An approach for the evaluation of energy and cost efficiency of glass façades

Glass façades, particularly in high-rise buildings, increase in energy consumption for heating, cooling and ventilation. This causes too high running cost of mechanical systems. Double skin glass façade is a system that decreases these disadvantages, by providing natural ventilation, preventing solar heat gain, controlling daylight, etc. This paper aims to investigate the appropriateness of double skin glass façades in moderate climate, such as Istanbul, in terms of the energy and cost efficiency when compared to single skin glass façades. For this purpose, an approach is proposed to determine the efficient alternatives. It comprises to generate standard façade alternatives by considering the objectives, constraints and performance criteria, and to evaluate their energy and cost efficiency for both single and double skin glass façades. In conclusion, the most energy efficient double skin glass façade is about 22.84% more efficient than the most energy efficient single skin glass façade is. Additionally, the most cost efficient single skin glass façade is about 24.68% more efficient than the most cost efficient double skin glass façade is.