Improving the energy efficiency of housing and civil engineering depends largely on how much fossil fuel we waste on heating, cooling, electric lighting, and other human needs during building operation. The results of calculations of the energy savings that a passive solar energy utilization system can provide for these purposes are presented. Unlike active systems, such as photovoltaic batteries or solar collectors for heating and hot solar water supply, such systems do not require engineering equipment, maintenance and are an element of the building itself, are part of its volume-planning and structural solution. The simplest of such systems is the Tromba wall. From the point of view of capital expenditures for its construction, it is attractive. It is a “solar fireplace”, the efficiency of which was used in ancient Rome, Fig. 1. The article presents the results of the work carried out by the Department of Architectural and Construction Design and Environmental Physics (ACD&EP) within the framework of master’s theses and postgraduate students’ works on rapid justification of the feasibility of Tromba wall application already at the decision-making stage. Studies have shown that Trombe walls are only effective in one room. There is a need to study their efficiency for the whole building and to calculate the energy savings for winter gardens, greenhouses, and atriums, which have been shown to provide large savings on heating and cooling costs. 1. A set of rules. SP 50.13330.2024. Thermal protection of buildings. Updated version [Teplovaya zashchita zdaniy. Obnovlennaya versiya] / SNiP 23–02–2003.
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• energy efficiency
• heating
• fossil fuels
• passive systems
• volume and structural design
• “solar fireplace”
• Tromba wall
• climatic conditions