilation in improving energy efficiency, economic performance, and environmental sustainability in buildings, applied to Ifrane, Morocco as a case study.
The methodology simulates three scenarios, each with two cases considering no infiltration and infiltration with ACH=1: Simulation 1) Building in RTCM/Reference with no energy gain besides radiation; Simulation 2) Building in RTCM/Reference in a warehouse with energy gains from 10 people and light power of 5 W/m2; Simulation 3) Building with a massive 700 people, increased light power, and appliances per square meter. Natural ventilation is studied for cooling in summer, while air infiltration is studied for heating in winter. Results show that incorporating natural ventilation led to cooling demand reductions between 1.15% and 7.78% in different scenarios, with greater benefits observed in RTCM cases. Additionally, air infiltration significantly impacted yearly space heating energy demands. As the infiltration rate increased from 0.5 ACH to 2.0 ACH, the energy demand for heating rose by 84.4%, emphasizing the importance of considering infiltration in RTCM.
The study recommends prioritizing natural ventilation strategies and minimizing infiltration in building design and construction for building professionals, designers, and architects. It calls for regulatory authorities to revise building codes and regulations to better account for the effects of air infiltration and natural ventilation on energy performance. The research also encourages further investigation in the field of natural ventilation and infiltration to promote sustainable, energy-efficient, and bioclimatic building practices in the future.