Simulating Buildings Energy Losses under Different Climate Conditions of Mazandaran Province

In Iran, energy consumption in the building accounts for about 40% of the total energy consumed in the country; given that 71% of the natural gas consumption in the building is used for indoor heating; therefore, optimizing fuel consumption in the heating system is of special importance. This paper investigates the combined effects of climatic conditions and construction materials. For this purpose, different climates in Mazandaran province were defined. The whole zone was divided into five different sections. Then, the simulation of the thermal heating of a typical building using the Carrier software has been carried out with a wide range of different building materials (windows, walls, floors, ceilings) in different climates. The amount of natural gas consumption for the climates is calculated at worst and best points. It was noted that if all the materials are selected as best as possible (insulated walls, ceilings and floors and 3-ply windows), a 23% to 78% reduction in fuel consumption (depending on the selected materials) would be obtained. In this case, the wall has the most effects and the floor of the building has the least effects on fuel consumption.