AccScience Publishing / JCAU / Volume 5 / Issue 2 / DOI: 10.36922/jcau.0877
Cite this article
51
Download
1506
Views
Journal Browser
Volume | Year
Issue
Search
News and Announcements
View All
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Building energy-saving mechanism for indoor cooling temperature set-point with different envelope: A case study in Guangzhou

Jianwu Xiong1 Yin Zhang1* Meng Han1 Jing Wu1 Zexuan Tian1
Show Less
1 School of Architecture, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu 610225, China
Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism 2023, 5(2), 0877 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.0877
Submitted: 28 April 2023 | Accepted: 14 June 2023 | Published: 21 July 2023
© 2023 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
Abstract

The temperature set-point of air conditioning system is a crucial parameter for behavior adjustment. Nevertheless, the thermal characteristics of building envelopes are different at varied construction ages. In this context, there are already several systematic studies demonstrating the differences in energy savings as a result of raising the same temperature set-point for air conditioning. In this study, an office building was used under four assumed envelopes representing different construction ages, and the characteristic temperature method was applied to simulate the hourly dynamic air-conditioning load before and after the set temperature rise of 1°C presenting monthly and annual cooling consumption. We then explored the energy-saving effect and difference in the mechanism of air conditioning with increasing indoor temperature set-point. The results showed that, provided that the temperature set-point is increased by 1°C under the same climatic conditions, the worse the thermal performance of the envelope, the higher the annual air-conditioning energy and the higher the annual energy-saving rate of air conditioning, which indicates that the behavioral energy-saving guidance for the groups with the poor performance of the older envelope has more immediate effects. The hourly load reduction of different envelopes at the outdoor temperature between 26°C and 27°C constitutes the behavioral energy-saving effect, which is the main contribution of air-conditioning energy saving (58 – 79%), while the energy-saving effect contribution of temperature difference reduction is secondary. The newer the construction age, the better the performance of the envelope, the smaller the hourly load reduction amount of the building, and the smaller the relative energy-saving rate, but its energy-saving behavior in the total energy saving ratio is greater, and the contribution of the energy-saving behavior is greater. The results of this study can provide a reference for guiding occupant energy-saving behavior and standard formulation.

Keywords
Building simulation
Cooling load
Temperature set-point
Energy saving
Thermal performance
Funding
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Sichuan Science and Technology Research Program
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
References

Aryal, A., & Becerik-Gerber, B. (2018). Energy consequences of Comfort-driven temperature setpoints in office buildings. Energy and Buildings, 177:33-46.

 

ASHREA. (2013). ANSI/ASHREA Standard 55-2013, Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy. Atlanta: ASHREA.

 

Belazi, A., Ouldboukhitine, S. E., Chateauneuf, A., & Bouchair, A. (2019). Experimental and numerical study to evaluate the effect of thermostat settings on building energetic demands during the heating and transition seasons. Applied Thermal Engineering, 152:35-51.

 

Feijó-Muñoz, J., González-Lezcano, R. A., Poza-Casado, I., Padilla-Marcos, M. A., & Meiss, A. (2019). Airtightness of residential buildings in the continental area of Spain. Building and Environment, 148:299-308.

 

Feng, J. M., Lian, Z. W., Huang, S. B., & Ye, M. J. (2010). The influence of heat transmission coefficient of office building on air-conditioning load. Sichuan Building Science, 36(3):312-315.

 

Ghahramani, A., Jazizadeh, F., & Becerik-Gerber, B. (2014). A knowledge based approach for selecting energy-aware and comfort-driven HVAC temperature set points. Energy and Buildings, 85:536-548.

 

Ghahramani, A., Zhang, K. N., Dutta, K., Yang, Z., & Becerik- Gerber, B. (2016). Energy savings from temperature setpoints and deadband: Quantifying the influence of building and system properties on savings. Applied Energy, 165:930-942.

 

Guo, S. R., Yang, H. Y., Li, Y. R., Zhang, Y., & Long, E. S. (2019). Energy saving effect and mechanism of cooling setting temperature increased by 1 °C for residential buildings in different cities. Energy and Buildings, 202:109335.

 

Hoyt, T., Arens, E., & Zhang, H. (2015). Extending air temperature setpoints: Simulated energy savings and design considerations for new and retrofit buildings. Building and Environment, 88:89-96.

 

Jin, Z. N., Zheng, Y. H., & Zhang, Y. (2023). A novel method for building air conditioning energy saving potential pre-estimation based on thermodynamic perfection index for space cooling. Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 22(4):2348-2364.

 

Lakeridou, M., Ucci, M., Marmot, A., & Ridley, I. (2012). The potential of increasing cooling set-points in air-conditioned offices in the UK. Applied Energy, 94:338-348.

 

Li, Y. L., Han, M. Y., Liu, S. Y., & Chen, G. Q. (2019). Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by buildings: A multi-scale perspective. Building and Environment, 151:240-250.

 

Liao, W., Wen, C. F., Luo, Y. M., Peng, J. Q., & Li, N. P. (2022). Influence of different building transparent envelopes on energy consumption and thermal environment of radiant ceiling heating and cooling systems. Energy and Buildings, 255:111702.

 

Liu, Z. A., Hou, J. W., Zhang, L. L., Dewancker, B. J., Meng, X., & Hou, C. P. (2022). Research on energy-saving factors adaptability of exterior envelopes of university teaching-office buildings under different climates (China) based on orthogonal design and EnergyPlus. Heliyon, 8(8):e10056. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10056

 

Long, E. S. (2005a). Research on Building Energy Gene Theory [Dissertation, Chongqing University].

 

Long, E. S. (2005b). Identifications: The relative variation rates (RVRs) of cooling and heating are approximately the same in different cities with the same increase of shape coefficients. Building and Environment, 40:481-488.

 

Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural. (2012). Code for Design of Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning for Civil Buildings GB 50736-2012. Peking: China Building Industry Press.

 

Natephra, W., Yabuki, N., & Fukuda, T. (2018). Optimizing the evaluation of building envelope design for thermal performance using a BIM-based overall thermal transfer value calculation. Building and Environment, 136:128-145.

 

Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, US Department of Energy. Available from: https://www.energy.gov/eere/ office-energy-efficiency-renewable-energy [Last accessed on 2022 Jan 01].

 

Papadopoulos, S., Kontokosta, C. E., Vlachokostas, A., & Azar, E. (2019). Rethinking HVAC temperature setpoints in commercial buildings: The potential for zero-cost energy savings and comfort improvement in different climates. Building and Environment, 155:350-359.

 

Qi, X. Y., Zhang, Y., & Jin, Z. N. (2023). Building energy efficiency for indoor heating temperature set-point: mechanism and case study of mid-rise apartment. Buildings, 13(5):1189.

 

Qian, S. R., Guo, S. R., Zhao, Y., Cheng, Z., & Long, E. S. (2022). Mechanism and influence of different colors of opaque outdoor surfaces on cooling demand of malls. Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 21(6):2545-2563.

 

Thomas, A., Menassa, C. C., & Kamat, V. R. (2018). A systems simulation framework to realize net-zero building energy retrofits. Sustainable Cities and Society, 41:405-420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2018.05.045

 

Yu, Z. (2017). The Difference Research on International Building Energy Consumption and Influencing Factors. Chongqing: School of Construction Management and Real Estate of Chongqing University.

Share
Back to top
Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism, Electronic ISSN: 2717-5626 Published by AccScience Publishing