ORIENTATION OF HOTEL ROOM SPACES FOR ENERGY CONSERVATION IN HOT-DRY CLIMATE OF BIRNIN KEBBI, NIGERIA

Purpose: Hotel buildings in the hot-dry climate were observed to be using heavily air conditioning units as a way of maintaining human comfort at desirable levels. This has led to increase in pollution and high electricity bills for the hotel owners. This study is therefore aimed at identifying an ideal room orientation for low energy consumption for hotel buildings in the hot dry climate of Birnin Kebbi.

Design/methodology/approach: The study employed a quasi-experiment approach using Autodesk Ecotect software to simulate a model selected from a typical hotel room grid of 3800mm length x 6000mm width and 3000mm height using Birnin Kebbi data files.

Findings: Results of the simulation show that the South-facing room consume less energy (269kWh/m²) followed by North-facing (404kWh/m²) and then the East-facing room layout (481kWh/m²), while West-facing room layout (489kWh/m²) having the highest energy consumption.

Originality/value: This research will serve as a guide to designers of hotel buildings trying to minimize energy. Adhering to these guidelines will help to substantially minimize the overall building energy consumption and also help in deciding the best materials suitable for use in remaining room orientations likely to have adverse effect.