Passive solar house prototype design with a new bio-based material for a semi-arid climate

In this study, a passive solar house prototype was built using Trombe wall and was tested in the semi-arid region of Batna, in eastern Algeria. Traditional local materials (stone and adobe) were used for the construction of the thermal storage wall. A new local bio-based material made from date palm trunks was used for the insulation of the passive house prototype. For a better understanding of passive house heating and for a comparative study, a numerical simulation, using Fluent, was carried out. The aim of this study was to supply recommendations for improving the passive systems and to participate to the energy consumption control in the building sector. The results show that the experimental and numerical simulation results are in good agreement. The optimal orientation of the solar passive house has been determined, which is at 160° southeast. The use of local and bio-based materials has proven its effectiveness in the construction of the passive house. The thermal behavior of date palm wood has been found to be close to those of insulation materials commonly used in buildings. That means it has the same thermal insulation ability (thermal conductivity). On the other hand, the results show that the thermal efficiency of the passive solar heating system, with an adobe wall is significantly higher (50%) than that with a stone wall (30.7%).