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Recommendations for the Design of an Energy-Efficient and Indoor

Comfortable Office Building in Vietnam

Chapter · January 2019

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-13-3284-5_4

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Chapter 4
Recommendations for the Design
of an Energy-Efficient and Indoor
Comfortable Office Building in Vietnam

Ngo Hoang Ngoc Dung and Nguyen Trung Kien

Abstract The practice of energy efficiency to buildings requires a variety of

interdisciplinary actions which are related to aspects of architecture and building
services. To office buildings, it is more complicated for the fulfillment of energy
efficiency and indoor comfort as such buildings’ designs are normally oriented in a
way that creates mechanically air-conditioned spaces. In the context of Vietnam
whose climate feature is classified as of humid tropical zone, the issue may become
more serious and there is a need to look for new improvement in terms of archi-
tecture- and building service-related activities. The article provides an overview of
actual situation of energy consumption and indoor conditions of office buildings in
major cities of Vietnam, and, from the perspective of architectural and technical
design, it gives ideas in aim of improving the energy efficiency and indoor comfort
applied to the design concept of office buildings.

Keywords Building energy efficiency Building energy simulation


Office building design Climatic features of Vietnam

4.1 Problem Statement

The category of office building, together with high-rise apartment, have only
emerged for around two decades in Vietnam, but the number of office projects has
been accelerating in major cities namely Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in order to
meet the large needs of work office for agencies and businesses. According to a
report by CBRE Vietnam (CBRE Releases 2018), the total leasable floor area in the
sector of office in Hanoi market is projected to reach 1.4 million sqm. by the end of

N. H. N. Dung (&)
National University of Civil Engineering, Hanoi, Vietnam
e-mail: dungnhn@nuce.edu.vn
N. T. Kien
Vilandco Company, Hanoi, Vietnam
e-mail: nkt.vilandco@gmail.com

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 67

E. Motoasca et al. (eds.), Energy Sustainability in Built
and Urban Environments, Energy, Environment, and Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3284-5_4
68 N. H. N. Dung and N. T. Kien

2018, with the presence of approximately 190 buildings, and at the same time,
another report on the market of Ho Chi Minh tells a fact that total leasable office
stock had achieved 1.7 million sqm. late 2017, and continue to grow in the next few
years after the completion of projects which are now still under construction
(Savills Vietnam 2017).
The increasing number of office buildings inevitably results in a rapid rise in
energy consumption of building sector. As an investigation into energy use of office
building category conducted in five cities under the framework of Vietnam Clean
Energy Program (VCEP), the largest part of energy consumption is for the oper-
ation of HVAC systems and office equipment. The HVAC accounts for the highest
percentage of energy use of the buildings (statistically about 50%), while office
equipment consume a smaller amount of electricity as it takes up around 24% of
total value. (This information is provided by the USAID/Vietnam funded Vietnam
Clean Energy Project implemented by Winrock International). The VCEP also
presented energy use data by building applications in average EUI value (Energy
use intensity, kWh m−2 year), and it indicates that normal building air conditioning
EUI is of 50.66 kWh m−2 year, by far higher than that of lighting purpose (only
around 19 kWh m−2 year) (This information is provided by the USAID/Vietnam
funded Vietnam Clean Energy Project implemented by Winrock International). This
breakdown of electricity consumption shows that energy use distribution of office
buildings in Vietnam is not significantly distinguished to those built in other nations
of various climatic conditions such as Australia where HVAC system of office
building consumes an average amount of 50% of total site energy use (Parlour
2000) (Fig. 4.1).
The responsibility of large amount of energy use by HVAC system in high-rise
office buildings can be given to ‘close’ design characteristic which makes whole
building isolated and totally environmentally regulated by air conditioner and
mechanical ventilation. The survey data published by VCEP also reveals that the

Elevators LighƟng
11,1% 17,1%

Equipment
Air
24,0%
CondiƟoning
47,8%

Fig. 4.1 Share of consumed electricity of a typical office building in Vietnam (pie chart is created
by authors based on data provided by the USAID/Vietnam funded Vietnam Clean Energy Project
implemented by Winrock International)
4 Recommendations for the Design … 69

energy consumption, represented by BEI (building energy index) of the office

buildings in Hanoi varies from 60 to 170 kWh m−2 year, while figure for the market
of Ho Chi Minh city is in range from 90 to 220 kWh m−2 year (USAID Vietnam

Fig. 4.2 Energy consumption index of popular building categorizes in Hanoi (USAID Vietnam
Clean Energy Program 2016)

Fig. 4.3 Energy consumption index of popular building categorizes in Ho Chi Minh city (USAID
Vietnam Clean Energy Program 2016)
70 N. H. N. Dung and N. T. Kien

Outdoor air leakage

Occupant Solar radiation
heat

Lighting
Heat transferred
through envelop

Fig. 4.4 Distribution of cooling load toward a typical office building in Hanoi (Tran Ngoc Quang
2015)

Clean Energy Program 2016). Office buildings are normally claimed to be a large
energy consumer, raking behind only categorizes of hotel, retail and hospital
buildings (Figs. 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4).
Taken cooling load into a more detailed examination, solar radiation and heat
transferred through building envelope are two main contributors in typical office
buildings in Hanoi (Quang 2015), so it can be seen that building envelope plays
crucial role in determining how much energy that building uses for cooling and
heating purpose, though these loads are also influenced by technical system and
occupancy schedule. Therefore, this chapter focuses its effort on determining
optimized design for purpose of energy efficiency and indoor comfort of office
buildings in Vietnam.

