Abstract
Adverse effects of anthropogenic climate change has resulted in mitigation strategies geared towards curbing CO2 emissions. Consequently, this has increased demand for more energy efficient buildings. Considerable amounts of studies have shown the existence of a significant discrepancy between estimated energy consumption by thermal simulation software and actual building operational energy; this is referred to as a ‘performance gap’. This work presents a method of improving the energy consumption estimate in an existing non-domestic building via the use of a case study UK hotel (Hilton Reading Hotel) and Engineering Development Solutions limited (EDSL) TAS thermal simulation software. The method involves evaluating consumption estimates through plant modelling, and modifying this result by surveying the site to verify the simulation data and including estimates of unaccounted building energy use such as catering services which can be significant in hotels. The energy consumption result for this case study building gives an estimate which is within 12% of the actual building consumption data. The result also demonstrated that such models can produce energy consumption estimates that are up to 23% more accurate than building regulation compliance models and that more accurate simulation consumption estimates can be achieved by accounting for more unregulated energy uses, for example, lifts, servers and small power load.
Highlights
The impacts of climate change are complex and diverse, which can include rises in sea levels, flooding, drought, increased temperature, etc. [1]
A substantial reduction in the amount of CO2 emissions resulting from human activities is needed to curb global warming, and this has led to numerous measures to ensure that cleaner and more efficient energy sources are utilised in all facets of human lives
The UK is leading the way in this regard, evidenced by the law put in place to reduce by 60% CO2 emissions by 2050 following the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) report in 2000 [5]; this target has since increased to 80% [6]
Summary
The impacts of climate change are complex and diverse, which can include rises in sea levels, flooding, drought, increased temperature, etc. [1]. To show compliance to building regulations, NCM takes into consideration the architectural design, regulated energy use (such as lighting, heating, cooling and domestic hot water requirement) of the modelled building and offers a comparison between the carbon emissions of the model and a comparable notional building Both calculations are done using standard sets of data for different activities and call on the same service construction databases. The calculation procedure for both alternative dynamic simulation software and SBEM is defined in NCM which is issued by the UK government’s Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) They use specific weather data and a standardised set of activities and construction databases, but some unregulated energy uses (such as plug loads, catering, lifts, servers etc.) are not accounted for in the calculation. Since TRY is developed to be representative of weather over certain years, it would not contain extreme scenarios, it is better suited for measuring energy performance and not appropriate for estimating building performance under worst case scenarios like overheating [22,25]
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