The Evaluation of Energy Efficiency of Apartment Units after Conversion of Balconies into an Integrated Part of Interior Living Space by Computing with ECO2 Software

Abstract

A B S T R A C T K E Y W O R D Purpose: International efforts to save Earth’s environment against global warming and environmental pollution have been made in many countries. Energy consumption of buildings has been continuously increasing, and it has been over 40% of total energy consumption in the world. Energy consumption of buildings in Korea reaches 24% of total energy consumption. So, Korea government has executed building energy rating systems to control energy consumption of buildings. Method: This study was carried out to evaluate the energy performance of apartment unit plans according to converting balconies into living areas. For the study, six types of input models were made. Two input models(SP1 and SP 2) were the standard units that balcony areas were not converted into living areas, and four ones(EP 1, EP 2, EP 3 and EP 4) were the extended unit plans that balcony areas were turned into living areas. All of them were simulated with ECO2 software to assess building energy efficiency. Result: According to the results, the energy performance of the EP 2 and EP 4 models were 21. 8% higher than SP 1 model and 9.2% higher than SP 2 model. ⓒ 2016 KIEAE Journal