Towards the quantification of energy demand and consumption through the adaptive comfort approach in mixed mode office buildings considering climate change

Abstract

Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems represent one of the highest energy consumptions for office buildings. They are traditionally based on fixed setpoint temperatures during working hours and disregard outdoor conditions. The use of natural ventilation coupled with HVAC systems is frequently proposed when considering the global tendency towards reducing energy consumption in buildings. Buildings working under mixed mode instead of full air-conditioned mode, are a climate adaption development and usually lead to a decrease in energy consumption. However, there is no consensus on comfort thresholds and it is difficult to predict energy demand and consumption when considering global warming. This research focuses on quantifying the application of an adaptive comfort control mode in mixed mode office buildings. It consists of using daily setpoint temperatures based on the adaptive thermal comfort approach, in both present and future scenarios. The results show a 74.6% reduction in energy demand and a 59.7% drop in energy consumption when the adaptive comfort control implemented model (ACCIM) is applied in the current scenario. Results also establish that the ACCIM is more resilient to climate change, despite the fact that an increase in energy demand and consumption can be expected. The reduction of the energy demand ranges, with respect to the baseline model, from 31.0% currently to 39.1% in 2080, while energy consumption changes from 40.2% to 62.0% in 2080.