4.2 Analysis of Practical Situation and Scientific Basis

for Recommendation

4.2.1 Overview of Actual Design Practice for Office

Buildings in Vietnam

Building envelope. Following the internationalized trend of contemporary archi-

tecture, a majority of modern office buildings in Vietnam are designed in a way that
facilitates air conditioner use and, therefore, are intensively isolated by large
amount of curtain and brick wall. A well-identified feature in the design of these
buildings is glassy façade which intentionally provides sufficient daylight level and
broadens occupants’ outlook.
Turning back to years ago when insulation glass is hardly available, there was
merely only choice to furnish external curtain wall with single clear glass which
was already proved to be poorly energy efficient. Today, there is an increasing
4 Recommendations for the Design … 71

chance for insulation glasses that are more available in the market of Vietnam. The
better accessibility of hi-tech glass, on the one hand, provides owners and architects
with options to select glass material in accordance with aesthetic expectation of
façade design, but, on the other hand, causes a fade in tropically strategic design
approach due to a conception that high-performance glass can alternate
climate-based architecture to move forward energy saving and indoor comfort. This
also causes the emergence of a new trend in office building design in Vietnam
which is not matched to local climatic condition, and inevitably, less energy effi-
cient. Glass-coated envelope probably brings an apparently modern and flashy
appearance to office buildings, but is unlikely to solve the energy-related issues to
reduce greenhouse gas emission.
In addition to the glazing, it is important to take the brick wall into consideration
of building envelope performance as it affects the amount of heat transferred into
indoor space. Other results of surveys showed a fact that only two among eighteen
office buildings in survey are furnished with insulated walls whose U-value are
below the maximum allowed. A similar situation is recorded in major cities of
Vietnam where primary material for brick wall is brick-hollow with thickness of
220 m. Such kinds of wall possess heat conductivity which exceeds maximum
value of heat transfer U-value (1.8 W m−2 K) as defined in the National Technical
Code on Energy Efficient Buildings (QCVN 09: 2017/BXD) (Ministry of
Contruction 2017). Only in a few buildings, external walls are structured with
additional insolation layers like lightweight foam concrete with a thickness of
330 mm, or insulated block bricks (provided by the USAID/Vietnam funded
Vietnam Clean Energy Project implemented by Winrock International). The total
heat transfer value of these wall structure is measured to achieve 1.4–1.5 W m−2 K,
which perfectly satisfies the requirement by building code. Unfortunately, most of
the buildings in the examination are not insulated enveloped, and therefore do not
meet the insulation requirements defined by QCVN 09: 2017/BXD.

4.2.2 Climatic Basis for Recommendation

Located in the zone bounded by the Equator and North tropic, Vietnam possesses a
typical humid tropical climate which, however, uniquely characterized by cold
winter resulted from Monsoon. Despite the fact that hot and humid climate is
prevailing the whole country, there are still diversification between locations due to
different topography. From the perspective of climatic classification, the country
may be partitioned into two main regions as described below (Ministry of
Construction: Vietnam Building Code Natural Physical and Climatic Data for
Construction QCVN 02 2009):
• The North region (from the latitude of 16° upward to the North part) is influ-
enced by unique cold winter when mean air temperature falls down to between
10 and 15 °C;
72 N. H. N. Dung and N. T. Kien

• The South region (from the latitude of 16° downward) is prevailed by typical hot
weather in a year round. There are no distinct cold and hot seasons, but sig-
nificant difference in humidity is present, causing dry and rainy periods. Rainy
season starts from May to October, and it turns dry and mild from November
until next April.
There is a great deal of sunny hours though the frequency of such state in the
North and South regions are slightly varied. Number of sunny hours in the South
exceeds 2000 h, while that of the North is below.
Mean air temperature of the North normally is around 24 °C, but it hardly falls
below, and may even achieves 28 °C in the South. As of tropical climate zone, the
solar radiation intensity is always recorded high in all year round, and it reaches an
average value of 586 kJ cm−2.
Vietnam is characterized by high amount of humidity which often stays at 77–
87%, and it even goes up to maximum level during February and early of March in
the Northeast and coastal Central area.
It is important to mention an arid hot weather condition which lasts 10 to
30 days and occupies some mountainous parts of Central and North-west areas due
to the operation of local Foehn breeze (Table 4.1).
It can be seen that most parts of Vietnam’s territory have a hot season with high
temperature, requiring heat insulation approach when it comes to the design
practice. Despite the fact that several parts of the country are normally influenced
by cold winter, it is demonstrated that air temperature during winter time may not
be comparable to that of countries located in Europe and Arctic climate zone since
the main cause of the local winter is extreme cold breeze generated by North-East
Asian monsoon system, rather than existed low temperature background like
European countries. Cold-proof techniques should only be taken into the design of
buildings in some areas with very cold winters such as the Northeast, the Northwest
and Highlands, and primary approach is simply preventing cold air flow coming
into occupied spaces of the building.
In the actual situation of Vietnam, high-rise office buildings are mainly located
in urban areas where climates significantly differ from mountainous locations. Most
of the cities are affected by hot weather condition identified by high solar radiation
intensity while less influenced by cold winter; therefore, cooling by sun-shading
and heat insulation approach are considered essential to the climatic design of office
buildings.
In addition, the high value of air temperature and large amount of water vapour
in atmosphere causing high level of humidity is another factor to affect the indoor
comfort of buildings. A study on psychrometric analysis for majority of Vietnamese
cities by Duc Nguyen et al. (2005) shows a long time of the year when humidity
exceeds comfort level despite the availability of climatic comfort time in all year
round. Therefore, it is still recommended for office buildings to be air conditioned
for the proper operation of office equipment (Fig. 4.5 and Table 4.2).
Another study by Nguyen (2013) also reveals that thermal comfort zone can be
extended by the practice of natural ventilation, but the presence of a number of
4 Recommendations for the Design … 73

