Building and Environment 204 (2021) 108141

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Building and Environment

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/buildenv

Multi-objective optimization of passive energy efficiency measures for

net-zero energy building in Morocco
N. Abdou a, **, Y. EL Mghouchi a, *, S. Hamdaoui b, N. EL Asri c, M. Mouqallid a
a
Département Génie Energétique,Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers –ENSAM,Université Moulay Ismaïl –UMI, Meknès, Morocco
b
Ecole Supérieure de Technologie de Fès, U.S.M.B.A, Route d’Imouzzer, BP 2427, Fez, Morocco
c
Laboratoire d’intégration des systèmes et des technologies avancée (LISTA), Université Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah, Facultés des sciences Dhar el Mehraz, Morocco

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The present study aims to assess the possibility of achieving net zero energy building in the Moroccan housing
Multi-objective optimization stock by combining architectural energy efficiency practices and renewable energies for hot water and electricity
NZEB productions. The impacts of retrofitting an existing residential building to meet zero energy balance in the six
Energy saving
Moroccan climatic zones have been investigated. The design features considered include building orientation,
Life cycle cost
Thermal comfort
windows type and Window-to-Wall Ratio, wall and roof insulation and infiltration rate. A multi-objective
Renewable energies optimization has been carried out in order to find the best solution which will allow a compromise between
the building life cycle cost, energy saving and thermal comfort through the optimization of the aforementioned
design parameters as passive energy efficiency measures. The obtained results show that the application of the
multi-objective study conclusions combined with an efficient use of renewable energies makes it possible to
achieve zero energy building throughout all Moroccan housing stock. More than 21% of energy saving can be
achieved, 28% in heating load and 40% in cooling. Moreover, 45% of building energy load can be covered
instantly by renewable energy systems in all Moroccan climatic zones. On the other hand, the comparison of
levelized cost of energy shows that Tangier is the city with the greatest potential for wind energy system and
other cities are expected to present a challenge since the areas for efficient on-site generation of photovoltaic and
solar thermal collectors are limited.

consumption [1]. This consumption is expected to increase due to

population growth, the creation of new cities and the extensive use of air
1. Introduction
conditioning and heating systems. So, in order to reduce or neutralize
energy and environmental impacts of building, net-zero energy build­
In a global context marked by considerable increase in energy de­
ings (NZEBs) will be needed to move the building sector to a signifi­
mand and prices, and declining reserves of fossil fuels, the need for
cantly more sustainable future. There are significant efforts to promote
energy security and environmental protection has never been more
buildings energy efficiency in the country. The Morocco government has
important. Due to its negative environmental impact and intensive en­
set the goal to achieve a primary energy saving of 15% by 2030, through
ergy consumption, the building sector accounts for more than a third of
the implementation of energy efficiency plans in various economic
the global final energy consumption and nearly 40% of the total direct
sectors, including the building sector. NZEB is an innovative and
and indirect CO2 emissions according to the International Energy
advanced solution that could be adopted by the government to control
Agency (IEA). Accordingly, several countries have adopted zero-energy
and master the energy demand in the future.
building goals and policies, such as Japan, the United States, Spain,
The subject of energy efficiency in buildings has aroused the interest
Norway, and Sweden. However, many others, especially developing
of several researchers around the world. On the Moroccan scale, a
countries, like Morocco, have established thermal regulations for
considerable number of papers have been published on the subject and
building, which include minimum energy performance for new build­
numerous conclusions and recommendations have been highlighted and
ings. The Building sector, which groups both residential and tertiary
addressed. For instance, high thermal insulation of walls leads to an
sub-sectors, is responsible for about 25% of Morocco’s total energy

