A morphology-based model for forecasting cooling energy demand of condominium buildings in Sri Lanka

Building morphology factors are said to significant influence on operational energy demand of buildings. Usually, energy use for Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning is the key contributor to operational energy demand which varies between 50-70%. Surprisingly, in Sri Lanka energy consumption of air condition systems accounts for more than 75% of electricity energy balance in a typical building in tropical climate, according to anecdotal evidences. With the ever increasing pace of condominiums in Sri Lanka, the requirement for cooling space has increased and resulted in a significant energy demand. On that note, this research establishes a nexus between building morphology and cooling energy demand by identifying the morphology factors which influence cooling energy demand for condominium facilities in Sri Lanka. The study employs a mixed method approach to collect data from thirty (30) operating condominiums in Sri Lanka through a questionnaire survey and analyses of building documents. A correlation analysis is initially performed to explore the significant building morphology factors which affect the cooling energy demand. Subsequently, a regression analysis will be performed to develop the nexus. The preliminary analysis performed on the data collected from 10 out of 30 identified projects indicate that the number of floors (0.799), total height (0.747), wall to window ratio (0.542), and gross floor area (0.459) have prominent correlations with the cooling energy demand of condominiums in Sri Lanka. The paper will present the detail analyses of the relationship between morphology factors and cooling energy demand. This relationship would enable designers to give due considerations to significant design factors and thereby ensure efficient and effective design.