Table 4.1 Summarizing of climatic features of subregions in Vietnam (Ministry of Contruction:

Vietnam building code natural physical and climatic data for construction QCVN 02 2009)
Region Subregion Location Features
North IA Northwest and areas Most of the area suffers from extremely cold
(I) bounded by Truong Son winter when air temperature may falls below
mountain range 5 °C. It is also influenced by hot arid
weather generated by local breeze in
summer time, and may witnesses an up to
40 °C air temperature
IB Mountainous Northeast The area possesses by far coldest winter due
area to its high altitude compared to surrounding.
The lowest temperature ever was recorded
below 0 °C, but only appeared in several
measure points on the mountain
It may turn into a milder summer in
comparison to North plain, but in valley
locations, air temperature may rise to more
than 40 °C. In mountainous locations,
buildings are recommended to be
cold-proof, rather than isolated from heat.
Time when heating practice is needed may
be extended to 120 days. Humidity value is
always high in a year
IC Northern plain It also suffers a cold winter but less extreme
when compared to the region of IB. The
variety of temperature and humidity is lower
than those of IA and IB regions. The lowest
temperature was caught to go below 5 °C,
but the highest one may exceed 40 °C
ID South of Northern region The highest temperature may reach 42 °C
and North of Central region due to the presence of arid hot weather
condition in summer. Heat insulation is an
important approach, but cold-proofing
should be taken into consideration during
winter
South IIA Coastal area of southern The area’s climate is generally a typical case
(II) Central of tropic, except a small northern part of it is
influenced by slightly cold breeze. Its lowest
temperature is hardly below 10 °C, while
the highest one normally exceeds 40 °C.
Temperature varies slightly between days
and nights, and there is no need for
cold-proof practice
IIB Tay Nguyen highland The weather condition significantly differs
from regions whose altitudes are varied.
While higher location may sometimes have
cold weather pattern, rest parts of the whole
area always suffer from hot summer, and
require heat insulation applied to buildings
IIC South region Its climate condition is typically tropical one
with annual temperature of high value in all
year round. Only two distinct dry and rainy
seasons should be mentioned
74 N. H. N. Dung and N. T. Kien

Air-conditioning needed time

Fig. 4.5 Hourly plot weather data of Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh city on Building
psychrometric chart at standard atmospheric pressure (101.325 kPa) (Nguyen 2013)

Table 4.2 Results of bioclimatic analysis for a number of cities of Vietnam (Duc Nguyen et al.
2005)
City Very Cold Moderately Comfort Dry Humid Hot Very hot Very hot
cold cold temperate temperate and humid and arid
Ha Noi 0,60 8,60 18,00 44,60 0 23,40 4,50 0,30 0
Vinh 0,20 5,40 18,70 42,01 0 28,64 4,90 0,15 0
Da 0 0 4,53 85,42 0 8,85 1,20 0 0
Nang
Nha 0 0 0 99,08 0 0,58 0,34 0 0
Trang
Ho Chi 0 0 0,20 79,50 0 16,70 3,50 0,10 0
Minh
Can 0 0 0 61,45 0 38,53 0,02 0 0
Tho

hours when humidity is beyond comfort level makes it unable to definitely depend
on ventilation without air conditioning. These studies confirm the essence and
relevance of air conditioning operation in office buildings of Vietnam.
The overview of office buildings in Vietnam shows the inappropriateness in
actual approach to the design of building envelope which increasingly relies on
hi-performance glass material in façade while, at the same time, devalues climatic
adaptation through passive sun-shading and heat insulation. There is, accordingly, a
need for the removal of misconception and re-valuing of climatic-based design
approach to envelope structures of office buildings in Vietnam.

4.3 Methodology

For a climatic-based design, the estimation of energy use and indoor comfort are
valuable to provide stakeholders with comparison of performance between design
options, and then help to determine the optimized approach. This practice is
4 Recommendations for the Design … 75