* Corresponding author.
** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: nawaldine1@gmail.com (N. Abdou), elmghouchi.87@gmail.com (Y. EL Mghouchi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108141
Received 3 April 2021; Received in revised form 3 June 2021; Accepted 9 July 2021
Available online 14 July 2021
0360-1323/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
N. Abdou et al.
Nomenclature
ACH Air Change rate (h− 1)
CO&M Annual Operating and Maintenance Costs
COP Coefficient of Performance
Ebuilding Annual building load
EP annual electricity production
Fi i-th objective function
g-value Solar Heat Gain Coefficient
G Difference between the building energy demand and RE
system generation
I0, BD Initial cost of building design
I0, RES Initial cost of renewable energy systems
N North
NSGA-II Elitist Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm
PMV Predicted Mean Vote
PMVm Average yearly absolute Predicted Mean Vote
PR PMVm reduction ratio
PV Photovoltaic
RESgeneration Total electricity generated by RE systems
ST Solar Domestic Hot Water system
apparent summer overheating with an increase in the flat’s total thermal
load by up to 18% in all the Moroccan climatic zones, except for the cold
one (Ifrane) according to Ref. [2]. Uninsulated floor could reduce the
cooling demand by absorbing the excess heat from the building during
summer months [3]. Moreover, studies aiming at improving building
envelop performance, reducing energy consumption and enhancing
occupants’ thermal comfort were usually assessed the effects of design
and architectural parameters of the building like building shape
(compactness), walls and roof composition and insulation, windows to
wall ratio, natural ventilation (air change per hour), envelope thermal
mass and inertia. Hamdaoui et al. [4] assessed the energy demand and
environmental impact of various construction scenarios of an office
building in Morocco. The obtained results show that the best construc­
tion scenario offers considerable reduction in annual energy loads
compared to the base scenario. The annual reduction was estimated by
about 20% in Agadir, 48% in Tangier, 53% in Fez, 56% in Ifrane, 31% in
Marrakech and 41% in Errachidia. Guechchati et al. [5] claimed that the
required annual heating and cooling can be reduced respectively by
8.38% and 70.54% by applying a 6 cm insulation layer of extruded
polystyrene on the outside of exterior walls. Lafqir et al. [6] showed that
combining wall insulation, roof insulation and window type selection
allow a reduction of thermal load of more than 70% in all Moroccan
climatic zones except for the cold one (Ifrane). Mastouri et al. [7]
investigated the impact of combining insulation with high thermal
inertia on heating/cooling loads and indoor comfort of a detached house
located in Benguerir city (Morocco). Authors showed that the afore­
mentioned two passives’ techniques affect significantly the indoor air
temperature, thermal loads and comfort in the house. Indeed, the indoor
air temperature minimum of the studied house is up to 5 ◦ C higher in
winter while the indoor air temperature maximum is reduced by up to
9 ◦ C in summer compared to a reference case. Moreover, the two tech­
niques make it possible to achieve an 81% reduction in the annual
thermal load of the house compared to the reference case. The main
objective of these studies was to reduce the energy consumption of
building in accordance with the thermal comfort. In order to move the
building energy performance towards net zero energy building, the last
design step to be carried out is the integration of renewable energy
systems [8].
The integration of renewable energy systems in order to meet net
zero energy balance has been evaluated in many countries/regions.
Therefore, in Norway, Good et al. [9] conducted a comparative study of
2
Building and Environment 204 (2021) 108141
U-value Heat-transfer coefficient [W/(m2.K)]
wi Weighting coefficient
x vector of design variables
Acronyms
BL Building load
CSR Cost Saving Ratio
DHW Domestic Hot Water
EER Energy Efficiency Ratio
ESR Energy Saving Ratio
ETSC Evacuated Tube Solar Collector
HVAC Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning
MAPE Mean Absolute Percentage Error
MSE Mean Squared Error
NZEB Net Zero Energy Building
RE Renewable energy
RTCM Règlement Thermique de Construction au Maroc
SDHW Solar Domestic Hot Water
WT Wind Turbine
WWR Windows-to-Wall Ratio
the use of different solar energy solutions (solar thermal, photovoltaic
(PV) and photovoltaic–thermal (PV/T)) for a residential building to
achieve net zero energy balance. They noticed that PV/T system could
give an increased output than the solar thermal collectors and the
building with only high-efficiency PV modules was the closest to
reaching a zero energy balance. In Hong Kong, Shen and Sun [10]
compared the performance of two system design approaches for a net
zero energy building cluster under uncertainties. The systems studied
included a water cooled chiller system, photovoltaic system and wind
turbine system. The results showed that the initial costs of the
air-conditioning, PV and wind turbine systems can be reduced by 14.4%,
13.7% and 11.8% respectively.
In Morocco, Chegari et al. [11] studied the impact of the passive part
of the building on its energy self-sufficiency based on the integration of
renewable energies to the building. The results showed that the impact
of thermal insulation on the building’s energy self-sufficiency in all the
studied climates is very significant, especially in Ifrane city. Given that
the energy self-sufficiency in this climate has been improved by 41.28%
more than the baseline situation. This study does not consider the eco­
nomic aspect. In our study, three criteria: economic, energetic, and
thermal comfort are taken into consideration to identify the greatest
opportunities of achieving NZEB in Morocco. In fact, NZEB is a
grid-connected building that, in an average year, generates at least as
much energy from renewable energy sources as it consumes ([12,13]).
There are various possible combinations of renewable energy (RE) sys­
tems to NZEB.
The most common strategies are the use of photovoltaic systems as
well as small-wind power systems for electricity generation, solar ther­
mal collectors for Domestic Hot Water (DHW) production, solar cooling
system (via absorption machines) and solar ovens for cooking purposes.
However, the highest energy performance building, like NZEB, requires
exploring a huge number of possible design solutions, which are able to
achieve specific intentions (i.e., economic or environment ones) for a
particular climate [14]. To this end, various authors have used single or
multi-objective optimization approaches to identify optimal solutions
([15–18]). The optimization process consists of finding the optimal
value from a set of available solutions. It includes the search for a
maximum or minimum of an objective function or multi-objective
functions.
The aim of this study is to investigate the impacts of retrofitting an
existing residential building in order to meet zero energy balance in the
N. Abdou et al. Building and Environment 204 (2021) 108141

Table 1
Dry bulb temperature (DBT), solar global horizontal irradiance (SGHI) and wind speed (WS) for the selected locations.
Location Agadir Tangier Fez Ifrane Marrakech Errachidia

Zone 1 2 3 4 5 6

Climate type Atlantic Mediterranean Continental Cold Semi-arid Desert

DbT (◦ C) Minimum 5.6 4.0 0.21 − 4.0 2.4 − 0.5

Mean 19.24 18.05 17.48 15.09 20.3 20.55
Maximum 40.0 36.1 42.1 34.0 43.7 44.5
SGHI (W/m2) Minimum 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Mean 229.9 228.56 222.51 224.6 238.22 253.75
Maximum 1035.56 1050.52 1072.66 1100.7 1074.5 1123.46
WS (m/s) Minimum 0.11 0.1 0.084 0.073 0.052 0.064
Mean 3.16 5 3.37 3.14 2.49 2.59
Maximum 11.64 20.12 15.29 15.09 10.44 11.97

