The performance of a partially air conditioned apartment building in Kuala Lumpur

There is a growing trend for high and medium density housing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to cope with the demand for urban housing. This paper explores the energy performance, thermal performance and low energy design strategies in partially air-conditioned (AC) apartment buildings in Kuala Lumpur. Most apartment dwellers prefer to install AC split units in the master bedrooms and living rooms for cooling which results in huge increases in energy consumption. A study on thermal performance (using simulation software Tas) is conducted on a base case (typically built) apartment unit in a medium rise housing block. Simulations for the living rooms are conducted on the hottest day of the year and the total energy use values are presented in kWh. The effects of operation types (continuous and intermittent), varying the set point temperature (28.6 and 26°C), orientation, insulation, shading, materials and location (floor levels and zones) are analysed. The results show that air-conditioning would be needed only on very hot days. On average days, the use of air conditioning is proven unnecessary as passive cooling can be utilised. Recommended thermostat setting based on 90% acceptability is 23.6 - 28.6°C. Setting the thermostat higher will reduce energy use dramatically. In order to minimise the usage of air conditioners, passive climate control strategies (orientation, shading and insulation) should be adopted. Results show that improvements to the base case can reduce the total energy consumption by two thirds.