GCREEDER 2009, Amman-Jordan, March 31st – April 2nd 2009 1

Influence of Windows on the Energy Balance of Apartment Buildings in

Amman
K. Hassouneh, A. Al-Shboul
Architecture Engineering Department, University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan
A. Salaymeh
Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan

The influence of windows on the energy balance of apartment buildings in Amman is investigated by using self developed
simulation software (SDS) based on the ASHRAE tables for solar heat gain calculation and coaling load factor for latitude
32 , where Amman city is located. The calculations of energy saving are made to find out the influence of windows on the
energy balance of apartment buildings in Amman. Also, the present investigation aimed to study the energy performance of
windows of an apartment building in Amman in order to select the most energy efficient windows that can save more energy
and reduce heating load in winter, the percentage of saving energy and saving fuel and money through time.

Variations of type of glazing using eight types of glazing (clear glass, Type A, B, C, D, E, F, and G) are made to find out the
most appropriate type of glazing in each direction. Also the orientation of window is changeable in the main four directions (N,
S, E and W). The area of glazing varies also in different orientation to find the influence of window area on the thermal balance
of the building. The results show that if energy efficient windows are used, the flexibility of choosing the glazed area and
orientation increases.

It has been found that choosing a larger area facing south, east and west can save more energy and decrease heating costs in
winter using certain types of glazing such as glass type A and clear glass, while decreasing the glazing area facing north can
save money and energy. However, it has been found that the energy can be saved in the north direction if glass type B has been
used. In the apartment building, it is found that certain combination of glazing is energy efficient than others. This combination
consists of using large area of glass type A in the east, west and south direction, and glass type B in the north direction or
reducing glazing area as possible in the north direction.

KEYWORDS: Energy-Efficient Windows, Low Energy Houses, Energy Balance in Buildings

Mamlook et al., 2001). The solar energy in Jordan ranges

1. INTRODUCTION
Energy is one of the most important factors in wealth
generation, economic growth and social development in all
countries. It is very important to think more efficiently
about energy and new resources of renewable energy;
because we don’t have an ultimate energy resource we
should start reducing energy consumption and to apply
solar energy in our new designs of buildings. When
designing for Low energy houses, construction details
should be taken in consideration which are: Walls, Roofs,
Ground Floor and Windows.
Windows: are important not only to get a nice view but
2. 2. TYPES OF WINDOWS
also to let light into the building and create a comfortable
indoor environment. The design of a low energy house
will seek to capitalize on the solar gain through windows
during the winter period, in order to do so, these south
facing windows will require an unobstructed view of the
low winter sun during the middle of the day. Generally
windows lose more heat than they gain. A low energy
house will have less glazing than an average house. New
window technologies have increased energy benefits and
comfort, and have provided more practical options for
consumers.
The current tendency in Jordan is to use in future
various solar energy applications in the over all mix of
energy in Jordan, as well as identifying potential areas for
utilizing future technologies and recommending future
courses of action to encourage commercial utilization of
solar energy technologies, e.g. (Mohsen and Akash, 1997,
between 5-7 kWh/m2 (Jibril, 1999). This corresponds to a
total annual value of 1600-2300 kW/ m2, e.g. (Audi and
Alsaad, 1991), (Alsaad, 1990), (Audi and Alsaad, 1991).
As Amman is located at a latitude of 32˚1' N, it would be
useful to determine the solar-irradiance data on a
horizontal surface with a tilt angle of 32˚ 1' facing south.
Energy demand in Jordan has been doubled during the
last 20 years, and is expected to continue to develop at the
same rate, or even higher. Hence all recent energy forecast
scenarios have shown that national energy consumption
might double between 2015 and 2020 (MEMR, 2002).
The types of windows which are used in residential
buildings can be classified in four types:
Type A: Insulating Glass Unit Composed of: Outer
Pane: 6mm Clear Glass, Air Space: 12mm, Inner Pane:
6mm Clear Glass.
Type B: Insulating Glass Unit Composed of: Outer
Pane: 6mm Clear Glass, Air Space: 12mm, Inner Pane:
6mm Clear Low-E (Pilkington).
Type C: Insulating Glass Unit Composed of: Outer
Pane: 6 mm Silverstar Sunstop Neutral 50 (Glastroesch),
Air Space: 12mm, Inner pane 6mm Clear Glass.
Type D: Insulating Glass Unit Composed of: Outer
Pane: 6 mm Solar E Glass (lkington), Air Space: 12mm,
Inner Pane: 6mm Clear Glass.

