Energy Consumption in Mexican Homes: Using a Reference Building as a Launchpad for Achieving Nearly Zero Energy

The residential sector accounts for over a third of the world’s energy use. Even though this ratio is lower in Mexico, there is a pressing housing deficit, especially regarding low-cost homes. This research aimed to create a reference building (RB) to understand the current energy consumption of multi-family buildings across different climatic zones. The aim was to assess their energy performance and promote reduced energy requirements as a guideline for designing and constructing affordable, low-energy, or zero-energy buildings. The present work conducts a diagnosis of the current energy consumption of multi-family buildings in eight cities in Mexico. First, a reference building was developed to represent typical Mexican building geometry and construction practices, and then the building’s fixed and variable energy requirements were simulated. Finally, a comparison was made between the energy requirement and the data reported by the national energy survey. Therefore, it was possible to generate a reference building from national data sources complying with national regulations, where materials, occupant behavior, and equipment were chosen to help represent the building’s thermal behavior. Domestic water heating was identified as a driver of variable energy requirements in all cities. In contrast, the simulated heating and cooling requirements were directly linked to the city’s climate. Electricity bills tended to mostly correspond with the results that excluded the use of heating systems. Lastly, while comparing LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas) consumption was challenging due to the unavailability of national data, LPG requirements were closely estimated for temperate cities. The definition of a reference building is an important step towards developing nZEB in Mexico, as these buildings are valuable tools that can contribute to the energy evaluation of specific types of buildings. This characteristic makes them convenient for revising a building code or setting new national energy policy goals.