Abstract
Any building’s design should sustain thermal comfort for occupants and promote less energy usage during its lifetime using accurate building retrofits to convert existing buildings into low-energy buildings so that the heating and cooling loads can be minimized. Regarding the methodology adopted in this research, an energy model of an educational building located at the German Jordanian University in Jordan was constructed utilizing DesignBuilder computer software. In addition, it was calibrated utilizing real energy consumption data for a 12-month simulation of energy performance. Subsequently, a computerized evaluation of the roles of building envelope retrofits or the adaptive thermal comfort limits in the reduction of the overall building energy consumption was analyzed. The results of the study show that the current building’s external wall insulation, roof insulation, glazing, windows, and external shading devices are relatively energy-efficient but with high cost, resulting in significant financial losses, even though they achieved noticeable energy savings. For instance, equipping the building’s ventilation system with an economizer culminated in the highest financial profit, contributing to an annual energy savings of 155 MWh. On the other hand, in an occupant-centered approach, applying the adaptive thermal comfort model in wider ranges by adding 1 °C, 2 °C, and 3 °C to the existing operating temperatures would save a significant amount of energy with the least cost (while maintaining indoor thermal comfort), taking over any retrofit option. Using different adaptive thermal comfort scenarios (1 °C, 2 °C, and 3 °C) led to significant savings of around 5%, 12%, and 21%, respectively. However, using different retrofits techniques proved to be costly, with minimum energy savings compared to the adaptive approach.
Highlights
An increasing awareness of the relationship between energy use, economic growth, and the equivalent environmental pollutants has been raised due to the threat posed by global warming and climate change
Energy consumption in the Jordanian educational sector includes public and private universities, colleges, and public and private schools. Energy consumption by this sector amounts to about 3.2 × 108 kWh or 14% of the total consumption of different sources of energy by the service sector, while the amount of energy consumed by universities, colleges, and schools amounts to 1.7 × 108 kWh, 0.1 × 108 kWh, and 1.45 × 108 kWh, respectively [2]
The results indicated that if the residents can control their thermal environment, this could lead to a reduction of up to 10% in thermal energy consumption, with no impact on the thermal comfort of the residents [9]
Summary
An increasing awareness of the relationship between energy use, economic growth, and the equivalent environmental pollutants has been raised due to the threat posed by global warming and climate change. The design and construction of building envelopes are carried out around the world to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. The building envelopes’ design and construction include thermal insulation; technical and economic analysis of energy-efficient measures for the renovation of existing buildings; reflective coatings; the control of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) installations; and lighting systems [1]. Energy consumption in the Jordanian educational sector includes public and private universities, colleges, and public and private schools. Energy consumption by this sector amounts to about 3.2 × 108 kWh or 14% of the total consumption of different sources of energy by the service sector, while the amount of energy consumed by universities, colleges, and schools amounts to 1.7 × 108 kWh, 0.1 × 108 kWh, and 1.45 × 108 kWh, respectively [2]
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