Optimising energy for thermal comfort in low -cost housing with particular reference to Botswana

Abstract

Paper presented at the XXXIII IAHS World Congress on Housing, 27-30 September 2005,"Transforming Housing Environments through Design", University of Pretoria.

ABSTRACT: The paper investigates ways of optimising energy in low income housing, for sustainability in Botswana for both existing and future residential houses. The building stock and trends in building energy use will be identified. It is noted that the important source of increase in energy use in the residential buildings has come from increasing dependency on electricity. The biggest share of energy goes to water heating and the next category is space heating/cooling and lighting. The bulk of the building stock is inherited from eras of energy use that were different from the ones that the country is facing today. Some of the city’s residential buildings date back to the 50’s when the only fuel was firewood. The question is to what extent these buildings and future buildings can be made more energy efficient in response to higher energy demands and at what cost compared to savings in energy.