Investigating the effect of high-rise construction compared to flat construction on the amount of heating and cooling energy consumption in the buildings, considering the comfort PMV index: A case study

In recent years, the approaches of living in high-rise buildings versus flat and independent buildings have their respective supporters and critics. In this article, the cooling and heating energy consumption in high-rise and flat buildings is compared, considering the comfort Fanger index. The energy consumption for heating and cooling is examined across eight different building scenarios with varying numbers of floors and three different climatic scenarios, all with consideration of the PMV comfort index. The eight scenarios include buildings ranging from a single-story flat and independent structure up to 50 floors. The three climate scenarios represent the cities of Yazd (hot), Arak (moderate), and Shahr-e Kord (cold) are modelled and compared using Design Builder software. In the results section, the details of cooling and heating load of all building and urban scenarios are presented and discussed along with the amount of Fanger comfort index and electricity and gas consumption in all days and months of the year. The results show that in terms of energy consumption, the number of common walls is more important than the number of floors, and buildings without common walls (single floors) can have 58.9% and 67.1% more load and energy consumption in heating and cooling, respectively.