Research on geometry optimization of park office buildings with the goal of zero energy

Abstract

At the conceptual design stage, the building geometry design can predict the building load demand and renewable energy application potential to some extent. Geometry design interventions are critical to efficiently achieving the goal of zero-energy buildings. In the existing studies, the typicality and representativeness of the object geometry in the practice project are not high, and the influence of different geometry indices on energy savings and photovoltaic (PV) utilization potential under the same type of plane shape is rarely considered. In addition, the surrounding building shading situations considered are single. There is still significant room for improvement in the typical geometries selection and optimization condition settings. This paper presents a study of three typical park office building geometries in hot summer and cold winter regions. An optimization method based on the genetic algorithm and energy consumption simulation is proposed that takes into account both building energy savings and PV utilization potential improvements. The geometry-related indices of each typical geometry are then optimized under different PV layout scenarios and surrounding shading situations, and suitable geometry design strategies for typical office buildings are proposed under each optimization scenario. Geometry optimization can significantly reduce building energy consumption (the building energy-saving rate is 1.3–10.7 %) and increase PV generation (enhancement of 13.37–66.67 % for PV generation potential), thus lowering the net energy consumption of buildings. The findings of this study can be used to guide the design of park office building geometries in hot summer and cold winter regions with the goal of zero energy, as well as to promote the practice of zero-energy office buildings at the regional and national levels.