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Assessing energy efficiency of green measures for residential buildings: the simulation case of the Changchun city in China

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Abstract

Energy efficient building projects has become the focus of sustainable development. In this article, 2 indexes, energy-saving sensitivity and energy-saving contribution, are proposed to assess the energy efficiency of residential buildings. Four green measures to improve the energy efficiency of residential building with either passive or active technologies are designed and their saving performances are evaluated with the case study of a residential building simulation model in Changchun, region in China using the 2 indexes by simulations in the Designbuilder simulation software. The results reveal that improving the energy efficiency of residential buildings in severely cold regions should be focused on two key energy consumption factors, A1-heating (gas) and A2-zone sensible heating. Green measures M4-modifying the heating ventilating and air conditioning system and M1-improving envelope structures are found with high energy-saving sensitivities on the energy consumption factors A1 and A2. The energy-saving contribution of green measures M4 is the largest with the value of 80.17%, and that of green measure M2-adding shading facilities is the smallest with the negative value of − 8.53%. These results suggest that M4 and M1 are the effective green energy-saving renovation measures of the residential buildings in severely cold regions. The assessment method and simulation case study results provide a theoretical foundation and practical suggestions for the decision making to effectively reduce the energy consumption of residential buildings in severely cold regions by adopting appropriate green measures.

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Abbreviations

Aj:

Energy consumption factor (j = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

A1:

Energy consumption of heating (Gas)

A2:

Energy consumption of zone sensible heating

A3:

Energy consumption of room electricity

A4:

Energy consumption of computer and equipment

A5:

Energy consumption of lighting

A6:

Energy consumption of domestic hot water electricity

DHW:

Domestic hot water

ESS_(Mi-Aj):

Energy-saving sensitivity of the green measure Mi (i = 1,2,3,4) for energy consumption factor Aj (j = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

EC_(Mi-Aj):

Annual energy consumption of the energy consumption factor Aj (j = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) of building with the green measure Mi (i = 1, 2, 3, 4)

EC_(T-Aj):

Annual energy consumption of the energy consumption factor Aj (j = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) of the building with the traditional plan (T)

ESC_Mi:

Energy-saving contribution of green measure Mi (i = 1, 2, 3, 4) to a residential building

HVAC:

Heating ventilating and air conditioning

LEED:

Leadership in energy and environmental design

Mi:

Green measures to improve the traditional plan (i = 1, 2, 3, 4)

M1:

Changing the envelope structures

M2:

Adding shading facilities

M3:

Changing lighting equipment

M4:

Changing HVAC equipment

T:

Traditional plan

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Acknowledgement

This research is supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71701077), the Social Science Foundation of Jilin Province (2020B095), and the "13th Five-Year" social science project of the Education Department of Jilin Province (Grant No. JJKH20190884SK).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Management, Jilin Jianzhu University, Changchun, 130118, China

    Jiaying Teng, Wan Wang, Xiaofei Mu & Chao Xu

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  1. Jiaying Teng
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  2. Wan Wang
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  4. Chao Xu
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Correspondence to Jiaying Teng.

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Teng, J., Wang, W., Mu, X. et al. Assessing energy efficiency of green measures for residential buildings: the simulation case of the Changchun city in China. J Hous and the Built Environ 36, 1103–1117 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-020-09793-x

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