Paper Title
Vernacular Architecture And Energy Use In Buildings: A Comparative Study

Abstract
Abstract--Previous research has shown that there is a strong link between people, buildings and climate: the building sector contributes up to 30 per cent of global annual greenhouse gas emissions and consumes up to 40 per cent of all energy. Most 20th-century buildings in the world are currently reliant on electro-mechanical cooling systems. In 2013, the global emission of carbon dioxide due to fossil fuel use was 36 giga tonnes, showing an increase of 61 per cent compared to the year 1990. This trend cannot continue due to the devastating effects that existing patterns of energy consumption may have on our future. The traditional and localised methods of design and construction of buildings, namely vernacular architecture, are known to have superior qualities compared to the modern ones. In this paper we aim to show how energy use in buildings can be minimised by using the principles that we adopt from vernacular architecture in Iran. This is shown by identifying and testing the principles of Iranian vernacular architecture. This paper has three sections. The first two sections will discuss Iranian vernacular architecture and current energy consumption of modern buildings. The last section, which is our case study, will simulate both modern and vernacular buildings in the same climate conditions. This paper presents the energy performance comparison between both modern and Iranian vernacular architecture, which enables the identification of performance problems based on a comparison of measured performance data and simulated performance data representing design goals. The paper will indicate an untapped potential to reduce energy consumption of buildings and highlight the gap between modern buildings and vernacular buildings. Keywords: Iranian vernacular and modern architecture, Energy Consumption, Thermal comfort