Energy Conservation In Commercial Buildings Research Articles

IMPROVING ENERGY USAGE IN COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS USING SIX SIGMA DMAIC

This article describes the energy-saving measures in commercial buildings from different perspectives on energy saving in cities. In recent years, improving energy conservation in commercial buildings has become an issue of great importance for the financial well-being of organisations. The study uses the define-measure-analyze-improve-control (DMAIC) Six Sigma approach to identify the factors that contribute to increases in electricity consumption. With the increasing shortage of energy, two years’ worth of energy consumption data from a commercial building in South Africa was collected and analyzed using statistical tools. The research findings revealed that the boiler had the highest electricity consumption (38.33 per cent), followed by the kitchen (24.20 per cent) and the rest of the building (37.47 per cent). After applying the DMAIC process, it showed that the electricity consumption of the boiler could be reduced by 6 per cent during the improvement phase. Keywords: Six Sigma, DMAIC, Energy management, Energy consumption, Energy efficiency

Towards spatializing consumer energy sustainability. Empirical findings about the policy and practice of energy conservation and poverty in Barcelona and North Macedonia

ABSTRACT The way citizens make meaning, take decisions, and act differs from expert-informed expectations encapsulated in policies. Inspired by spatial theory, we explore the divide between official and everyday framings of consumer energy sustainability that is potentially limiting citizen engagement. Our argument draws from contrasting official and everyday framings encountered in narratives and practices related to (a) energy conservation in commercial buildings in Barcelona, and (b) household energy poverty in North Macedonia. Our interpretation reveals a major difference between official and everyday framings, whereby the former decontextualize practices and the latter knock down spatial borders to engage with energy through a wide array of material interventions and social structures that are not specific to intervention sites and policy matters. Everyday narratives reveal a spatial critique of the inconsistencies in official policy and practice that highlights the existence of systemic unequal participation, inequalities, and injustice. The appraisal of these inconsistencies limits the legitimacy of government and corporations, as well as the appeal of official policies and practices. The spatialization of energy consumption according to everyday epistemologies, whereby practices are appraised in their socio-material context calls for re-politicizing energy consumption in accordance with conceptions of energy citizenship – i.e. embracing its original grounding on bottom-up knowledge formation and political struggle.

Occupant Behavior for Energy Conservation in Commercial Buildings: Lessons Learned from Competition at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Accompanying efforts worldwide to deploy sustainable building technologies shows a pressing need for expanded research on occupant behavior. Discourse is lacking concerning drivers of occupant behavior for energy conservation, especially in the case of commercial buildings. This paper explores potential determinants of occupant behavior for energy conservation in commercial buildings. This is investigated in a case study of a two-month energy conservation competition involving eight office buildings at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Four buildings achieved energy savings based on the previous year’s baseline. Potential challenges and success factors of occupant behavior for energy conservation during the competition were explored based on an explanatory research design incorporating energy data, participant interviews, and surveys. The findings suggest that both social and technological aspects may be important drivers of energy conservation. The determinants of occupant behavior for energy conservation in commercial buildings suggested for further research include bottom-up involvement, stakeholder relationship management, targeted information, real-time energy visualization, and mobile social platforms. This paper presents initial implications, with a need for further research on these propositions and on their impacts on occupant behavior. This paper aims to contribute to both academia and practitioners in the arena of commercial building sustainability.

Non-intrusive occupancy monitoring for energy conservation in commercial buildings

The Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system of commercial buildings traditionally runs on a fixed schedule that does not take occupancy into account despite its huge variation over space and time, thereby wasting a lot of energy in conditioning empty or partially-occupied spaces. Occupancy information is essential to eliminate wasteful energy use with imperceptible impact on building operations and human comfort. This paper investigates the application of non-intrusive techniques to obtain a rough estimate of occupancy from coarse-grained measurements of sensors that are commonly available through the building management system. Various static and adaptive energy-efficient schedules are developed based on this approximate knowledge of occupancy at the level of individual zones. Our experiments in three large commercial buildings confirm that the proposed techniques can uncover the recurring occupancy pattern of the zones, and schedules that incorporate these occupancy patterns can achieve more than 38% reduction in reheat energy consumption while maintaining indoor thermal comfort.

Energy analysis of the daylighting from a double-pane glazed window with enclosed horizontal slats in the tropics

Daylighting is perceived to be a potential measure for energy conservation in commercial buildings. In Thailand where the sky is highly luminous and daytime is long throughout the year, daylighting is however neglected by the use of heat reflective glasses to prevent excessive solar gain from windows. To address the issue, this paper investigates the energy performance of the daylighting from a window with horizontal slats located between two panes of glasses (slat window). The slats can shade the intense beam radiation, but allow penetration of the diffuse daylight for interior illumination. In the study, a model was developed to determine the thermal gain from the slat window. By using the thermal model together with the daylight model developed earlier, the simulations were performed and the results show that the slat window, when used with typical office room, can save 25–70% of the total electrical energy of air-conditioning and lighting in the same room equipped with heat reflective glass window.