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However, the types of windows which are used in The overall heat transfer coefficient "U" values of some
residential and commercial buildings are the following construction components used in the building are listed
below types in addition to the above A-D types: below in Table (1).
Type E: Insulating Glass Unit Composed of: Outer
Pane: 6 mm Blue Tinted (Visteon) Air Space: 12 mm, Table (1): U values of construction components
Inner Pane: 6mm Clear Glass, Inner Pane: 6mm Clear Component "U" value W/m2 °C
Glass Exterior wall 1.8
Type F: Insulating Glass Unit Composed of: Outer Windows 6.7
Pane: 6mm Bronze Tinted (Glaverbel), Air Space: 12mm, Exterior door 3.5
Inner Pane: 6mm Clear Glass Insulation used in exterior 0.9
Type G: Insulating Glass Unit Composed of: Outer walls
Pane: 6mm Grey Tinted (Glaverbel), Air Space: 12mm,
Inner Pane: 6mm Clear Glass
Windows of single pane clear glass were used in the
3. STUDIED CASE building. Horizontal sliding and Bottom hinged windows
are mainly used in this building, Windows which are used
The energy performance of windows for an apartment in this building are listed in Table (2).
building consists of three stories in Amman has been
investigated. The apartment building which is built in Table (2): Types of windows used in the apartment
2006 is located in Amman, Shafa Badran region, near building under consideration
Ferdous Secondary School. It consists of two basements Window Window area Window "U" value
and three floors; each floor consists of three apartments as number (m2) type W/m2 °C
shown in Fig (1). In the first step of calculations, the W1 2.0 ×1.25 Horizontal 6.7
influence of windows on the energy balance of 4*4 m2 Sliding
room in the apartment buildings in Amman has been W2 1.80 ×1.25 Horizontal 6.7
studied. Then, the study has been carried out by making Sliding
variations on the type of glazing, area of glazing, and W3 1.60 ×1.25 Horizontal 6.7
orientation. Self Developed Software (SDS) is used to Sliding
calculate solar heat gain due to fenestration and to define W4 0.60 ×0.75 Bottom 6.7
the influence of the glazing area on the amount of energy Hinged
saving in the building. In the second step, energy saved
due to fenestration of the whole apartment is calculated. In this study one apartment is selected to be
The floor area of the apartment building in the present investigated, it is the eastern apartment which has a short
study is a bout 524.56 m2, and a total area of about length in the south and north direction and the long
3163.24 m2, including an elevator and staircase. Each elevation on the east.
apartment consists of; three bedrooms; living room, guest In the present study, the reference glass type is selected
room, and dinning room, in addition to the kitchen and to be 3mm clear glass with U value of 6.7 W/m2.ºC,
three bath rooms. shading coefficient of 1, solar heat factor is 1 and solar
ground reflectance 0.2. The temperature difference is
assumed to be steady state and an average value of 12 ºC
has been considered for the whole period of winter season.
The operating hours of the heating system are intermittent
from one month to another, but their average value which
is 12 hours in the whole period of cold season is
considered in the calculation. The area of glass varied
from zero to the total area of wall.

Fig. (1): Typical floor plan
The building construction consists of typical stone walls,
the wall construction consists of stone, concrete,
insulation, concrete blocks, and plaster and the ceiling is
also insulated using hollow concrete blocks.
4. ENERGY SIMULATIONS
There are different simulation tools available to estimate
the energy efficiency of buildings. Those tools are
classified into two main groups: the first one is the static
model (steady state conditions) which is simplified using
simple mathematical methods. The other is dynamic state
conditions that is more advanced and allow conditions to
vary over time (Lomas, 1997).
In the present work, a software based on excel program
has been developed to perform direct heat gain due to solar
radiation. Direct gain is the most common passive solar
building approach, and the south glazing is usually