cooperatively supported by simulation software tools which give proper approxi-

mation of energy- and comfort-related parameters. In a practical project, simulation
tools are important for designers during first steps of design to decide physical
properties of building facades in terms of energy efficiency and indoor comfort, and
simulation is an efficient and persuasive way to urge building owners to pursue the
pathway of enhancing building performance.
In this chapter, simulation-based method is used with a model of typical office
building in Vietnam, and the results of simulation work are important basis for
recommendation in the final section of the chapter. The main purpose of the sim-
ulation is to give a comparison in terms of efficiency and comfort between various
options of glazing wall design for the building envelope. By doing so, there will be
factors involving brick walls, occupancy and equipment to be kept remained and
considered in ideal condition, while alternation of glass materials and the presence
of shading device will be tested by simulation.
Normally, the simulation work is carried out to the whole building to ensure the
highest level of accuracy. However, this will require much energy and time, and
become a real challenge to architecture team during conceptual design phase.
Therefore, simulation practice in a way that is less effort-consuming is proposed,
which selects a typical floor presenting the whole building layout to be examined in
the simulation. The result of model simulation for typical floor will be used as the
basis for efficiency assessment of the whole building. Although there might be a
chance for certain errors due to the probable difference between floors, the uncer-
tainty is acceptable in the very early stage of the project.
Once a typical floor is selected, it will be partitioned into various thermal zones
in accordance with solar heat gained of each façade before energy simulation starts.
In the actual context of Vietnamese cities, office buildings are normally located in a
land lot which has only one primary side accessible from urban streets, and the
other sides are adjacent to surrounded constructions. The primary façade of the
building is important factor that makes architectural aesthetic, while there is little
requirement for secondary sides to be remarkably aesthetic. Therefore, the next step
of simulation is to discover an optimized value of window to wall ratio (WWR) for
the secondary facades which meet the target of solar heat gain reduction as well as
enhancing daylight comfort. The found optimized value of WWR will be kept
remained during the next simulation for the determination of best-matched design
of primary façade.
Various value of WWR on primary façade will be tested with simulation. The
performance of each case will be evaluated upon aspects of energy efficiency,
thermal comfort and lighting comfort, and cost-effective options will be drawn
based on the analysis of simulation results.
In particular, energy performance is shown by:
• Cooling load and heating load which make senses in determining HVAC
capacity and investment cost
• Total site energy which combines energy use of all building elements and is
useful when it comes to the estimation of operation cost.
76 N. H. N. Dung and N. T. Kien

Thermal comfort is assessed upon total number of unmet hours in a year. This
indicator reveals how much time the setpoint of indoor climatic condition is
maintained by HVAC operation, with permitted uncertainty is 1.1 °C.
Lighting comfort is also taken into consideration by useful daylight illuminance
(UDI) value which is defined as the annual occurrence of illuminances across the
work plane where all the illuminance values are within the range 100–2000 lux
(Nabil and Mardaljevic 2005). The method combining analysis of thermal and
lighting comfort for optimized envelope design was once mentioned and performed
in a study for office buildings of cold climate zone in Belgium by (Dartevelle et al.
2011) (Fig. 4.6).
The principle of methodology is additionally illustrated by a diagram shown in
Fig. 4.7.

Minimizing simulation work to the level of a typical floor

Thermal zone partitioning

Determining optimized WWR, Shading & Glazing type for secondary facades

Making comparison between options of WWR, Shading & Glazing type for
primary facade

Energy efficiency/
Thermal comfort Daylighting comfort
savings

Heating, Cooling load

Radiance
& Total Energy UDI, sDA & ASE
Temperature
Consumption

Fig. 4.6 Illustration of simulation principle

4 Recommendations for the Design … 77

North direction

Fig. 4.7 Sketch of models to be simulated

4.4 Model Simulation of a Typical Office Building

in Vietnam

4.4.1 Description of Simulation Model

The model represents a typical 20-storey office building in Vietnam whose form is
in square-box with dimension of 30  30 m. As mentioned in methodology sec-
tion, the simulation work is performed to only a selected floor number 13, not to the
whole building, for further assessment. Floor’s plan layout is arranged in a way that
has gained popularity in office building category of Vietnam, in which technical

Zone 5- Office
common area
Zone 4- Office area

Zone 1- Technical core

Zone 3- Office area

Zone 2- Office area

Fig. 4.8 Illustration of typical floor layout and its thermal zone division
78 N. H. N. Dung and N. T. Kien

Table 4.3 Functions and indoor setpoints of thermal zones

No Zone name Zone type Input data
1 Zone 1 Lift & Stair (Unconditioned) Occupancy rate:
Illumination: 110 lux
Fresh air supply: 0.3 l/s m2
Heating setpoint:
Cooling setpoint:
Equipments:
2 Zone 2 Office (Conditioned) Occupancy rate: 8 m2/person
3 Zone 3 Illumination: 300 lux
Fresh air supply: 6.9 l/s person
4 Zone 4
Heating setpoint: 22 °C
5 Zone 5 Cooling setpoint: 25 °C
Equipments: 11 W/m2

Table 4.4 Assumption of M&E operation

No System name System type Specification
1 Lighting LED Luminaire type: recessed
LPD: 6 W/m2
No lighting control
2 HVAC VRV (with AHU) Capacity: autosize
COP: 3.3 (for heating and cooling)
No heat recovery equipment
3 DHW Electric resistant Capacity: Autosize
Efficiency: 0.9

core is well laid to behind edge of the building and usable office area is located
around the core and along the other edges. Plan layout is illustrated in Fig. 4.8. The
simulation work will be run with software tool named DesignBuilder v5.4.
Representing a real medium-size office building, the model is assumed to have
main access from an urban street, while its other sides area next to neighbouring
constructions. The primary façade is right southward oriented.
Information of functions and setpoints for each thermal zone are summarized in
Table 4.3, and assumption data of M&E system is shown in Table 4.4.

