scholarly journals Utility Benchmarking And Potential Savings of Multi-Unit Residential Buildings (MURBs) In Toronto

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahssa Ghajarkhosravi

Building energy, water and solid waste benchmarking and developing meaningful performance indicators can help government and building owners to make effective decisions on improving their buildings' efficiency. For this study, information on 120 Multi-Unit Residential Buildings (MURBs) has been provided. The study entails the following steps: performing energy (weather normalized using the Princeton Scorekeeping Method (PRISM)), water, and solid waste benchmarking for the 120 MURBs, developing meaningful performance indicators; determining performance ranking; and estimating different levels of savings (energy, water, solid waste, cost, and GHG emissions). The most appropriate performance indicator and the benchmarking range for energy, water, and solid waste are as follows, energy consumption normalized by square metre, 141-580 kWh/m

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahssa Ghajarkhosravi

Building energy, water and solid waste benchmarking and developing meaningful performance indicators can help government and building owners to make effective decisions on improving their buildings' efficiency. For this study, information on 120 Multi-Unit Residential Buildings (MURBs) has been provided. The study entails the following steps: performing energy (weather normalized using the Princeton Scorekeeping Method (PRISM)), water, and solid waste benchmarking for the 120 MURBs, developing meaningful performance indicators; determining performance ranking; and estimating different levels of savings (energy, water, solid waste, cost, and GHG emissions). The most appropriate performance indicator and the benchmarking range for energy, water, and solid waste are as follows, energy consumption normalized by square metre, 141-580 kWh/m


Author(s):  
Mahssa Ghajarkhosravi ◽  
Emily Y Huang ◽  
Alan Fung ◽  
Rakesh Kumar ◽  
Vera Straka

Water and solid waste benchmarking and developing meaningful performance indicators can help government and building owners to make effective decisions on improving their buildings' efficiency and sustainability. For this study, information on 120 Multi-Unit Residential Buildings (MURBs) has been collected and analyzed. The study entails the following steps: performing water and solid waste benchmarking for the 120 MURBs, developing meaningful performance indicators; determining performance ranking; and estimating different levels of savings (water, solid waste, cost, and GHG emissions). The most appropriate performance indicator and the benchmarking range for water and solid waste are as follows; water consumption normalized by square meter, 1.06 - 4.19 m3/m2; solid waste benchmarking normalized by number of units, 1.58 - 17.4 yd3/unit. Also, the MURBs domestic hot water system efficiencies are found to be very low (with overall system efficiency in the range of 35% to 45%). A relatively strong correlation is found between annual natural gas consumption and annual water consumption.


2021 ◽  
Vol 246 ◽  
pp. 13003
Author(s):  
Karl-Villem Võsa ◽  
Andrea Ferrantelli ◽  
Dragomir Tzanev ◽  
Kamen Simeonov ◽  
Pablo Carnero ◽  
...  

In the current implementation of EPC-s, the assessment focus is purely on the energy consumption data. For the next generation of EPC-s, new performance indicators are proposed to address relevant building performance aspects, such as sustainability, productivity and market value. These indicators would enable evidence-based decision-making processes and facilitate the delivery of renovation triggers. Within the EPC framework, the problem is not the availability of such performance indicators, but the assessment effort required. Only easily available data can justifiably be introduced to bulk EPC-s, either as direct complementary input or as a performance indicator. Availability of such data was analysed from case studies that included EPC-s from 11 EU member states, mainly non-residential buildings. Analysed data included relevant HVAC information such as ventilation air flows, heating and cooling set-points and installed power, but also output data, such as EPC classes, net and primary energy need and GHG emissions. Based on our findings, we outlined two different development paths - one for existing buildings and one for new buildings and major renovations. Two categories of complementary indicators to energy are proposed – IEQ and power indicators.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2538
Author(s):  
Praveen K. Cheekatamarla

Electrical and thermal loads of residential buildings present a unique opportunity for onsite power generation, and concomitant thermal energy generation, storage, and utilization, to decrease primary energy consumption and carbon dioxide intensity. This approach also improves resiliency and ability to address peak load burden effectively. Demand response programs and grid-interactive buildings are also essential to meet the energy needs of the 21st century while addressing climate impact. Given the significance of the scale of building energy consumption, this study investigates how cogeneration systems influence the primary energy consumption and carbon footprint in residential buildings. The impact of onsite power generation capacity, its electrical and thermal efficiency, and its cost, on total primary energy consumption, equivalent carbon dioxide emissions, operating expenditure, and, most importantly, thermal and electrical energy balance, is presented. The conditions at which a cogeneration approach loses its advantage as an energy efficient residential resource are identified as a function of electrical grid’s carbon footprint and primary energy efficiency. Compared to a heat pump heating system with a coefficient of performance (COP) of three, a 0.5 kW cogeneration system with 40% electrical efficiency is shown to lose its environmental benefit if the electrical grid’s carbon dioxide intensity falls below 0.4 kg CO2 per kWh electricity.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 442
Author(s):  
Xiaoyue Zhu ◽  
Bo Gao ◽  
Xudong Yang ◽  
Zhong Yu ◽  
Ji Ni

