Research Information System
ENERGY AND BUILDINGS, vol.287, no.112984, pp.1-16, 2023 (SCI-Expanded)
This study aimed to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in a typical neighborhood mosque in
Yalova, Turkey, where winters are mild and rainy and the average monthly outdoor temperature can typically
drop to 4 C, by improving the operating strategy of its underfloor heating system (UHS) while
maintaining thermal comfort. The mosque has a thick outer wall and a large indoor volume and therefore
high thermal inertia. Dynamic computer simulations were performed for each operating strategy
employing input data from measurement. Six operation strategies were devised with respect to prayer
times. When UHS was operated only during prayer times, energy consumption and CO2 emissions
decreased, but thermal comfort was not achieved. When the UHS was operated only at night, comfortable
conditions during prayer times were not achieved either. In the scenarios where UHS was used only during
the day but not between morning and noon prayers, CO2 emissions increased. In the last scenario, the
UHS was turned off between morning-noon and night-morning prayers, considering individual average
hot water loop temperatures for each month. In this scenario, an annual saving of 89 kWh (0.81 kWh/
m2day) of natural gas and 136 kg/day of CO2 emissions was attained while providing comfortable conditions.
This means a 9% reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by employing an appropriate
heating operation strategy in a typical medium-sized neighborhood mosque