Multiobjective optimisation of passive energy saving strategies in Zhuangke dwellings in Huangyuan county, China

Abstract In rural areas of Huangyuan County, Qinghai Province, traditional dwellings are gradually being replaced by self-built brick-concrete houses that mimic urban designs, leading to increased energy consumption and reduced indoor thermal performance. This issue is particularly urgent in economi...

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Main Authors: Yunfei Liu, You Chen, Linjie Yang, Danqiu He, Muhamad Azhar Ghazali
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Scientific Reports
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-11408-w
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author Yunfei Liu
You Chen
Linjie Yang
Danqiu He
Muhamad Azhar Ghazali
author_facet Yunfei Liu
You Chen
Linjie Yang
Danqiu He
Muhamad Azhar Ghazali
author_sort Yunfei Liu
collection DOAJ
description Abstract In rural areas of Huangyuan County, Qinghai Province, traditional dwellings are gradually being replaced by self-built brick-concrete houses that mimic urban designs, leading to increased energy consumption and reduced indoor thermal performance. This issue is particularly urgent in economically disadvantaged regions with harsh climatic conditions. Traditional Zhuangke dwellings, however, feature architectural characteristics that are well-suited to the cold climate and limited local resources. Extracting and optimising the passive energy-saving design of these traditional dwellings presents an effective solution to address the conflict between energy efficiency and indoor thermal performance in self-built rural houses. This study Innovatively develops a multi-objective optimisation framework for passive energy-saving design in rural housing in Huangyuan County, using the Rhino and Grasshopper visual programming platform. The framework aims to resolve this conflict. By analysing the design parameters of 53 traditional Zhuangke dwellings, the study optimises 10 passive energy-saving design parameters, including courtyard length, width, building orientation, height, depth, span, ground clearance, window-to-wall ratio, sunroom depth, and north-facing double-wall cavity depth. The Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution​ (TOPSIS) method is then applied to filter the Pareto optimal solutions. The results show that, compared to the baseline building, the optimised “linear courtyard” Zhuangke dwelling achieves a reduction in heating energy use intensity (EUI) by 1–17.9% and an improvement in indoor standard effective temperature (SET) ranging from 4.1 to 5.4%. This study provides quantitative evidence and practical design strategies tailored to linear courtyard-type Zhuangke dwellings in rural Qinghai, contributing to the reduction of heating energy consumption and the improvement of indoor thermal performance in cold-climate self-built housing.
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spelling doaj-art-a2fad720a9d8459b9b905e1def2326f52025-08-20T03:46:00ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-07-0115111910.1038/s41598-025-11408-wMultiobjective optimisation of passive energy saving strategies in Zhuangke dwellings in Huangyuan county, ChinaYunfei Liu0You Chen1Linjie Yang2Danqiu He3Muhamad Azhar Ghazali4School of Housing, Building and Planning, Universiti Sains MalaysiaSchool of Housing, Building and Planning, Universiti Sains MalaysiaEngineering and Building Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan MalaysiaSchool of Housing, Building and Planning, Universiti Sains MalaysiaSchool of Housing, Building and Planning, Universiti Sains MalaysiaAbstract In rural areas of Huangyuan County, Qinghai Province, traditional dwellings are gradually being replaced by self-built brick-concrete houses that mimic urban designs, leading to increased energy consumption and reduced indoor thermal performance. This issue is particularly urgent in economically disadvantaged regions with harsh climatic conditions. Traditional Zhuangke dwellings, however, feature architectural characteristics that are well-suited to the cold climate and limited local resources. Extracting and optimising the passive energy-saving design of these traditional dwellings presents an effective solution to address the conflict between energy efficiency and indoor thermal performance in self-built rural houses. This study Innovatively develops a multi-objective optimisation framework for passive energy-saving design in rural housing in Huangyuan County, using the Rhino and Grasshopper visual programming platform. The framework aims to resolve this conflict. By analysing the design parameters of 53 traditional Zhuangke dwellings, the study optimises 10 passive energy-saving design parameters, including courtyard length, width, building orientation, height, depth, span, ground clearance, window-to-wall ratio, sunroom depth, and north-facing double-wall cavity depth. The Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution​ (TOPSIS) method is then applied to filter the Pareto optimal solutions. The results show that, compared to the baseline building, the optimised “linear courtyard” Zhuangke dwelling achieves a reduction in heating energy use intensity (EUI) by 1–17.9% and an improvement in indoor standard effective temperature (SET) ranging from 4.1 to 5.4%. This study provides quantitative evidence and practical design strategies tailored to linear courtyard-type Zhuangke dwellings in rural Qinghai, contributing to the reduction of heating energy consumption and the improvement of indoor thermal performance in cold-climate self-built housing.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-11408-wMulti-objective optimizationPerformance simulationPassive energy efficiencyRural housing in QinghaiTOPSIS comprehensive optimization method
spellingShingle Yunfei Liu
You Chen
Linjie Yang
Danqiu He
Muhamad Azhar Ghazali
Multiobjective optimisation of passive energy saving strategies in Zhuangke dwellings in Huangyuan county, China
Scientific Reports
Multi-objective optimization
Performance simulation
Passive energy efficiency
Rural housing in Qinghai
TOPSIS comprehensive optimization method
title Multiobjective optimisation of passive energy saving strategies in Zhuangke dwellings in Huangyuan county, China
title_full Multiobjective optimisation of passive energy saving strategies in Zhuangke dwellings in Huangyuan county, China
title_fullStr Multiobjective optimisation of passive energy saving strategies in Zhuangke dwellings in Huangyuan county, China
title_full_unstemmed Multiobjective optimisation of passive energy saving strategies in Zhuangke dwellings in Huangyuan county, China
title_short Multiobjective optimisation of passive energy saving strategies in Zhuangke dwellings in Huangyuan county, China
title_sort multiobjective optimisation of passive energy saving strategies in zhuangke dwellings in huangyuan county china
topic Multi-objective optimization
Performance simulation
Passive energy efficiency
Rural housing in Qinghai
TOPSIS comprehensive optimization method
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-11408-w
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