4.4.2 Simulation in Search for Optimized Value of WWR

on Secondary Facades

The first simulation is done with variation in value of WWR on secondary facades
to determine what optimized WWR on these sides should be. Various values of
WWR as 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90% will be applied to three secondary facades,
in one case of no shading, and two other cases of horizontal and box-type shading
devices. The overhang of shade in any case is 0.5 m. Another assumption is that
4 Recommendations for the Design … 79

glass type is clear single with 3-mm thickness whose SHGC and VLT are of 0.819
and 0.881, respectively.
In this simulation, the model is structured with concrete mansory unit whose
U-value is 1.204 W m−2 K. This is a well-insulated brick, and definitely compliant
to insulation requirement as defined by regulation QCVN 09:2017/BXD (Ministry
of Construction 2017). Roof structure consists of 4 layers with U-value of 1.589 W
m−2 K. All data of building elements are shown in Table 4.5 (Figs. 4.9, 4.10, 4.11
and 4.12).
The indicators for determination of optimized WWR are value of heating and
cooling loads. Simulation results are illustrated by following diagrams.
It can be seen from the chart that cooling and heating load will be minimized in
case the value of WWR is 30% (illustrated by the blue color lines in the four
charts), regardless whether shading is provided.
The presence of shading makes the decrease in both cooling and heating loads,
and how much these loads can be reduced depends on the sufficiency that shading
can achieve.

Table 4.5 Input data of building elements

No Structure Orientation Specification
1 Wall All 250 mm CMU (Plaster/CMU/Plaster)
U-value = 1.204 W/m2 K
2 Roof – Ceramic tiles/Concrete slab (0.15)/Air
3 Floor – gap (0.3)/Gypsum board
U-value = 1.589 W/m2 K
4 Glazing East, West and North Single clear with shading (combine
0.5 m horizontal and vertical shading)
South Varies with and without shading

No shading 0.5m Overhang

overhang + sidefins

Fig. 4.9 The dependence of cooling load on the variation of WWR value and shading types in
zone 2
80 N. H. N. Dung and N. T. Kien

No shading 0.5m Overhang

overhang + sidefins

Fig. 4.10 The dependence of heating load on the variation of WWR value and shading types in
zone 2

No shading 0.5m Overhang +

overhang sidefins

Fig. 4.11 The dependence of cooling load on the variation of WWR value and shading types in
zone 4

To test the dependence of lighting comfort on the amount of window which may
have significant influence on human behaviour, the indicator of annual sun expose
(ASE) will be simulated and used as the basis for the assessment. The ASE is given
to describe how much of space is affected by more than 250 h of direct illumination
(higher than 1000 lux) per year (Barbara Gherri 2015), which can cause visual
discomfort (glare) or increase cooling loads. Simulation results of ASE in the two
cases where WWR is of 30 and 90% on secondary facades (North-, East- and
West-oriented) are illustrated in Table 4.6.
4 Recommendations for the Design … 81

No shading 0.5m Overhang +

overhang sidefins

Fig. 4.12 The dependence of heating load on the variation of WWR value and shading types in
zone 4

Table 4.6 Result of ASE calculation for defined zones while WWR value and shading type vary
WWR (%) Louvre shading Zone Area (m2) ASE area ASE area
in area (m2) in area (%)
30 Yes 2 214.926 63.826 29.7
4 214.926 66.31 30.85
30 No 2 214.926 65.138 30.31
4 214.926 67.97 31.62
90 Yes 2 214.926 46.505 21.64
4 214.926 65.58 47.538
90 No 2 214.926 50.461 23.48
4 214.926 52.31 24.34

It is clear that shading efficiently helps to reduce space affected by exceeding

1000 lux illuminance in both zones (down to 29.7 and 30.85%, compared to 30.31
and 31.62% when no shading is available) if the proportion of window remains at
30%. Even if that amount rises up to 90%, shading still works, but the value of ASE
is moderately increased by about up to 1.5 times.
The results can lead to a conclusion that a reasonably small value of WWR
(30%) may only produce sufficient daylight comfort when coupling with efficient
shading by reducing indicator of ASE. Therefore, optimized secondary facades will
be set with WWR of 30% and with box-type shading devices as input data for
further simulation to determine best-matched properties of primary (South-oriented)
façade.
82 N. H. N. Dung and N. T. Kien

4.4.3 Simulation for Optimized Primary (South-Oriented)

Façade

In practice, the WWR for the main façade is often required to be higher than the
secondary façades to create aesthetic highlights for the building. However, there are
cases where the owner does not require a large ratio of window, so the WWR of
30% can still be possible.
In order to assess the impact of WWR on the main façade to the energy effi-
ciency, thermal and daylight comfort will be simulated with various WWR values
of 30, 50, 70 and 90%, respectively. Heating load, cooling load and total site
energy, which is the total energy consumed by all systems and electrical appliances
in the building (HVAC, lighting, domestic hot water—DHW) are taken into con-
sideration. Furthermore, thermal comfort is indicated by the number of hours when
comfort target set by the air conditioner system (as stated in the setpoint of thermal
zones) is unable to meet (Fig. 4.13).
Based on the Sun path diagram of Hanoi (latitude of 21oN), and assuming the
south face should be completely sunscreened from 8.00 to 17.00 on a daily basis,
best-suited typology of shade can be drawn as of horizontal form whose shading
mask is overriding illustrated to shade-needed zone in Fig. 4.14.
The overhang of shade is supposed to be in the range of 1.5–2 m long for
sufficient shading capacity, but is considered a misbegotten form in terms of
structure and aesthetic. Therefore, horizontal shade should be alternated with lou-
vres with both overhang and spacing of 0.5 m to maintain shading efficiency and to
be more technically suited.