six Moroccan climatic zones. Thus, different possibilities and options to

Table 2
improve thermal comfort, minimize life cycle cost and achieve consid­
Building construction materials (Properties: Data source [22]).
erable energy savings consisting mainly of passive measures are
assessed. Building components Material (layers) Overall U-value (W/m2.K)
In the following section, we will describe the simulation methodol­ Exterior wall 2 cm Cement plaster 0.496–1.2
ogy of a residential building, as well as renewable energy systems 7 cm Hollow brick
simulation models and the building energy optimization tool used in the 0–6 cm Polystyrene
7 cm Hollow brick
optimization analysis. 2 cm Mortar
Ground floor 0.7 cm Tile 2.875
2. Methodology 5 cm Mortar
20 cm Heavy concrete
Roof 2 cm Cement plaster 0.507–2.275
2.1. Weather data 25 cm Concrete
Block
The major challenge in the building sector is to achieve a constant 0–6 cm Polystyrene
balance between energy demand and the supply by using renewable 4 cm Heavy concrete
Interior wall 2 cm Cement plaster 2.904
energies. These latter are highly dependent on the site’s topography and 7 cm Hollow brick
weather conditions. In this context, the impact of different climatic 2 cm Cement plaster
conditions was studied. The Moroccan territory has been subdivided
into six climatic zones. The cities selected represent the six climatic
zones according to the Moroccan building thermal code [19]. The 15). Table 2 presents the characteristics of the envelope materials
climate varies widely from one region to another, such as Atlantic considered in this study. Besides, Fig. 1 shows an overview of the
climate, Continental climate and Semi-arid climate, in Agadir, Fez and selected building. The geometry model has been carried out using
Marrakech respectively. Sketchup.
In Table 1, it is shown a comparison of some weather variables that
can affect the building thermal behaviour and the performance of 2.3. Building loads and dynamic simulation tool
renewable energy systems, such as average annual dry bulb tempera­
ture, solar global horizontal irradiance, and wind speed. The data of a The main energy uses in a household in Morocco consists of cooking,
typical meteorological year, generated by METEONORM [20] were space heating, hot water, ventilation, air conditioning, appliances,
used. lighting, and all household electrical consumption. The cooking load is
mainly covered by natural gas and is not considered in this work. To
assess heating and cooling loads, it is necessary to perform a simulation
2.2. Building description study. Simulation tools are used to model and couple the building with
energy systems, such HVAC systems, active heat recovery and storage
Building architectural design (building form, orientation of the main systems. Tools like Energy-Plus, ESP-r, and TRNSYS are well suited for
façade and fenestration) can yield an important role of solar passive this kind of study. TRNSYS, which is a software of simulation, was used
gains that may occur in the building. But certain architecture involves to model and simulate the performance of the considered systems [23].
climate considerations in the building and urban environment. More­ The building and energy systems were simulated for 8760 h (throughout
over, the impacts of building form and urban environment on the inte­ the year) with a time step of 1 h. To calculate the thermal loads, the
gration of renewable energy technologies are not discussed in this study. following assumptions were adopted:
The studied building is a typical collective residential building in
Morocco. It has been selected to elaborate on the current thermal • All internal gains sum up to 2500 kWh per dwelling per year, evenly
regulation. More information about building plans, areas of the floor and distributed and the ventilation rate was set to 1 ACH in winter and 4
the external surfaces can be found in Sick et al. [21]. In this study, the ACH in summer [21].
building was divided into four floors. Each floor consists of two apart­ • The infiltration rate of 0.6 ACH is assumed [15].
ments, A and B, family housing of five people, respectively. Each • The building was modelled as 42 zones, the set-point temperature in
apartment is used by 5 people from 17:00 to 07:30 and by 2 persons the winter is 20 ◦ C and 26 ◦ C in the summer according to the
otherwise during the weekdays. At the weekend, each dwelling is used Moroccan building thermal code.
by 5 people. The floor area is 588 m2 and the Window-to-Wall Ratio • Each zone of the building is a homogeneous volume characterized by
(WWR) is 21%. The window type is single glazing with a U-value of 5.74 uniform state variables.
W/m2.K and a g-value of 0.87, with an external shading device (50%) • The initial air temperature and humidity were set at 20 ◦ C and 50%
used from 07:30 to 17:00 during summer (May 15 through September respectively in each zone.

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N. Abdou et al. Building and Environment 204 (2021) 108141

Fig. 1. (a): Views of the selected building, (b): Simulation model.

• The surface temperature of the soil was considered to be the average

Table 3
annual air temperature, and TRNSYS type 77 was used to couple the
Limit requirements for the coefficient of performance of heat pumps in Morocco
building to the ground.
[25].
• Cooling and heating loads are covered by air source heat pumps
Category Operating Split/Multi-split air Monobloc air (EER = 2.6 and COP = 3.0). The limit requirements for the coeffi­
mode conditioner conditioner
cient of performance of heat pumps vary depending on the operating
Air cooled air Cooling EER > 2.8 EER > 2.6 mode and the type of system (Table 3).
conditioning system Heating COP > 3.2 COP > 3.0
Water cooled air Cooling EER > 3.1 EER > 3.8
conditioning system Heating COP > 3.2 COP > 3.0 Furthermore, to estimate the energy used in the building, typical
appliances in each apartment include a TV, computer, refrigerator and
washing machine. The total electrical consumption due to the appli­
ances and lighting was estimated to be 36.25 kWh/(m2. year) for all
Moroccan climatic zones. The hourly appliances electrical consumption
considered in this study is presented in Fig. 2. Moreover, the building is
inhabited by 40 occupants (8 dwellings) and the daily hot water con­
sumption load was estimated at 60 L per person. The hot water load
profile is given in Fig. 3 [26].

