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Evaluation of the dynamic energy performance gap of green buildings: Case studies in China

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Abstract

The green building concept originated from the need and desire for more energy efficient and environmentally friendly construction practices. With a boom in certified green buildings in recent decades, however, various stakeholders have raised concerns about the actual energy performance of such buildings. While studies have shown significant gaps between the expected and actual energy use of green buildings, the methods used in the analyses have been considered inappropriate. A dynamic approach has been suggested to quantify the discrepancy between the expected and actual energy use in green buildings. However, although the concept of the dynamic approach has been discussed in several studies, a process and methods for applying the approach in real applications are not available in the literature. This study introduces a process and methods for practicing the dynamic approach and provides five case studies of using this approach to assess the energy performance gap of green buildings. The analyses show that the dynamic performance gap of the five buildings ranges from 3.0% to 53.5%, with a median of 24.7%, and the average dynamic gap of the HVAC system is nearly two orders of magnitude greater than that of the non-HVAC system. The degraded controls of HVAC systems may be a main cause of the performance gap.

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Abbreviations

A1, A2, A3, A4 :

the coefficients, exponents as the function of Kn

C0, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, k :

regression coefficients

CC :

the fraction of cloud cover

I d :

diffuse horizontal radiation at the earth’s surface

I n :

direct normal radiation at the earth’s surface

h :

sun altitude

I 0 :

solar constant

I h :

global horizontal radiation at the earth’s surface

K n :

direct beam transmittance

K t :

clearness index

t avg,Jan :

monthly average temperatures in January

t avg,Jul :

monthly average temperatures in July

T n :

dry-bulb temperature at hours n

T n−3 :

dry-bulb temperature at hours n−3

Φ :

relative humidity

ave:

average

ASHP:

air source heat pump

BAS:

building automation system

BEM:

building energy modeling

BEMS:

building energy management system

BIM:

building information modeling

DHI:

diffuse horizontal irradiation

DNI:

direct normal or beam irradiation

ESGB:

evaluation standard for green building

EUI:

energy use intensity

FA:

fresh air

FCU:

fan coil unit

FDD:

fault detection and diagnosis

GHI:

global horizontal irradiation

GSHP:

ground source heat pump

HVAC:

heating, ventilation and air-conditioning

LEED:

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

NCDC:

National Climatic Data Center

USGBC:

U.S. Green Building Council

VRV:

variable refrigerant volume

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2017YFB0604000, No. 2018YFC0705900) and with additional support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51628801) and the Young Top-Notch Talents Team Program of Beijing Excellent Talents Funding (2017000026833TD02). The authors are grateful for the support of these sponsors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Building Environment and Facility Engineering, College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China

    Dan Wang, Xiufeng Pang, Wei Wang, Zewei Qi & Ying Ji

  2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Built Environment and Energy Efficient Technology, Beijing, 100124, China

    Dan Wang, Xiufeng Pang, Wei Wang, Zewei Qi & Ying Ji

  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, MS 90R3111, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Rongxin Yin

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  1. Dan Wang
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  2. Xiufeng Pang
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  3. Wei Wang
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  4. Zewei Qi
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Correspondence to Xiufeng Pang.

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This is a U.S. government work and not under copyright protection in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply 2020

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Wang, D., Pang, X., Wang, W. et al. Evaluation of the dynamic energy performance gap of green buildings: Case studies in China. Build. Simul. 13, 1191–1204 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-020-0653-y

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