Building Energy Codes Research Articles

Feasibility analysis on building air-condition system renovation: Thailand case study

Energy efficiency improvement in existing buildings has been an interesting issue for researcher especially in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system that appear to take up the large proportion of energy consumption. So, this paper aims to present an analysis on renovation measure to improve energy efficiency in building air-condition system. The study has been done using multi-purpose building in Thailand as a case study. The analysis of proposed renovation measurement will be done in both energy performance and economic perspective. Standard from Thailand building energy code is also taken into consideration when selecting equipment for replacement. The obtained result has indicated the suitability of proposed measure application in building with significant energy efficiency improvement and attractive economic parameter.

Residential development and near-roadway air pollution: Assessing risk and mitigation in San Jose, California

Air pollution from high-traffic roadways has been connected with serious health conditions and premature death. While housing is commonly built near America's busiest roadways, we know little about the application of mitigation measures that could reduce residents' exposure to transportation-related pollution. This paper assesses the high-traffic roadway proximity of new housing in San Jose (California) and mitigation measures by public and private sector actors. We studied San Jose's 39 largest residential developments approved between 2008 and 2016. We examined project approval documents; visited development sites; measured proximity using geographic information systems (GIS); assessed aerial and Google Street View imagery; and collected data on green building certifications. Many of these developments were near freeways or major highways; about 4% of new housing units were within 500 feet of a high-traffic roadway, and 45% of new units were within 1500 feet of such roads. Public and private sector actors implemented limited mitigation measures. California's state government updated its building energy code and constructed soundwalls along some freeways. Some real estate developers also included green building features that may improve indoor air quality. But, there were no local regulations specifically guiding residential development along high-traffic roadways. In general, public and private sector mitigation measures were limited and uncoordinated. This research informs policymakers' efforts to reduce transportation-related pollution exposure and improve public health.

On quantifying building performance adaptability to variable occupancy

Most existing and new buildings adapt poorly to variable occupancy, in part due to technical constraints and common operational practice. Although building automation systems and advanced control strategies aim to address this issue by improving adaptability to partial occupancy, no holistic metrics exist to quantify this aspect of building performance. To this end, we present a technology-independent approach to define adaptability as a building performance attribute and introduce metrics to quantify it. These metrics can be used to evaluate how different building technologies and control strategies influence building operations’ adaptability to variable occupancy or estimate their associated energy savings. To demonstrate these metrics, a case study based on simulating a single-story office building was used to compare several control strategies with regards to their effect on improving adaptability. Results showed how the proposed metrics highlighted the additional benefits of these control strategies, especially under low-occupancy scenarios. Performance-based compliance with building energy codes and standards typically assumes full or near full occupancy, which may underestimate the benefits of adaptable building technologies or controls. Therefore, incorporating adaptability metrics in energy codes and operational guidelines would quantify the benefits of adaptable systems, especially under variable occupancy.

The Distributional Effects of Building Energy Codes

State-level building energy codes have been around for over 40 years, but recent empirical research has cast doubt on their effectiveness. A potential virtue of standards-based policies is that they may be less regressive than explicit taxes on energy consumption. However, this conjecture has not been tested empirically in the case of building energy codes. Using spatial variation in California’s code strictness created by building climate zones, combined with information on over 350,000 homes located within 3 kilometers of climate zone borders, we evaluate the effect of building energy codes on home characteristics, energy use, and home value. We also study building energy codes’ distributional burdens. Our key findings are that stricter codes create a non-trivial reduction in homes’ square footage and the number of bedrooms at the lower end of the income distribution. On a per-dwelling basis, we observe energy use reductions only in the second lowest income quintile, and energy use per square foot actually increases in the bottom quintile. Home values of lower-income households fall, while those of high-income households rise. We interpret these results as evidence that building energy codes result in more distortions for lower-income households and that decreases in square footage are responsible for much of the code-induced energy savings.

A method to generate design-sensitive occupant-related schedules for building performance simulations

Despite the purported benefits of occupant behavior (OB) models in simulating the effect of design factors on OB and vice versa, there are challenges associated with their use in building simulation practice due to the additional time and computational requirements. To this end, this article presents a method to incorporate these models in building performance simulations (BPS) as design-sensitive schedules. As an example demonstrating this method, more than 2,900 design alternatives of an office were generated by varying orientation, window to wall ratio (WWR), the optical characteristics of windows and blinds, and indoor surface reflectances. By using daylight simulations and stochastic OB modeling, unique light use schedules were generated for each design alternative. Two data-mining algorithms were then examined to identify the relationship between light use schedules and design parameters. Results indicated that WWR and building orientation had the strongest effect on light use schedules. These findings are relevant for building energy codes, as they provide an intermediate approach to incorporating design-sensitive schedules as BPS inputs. These design-sensitive schedules are expected to be superior to default ones currently specified in codes and standards, which ignore the effect of design factors on OB, and ultimately on energy consumption.