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 GCREEDER 2009, Amman-Jordan, March 31st – April 2nd 2009
provides winter solar radiation to the building interior
(Ramsey, 2000). The software helps designers to define
the energy efficiency of windows, and to compare
different windows without having access to detailed
information about the building but still take into account
the type of building and the type of glazing.
This program is developed depending on the energy
equations and the ASHRAE tables of solar heat gain and
cooling factor of glass in different directions.
The load is composed of three types:
• Load due to conduction: It is calculated by the
following equation
Q loss =U*A*ΔT (1)
where
U: The Overall coefficient of heat transfer (W/m2.°C)
A: Area of glass or wall (m2)
ΔT: Temperature difference (°C)
• Load due to solar transmission and radiation
SHG= SC*SHGC*CLF*A (2)
where
SHG: Maximum heat gain factor (W/m²)
SC: Shading coefficient
CLF: Cooling load factor
A: Area of glass (m2)
• Load due to infiltration
Qsƒ = (1,250/3,600)*Vƒ*(Ti-To) (3)
where:
Qsƒ: Heat load due to infiltration (W)
Vƒ : Volumetric flow rate of infiltrated air (m3/h)
Ti: Inside design temperature (°C)
To: Outside design temperature (°C)
Vƒ = K*L*(ΔP)2/3 (4)
ΔP = 0.613*(S1*S2*V)2 (5)
The value of the volumetric flow rate of infiltrated air
(m3/h) can be taken from the Eq. (4) or from a certain
table, e.g. [Alsaad and Hammd, 1995]. K is the infiltrated
air coefficient and the value of K is obtained from a certain
table, e.g. [Alsaad and Hammd, 1995]. L is the crack
length (m), ΔP is the pressure difference between the
inside and outside of the room (N/m2), V is the measured
wind speed, S1 is a factor which is obtained from a certain
table, e.g. [Alsaad and Hammd, 1995] and it depends on
the topography of the location of the building, S2 is a
factor obtained from a certain table, e.g. [Alsaad and
Hammd, 1995] and it depends on the height of building
and the terrain of its location.
5. EFFECT OF GLAZING ON ENERGY
SAVING IN WINTER
In summer it is well known that fenestration is a source of
thermal load that needs to be handled by the cooling air
conditioning system, due to the fact that windows allow
for the sun rays to penetrate to the space. It is important to
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notice that this thermal load is a negative element in
summer, but it is a positive element in cold weather,
whenever it can be used by the engineer and designer to
heat the building (Hattar 200).
Amman city is located at 32º N and its climate is that of
eastern Mediterranean region where it is hot and dry in
summer and rainy in winter. The average temperature in
Amman is 8°C in January, 16°C in April and 28°C in July.
There are many cases where summer temperatures can go
up to 40°C and winter temperatures can go down below
freezing. The rainy season normally extends from late
October through March. The Sunshine duration for
Amman is variable during the year as shown in Fig. (2),
e.g. (Meteorological department, 2007). Fig. (3) shows the
average temperatures of Amman city during the whole
year as a function of months. It is clear from the data
shown in Fig. (3) that the cold season extends from the
beginning of November month till the end of April month
since the average value of the ambient temperature during
theses month is less than 19 °C or 18.3 °C .
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Month
Fig. (2): Sunshine Duration in Amman
25
20
C
o
Temperature
15
10
5
Mean Average Temperature
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Month
Fig. (3): Average mean temperature in Amman
In order to calculate the influence of windows on the
thermal balance of the apartment buildings, the maximum
heat gain factor in addition to the cooling load factor for
glass without interior shading are needed and ASHRAE
tables are required for the calculations.
Usually, engineers design the heating system in the
buildings without taking the contribution of the sun in
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heating the space. The heating system is designed to heat
the space when the sun is “hidden” by the clouds or absent
at night. But practically, the sun is available for many
hours in the day and many days in the heating season. So a
good control system makes it possible to get benefit of it
whenever it is there.
ASHRAE and other national and international
organizations have made their studies, and published
sufficient data for engineers to evaluate the matter, in
summer and winter. The sun touches the north façade
slightly and has not any considerable effect on both
heating and cooling systems. The maximum heat gain
factor (SHG) in W/m² depends mainly on the direction of
glazing. For example, in January the SHG = 76 W/m² for
