Determining the Best Orientation for Buildings in Zanjan City Based on Solar Radiation

In recent years, high consumption of energy has become one of the major problems of world especially in big cities. One of the solution given for this situation is using solar energy as much as possible. If buildings are constructed in accordance with solar radiation and the region climate, they can absorb the lowest energy in hot and the most energy in cold period; then there will be noticeable saving in energy consumption. Since Zanjan has special location, the buildings’ orientation should be in a way that in cold period the most and in hot period the lowest energy hit the building. In this research, for the most efficient use of solar energy in Zanjan, the case study, first the climate information collected from Zanjan Synoptic Center for a period of 40 years, then, the data processed by Q-BASIC and EXCEL soft wares. And finally the best orientation for buildings in this city has been determined. According to the research results the best orientation for buildings are 135 degree and 225 degree of Azimuth angle.