Energy uncertainty of manual solar shades for different window-to-wall ratios

Manual solar shades rely on occupants’ control and thus its energy performance is highly related to occupants’ behavior. This paper conducted a co-simulation study on the impact of shade behavior on building energy performance and its uncertainty at different window-to-war ratios (WWRs). A previously developed stochastic behavior model for manual solar shades is used in this paper. Results show that energy uncertainty increases from 1.8% to 3.5% as WWR increases from 25% to 90% and a linear regression was given for predicting energy uncertainty with a determination coefficient of 0.9595. Whether energy uncertainty due to stochastic shade behavior has a significant impact on total energy performance depends on WWR design. To have a high and robust building performance, a small WWR that meets minimum daylighting performance is suggested for office buildings in this climate region. For a more accurate simulation of manual shades, a better consideration of manual shades than existing simplified assumptions by building energy regulations/standards is required.