In China, a surging urbanization highlights the significance of building energy conservation. However, most building energy-saving schemes are designed solely in compliance with prescriptive codes and lack consideration of the local situations, resulting in an unsatisfactory effect and a waste of funds. Moreover, the actual effect of the design has yet to be thoroughly verified through field tests. In this study, a method of modifying conventional building energy-saving design based on research into the local climate and residents’ living habits was proposed, and residential buildings in Panzhihua, China were selected for trial. Further, the modification scheme was implemented in an actual project with its effect verified by field tests. Research grasps the precise climate features of Panzhihua, which was previously not provided, and concludes that Panzhihua is a hot summer and warm winter zone. Accordingly, the original internal insulation was canceled, and the shading performance of the windows was strengthened instead. Test results suggest that the consequent change of SET* does not exceed 0.5 °C, whereas variations in the energy consumption depend on the room orientation. For rooms receiving less solar radiation, the average energy consumption increased by approximately 20%, whereas for rooms with a severe western exposure, the average energy consumption decreased by approximately 11%. On the other hand, the cost savings of removing the insulation layer are estimated at 177 million RMB (1 USD ≈ 6.5 RMB) per year. In conclusion, the research-based modification method proposed in this study can be an effective tool for improving building energy efficiency adapted to local conditions.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 4046 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sooyoun Cho ◽  
Jeehang Lee ◽  
Jumi Baek ◽  
Gi-Seok Kim ◽  
Seung-Bok Leigh

Although the latest energy-efficient buildings use a large number of sensors and measuring instruments to predict consumption more accurately, it is generally not possible to identify which data are the most valuable or key for analysis among the tens of thousands of data points. This study selected the electric energy as a subset of total building energy consumption because it accounts for more than 65% of the total building energy consumption, and identified the variables that contribute to electric energy use. However, this study aimed to confirm data from a building using clustering in machine learning, instead of a calculation method from engineering simulation, to examine the variables that were identified and determine whether these variables had a strong correlation with energy consumption. Three different methods confirmed that the major variables related to electric energy consumption were significant. This research has significance because it was able to identify the factors in electric energy, accounting for more than half of the total building energy consumption, that had a major effect on energy consumption and revealed that these key variables alone, not the default values of many different items in simulation analysis, can ensure the reliable prediction of energy consumption.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (22) ◽  
pp. 7590
Author(s):  
Adam Kula ◽  
Albert Smalcerz ◽  
Maciej Sajkowski ◽  
Zygmunt Kamiński

There are many papers concerning the consumption of energy in different buildings. Most describe residential buildings, with only a few about office- or public service buildings. Few articles showcase the use of energy consumption in specific rooms of a building, directed in different geographical directions. On the other hand, many publications present methods, such as machine learning or AI, for building energy management and prediction of its consumption. These methods have limitations and represent a certain level of uncertainty. In order to compare energy consumption of different rooms, the measurements of particular building-room parameters were collected and analyzed. The obtained results showcase the effect of room location, regarding geographical directions, for the consumption of energy for heating. For south-exposed rooms, due to sun radiation, it is possible to switch heating off completely, and even overheating of 3 °C above the 22 °C temperature set point occurs. The impact of the sun radiation for rooms with a window directed east or west reached about 1 °C and lasts for a few hours before noon for the east, and until late afternoon for the west.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-136
Author(s):  
Chaitali Basu ◽  
Virendra Kumar Paul ◽  
M.G. Matt Syal

The energy performance of an existing building is the amount of energy consumed to meet various needs associated with the standardized use of a building and is reflected in one or more indicators known as Building Energy Performance Indicators (EnPIs). These indicators are distributed amongst six main factors influencing energy consumption: climate, building envelope, building services and energy systems, building operation and maintenance, occupants' activities and behaviour, and indoor environmental quality. Any improvement made to either the existing structure or the physical and operational upgrade of a building system that enhances energy performance is considered an energy efficiency retrofit. The main goal of this research is to support the implementation of multifamily residential building energy retrofits through expert knowledge consensus on EnPIs for energy efficiency retrofit planning. The research methodology consists of a comprehensive literature review which has identified 35 EnPIs for assessing performance of existing residential buildings, followed by a ranking questionnaire survey of experts in the built-environment to arrive at a priority listing of indicators based on mean rank. This was followed by concordance analysis and measure of standard deviation. A total of 280 experts were contacted globally for the survey, and 106 completed responses were received resulting in a 37.85% response rate. The respondents were divided into two groups for analysis: academician/researchers and industry practitioners. The primary outcome of the research is a priority listing of EnPIs based on the quantitative data from the knowledge-base of experts from these two groups. It is the outcome of their perceptions of retrofitting factors and corresponding indicators. A retrofit strategy consists of five phases for retrofitting planning in which the second phase comprises an energy audit and performance assessment and diagnostics. This research substantiates the performance assessment process through the identification of EnPIs.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 5514
Author(s):  
Seo-Hoon Kim ◽  
SungJin Lee ◽  
Seol-Yee Han ◽  
Jong-Hun Kim

A new government report on climate change shows that global emissions of greenhouse gases have increased to very high levels despite various policies to reduce climate change. Building energy accounts for 40% of the world’s energy consumption and accounts for 33% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. This study applied the LEAP (Long-range energy alternatives planning) model and Bass diffusion method for predicting the total energy consumption and GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions from the residential and commercial building sector of Sejong City in South Korea. Then, using the Bass diffusion model, three scenarios were analyzed (REST: Renewable energy supply target, BES: Building energy saving, BEP: Building energy policy) for GHG reduction. The GHG emissions for Sejong City for 2015–2030 were analyzed, and the past and future GHG emissions of the city were predicted in a Business-as-Usual (BAU) scenario. In the REST scenario, the GHG emissions would attain a 24.5% reduction and, in the BES scenario, the GHG emissions would attain 12.81% reduction by 2030. Finally, the BEP scenario shows the potential for a 19.81% GHG reduction. These results could be used to guide the planning and development of the new city.


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