Elaboration of global quality standards for natural and low energy cooling in French tropical island buildings

Electric load profiles of tropical islands in developed countries are characterised by morning, midday and evening peaks arising from all year round high power demand in the commercial and residential sectors, due mostly to air conditioning appliances and bad thermal conception of the building. The work presented in this paper has led to the conception of a global quality standards obtained through optimized bioclimatic urban planning and architectural design, the use of passive cooling architectural components, natural ventilation and energy efficient systems such as solar water heaters. We evaluated, with the aid of an airflow and thermal building simulation software (CODYRUN), the impact of each technical solution on thermal comfort within the building. These technical solutions have been implemented in 280 new pilot dwelling projects through the year 1996.