Fig. 4.13 Shade-needed zones and mask of shading devices

4 Recommendations for the Design … 83

Fig. 4.14 Louvers with overhang of 0.5 m (on the right) are more technically possible compared
to horizontal shade with overhang of 2 m (on the left)

In addition to testing efficiency with variation of WWR, different glass options

will also be experimented as an effort to discover a combining way of WWR,
shading typology and glass category for optimized efficiency and indoor comfort.
The types of glass tested in the simulation are shown in Table 4.7.

Table 4.7 Types of glass in simulation test

No Glazing type SHGC (g-value) VLT U-value
1 Single clear 6 mm 0.819 0.881 5.778
2 Single low-E 6 mm 0.72 0.811 3.779
3 Double clear 6 mm/13 mm air 0.703 0.781 2.665
4 Double low-E clear 6 mm/13 mm argon 0.373 0.444 1.493

Table 4.8 Southward WWR of 30% with no presence of shading

Heating Cooling Total site Unmet UDI
load (kWh) load (kWh) energy (kWh) hours
Single clear 6 mm 563.60 1853.57 1961942.22 224 50.42
Single low-E 6 mm 552.64 1842.55 1964013.53 223 49.93
Double clear 6 mm/ 547.49 1836.09 1955673.88 213 49.49
13 mm air
Double low-E clear 538.42 1816.78 1925459.75 183 46.55
6 mm/13 mm argon
84 N. H. N. Dung and N. T. Kien

Table 4.9 Southward WWR of 30% with presence of shading

Heating Cooling Total site Unmet UDI
load (kWh) load (kWh) energy (kWh) hours
Single clear 6 mm 563.60 1842.31 1924307.22 177 44.90
Single low-E 6 mm 552.64 1839.62 1926438.95 176 45.83
Double clear 6 mm/ 547.49 1833.47 1921533.14 176 44.68
13 mm air
Double low-E clear 538.42 1814.90 1905022.92 173 43.15
6 mm/13 mm argon

Simulation results. Following tables show simulation results with variation of

WWR, shading types and glass use on primary façade (Tables 4.8 and 4.9).
Simulation results for the WWR of 30% also reveal that what glass type is used
does not have significant impact on loads. In case shading is absence, double low-E
glass helps to reduce only 1.9% in cooling load (1816.78 kWh) when compared to
the case that it is replaced by single clear glass (1853.57 kWh). A similar outcome
is drawn with the presence of louvre-shading.
The effectiveness of sun-shading is not only in reducing cooling load but also in
decreasing the number of hours in which comfort is not achieved. Specifically,
comfort level generated by single clear glass with shading (only 177 unmet hours)
is even higher than that when alternated with double low-E but no sunscreen
attached (183 unmet hours). Louvres shading do not much affect the UDI index, as
the maximum difference between two cases of with or without sunshade is only 7%
(UDI is 50.42% for single clear glass without sunscreen, and is 43.15% for double
low-E). The figures demonstrate the harmlessness of shading to the quality of
daylighting.
By increasing window ratio to 50%, the demand for cooling, heating and power
consumption also increases, and leads to the rise in number of met hours. However,
sufficient sun-shading can be used to provide higher thermal comfort with the
presence of only single clear glass in comparison with that generated by double
low-E but non-sunscreen attached. A similar effectiveness of sun-shading in terms
of loads and comforts is also demonstrated when WWR value is adjusted to 70%.

Table 4.10 Southward WWR of 50% with no presence of shading

Heating Cooling Total site Unmet UDI
load (kWh) load (kWh) energy (kWh) hours
Single clear 6 mm 577.74 1883.42 2000450.67 349 54.53
Single low-E 6 mm 560.00 1881.30 2009904.95 394 55.09
Double clear 6 mm/ 553.38 1871.88 1995260.14 363 54.80
13 mm air
Double low-E clear 538.94 1834.03 1949967.36 208 52.27
6 mm/13 mm argon
4 Recommendations for the Design … 85

The simulation results for WWR of 50 and 70% are presented in Tables numbered
4.10, 4.11, 4.12 and 4.13.
For the case where WWR rises to 90%, demand for cooling, heating and power
consumption is increased to the highest level, and thermal comfort is affected in the
most negative way by maximizing number of unmet hours. In this circumstance,
effectiveness of low-E glass is most noticeably recognized, and significantly more
efficient than low insulated glass. The most common case is the smaller WWR.
However, the simulated results in Table 4.14 show that low-E glasses exhibit
significantly lower thermal and thermal efficiency than glass in a single layer.
Whereas, if the amount of window on the southern façade is of a much smaller
value, energy savings generated by low-E is only slightly differentiated from that
resulted from single clear glass. For example, if double low-E glass is applied to the

Table 4.11 Southward WWR of 50% with presence of louvers

Heating Cooling Total site Unmet UDI
load (kWh) load (kWh) energy (kWh) hours
Single clear 6 mm 577.74 1879.83 1939858.67 185 52.00
Single low-E 6 mm 560.00 1875.98 1945754.71 186 49.99
Double clear 6 mm/ 553.38 1867.14 1937889.82 185 51.72
13 mm air
Double low-E clear 538.94 1830.66 1913870.81 175 52.36
6 mm/13 mm argon