2.4. Renewable energy systems models

The choice of adequate renewable energy technology is a key

Fig. 2. Hourly appliances consumption per apartment (kW).
• Solar absorption was set at 0.6 for the exterior walls and roof.
• Convective heat transfer coefficient for external surfaces is calcu­
lated using the following correlation [24].
houtside = 2.8 + 3.2V
where V is the wind velocity. For internal surfaces, internal model
calculation integrated in TRNSYS was selected which depends on the
type of surface: floor, ceiling or vertical wall.
element for NZEB design and depends mainly on the cost of the energy to
be produced and material to be used. For electricity generation,
photovoltaic (PV) [27] and wind power systems [28] were used in this
study. Allouhi et al. [29] assessed a grid-connected polycrystalline
(Poly-Si) and monocrystalline (Mono-Si) photovoltaic panels in Meknes
(Morocco). Results showed that Poly-Si PV technology presents a
slightly higher performance compared to Mono-Si one.
Consequently, in this study, polycrystalline PV panels were consid­
ered and modelled using TRNSYS Model: type 94a. The PV area is
different from one region to another, depending on the daily loads and
on the solar irradiation available. Besides, TRNSYS Model: type 90 was
used to get models of residential wind turbines (WT) to be used [11].
The total required turbine output power was estimated to cover 30% of
the total annual load. Note that to eliminate the need for battery, it was
assumed that the building exploits the utility power grid for storage
[30]. In addition, solar domestic water heating (SDHW) was considered
to cover all needs of hot water [26]. The system consists of a solar col­
lector with evacuated tubes (TRNSYS Model: type 71), a collective solar
tank (TRNSYS Model: type 4), a heat exchanger (TRNSYS Model: type 5),
auxiliary heaters (TRNSYS Model: type 6), pumps (TRNSYS Model: type
3) and required control systems. The initial total area of the solar
thermal collectors considered at the outset is equal to 20 m2 for all cli­
matic zones. The characteristics of the RE systems are presented in
Table 4.
2.5. Building energy optimization tool

There are several tools for building energy optimization [31] like
Genopt, BEot, jEPlus + EA, MultiOpt, TRNOPT. There is also another

4
N. Abdou et al. Building and Environment 204 (2021) 108141

Fig. 3. Hot water load profile.

present study. The maximum number of iterations is equal to 450 per

Table 4 case and the total number for six locations amounts to 2700 simulations.
RE systems specification for the simulations ([11,26,29]).
Parameters Value Parameters Value
2.6. The optimization problem
Photovoltaic Open circuit voltage 38 Number of cells in 60
module (V) series
Short circuit current 8.88 Panel area (m2) 1.67
The multi-objective optimization problem is defined as:
(A)
Min {F1 (x), F2 (x), F3 (x)} (1)
Maximum power 30.9 Module efficiency 15.2
point voltage (V) (%) Subject to: G(x) ≤ 0
Maximum power 8.32 Nominal output 255
For all x = [x1 , x2 , …, xn ]where F1 , F2 and F3 are the objective
point current (A) (Wp)
Temperature − 0.37 Temperature 0.081 functions. G is the inequality constraint and x is the vector of design
coefficient of open coefficient of short variables.
circuit voltage circuit current
(%/◦ C) (%/◦ C)
Inverter and DC/DC converter 0.96 AC/DC Rectifier 0.86 2.7. Objective functions
regulator efficiency 0.98 efficiency
Regulator efficiency 2.7.1. Building energy performance
Wind turbine Rated power of the 3.2 Blade number 3
turbine (kW)
The first function (F1 ) is the annual building energy demand (Ebuilding )
Rated wind speed 12 Site shear exponent 0.14 defined as the sum of consumption of heating (Eheating ), cooling (Ecooling ),
(m/s) SDHW system (ESDHW ) and appliances (Eappliances ):
Hub height (m) 11 Rotor diameter (m) 3.9
Data collection 10 Turbine power loss 6 Ebuilding = Eheating + Ecooling + ESDHW + Eappliances (2)
height (m) (%)
SDHW system Intercept efficiency 0.809 Tank volume (m3) 2 The SDHW system consumption mainly corresponds to the con­
Efficiency slope (W/ 1.370 Hot water set point 55 sumption of auxiliary electric heaters and pumps.
m2.K) (◦ C)
Efficiency curvature 0.0068 Water supply 45
(W/m2.K2) temperature (◦ C)
2.7.2. Life cycle cost
Collector area (m2) 2.004 Collector flow rate 70 The second function (F2 ) is the life cycle cost (LCC). It is one of the
(kg/hr) commonly used methods to estimate the overall costs of the project al­
Height (m) 2.030 Specific heat at 8.48 ternatives over their lifetime. Since the current investigation aims to
constant pressure
compare different designs, the absolute value of the LCC is not calcu­
(kJ/kg.K)
lated. There is no need to include cost data for all components of the
building but only the differences produced by the variation of specified
tool called MOBO, a Multi-Objective Building Optimization tool, intro­ parameters between the initial design and any other investigated design
duced by Palonen et al. [32]. MOBO was chosen for its parallel [34].
computing and multi-objective aptitudes. It was coupled with TRNSYS In this work, the LCC of the building is calculated using the following
for performing the optimization. Fig. 4 shows the flow diagram of the equation ([35]):
process. Several algorithms can be found in MOBO optimizer. In this ( )
1 − (1 + rd)− n
work, the advanced and highly efficient Pareto archive NSGA-II algo­ LCC = I0, BD + I0, RES + × CO&M (3)
rd
rithm was selected with an initial population of 30 individuals for 15
generations, low mutation rate and high crossover probability [33].
where I0,BD and I0,RES are the total initial costs including design costs for
Table 5 summarizes the genetic algorithm parameters considered in this
building and components costs of the RE systems respectively. CO&M is

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N. Abdou et al. Building and Environment 204 (2021) 108141

Fig. 4. Flow diagram of the optimization process and simulation.