A Parametric Study and Performance Evaluation of Energy Retrofit Solutions for Buildings Located in the Hot-Humid Climate of Paraguay—Sensitivity Analysis

Nowadays, awareness concerning the need to use energy efficiently is increasing significantly worldwide, thus, improving the energy efficiency levels in the building sector has acquired high importance because of their energy saving potential. However, several intervention options are available to achieve high energy efficiency levels in buildings, and the choice must be made considering the efficiency of the solution and the costs involved. Considering this, the present research aimed to develop a parametric study of several energy retrofit solutions for buildings located in the hot-humid climate of Paraguay, in order to analyse their efficiency in terms of comfort rates and cooling energy needs. Furthermore, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is employed as a decision-making method to choose the most suitable intervention considering the investment costs required. Thus, threshold values of thermal transmittance for the building thermal envelope components are established through a parametric study and sensitivity analysis of the simulations results. Considering that Paraguay does not have national building energy codes, the outcomes of this research will constitute a support and contribute for the thermal parameters regulation of buildings aiding to improve the energy efficiency of Paraguayan buildings.

Reducing the Operational Energy Consumption in Buildings by Passive Cooling Techniques using Building Information Modelling Tools

Enormously increased energy consumption makes it inevitable to upgrade the energy efficiency of the existing stock of buildings which share a substantial part of the overall energy consumption worldwide. Being an effective tool for analyzing energy performance, Building Information Modelling (BIM), is used to enhance the energy performance of the buildings. This study, therefore, investigates the effectiveness of applying passive cooling techniques using BIM and focuses on developing recommendations on feasible and optimized retrofitting techniques for existing buildings. Moreover, it gives an economic comparison between initial investment and returns based on the quantitative results of energy retrofitting. Thermal simulation software Autodesk Ecotect has been used to simulate annual energy consumption of one case building. Different passive cooling techniques have been applied according to Building Energy Codes of Pakistan. The input parameters are, thus, type of insulating material, the thickness of insulating materials, single and double glazing of windows and window to wall ratio. Results indicate that the annual energy consumption of selected building can be reduced up to 35 % when building incorporates passive cooling techniques with a calculated payback period of 3 years and 2 months.

A comparison of building energy codes and policies in the USA, Germany, and China: progress toward the net-zero building goal in three countries

In recent years, numerous countries and organizations have presented a large number of initiatives and policies to promote the net-zero energy building movement. Although several research efforts have been conducted to set up a consistent and holistic framework of net-zero building standards, the differences in policies and codes related to net-zero buildings and their impacts are not yet fully understood. The aim of this study is to investigate how rapidly the building stock can be transformed into net-zero energy buildings (NZEs). The focus is not technical or based on economic constraints but instead on the potential impact of energy efficiency policies. In response, this paper first presents an overview of the current status of codes and policies related to net-zero building development worldwide. Second, this paper compares and explains the major differences in building energy codes among regions; three countries are used as examples to demonstrate the different approaches. The three countries, which are located on three different continents, are the USA, Germany, and China. Lastly, three prototype buildings are modeled—with similar climate zone classifications as the above-mentioned three countries—based on each country’s respective building energy codes. The prototypes are analyzed against a baseline, with and without the impact of building codes and policies. The preliminary results indicate that, currently, China has few stringent building code requirements; however, due to the wider acceptable indoor thermal environmental range, China has higher potential than the USA to achieve the net-zero goal. Additionally, policies in the building sector have had a substantial positive impact on the reduction of energy and carbon emissions in China. In comparison, Germany has slightly higher potential to achieve the net-zero goal than the other two countries, whereas the USA, without a positive energy policy, will underperform in the near future, compared to most countries worldwide.