north window, 552 W/m² for eastern window, 552 W/m²
for western window and 776 W/m² for south direction. It is
clear that the SHG for southern direction has the highest
value and SHG for north direction has the lowest value.
This value of the maximum solar heat gain factor (SHG)
should be multiplied by a shading coefficient (SC) and the
cooling load factor (CLF). The shading coefficient
depends on the type of the glass, for example, the shading
coefficient for clear glass is 1.0. The cooling load factor
(CLF) can be obtained from ASHRAE Tables it can be
considered as an average of 0.6. So, the solar heat gain can
be calculated as:
Qsolar = SHG*SC*CLF*A glass (6)
The net solar heat gain for 1 m2 of clear single glass at
north direction is
Qsolar, N = 76.0*1.0*0.6*1.0 = 45.6 W
The same procedure is applied for other directions
In order to study the contribution of fenestration on the
heating system using different types of glass as well as
different area, a series of calculations for a room of 4*4 m2
have been carried out. The room of the case study for
different glass parameters was assumed to have only one
exposed wall. The percentage of glass area on the wall was
changed from 0% (no window on the wall) to 100% (the
wall is completely glass). Also, the orientation of the glass
was changed to cover all wall directions (N, S, W and E).
Also, the effect of air infiltration has been taken into
account for the present study. The infiltration term can be
neglected in the case that we have a fixed glazed area
instead of a sliding window. An economic study has been
carried out by calculating the energy saving based on the
current oil prices in Jordan and the local cost of glass.
In the present calculations, the cold season in Jordan is
considered to start from the beginning of November month
till the end of April month, i.e. 6 months as it was shown
in Fig. (3). During this period, it was assumed that the
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temperature difference between inside and outside
conditions is 12°C and this value represents the average
value of the ΔT for the whole period of the cold season.
This value is also selected by engineering consultants for
Amman city (Hattar, 2007). The wind speed for Amman
city was taken from the meteorology department (about
2.7 m/s). The operating hours for the heating system
during the whole period of the winter (6 months) was
selected to be 12 hours. Of course, this value of the
operating hours can be increased in the cold months such
as December, January and February and it can be
decreased in November, March and April. Also, the
heating system is usually switched off during night. Self-
developed software has been used to make the required
calculations after verifying it.
The calculation of fuel consumption for a heating system
for either short terms or long term operation can be
performed using a simple procedure that uses the annual
degree- day method to estimate the fuel consumption for
heating systems. This procedure is applied to residential
and small commercial buildings (Alsaad and Hammad,
1995).
Finally, the payback for the cost of glazing can be
calculated by dividing the cost of glass over the amount of
money which can be saved each year in winter season by
utilizing the solar energy. The interest rate which is about
10% can be assumed to be similar to the expected yearly
increase in the diesel cost. Therefore, the payback period
can be written as:
Payback period = Cost of glass /Cost of energy saving
6. 6. RESULTS
The energy performance of different types of glazing
which are used in Jordanian buildings has been
investigated and the results are summarized below.
Figures (4)-(8) show the percentage of energy saving or
energy losses as a function of the glazed area with respect
to the wall area for different types of glazing.
Figure (4) shows the effect of using clear glass on the
percentage of energy saving as a function of glazed area
for all main directions with and without infiltration. By
using energy simulations, it has been found that the clear
glass is very effective in the south, west and east
directions. Also, It is found that the percentage of energy
saving is increased as the percentage of glazed area in the
exposure wall increases. This relationship between the
saving energy and the glazed area is reversed for north
direction. As the glazed area of clear glass in the north
direction increases. The negative sign of the energy saving
in the north direction means that the energy losses are
higher than the energy savings.
 GCREEDER 2009, Amman-Jordan, March 31st – April 2nd 2009 5

[1] A.N. Other, “A Very Interesting Paper”, EPAC’96,

Sitges, June 1996.

References

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