Table 5 Table 6
Parameters of NSGA-II Building design and RE systems variables used in the optimization.
Parameter Value Description Units Type Values

Population size 30 Building orientation ◦

Discrete {0,25,40,90,135,180}
Generations 15 relatively to the north
Mutation probability (%) 2 Wall insulation thickness cm Discrete {2,4,6}
Crossover probability (%) 80 Roof insulation thickness cm Discrete {2,4,6}
Type of windows – Discrete {WTp1, WTp2, WTp3,
WTp4}
the total annual operating and maintenance costs of RE systems com­ WWR % Discrete {25,30,40,45}
ponents, the life time n and the discount rate rd are set to 25 years and Air infiltration reduction level – Discrete {25%, 50%, 75%}
Average number of solar – Continuous 1 to 20
5%, respectively [36]. panels per dwelling
Besides, the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for PV and WT systems is WT total capacity kW Continuous 5 to 60
expressed as follows [37]: Number of solar thermal – Continuous 10 to 14
( ( ) )/(( ) ) collectors
1− (1+rd)− n 1− (1+rd)− n
LCOE(rd,n)= I0, R + ×CO&M,R ×EPR
rd rd
(4) A |PMV| ≤ 0.5 is considered as a normal level.

where I0, R , CO&M,R , EPR are respectively the initial costs, annual oper­
ating and maintenance costs and annual electricity production of the RE
system.
2.7.3. Thermal comfort
The third function (F3 ) is the average yearly absolute Predicted Mean
Vote (PMVm ) [38]. Based on FANGER’s comfort model [39], it is used to
evaluate the performance of the indoor thermal comfort of building. The
Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) is based on the heat balance of the human
body and is influenced by metabolic rate and clothing, air temperature,
mean radiant temperature, air speed and humidity.
To calculate thermal comfort index, TRNSYS uses standard EN ISO
7730. The following assumptions were adopted [40]:
2.8. Constraints
In this study, the optimization process aims to reduce the building
load in accordance with life-cycle cost assessment and indoor thermal
comfort. No constraints are taken into account for this purpose. How­
ever, G ≤ 0 was considered in the annual energy balance to ensure that
only solutions whose total energy generated (RESgeneration ) is greater than
or equal to the total energy consumption (Ebuilding ) are valid. G is defined
as:
G = Ebuilding − RESgeneration (5)
2.9. Values of design variables and costs

• A metabolic activity of 1.5 met from 07:00 to 00:00 and 1 met
otherwise was assumed.
• Resistance of clothing was set to 0.5 clo in the summer and 1 clo in
the winter.
• A constant relative air speed of 0.1 m/s was set.
Several variables, including building topology, insulation levels,
climate, energy supply and demand, can affect building performance.
The design variables considered include building orientation, insulation
thicknesses of the external wall and roof, windows types, air infiltration
reduction level and size of the RE systems. The choice of insulation type

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N. Abdou et al. Building and Environment 204 (2021) 108141

Table 7 optimal solutions, the weighted sum method was used ([43,44]). The
Implementation costs of different options ([12,41]). multi-criteria optimization problem was transferred to a mono-criterion
Specification Options Average cost ($/m2) expressed as follows:
( ) ( )
Wall insulation {0,2,4,6} {65.88,71.05,74.41,77.51} F1 (x) − F1 min F2 (x) − F2 min
thickness, Min [u(F1 (x), F2 (x), F3 (x)] = w1 + w2
F1 max − F1 min F2 max − F2 min
polystyrene (cm) ( )
Roof insulation {0,2,4,6} {102.05,108.00,112.77,139.51} F3 (x) − F3 min
+ w3
thickness, F3 max − F3 min
polystyrene (cm)
(6)
Windows type, (U- WTp1: Single glazing 45
value, g-value) (5.74,0.87)
WTp2: Double glazing, 66
where Fi min and Fi max are the best and worst value of the i-th objective
4/16/4 (2.83, 0.75) function, respectively. w1 , w2 and w3 are the weight coefficients that
∑
WTp3: Double glazing 110 reflect the relative importance of the objective functions and wi must
with Argon, 4/16/4 be equal to 1. Finally, a comparison with the reference solution
(1.4, 0.58)
(Fi base case ) was performed to evaluate the obtained optimal solution
WTp4: Double glazing 120
with Argon, low-e 6/ (Fi opt ) using the following ratios defined:
16/6 (1.26, 0.39)
Air infiltration {25%, 50%, 75%} {0.7, 1.4, 2.09} • Energy saving ratio: ESR = 1 − (F1 opt /F1 base case )
reduction level
• Life cycle cost saving ratio: CSR = 1 − (F2 opt /F2 base case )
Air conditioner 0.22178 $/W
• PMVm reduction ratio: PR = 1 − (F3 opt /F3 base case )