Optimal decarbonization pathways for urban residential building energy services

Strategies for decarbonizing residential building energy services can be divided into three categories: (1) shifting to less carbon-intensive fuels in the building energy supply mix, (2) adopting more energy-efficient end-use appliances, and (3) improving the thermal properties of buildings. We develop an optimization model that incorporates all three strategies, and determines the least-cost decarbonization pathway by balancing these levers and leveraging their synergistic relationships. Hourly service demand profiles are established using appliance-level empirical data and the CitySim building energy simulation software. We apply this framework to the residential buildings sector of Austin, Texas, which is a valuable test case due to its ambitious climate policy, rapid population growth, and strong space cooling demand in line with the shift of building energy demand toward warmer regions in the U.S. and globally. Results show that optimal decarbonization relies primarily on the electrification of end-uses and concomitant decarbonization of electricity supply. End-use appliance efficiency plays a comparatively minor role, limited to specific end-uses like lighting, space heating, and water heating. Upgrading building thermal efficiency significantly reduces the cost of climate policy, revealing an important policy complementarity between carbon reduction measures and building energy codes.

Evaluation and Design of Natural Ventilation for Houses in Thailand*

This research paper presents guidelines for evaluation and design of natural ventilation forsuburban houses in Thailand which is a part of building energy code development for residential buildings.The initial studies find that it is possible for natural ventilation to achieve thermal comfort conditions inplace of mechanical air-conditioning systems, especially in winter. The experimental research is dividedinto two parts: environmental arrangement and building opening. By measuring air conditions flowingthrough different generic types of environment, it is found that the best environment is that coveredwith large trees. Computational fluid dynamics studies on generic houses discover that cross ventilationis more effective than two-side ventilation, and is much more effective than one-side ventilation. Ingeneral, increasing the size of openings improves the effectiveness of natural ventilation. However, theoptimum effective opening area in rectangular rooms is found to be 20 percent of functional floor area.The findings from this research lead to the house evaluation method by factors of orientation and sizeof building openings. The method is successfully tested with different types of houses.

Achieving the 2°C goal: the potential of India’s building sector

ABSTRACT India’s growth of energy demand in the building stock, and efforts to curb it, are placed into an international context by adapting the reporting criteria developed for the Global Alliance on Building & Construction's (GABC) Global Status Report (2017) on buildings and construction. A survey of state and non-state actor climate commitments submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) Non State Actors Zone for Climate Action (NAZCA) database and recent research on the status of building energy codes and standards globally are also presented. To contribute to a 2°C pathway, India must achieve a 50% reduction in building energy demand and related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. India is taking steps toward this goal through initiatives such as recent upgrades to the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC), encouraging green building rating and energy certification, and stimulating markets for low-carbon/high-efficiency technologies. However, despite improvements in building energy intensity, neither the global or the Indian building sectors are currently decarbonizing. The adoption of consistent national energy and GHG emission reduction goals could further align national, subnational and private-sector climate action commitments to facilitate a transition to a low-carbon emissions pathway and contribute to limiting global warming to well below 2°C.

A Top-Down Economic Efficiency Analysis of U.S. HouseholdEnergy Consumption

This study analyzes the efficiency of household-level energy consumption using a rich microdata set of homes within the United States. We measure efficiency by extending a cost-minimization model that treats the total amount of energy services produced as latent or unobserved due to technological differences in household consumption. The empirical strategy consists of applying latent class modeling to cost frontier analysis, which helps to identify heterogeneous subsets of units that require the fewest energy resources. Our estimates of efficient units form an empirical cost frontier of best practices within each subset. In order to understand the determinants of household-level energy efficiency, we condition the cost frontier analysis on numerous physical, climate-related, and socio-economic characteristics of the household. We find that state-level energy building code regulations, on average, induce a one-to-four percent marginal increase in household energy consumption.

Evaluating the impact of photovoltaic systems on the thermal performance of buildings and its implication to building energy code. A case study in subtropical Hong Kong

For promoting energy-efficient building design, various green building certification schemes such as BREEAM, LEED, DGNB, Green Mark, BEAM Plus, ASHRAE Standard 90.1, Code of Practice for OTTV, etc. have been developed around the world. In recent years, photovoltaic system is widely adopted in building application. This system can offer double benefits: (i) generating electricity by absorbing and transforming solar energy; (ii) reducing heat gain transmitted into a building through building envelope. Since the current building certification schemes were originally developed for buildings constructed with conventional building materials, the reduction in heat gain resulted from the application of photovoltaic systems cannot be properly reflected in these building certification schemes. This study investigates the effect of photovoltaic systems on the thermal performance of buildings. Three existing buildings located in subtropical Hong Kong were used as case study. It was found that the effect of photovoltaic glazing system on the reduction in heat gain was significant (ranging from −13.59% to −38.78%). Based on the findings from this study, it is recommended to incorporate the effect of photovoltaic glazing system into the OTTV regulation in Hong Kong. The methodology developed in this study can be applied to other building certification schemes and energy codes.

