Performance and feasibility study of low energy building for pleasant indoor comfort: A case study on Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Low energy buildings are an efficient approach to meet space heating requirements and saving energy. Studies of low energy buildings mainly focus on cold climate regions. However, there is less research on the feasibility of low energy buildings on Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau located in a severely cold climatic region. Therefore, a low energy building equipped with an integrated heating system was built on Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The performance of the low energy building was quantitatively evaluated by field measurement and dynamic TRNSYS simulation. To be specific, the indoor temperature and relative humidity were measured, and further served as the data to verify the accuracy of the simulated results. The results show that the temperature and humidity were above 20 °C and 40% in the heating season, in accordance with the regulated low energy building standard (DB63/T1682-2018). According to the TRNSYS simulation, the hourly indoor temperature and relative humidity were generally in the range of 20–24 °C and 34–56%, respectively, in the heating season, with an energy demand of 16.1 kW h/(m2 year). Overall, the building performance meets the local low energy building standard (DB63/T1682-2018). Therefore, a passive building with integrated heating system assistance is feasible for pleasant indoor comfort on Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. These findings could explore the application potential of low energy buildings in severe cold climate areas.