3. Results & discussion

Table 8
Implementation cost of different design options for the RE systems ([37,42]).
3.1. Reference building thermal load
Cost expression ($) Annual O&M
(%)
The low thermal resistance of the reference building envelope mainly
ST C = 2450 × NETSC , NETSC is the number of ETSC 0.75 subjects the building to the outdoor temperature variations that depend
PV C = 378.17 × Apv , Apv is the area of PV array (m2) 1 on the local climate. The same building, and under identical occupancy
WT C = 6.4 × PWT 2 + 2415.7 × PWT + 6207 , PWT is the WT 1.5 conditions, gives different performances. In Agadir, the thermal load is
rated power (kW) 63 kWh/(m2.year), while in the cold climate (Ifrane), a need of about
202 kWh/(m2.year) is required.
To validate/calibrate our results and since there is no monitoring
is not discussed in this work. Polystyrene (thermal conductivity:0.141
data for this building, a comparison to the results of a base case pre­
kJ/(h m K), density 25 kg/m3, thermal capacity 1.38 kJ/(kg.K)) is
sented in the Moroccan building thermal code (RTCM) was performed
considered. The design variables and their investment costs are pre­
[15]. Indeed, TRNSYS performs calculations based on input parameters
sented in Table 6 and Table 7. Table 8 lists the implementation cost (C)
to provide outputs. The accuracy of the inputs is therefore important. In
of the different design options and the annual operating and mainte­
Fig. 5, a comparison of the simulation results is presented. The mean
nance costs as percentage of the initial investment (Annual O&M) for
squared error (MSE) [45] between our simulations and RTCM reference
PV, WT and SDHW system (ST) components.
values of the studied building is 15.6 kWh/(m2.year) and the mean
absolute percentage error (MAPE) [46] is 3%.
Thus, it can be noted that the agreement between results is good. The
2.10. Optimal solution
slight difference between data is generally due to solar gain (accuracy of
masks) and the specification of the occupant’s behaviour in the
Typically, the solution of a multi-objective optimization is not
simulations.
unique. There exists a set of compromised trade-off solutions called non-
dominated or Pareto front. A solution is non-dominated, if no objective
can be improved without causing a simultaneous increase in at least one
other objective. Thus, to select the most preferred among the Pareto

Fig. 5. Comparison of the simulation results to the reference values according to RTCM.

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N. Abdou et al. Building and Environment 204 (2021) 108141

Fig. 6. Optimization results for Ifrane city (F1 vs. F2 ).

Fig. 7. Optimization results for Ifrane city (F1 vs. F3 ).

3.2. Optimization results
Minimizing the energy demand of the building is an important step
to achieve high energy performance building like NZEB [47]. Any
remaining load is balanced through on-site renewable energy produc­
tion. The optimization process was carried out to find the best solution
that will allow a compromise between the building life cycle cost, energy
saving and indoor thermal comfort.
Figs. 6,7 and 8 illustrate the optimization results for Ifrane city. The
reference building and all data points achieve net zero energy balance.
The reference building is the building without any energy efficiency
actions (conventional building). The building load is 118.34 kWh/(m2.
year), the LCC is 564.06 $/m2 and the PMVm is 0.5549 for Ifrane.
Four solutions are also highlighted: energy optimal solution
(min(F1 )), cost optimal solution (min(F2 )), comfort optimal solution
(min(F3 )) and optimized building. Moreover, the process of selecting the
optimal solution among available solutions depends on the engineering
experience, system characteristics and performance, and the importance
of each objective function to a decision maker [43]. The optimized
building represents, in this study, the building obtained by considering
an equal weight for the three objective functions i.e. (w1 = w2 = w3 =
1 /3). The building load of the optimized building is 80.51 kWh/(m2.
year), the LCC is 473.72 $/m2 and the PMVm is 0.5183 for Ifrane.
Further, the confrontation of the three objective functions allows you
to observe whether or not a conflict between two objective functions
exists. Indeed, while F1 which includes thermal energy needs of building
(heating and cooling) and F2 , which includes the thermal resistance cost
of the building envelope, are inversely proportional [48], reducing the
building energy consumption results in lower PV and WT system costs.
Besides, for F1 vs. F3 and F2 vs. F3 , the scattered points seem to be

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N. Abdou et al. Building and Environment 204 (2021) 108141

Fig. 8. Optimization results for Ifrane city (F2 vs. F3 ).

Fig. 9. Evaluation of the optimized building for each objective function.

Fig. 10. Annual loads of the reference building for each location.

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N. Abdou et al. Building and Environment 204 (2021) 108141

Fig. 11. Heating and cooling loads of the reference (RF) and optimized (Op) building.

Table 9
Annual energy balance of the optimized building in each location.
Location Agadir Tangier Fez Ifrane Marrakech Errachidia

Heating (kWh) 2994.44 5011.11 4444.45 14740.74 3562.04 6461.11

Cooling (kWh) 3335.47 3571.58 5667.73 4870.73 10040.6 14027.78
Appliances (kWh) 21,315 21,315 21,315 21,315 21,315 21,315
SDHW system consumption (kWh) 2785.81 5840.06 4557.37 6414.36 2540.93 3162.82
Ebuilding (MWh) 30.43 35.74 35.98 47.34 37.46 44.97
RESgeneration (MWh) 30.91 36.08 36.49 48.00 37.83 45.32
g (MWh) − 0.47 − 0.34 − 0.50 − 0.65 − 0.37 − 0.36
Energy supplied from grid to the building (MWh) 15.78 18.01 18.46 26.26 18.84 22.84
BL covered by PV/WT 48% 50% 49% 45% 50% 49%
PV annual production (MWh) 21.06 25.12 24.91 32.47 25.52 30.48
WT annual production (MWh) 9.85 10.95 11.58 15.53 12.31 14.84

