Abstract
12.9% of the energy use in the EU originates from the commercial and public sector. It has therefore become a priority to optimize energy efficiency in these buildings. The purpose of this study has been to explore how energy demand in a new office building is affected by different internal heat gains, location, orientation, and façade design, and also to see how different indicators can change perspective on energy efficiency. The study was performed with simulations in IDA-ICE with different façade design and changes in internal heat gains (IHG), orientation, and location. Energy demand was then compared to two different indicators. Using a façade designed to lower solar heat gains had little effect on energy demand in the north of Sweden, but slightly more effect further south. The amount of internal heat gains had significant effect on energy demand. Making deeper studies on design and internal heat gains should therefore be prioritized in the beginning of new building projects so the most energy-efficient design can be chosen. When the indicator kWh/m2 was used, the cases with low internal heat gains were perceived as the most energy efficient, while when kWh/(m2 × hpers) (hpers = hours of use) was used, the cases with high occupancy and low electricity use were considered to be the most energy efficient. Therefore, revising the standardized indicator is of great importance.
Highlights
The share of energy use from the commercial and public sector was 8.1% globally, and 12.9% in the EU
One thing this article does not take into consideration, but which should be investigated in the future is how the cost of operation for the building changes with prolonged hours of use. Will it become a deficit, or can it be turned into an economic gain for the facility owner? This paper has focused on an office building and how energy-efficiency can be perceived there, but it does not take into consideration the broader spectra such as how we as a society can use buildings more efficiently, using the embodied energy within buildings more efficient
This study showed that internal heat gains have a significant impact on the total energy demand of an office building, and that the chosen indicator for measuring energy efficiency plays a big part in which the level of occupancy, and subsequently internal heat gains, yields the most energy-efficient building
Summary
The share of energy use from the commercial and public sector was 8.1% globally, and 12.9% in the EU. The sector accounted for 2.1% of the global CO2 -eq emissions and 5% of the emissions from the EU in 2017, according to IEA [1]. Given the high levels of energy use and CO2 -eq emissions from large non-domestic buildings, it has become a priority to optimize their energy efficiency [2]. There is a high potential for reducing energy use in buildings, and the design phase is very important for this purpose [3]. As building characteristics technically improve to reduce energy use, the behavior of occupants has a relatively increasing impact on which type of energy is used. There is rarely enough time to do in-depth studies on different designs in the design phase
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