Energy-saving regulation methods and energy consumption characteristics of office air-conditioning loads in hot summer and cold winter areas

Abstract

The air-conditioning system of an office building may have much higher operational energy consumption than its designed value due to the actual use behavior which significantly deviates from the predicted one. To precisely analyze the actual air-conditioning energy consumption, in this paper, based on the impact of occupant air-conditioning behavior on the energy consumption of air-conditioning systems, a Supply-Side Cooling Load Regulation Method (SSRM) is proposed, and its air-conditioning energy consumption analysis model is established. The energy consumption characteristics of the air-conditioning system under SSRM were analyzed, with the assumption that the example office building is located in a hot summer and cold winter areas. The results indicate that the indoor air conditioning set temperature and the actual fresh air volume are important factors affecting the variation of the air conditioning system cooling load under the Demand-Side Cooling Load Regulation Method (DSRM) method, whereas under SSRM, the air conditioning system cooling load is not affected by the variation of the indoor set temperature and the fresh air volume; meanwhile, regulating human air-conditioning use behaviors is the key point of reducing air-conditioning cooling load. The increasing fresh air volume from 30 m3/(p∙h) to 90 m3/(p∙h) can result in about a 5°C increase in the average daily indoor air temperature in the rooms used by SSRM, and it also causes an increase in the total air-conditioning load in the rooms under DSRM by more than 45 kWh/day. Further, compared to the DSRM, the SSRM can well regulate occupant air-conditioning use behaviors, which reduces energy consumption by more than 35% in the summer.