Building Energy Management: Performance Verification and System Simulation

Abstract

One crucial approach to the global challenge of transforming into low-carbon societies is to ensure, energy conservation in various sectors of the economy. In Japan, the building sector produces about 40% of overall CO2 emissions, while the energy consumption of buildings accounts for 25%. Around half of the energy is consumed by non-residential buildings for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC). Therefore, it is important to carefully consider energy use and consumption at each stage of the design, construction and operation of buildings. This chapter discusses energy management in HVAC systems over the life cycle of buildings, in particular the contribution that can be made by system simulation support. Performance verification and examination of operational improvement are conducted for an HVAC system using operational data and system simulation. In case studies, a system simulation modeling procedure using the Life Cycle Energy Management (LCEM) tool is described for the heat source system and the HVAC air-side system in office buildings. Finally, based on actual operational data from Building Energy Management System (BEMS), the usefulness of the simulation model is analyzed and assessed.