random.
3.3. Evaluation of the optimized building
An evaluation of the optimized building is presented in Fig. 9. It
should be underlined that in Agadir, 21% of energy savings (ESR), 4% of
life cycle cost savings (CSR) and 13% of PMVm reduction (PR) are
reached, while in Ifrane, 32% of energy savings, 16% of life cycle cost
savings and 7% of PMVm reduction are attained. Hence, the results
clearly indicate that the optimized building is improved compared to the
reference building according to the three objective functions for all
Moroccan climatic zones.
3.4. Thermal loads of the reference and optimized building
of the total energy consumption of the reference building (Fig. 10).
Excluding Agadir (35%), they account for more than 40% in all
Moroccan climatic zones. The building load can be enhanced by
reducing the thermal loads. However, the consumption of appliances is
higher than the thermal loads in Agadir and Tangier. Thus, control
strategies and energy labeling standards for equipment can be used to
reduce appliances consumption.
Moreover, Fig. 11 shows the annual thermal loads of the optimized
building. We note an important reduction of the thermal loads for all
climatic zones. Indeed, a decrease of 28% and 65% in Agadir, 49% and
60% in Tangier, 64% and 55% in Fez, 55% and 40% in Ifrane, 48% and
52% in Marrakech and 46% and 50% in Errachidia are reached for
heating and cooling, respectively.

Thermal loads (heating and cooling) represent a significant portion

Table 10
Passive energy efficiency measures for the optimized building in each region.
Location Agadir Tangier Fez Ifrane Marrakech Errachidia

Building orientation relatively to the north ( )

◦
180 180 180 0 180 180
Wall insulation thickness (cm) 4 6 6 6 6 6
Roof insulation thickness (cm) 4 4 4 4 4 6
Overall U-value, Wall 0.664 0.496 0.496 0.496 0.496 0.496
W/(m2.K) Roof 0.685 0.685 0.685 0.685 0.685 0.507
Windows type WTp3 WTp3 WTp3 WTp2 WTp3 WTp3
WWR 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25%
Air infiltration reduction level 25% 75% 75% 75% 75% 75%

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N. Abdou et al. Building and Environment 204 (2021) 108141

Table 11 3.7. Optimized building and regulatory limit

Size of RE systems for the reference (RF) and optimized (OP) building in each
location. The threshold for total annual thermal load consumption for resi­
Location Agadir Tangier Fez Ifrane Marrakech Errachidia dential (or tertiary) buildings differs from zone to zone according to the
ETSC total area 20 20 20 20 20 20
RTCM. In Fig. 12, some regions such as Ifrane, Marrakech and Erra­
(RF), m2 chidia, the thermal load of the optimized building is higher than the
ETSC total area 24 20 28 24 28 24 regulatory limit. Indeed, a decrease of 34% is needed in Ifrane, 3% in
(OP), m2 Marrakech and 32% in Errachidia. Figs. 13–15 show respectively the
PV total area 112 120 154 204 145 165
thermal load variation as a function of the insulation thickness, for the
(RF), m2
PV total area 89 107 109 142 102 114 reference (RF) and optimized building (OP), for Ifrane, Marrakech and
(OP), m2 Errachidia. It can be observed that in Ifrane (Fig. 13) and Errachidia
WT power 22 10 22 38 58 58 (Fig. 15) the level of insulation does not allow it to reach the regulatory
(RF), kW limit. In Ifrane, a reduction of 26% of the thermal load is achieved from
WT power 18 6 15 26 42 41
(OP), kW
1 cm to 10 cm, 6% from 10 cm to 20 cm and 2% from 20 cm to 30 cm for
the reference building. For the optimized building, a reduction of 36% is
reached from 1 cm to 10 cm, 9% from 10 cm to 20 cm and 4% from 20
3.5. Annual energy balance of the optimized building cm to 30 cm. In Marrakech (Fig. 14), the regulatory limit is reached at 6
cm of walls and roof insulation thickness.
The annual energy balance of the optimized building is reported in
Table 9. NZEB is attained for all Moroccan climatic zones (G ≤ 0). The
production of electricity by photovoltaic and wind energy systems can 3.8. SDHW system of the optimized building
instantly cover up to 50% of the building load in some regions such as
Tangier and Marrakech. The load matching between building load and As mentioned, the SDHW system was considered to cover the energy
energy generation can be improved by adjusting the demand to the demand for domestic hot water (DHW). This later depends on the
generation and/or by regulating the generation to the needs [49]. requested hot water and varies according to climatic conditions. As
shown in Fig. 16, in the desert climate (Errachidia), the annual DHW
energy demand is about 31.05 (kWh/m2) whereas 41.06 (kWh/m2) is
3.6. Design parameters of the optimized building required in the cold climate (Ifrane).
To assess the performance of the SDWH system, solar fraction was
The design parameters for the optimized building are listed in computed. Solar fraction is the most important indicator used for
Table 10. Apart from Agadir, the insulation thickness is the highest characterizing the thermal performance of a collective SDHW system
option (6 cm) for the exterior wall for all climatic zones. The WWR is the since it takes into account the overall performance of the entire system
lowest option (25%), while the air infiltration reduction level is the [26]. It is defined as the percentage of the hot water load that can be met
highest option (75%) for all considered zones. The windows type is by solar energy on an annual basis [50]. In Fig. 17, solar fraction, as a
double for the six locations and the orientation is different compared to function of the solar collector area for the six locations, is presented. It
the base case in some cities like Agadir, Tangier, Fez, Marrakech and can be observed that the solar fraction increases as the solar collector
Errachidia. area increases in all climatic zones. From 16 m2, the performance of the
On the other hand, in this study, the size of the PV and WT systems evacuated tubes solar collectors is higher in Agadir than in Marrakech
has been estimated and optimized according to annual building load and and Errachidia.
weather conditions for each location (Table 11). Besides, we note an Overall and except in Tangier, the SDHW system of the optimized
increase in the area of solar thermal collectors for the optimized build­ building is improved because of the increase of the area of solar thermal
ing, while a downsize of PV and WT systems is observed in all climatic collectors compared to the base case in all Moroccan climatic zones
zones. (Fig. 18).