Balancing act: Government roles in an energy conservation network

Government-led interorganizational alliance networks present a sensible opportunity to overcome many societal challenges through collaborative governance. In particular, few researchers have studied alliance networks in the field of energy conservation in commercial buildings—a sector with unique barriers to greater diffusion of innovative cost-saving strategies. We applied an analytic inductive case-based method and social network analysis to study one particular alliance network: the United States Commercial Building Energy Alliances representing interests from retail, commercial real estate, and healthcare sectors. This alliance network was initiated by the United States Department of Energy, with assistance from several federally funded research laboratories in the United States, to promote the diffusion of knowledge and ultimately encourage greater deployment of energy efficiency and clean energy strategies in commercial buildings. We draw upon interview data from 28 cases of private, non-profit, and governmental organizations and complete network data from the alliance participants. We honed in on eight focal cases of governmental organizations to provide insight on how the four forms of energy and environmental data, information, and knowledge shared within an alliance network address the challenge of a vastly underutilized energy resource, namely conservation. Further, we identify and discuss the public's four roles—Commissioner, Interpreter, Marketer, and User—in providing balance to the diffusion of both private and public goods in a network.

Design of an exhaust air energy recovery wind turbine generator for energy conservation in commercial buildings

The exhaust air energy recovery wind turbine generator is an on-site clean energy generator that utilizes the advantages of discharged air which is strong, consistent and predictable. Two vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) in cross-wind orientation which are integrated with an enclosure are installed above a cooling tower to harness the discharged wind for electricity generation. It is mounted at a specific distance and position above the cooling tower outlet. The enclosure (consisting of several guide-vanes and diffuser-plates) acts as a wind power-augmentation device to improve the performance of the VAWTs. The guide-vanes are placed in between the discharged air outlet and the wind turbine. They are designed to guide the on-coming wind stream to an optimum flow angle before it interacts with the rotor blades. The diffuser-plates are built extended from the outlet duct of the exhaust air system. They are tilted at an optimum angle to draw more wind and accelerate the discharged air flow. A particular concern related to public safety which may be due to blade failure is minimized since the VAWTs are contained inside the enclosure. The performance of the VAWTs and its effects on the cooling tower's air intake speed and current consumption of the power-driven fan were investigated. A laboratory test was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the energy recovery wind turbine (5-bladed H-rotor with 0.3 m diameter) generator on a cooling tower model. The results showed a reduction in the power consumption of the fan motor for cooling tower with energy recovery turbine compared to the normal cooling tower while the intake air speed increased. Meanwhile, the VAWT's performance was improved by a 7% increase in rotational speed and 41% reduction in response time (time needed for the turbine to reach maximum rotational speed) with the integration of the enclosure. This system can be used as a supplementary power for building lighting or fed into electricity grid for energy demand in urban building. The energy output is predictable and consistent, allowing simpler design of the downstream system. The fact that there is an abundance of cooling tower applications and unnatural exhaust air resources globally causes this to have great market potential.

HVAC system strategies for energy conservation in commercial buildings in Saudi Arabia

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in energy consumption in Saudi Arabia. The building sector being the largest consumer of electric energy represents a major potential contributor for reducing energy consumption. Due to their functional and operational characteristics, commercial buildings relatively consume more energy (per unit area) than other types of buildings. The heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system (HVAC) is one of the largest end-users of energy in these buildings, particularly in harsh climates. Energy efficient design and operation of HVAC systems in commercial buildings can offer major opportunities for reduced energy consumption and contribute to sustainable development. However, improper utilization of energy conservation measures can result in reduced environmental quality. This in turn exposes the occupants to thermal discomfort and health risks, and consequently diminishes the economic value of the facility. Therefore, a well assessed and balanced energy conservation strategy is required to achieve energy efficiency while maintaining desired level of thermal comfort. In this study, major design and operational parameters for different types of HVAC systems influencing energy consumption are investigated utilizing the Visual-DOE program. Results indicate that energy savings of up to 30% can be obtained while maintaining acceptable level of thermal comfort when HVAC systems are properly selected and operated.

Thermal Comfort and Energy Conservation in Commercial Buildings in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, visitors and local residents alike normally feel that most commercial buildings (e.g. hotels, restaurants, shopping centres and offices) are over-cooled in summer. This causes thermal discomfort as well as wasting energy for cooling. This paper reports the findings of a year long thermal comfort survey of a number of commercial premises. It has been found that most spaces have been over-cooled by 3 to 4°C in summer. It has also been found that significant energy could be saved as well as thermal comfort could be improved by raising the indoor air temperatures to those recommended by local and international standards.

Stimulating energy conservation in commercial buildings A simulation analysis of alternative policies

Using an engineering-economic model, this paper examines three alternative policies for stimulating energy conservation in the US commercial sector. The policies were constructed so that each would result in equivalent annual levels of energy use in 2000. This formulation results in a description of the level of tax credits or fuel taxes which result in annual energy use equivalent to a given set of efficiency standards. Of the three policies examined, the tax on fuel results in the lowest cost of resources (fuel and capital) over the period. However this policy also results in reduced amenity levels over the simulation period (1980–2000) and a less efficient stock of building in place at the end of the period.