The effect of air-conditioner operation modes on the energy-saving capacity of external wall insulation in residential buildings

Qinli Deng,Zeng Zhou,Daoru Liu,Sha Ma

doi:10.1177/0144598719895821

Abstract

In this study, subjective questionnaires and a building energy simulation were utilized to investigate the impact of air conditioner operation on the energy consumption/savings of a model building with different types of exterior wall thermal insulation. The results indicate that an intermittent energy usage mode is generally used in residential buildings in hot summer and cold winter areas. Air conditioner operation behavior is affected by the human thermal experience. The greater the indoor temperature deviates from the human comfort range, the higher the air conditioner operation frequency. Under continuous energy usage mode, the annual heating and cooling effect of the exterior thermal insulation was found to be better than that of interior thermal insulation. Under the intermittent energy usage mode without considering residents’ temperature tolerance, the annual heating and cooling effect of the interior thermal insulation was better than that of the exterior insulation. Under the intermittent energy usage mode considering tolerance levels, the energy-saving effect of the interior and exterior thermal insulation of the exterior wall was different. In the case of low and medium temperature tolerance, the annual heating and cooling energy-saving effect of the interior thermal insulation was better than the exterior thermal insulation; in the case of high tolerance, the heating and cooling energy saving effect of the exterior thermal insulation was better.

Highlights

Building energy is widely recognized as a weighted part of social energy consumption, and residential buildings contribute more than 33% of the total energy consumption (Sadineni et al, 2011)
The results showed that the use of air conditioner (AC) and mechanical heating facilities is closely associated with occupants’ thermal adaptive behaviors
The results showed that the solar and internal heat gains from added thermal insulation may cause overheating in summer months, with shading identified as an important factor to cut the use of cooling energy in buildings

Summary

Introduction

Building energy is widely recognized as a weighted part of social energy consumption, and residential buildings contribute more than 33% of the total energy consumption (Sadineni et al, 2011). This proportion will continue to increase in the coming years, especially in a developing country such as China (Kong et al, 2012). Chen et al (2001) developed a model to estimate the intensity of energy consumption for residential buildings and applied this model to two high-rise buildings in Hong Kong. The results showed that it is feasible to reduce energy demand by improving the building components in residential buildings. The results showed that the application of ESMs had a maximum energy reduction potential of around 53%

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Discussion

Conclusion