Fig. 12. Regulatory limit (RL), reference building (RF) and optimized building (OP).

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N. Abdou et al. Building and Environment 204 (2021) 108141

Fig. 13. Annual thermal load for different insulation thickness of the exterior surfaces (walls and roof) in Ifrane.

Fig. 14. Annual thermal load for different insulation thickness of the exterior surfaces (walls and roof) in Marrakech.

3.9. Levelized cost of energy
The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is the total cost of installing and
operating a project expressed in dollars per kilowatt-hour ($/kWh) of
electricity generated by the system over its lifetime [51]. Fig. 19,20 and
21 show the LCOE for PV system, WT system and hybrid PV/WT system
for different lifetimes and each discount rate. This later is used to
evaluate future cash flows at their current value [52]. According to the
results, the LCOE increases as the discount rate increases for the same
lifetime (25 years), while the LCOE decreases as the lifetime increases
for the same discount rate (5%).
As illustrated in Fig. 19, the PV system is more cost-effective in the
semi-arid (Marrakech) and desert (Errachidia) climates. For instance,
the LCOE (5%, 25) in $/kWh for the PV system is 0.1339 in Ifrane,
0.1334 in Fez, 0.1302 in Tangier, 0.1287 in Agadir, 0.1222 in Marrakech
and 0.1141 in Errachidia. Besides, for the WT system (Fig. 20), the wind

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N. Abdou et al.
Fig. 15. Annual thermal load for different insulation thickness of the exterior surfaces (walls and roof) in Errachidia.
Fig. 16. Annual DHW energy demand per the house floor area for each location.
energy potential of Tangier city, which is represented by an average
annual wind speed of 5 m/s (Table 1), allows a lower LCOE compared to
other cities. The highest LCOE is observed in Marrakech. In fact, the
LCOE (5%,25) in $/kWh for WT system is 0.8308 in Marrakech, 0.6717
in Errachidia, 0.4519 in Agadir, 0.4059 in Ifrane, 0.3258 in Fez and
0.1643 in Tangier. Note that the LCOE for the WT system is higher in all
Moroccan climatic zones than that of the PV system.
The levelized cost of energy for the hybrid PV/WT system is pre­
sented in Fig. 21. The LCOE (5%,25) in $/kWh is 0.3527 in Marrakech,
0.2967 in Errachidia, 0.2316 in Agadir, 0.2219 in Ifrane, 0.1945 in Fez
and 0.1406 in Tangier. It can be noted that the LCOE for the hybrid
system is lower in all Moroccan climatic zones than that of the WT
system. In particular, the hybrid PV/WT system can be cost-effective in
Tangier.
4. Conclusion
In this study, a set of possibilities and options has been evaluated to
investigate the possible impacts in upgrading an existing residential
building to Net Zero Energy Building for the six climatic zones. A multi-
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Building and Environment 204 (2021) 108141
objective optimization was performed, using TRNSYS coupled with
MOBO, a multi-objective building optimization tool, to assess the best
solution in accordance with three criteria: economic, energetic and
thermal comfort.
The main outcomes of the study are as follows:
• Improving the building envelope makes a significant contribution to
reducing energy consumption. Indeed, more than 21% of energy
saving, 28% of heating saving and 40% of cooling saving are possible
to be achieved in all Moroccan climatic zones. Agadir and Tangier
are the cities with the lowest thermal demands. According to the
results, a minimum level of wall and roof insulation of 4 cm should be
required for all new buildings in all climatic zones. Moreover, zero
energy balance is technically feasible in all Moroccan climatic zones,
but other passive measures and local solutions must be considered to
achieve significant improvements and make buildings smarter and
more sustainable.
• Renewable energy systems may be cost-effective in some regions, but
their integration strongly depends on the cost of their components,
operating and maintenance costs throughout their lifecycle. The PV
N. Abdou et al. Building and Environment 204 (2021) 108141

Fig. 17. Annual solar fraction for different thermal solar collector areas in each location.

Fig. 18. Annual solar fraction for the reference and optimized buildings.

Fig. 19. Levelized cost of energy for PV system for different lifetimes and discount rates.

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N. Abdou et al.
Fig. 20. Levelized cost of energy for WT system for different lifetimes and discount rates.
Fig. 21. Levelized cost of energy for hybrid PV/WT system for different lifetimes and discount rates.
system is more cost-effective in all Moroccan climatic zones, espe­
cially in the semi-arid (Marrakech) and desert (Errachidia) climates.
The LCOE for the hybrid PV/WT system is lower in all Moroccan
climatic zones than that of the WT system. Tangier is the city with the
greatest potential for a wind energy system. Therefore, other cities
are expected to present a challenge since the areas for efficient on-
site generation of photovoltaics and solar thermal collectors are
limited.
Finally, it can be interesting to perform a sensitivity analysis in future
works to identify the most key parameters that can affect the thermal
behaviour of buildings among a large number of building designs
parameters.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
The authors would appreciate the financial support provided by the
University of Moulay Ismail in the call to projects 2018.
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Building and Environment 204 (2021) 108141
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