Architectural Effects of Shading Devices in the Buildings of Bahrain

摘要

Bahrain is an island in the Arabian Gulf lying at latitude 26° 16′ N and longitude 050° 39′ E. Itsname “the two seas” and geographical location are the reasons for its hot and humid climate all year round.Since the discovery of oil in 1932, Bahrain has mostly depended on this energy source. However, oil hasalmost been depleted and this has led the authorities in Bahrain to reconsider their energy strategy andadopts more lasting source of energy, renewable energy as well as conserve energy through the use of lowenergy architecture in buildings.During the last 20 years, all constructed domestic buildings have relied heavily on high- energyconsumption, electricity to operate vapour compresion air conditioning systems, to achieve comfort. Thiswas evident from electricity consumption record of various sectors in Bahrain which was recently collected.80% is used in the domestic sector. Additionally, the cooling and air conditioning systems used byresidential buildings caused electricity consumption during the last 20 years to increase six fold wheras thepopulation was only doubled.Climate data of Bahrain over the last 30 years shows that August and July are the two hottest monthsin Bahrain with very high level of relative humidity.In this paper reference is made to the bioclimatic charts of Bahrain, where it can be deduced thatduring summer, comfort can be attainable entirely by passive means such as the use of shading devices, highthermal mass, natural ventilation and night radiative cooling. However, during those two months occasionalconventional dehumidification and mechanical ventilation are needed. On the other hand, in winter, comfortcan be achieved by passive passive heating.In order to determine the effect of shading on temperature profile in buildings in Bahrain, anexperiment was conducted under specific conditions. The results showed a noticeable difference intemperature readings between the outdoor unshaded areas and indoor shaded areas. This implies thatbuildings in Bahrain could achieve a reduction in temperature by using proper means of shading.