The influence of internal load density on the energy and thermal performance of air-conditioned office buildings in the face of global warming

Abstract

Internal heat sources may not only consume energy directly through their operation (e.g. lighting), but also contribute to building cooling or heating loads, which indirectly change building cooling and heating energy. Through the use of a building simulation technique, this paper investigates the influence of building internal load densities on the energy and thermal performance of air-conditioned office buildings in Australia. Case studies for air-conditioned office buildings in major Australian capital cities are presented. It is found that with a decrease of internal load density in lighting and/or plug load, both the building cooling load and total energy use can be significantly reduced. Their effect on overheating hour reduction would be dependent on the local climate. In particular, it is found that if the building total internal load density is reduced from the base case of “medium” to “extra low”, the building total energy use under the future 2070 high scenario can be reduced by up to 89–120 kWh/m² per annum, and the overheating problem could be completely avoided. It is suggested that the reduction in building internal load densities could be adopted as one of the adaptation strategies for buildings in the face of the future global warming.