Sustainable approach to energy rating system for residential buildings

Abstract

Energy rating system can be considered as a key policy instrument that will assist government to reduce energy consumption. Existing rating systems in the world only considered limited factors related to energy consumption, and to provide more accurate rating system, it is proposed that a more sustainable energy rating system should be developed considering all the criteria. This study was aimed at identifying the existing rating systems, which investigate the existing systems, to identify the parameters required for determining the energy performance of residential buildings, and to develop a model for calculating the energy score for residential buildings in tropical climates, and Sri Lanka was selected for case study. The research followed the concept of sustainable energy which comprise of both energy efficiency and renewable energy. The energy efficiency of a residential building needs to consider the energy efficiency due to building properties and energy efficiency of the occupants. To evaluate the energy efficiency of the building properties, the asset rating method was used where the building is modelled and the energy consumption for thermal comfort and lighting is calculated. When developing the occupancy behaviour rate, the average domestic energy consumption in Sri Lanka was used as a reference, without normalising. For the energy source rate, a sustainability index was used, and based on the percentage of contribution of the energy sources to the final energy use, the final energy source rate was determined.