A Comparative Analysis of Energy Provisions of Pakistan Building Code with Indian and USA Building Energy Codes

The current energy scenario of Pakistan requires the adoption of a proper energy consumption framework to meet the demands of the Pakistani society. This paper compares the energy codes developed by ASHRAE (United States) and Bureau of Energy Efficiency (India) to suggest improvements in development of the energy conservation building codes for Pakistan. It has been realized that taking all relevant stakeholders on board is vital for the development, adoption and compliance of energy conservation building codes at provincial level. It is also evident that energy conservation culture has to be developed in all segments of the society to lessen energy consumption, reduce carbon emissions and create a sustainable future. The energy codes of Pakistan lack adoption mechanism and climatic zoning needed for building thermal performance. The comparative analysis shows that the thermal building code of Pakistan is the key instrument to reduce energy pressure while providing occupants comfortable living space. It has been concluded that the government should develop code adoption and compliance system for the reduction of energy demand in buildings.

Energy efficiency vs resiliency to extreme heat and power outages: The role of evolving building energy codes

Environmental issues, costs, and limited energy supply, among other concerns have been driving the efforts toward more energy efficient buildings over the last four decades. Hence, energy efficiency is not only well-established within the building design and construction industries, but is also an active field of research. Many countries have state-mandated building energy codes that are becoming more stringent with time. Therefore, the building stock in many regions is becoming more efficient. With the observed increase in frequency and intensity of hot weather events in urban areas around the world and research that suggests a more extreme future, the resiliency of the built environment to heat has become a major concern for planners and policymakers. Therefore, it is important to understand how the evolution of energy codes affects the resiliency of buildings to heat. In this study, we used whole-building energy simulations to investigate the performance of high-rise residential apartment buildings under a three-day power outage scenario coinciding with a three-day heat wave. We modeled buildings compliant with consecutive versions of two building energy codes and standards commonly used in the U.S. to investigate the effect of building code on resiliency in all distinct climate zones within the country. The results suggest that in most climates, indoor conditions exceed critical thresholds during the modeled scenario. Moreover, we observed a synergy between energy efficiency and resiliency to heat in warmer climates. However, in heating-dominated climates, newer codes can potentially have an adverse effect on heat resiliency of buildings.

Evaluation of a whole-house energy simulation tool against measured data

Whole building simulation tools can play a significant role in energy savings through building design and operation, implementing building energy rating schemes, and demonstrating compliance with building energy codes. It is critical that any development of a tool be properly evaluated by state-of-the-art evaluation techniques. Using the collected data of more than forty houses in three Australian cities (Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne) through monitoring and survey, this study evaluates the Chenath engine and the AusZEH design tool against actual electricity consumptions under realistic conditions. The Chenath engine simulates space heating and cooling, and the AusZEH design tool simulates whole-house operation. The results show, on average, that the predicted space heating and cooling electricity consumption agrees with the monitored data with an R-squared value of 63.8% and 64.6% respectively; the predicted total electricity consumption agrees with the observed data with an R-squared value of 84.2%; and the predicted whole-house electricity consumption is 11.8% lower than average actual electricity consumption. It also demonstrates that the AusZEH design tool can simulate the average daily electricity consumption patterns for each season, and for sub-grouped electricity consumption for space heating and cooling, water heating, lighting and other appliances. This reasonable agreement provides the users with confidence in the performance of the Chenath engine and the AusZEH design tool.