Table 4.12 Southward WWR of 70% with no presence of shading

Heating Cooling Total site Unmet UDI
load (kWh) load (kWh) energy (kWh) hours
Single clear 6 mm 590.37 1910.06 2030828.39 499 58.07
Single low-E 6 mm 566.60 1908.14 2051394.22 534 57.59
Double clear 6 mm/ 558.88 1895.94 2030291.04 491 57.64
13 mm air
Double low-E clear 539.39 1849.48 1973661.07 286 57.67
6 mm/13 mm argon

Table 4.13 Southward WWR of 70% with the presence of louvers

Heating Cooling Total site Unmet UDI
load (kWh) load (kWh) energy (kWh) hours
Single clear 6 mm 590.37 1905.48 1954735.92 174 56.00
Single low-E 6 mm 566.60 1901.27 1967257.47 178 56.15
Double clear 6 mm/ 558.88 1889.99 1955164.61 183 57.37
13 mm air
Double low-E clear 6 539.39 1845.07 1925467.46 183 56.82
mm/13 mm argon
86 N. H. N. Dung and N. T. Kien

Table 4.14 Southward WWR of 90% with no presence of louvers

Heating Cooling Total site Unmet UDI
load (kWh) load (kWh) energy (kWh) hours
Single clear 6 mm 601.71 1934.55 2054129.33 617 62.24
Single low-E 6 mm 572.67 1933.38 2088454.08 678 59.46
Double clear 6 mm/ 564.00 1898.85 2008734.47 418 60.10
13 mm air
Double low-E clear 539.78 1873.13 1996217.55 377 58.63
6 mm/13 mm argon

South façade whose windows take up to 90%, its corresponded cooling load falls by
3% to 1898.85 kWh when compared to that generated by single clear glass
(1934.55 kWh), and number of unmet hours contemporaneously decreases by 39%
to 377 h.
Similarly to cases where the smaller WWR value is applied, shading still pro-
vides efficiency and indoor comfort even if window ratio is increased to 90%. More
noticeably, the number of unmet hour when southward façade is furnished with
only single clear glass with shading is (161 h) by far reduced by 74% if no sun-
screen is attached (617 h). This also generates a total energy consumption of 13%
lower than in the case that double low-E is applied but no sunscreen is attached.
Through simulation, it is possible to blame energy loss, inefficiency and dis-
comfort in summer for large amount of glazing wall though it may generate an
increase in UDI. In condition of North region of Vietnam where cold winter lasts
for at three months (taking up to 8.6% of the year time Ministry of Construction:
Vietnam Building Code Natural Physical & Climatic Data for Construction QCVN
02 2009), glazing wall is also a contributor to the heat loss for heating operation.
A study on the influence of glazing use upon energy efficiency by Nguyen Van
Muon (Nguyen Van Muon 2015) demonstrates a fact that in all cases of climate
condition, large window wall holds main responsibility for energy loss of HVAC
system.
Low-E glass is useful to reduce loads in both summer and winter, and at the
same time reduces the number of unmet hours, but its effectiveness is strongly
noticeable in case large amount of glass is incorporated in building façade (WWR
of such 70 and 90%). In the case of relatively small value of WWR (30%), the
influence of glass on loads and energy use is negligible. Solar shading is the key
factor to achieve high performance and indoor comfort regardless how insulation
level of glass, which brings an opportunity to replace costly hi-tech glass with more
economical one for better savings on investment cost.
In a tropical climate condition characterized by high intensity of solar radiation
of Vietnam, envelope shading is extremely important and brings about clear
opportunity of energy saving and reducing discomfort time. Unlike misconception
by a group of project developers, sun-shading does not affect illuminance comfort
4 Recommendations for the Design … 87

as UDI values still remain reasonable even though it is slightly lower than that in
replace hi-tech insulation glass with conventional single glazing while still ensure
energy performance.

4.5 Recommendation

4.5.1 Recommendation for Energy-Efficient Building

Envelope

Building envelope plays a crucial key to energy performance and indoor comfort of
a building. Under climate condition of Vietnam, there is always a need for intensive
insulation to envelop structure of all building categories, and especially important to
high-rise office buildings. As a useful approach, reducing solar heat transferred
through curtain walls will help to lessen cooling loads on HVAC system, and
therefore save more on energy cost. Additionally, insulation for brick walls is also
essential for a more efficient design of building envelope.
Curtain wall. It is strongly recommended that secondary facades which are not
mandated to be aesthetically satisfied that the value of WWR should not be set
exceed 30% to ensure small cooling load on HVAC and sufficient indoor comfort.
However, the value of WWR for primary façade can be differentiated from
secondary ones, letting the index reach up to 90% as a way to highlight building’s
architectural features, but passive shading by louvres or best-matched shading
devices in combination with low-E high-performance glass is always advisable for
better energy savings and indoor comfort. In case of modest investment cost, there
might be a possibility to replace hi-tech glass with single clear glazing wall, but
sufficient shading is always recommended.
Low-E glass is obviously effective in terms of insulation, but large proportion of
low-E glass without shading on building façade will cause heat loss through
envelope as well as thermal and daylight discomfort by increasing number of unmet
hours and level of discomfort glare. Incorporating a large amount of glazing wall
into building façade without shading is never an effective way to enhance building
performance and indoor comfort under the condition of tropical climate of Vietnam.
In case that glazing window takes up a rather small part of the façade
(WWR = 30–40%), it might be more cost-effective to replace low-E with double,
or even single glass while, at the same time, still remain energy efficiency and
indoor comfort if shading devices is incorporated.
Brick wall. Part of brick wall is also factor that affects energy consumption, and
therefore should be well-structured to reduce its heat transferred value (U-value). It
is advisable to select light-weighted porous concrete unit or multilayered wall
structure whose thermal resistant is sufficient to meet the insulation requirement for
external walls defined by the National regulation on energy-efficient buildings
(QCVN 09:2017/BXD).
88 N. H. N. Dung and N. T. Kien

