2.5 Summary of Chapter 2

2.5 Summary of Chapter 2

Chapter 2 concludes Phase 1 and 1.2 of this study, as presented in the research design. The figures were presented regarding South Africa’s high energy demand for coal-powered energy and energy from the natural resource of sunlight for powering electricity. The definition of active and passive solar systems was introduced. A literature review was conducted on pertinent literature regarding passive solar systems available in the built environment.

This chapter introduced the first two sub-problems as enumerated in Chapter 1:

Table 6: Chapter 2 focused on sub-problem 1 and 2

Sub-problem 1 Will passive solar systems improve indoor thermal and visual comfort of residential buildings in Climatic Zone 2? Sub-problem 2 Will passive solar systems influence the energy demand of residential buildings in Climatic Zone 2?

Furthermore, thermal comfort and thermal mass were discussed in Chapter 2 and enabled the framework development of this study.

Chapter 3 focuses on designing and testing a passive solar system using water as thermal mass to contribute to thermal comfort and energy efficiency in residential buildings.