The international implications of national and local coordination on building energy codes: Case studies in six cities

Abstract Building energy efficiency is an important strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions globally. In fact, 55 countries have included building energy efficiency in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. This research uses building energy code implementation in six cities across different continents as case studies to assess what it may take for countries to implement the ambitions of their energy efficiency goals. Specifically, we look at the cases of Bogota, Colombia; Da Nang, Vietnam; Eskisehir, Turkey; Mexico City, Mexico; Rajkot, India; and Tshwane, South Africa, all of which are “deep dive” cities under the Sustainable Energy for All's Building Efficiency Accelerator. The research focuses on understanding the baseline with existing gaps in implementation and coordination. The methodology used a combination of surveys on code status and interviews with stakeholders at the local and national level, as well as review of published documents. We looked at code development, implementation, and evaluation. The cities are all working to improve implementation, however, the challenges they currently face include gaps in resources, capacity, tools, and institutions to check for compliance. Better coordination between national and local governments could help improve implementation, but that coordination is not yet well established. For example, all six of the cities reported that there was little to no involvement of local stakeholders in development of the national code; only one city reported that it had access to national funding to support code implementation. More robust coordination could better link cities with capacity building and funding for compliance, and ensure that the code reflects local priorities. Understanding gaps in implementation can also help in designing more targeted interventions to scale up energy savings.

Comparative study of air-conditioning energy use of four office buildings in China and USA

Energy use in buildings has great variability. In order to design and operate low energy buildings as well as to establish building energy codes and standards and effective energy policy, it is crucial to understand and quantify key factors influencing building energy performance. This study investigates air-conditioning (AC) energy use of four office buildings in four locations: Beijing, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Berkeley. Building simulation was employed to quantify the influences of key factors, including climate, building envelope and occupant behavior. Through simulation of various combinations of the three influencing elements, it is found that climate can lead to AC cooling consumption differences by almost two times, while occupant behavior resulted in the greatest differences (of up to three times) in AC cooling consumption. The influence of occupant behavior on AC energy consumption is not homogeneous. Under similar climates, when the occupant behavior in the building differed, the optimized building envelope design also differed. Overall, the optimal building envelope should be determined according to the climate as well as the occupants who use the building.

Sustainable development and requirements for energy efficiency in buildings – The Korean perspectives

The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of developments in Korea in relation to its energy consumption and sustainable development policies and progress in achieving its energy targets as given by the Building Energy Codes. Building insulation and passive building technologies are also reviewed for achieving passive house standards by 2017 and zero-energy or near zero-energy buildings (nZEB) by 2025 in Korea, and to identify strategies to further reduce usage of primary energy and to achieve energy efficiency targets. A defining feature of a sustainable building is its ability to reduce significantly its environmental impacts and its embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions over its whole life, including use of natural resources and releases of pollutants, to promote reuse and recycling of materials and sustainable development of buildings whilst ensuring the building satisfy the indoor environmental quality requirements for occupants. Passive technologies include the use of natural ventilation, energy storage such as using phase change materials (PCM) and high thermal mass structure, high energy efficiency windows and lighting and maximizing daylighting and use of renewable energy technologies. Technologies for refurbishment of building envelopes, windows and ventilation systems are reviewed to improve and upgrade the energy efficiency of existing buildings as well as focusing on new builds. The various options for heating, ventilating, cooling and air-conditioning of buildings are also discussed. Green Buildings and Energy Efficiency Labels and Standards should have a pertinent role to affect energy efficiency measures in building developments.

Climate Chamber Experiment-Based Thermal Analysis and Design Improvement of Traditional Huizhou Masonry Walls

Supported by thousands of years of history, traditional Huizhou buildings have played a vital role, both functionally and culturally, as residential buildings in China. Masonry walls are one of the key building components of a Huizhou building; however, the traditional Huizhou masonry wall structure, predominantly a hollow brick structure, cannot meet the local building energy code requirements, and thus needs to be improved. Within this context, the present research measures the actual thermal performance of traditional Huizhou masonry walls for historical buildings and new-built buildings, which results in mean thermal transmittances of 1.892 W/m2·K and 2.821 W/m2·K, respectively, while the local building energy code requires a minimum thermal transmittance of 1.500 W/m2·K. In order to improve the thermal performance of traditional Huizhou masonry walls, four design scenarios for wall insulation are proposed and tested in a climate chamber: (1) hollow brick wall with inorganic interior insulation mortar, (2) solid brick wall with inorganic interior insulation mortar, (3) hollow brick wall with foamed concrete, and (4) hollow brick wall with foamed concrete plus inorganic interior insulation mortar. The experiment results indicate that, among the four proposed design scenarios, only scenario 4 can significantly improve the thermal performance of Huizhou masonry walls and meet the building energy code requirements, with a mean thermal transmittance of 1.175 W/m2·K. This research lays the foundation for improving the thermal performance of Huizhou masonry walls with new insulation and construction technology, thereby helping to improve the quality of life of Huizhou residents while respecting the cultural significance of the traditional Huizhou building.