Energy Benchmarking and Energy Saving Assessment in High-Rise Multi-Unit Residential Buildings

Yirong Huang

doi:10.32920/ryerson.14644800

Abstract

The purpose of energy benchmarking is to promote efficient use of energy. Knowing that the energy used by a building is excessive is the first step in making positive changes. Based on an energy benchmark, one can estimate the potential in energy and cost savings when pursuing better performance. This thesis developed weather normalized energy benchmarking of 45 gas-heated high-rise multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) in Toronto. The weather normalized annual energy consumption (NAC) was calculated by the PRInceton Scorekeeping Method (PRISM). The NACs are in the range from 242 to 453 kWh/m The NACs, calculated by the simple ratio weather normalization (SRWN) method and ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Management (PM) method were comparable to PRISM results. However, the SRWN method tends to overestimate the energy saving by 23% while PM underestimates it by 21%.

Highlights

1.1 BackgroundHousehold energy conservation has been a topic of interest within social economic and environmental research for the past few decades (Abrahamse et al, 2005)
In order to investigate what factors influence the energy consumption of high-rise multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs), the original proposal discussed with the project partner, the Tower Renewal Office, was to collect data that included building physical specification, occupancy and utility consumption
Building management had shown concerns for the complexity in collecting detailed information from each building because many data were held by different functional groups within the company

Summary

Introduction

Household energy conservation has been a topic of interest within social economic and environmental research for the past few decades (Abrahamse et al, 2005). Current energy consumption trends put the environment at risk. In 2008, the percentages of non-renewable resources in total energy consumption were more than 70% in most countries (World Bank, 2011b). This led to 32 teratonnes annual carbon dioxide emission total globally (World Bank, 2011a). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted that the average surface temperature would increase by 1.4 – 5.8 C by the end of the 21st century (Zmeureanu & Renaud, 2008). The anthropogenic climate change will cause many problems such as loss of biodiversity and change of the living environment (Abrahamse et al, 2005)

Methods

Results

Conclusion