Building design in tropical climates. Elaboration of the ECODOM standard in the french tropical islands

This paper deals with the 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, mostly due to air conditioning appliances and bad thermal conception of the building. In early 1995, a DSM pilot initiative has been launched in the french islands of Guadeloupe and Reunion through a partnership between the French Public Utility EDF, institutions involved in energy conservation, environment preservation (ADEME) and construction quality improvment, the University of Reunion Island and several other public and private partners (low cost housing institutions, architects, energy consultant, etc...) to set up a standard in the thermal conception of buildi ngs in tropical climates. This has led to definition of optimized bioclimatic urban planning and architectural design, the use of passive cooling architectural components, natural ventilation and energy efficient systems. The impact of each technical solution on the thermal comfort within the building was evaluated with an airflow and thermal building simulation software (CODYRUN). These technical solutions have been edited in a pedagogical reference document and have been implemented in 300 new pilot dwelling projects through the year 1996 in Reunion Island and in Guadeloupe island. An experimental follow up is still in process in the first ECODOM dwellings for an experimental validation of the impact of the passive cooling solutions on the comfort of the occupants and to modify them if necessary.