4.5.2 Additional Technical Measures to Enhance Building

Energy Performance and Indoor Comfort

In addition to building envelope, the M&E equipment also plays an important part
in the determination in energy end use of building. Upon the existing model which
is shown in Table 4.15, extra simulation is performed with alternation of HVAC
and lighting system whose COP and LPD vary.
The result of simulation work with various values of COP and LPD reveals that
saving level can be improved when more efficient HVAC (high value of COP) and
lighting system (lower value of LPD) are combined with architectural approach
(Tables 4.16 and 4.17).
Another recommendation in an effort to take advantage of climatic benefits and
reduce energy use of air conditioner is to operate the building in a mixed mode.
This means the air conditioning system may be automatically adjusted in accor-
dance with outside atmosphere state so that only AHU is in operation (no cooling
mode) if outside air falls below setpoint which is already mentioned in the section
of input data description. It is possible for the idea to be turned into reality as
majority of Vietnamese cities have at least about 40% of the time (Duc Nguyen
et al. 2005) in a year when the weather condition is in comfort situation.
The simulation results show the total site energy use may decrease by 10.88% to
approximately 1755695.01 kWh when only mix-mode is operated, and if all sug-
gested efficiency measures are taken into buildings, saving levels will go up to 36%,
making a fall in energy use to only 1245193.35 kWh.

Table 4.15 Southward WWR of 90% with the presence of louvers

Heating Cooling Total site Unmet UDI
load (kWh) load (kWh) energy (kWh) hours
Single clear 6 mm 601.71 1929.10 1970082.09 161 58.16
Single low-E 6 mm 572.67 1925.03 1990947.14 170 57.30
Double clear 6 mm/ 564.00 1911.27 1973919.08 174 58.65
13 mm air
Double low-E clear 539.78 1858.68 1939468.15 185 59.24
6 mm/13 mm argon

Table 4.16 The dependence of energy savings on COP

COP 3.3 3.6 3.9 4.2 4.5 4.8
Total site 1970082.09 1909034.61 1857379.05 1813102.86 1774730.16 1741154.05
energy
Savings (%) 0.00 −3.10 −5.72 −7.97 −9.92 −11.62
4 Recommendations for the Design … 89

Table 4.17 The dependence of energy savings on LPD

LPD 6 4.5 3
Total energy 1970082.09 1873395.46 1777362.52
Savings (%) 0.00 −4.91 −9.78
With lighting control 1710778.73 1677236.88 1644107.34
Savings (%) −13.16 −14.86 −16.55

These tests also demonstrate a great significance of coupling climatic-based

design of building envelope with high-performance equipment as an attempt to
enhance building energy efficiency and indoor comfort under climatic condition of
Vietnam.

4.6 Conclusion

The physical feature of office building envelope is a key factor to determine its
energy use and saving, but how the glazing part is treated is even more important.
The simulation results prove that large area of sun-exposed glazing wall on office
building façade is the main contributor to energy loss and energy inefficiency in the
condition of Vietnamese tropical climate. Therefore, high-rise office building is
always recommended to be well-shaded by sufficient external shading which may
be in form of louvres as well as sidefins, though high-performance glass units
(normally coated low-E) can be partly used to enhance capacity of solar heat
reduction. However, as demonstrated by simulation results, insulation glass does
not always provide building with effective insulation, and therefore cannot alternate
external shading for more improved insulation and energy performance of building.
A sun-shaded building envelope is also an identity of Vietnamese tropical archi-
tecture which was once spontaneously internationalized and now needs reviving.
In addition to the energy-efficient building envelope, taking advantages of cli-
matic benefits through practice of mix-mode operation is possible and useful to the
enhancement of indoor comfort in the climatic condition of Vietnam. This is even
more beneficial to occupants’ health when fresh air flow is possibly increased and
likely sick building syndrome may be minimized.
For a climatic design of an office building, simulation tool is useful for the
estimation of building energy performance, and it may give designers first com-
parison between options of concept design and then help in shortlisting
best-matched approaches. In early stage of the design, the important point is to
determine which envelope option can be proceeded based on energy aspect while
primary function and plan layout is normally duplicated to a large number of floors
in the building, so simulation can be performed with only a typical floor rather than
the whole building in aim of time and effort saving. Efficiency-related results of the
whole building can be deduced from those of typical floor with reasonable modi-
fication due to the similarities between building floors.
 90 N. H. N. Dung and N. T. Kien

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