ENERGY EFFICIENCY TECHNOLOGY IN OFFICE AND COMMERCIAL
BUILDINGS
FREDERICK THEN
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the
Requirement for the award of the degree of
Master of Science in Land Administration and Development
Faculty of Geoinformation & Real Estate
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
June 2013
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thanks all those who have help me and I would like to express
my sincere gratitude and heartfelt appreciation to the following people whose
assistance and contribution to the accomplishment of my study In the course of
preparing this dissertation:
I am deeply grateful and indebted to Professor Dr. Megat Mohd Ghazali for
his support, guidance and valuable advice throughout this academic exercise as my
supervisor.
I would like to express my appreciation to the various groups and
organization, Companies and professional bodies namely, Building Sector Energy
Efficiency Program (BSEEP), JKR, KJ Engineering, Dalkia Technical Services Sdn.
Bhd., and Mid Valley Megamall Sdn. Bhd., for sharing with me their knowledge and
experience during the various meeting, site visits and group discussion, especially for
their continuous support and warm help.
Last but not least, I am very thankful to my beloved wife and family members
and parents and all my friends whom I have been working with for their support,
encouragement mentally and physically and patience throughout the period of my
study in UTM.
v
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to investigate on how the designs of the energy
efficiency technology used in the Green building technology for building can be
replicated in terms of its performance and application. The energy efficiency
technology can be translated to the possible gains in playing the role of reducing the
carbon footprint and also the cost savings derived from transferring the EE
technology to existing building can encourage all new and future development to
actively engage in the Green Building Technology. The saving derived from the
implementation of green technology systems implemented in some commercial and
office building in Malaysia can be shared to help other developers, Engineers,
Architect, and building owners to establish that the building energy systems’
particularly the air-conditioning system and its subsystems’ is able to play a major
role in the possibility of creating awareness of Energy Efficiency technology and
eventually cost saving for both commercial and office building in Malaysia. The
investigate conducted and data quantify from the 2 scenario; firstly by retrofitting of
the existing building and , secondly data from EE designed office buildings’, the
observation is clear that the energy efficient technology can be replicated and will
yield a potential saving s even for existing building owners who have retrofitted their
building. Whereas for building that is designed to be energy efficient has
demonstrated that there are great possibility of cost saving and at the same time play
its part in helping in promoting Green technology as part of their corporate social
responsibility’s role to provide a clear perspective to Developers to actively utilize
Energy Efficient technology in future developments . The simulation results further
verify the correctness of the energy saving potential.
vi
ABSTRAK
Tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk menyiasat bagaimana reka bentuk teknologi
kecekapan tenaga yang digunakan dalam teknologi Bangunan Hijau untuk bangunan
boleh ditiru dari segi prestasi dan penggunaannya. Teknologi kecekapan tenaga
boleh diterjemahkan kepada keuntungan mungkin memainkan peranan untuk
mengurangkan kesan karbon dan juga penjimatan kos yang diperolehi dari
pemindahan teknologi EE untuk bangunan yang sedia ada boleh menggalakkan
semua pembangunan baru dan masa depan untuk melibatkan diri secara aktif di
Bangunan Teknologi Hijau. Penjimatan yang diperolehi daripada pelaksanaan
sistem teknologi hijau dilaksanakan di beberapa bangunan komersil dan pejabat di
Malaysia boleh dikongsi bersama bagi membantu permaju lain, Jurutera, Arkitek,
dan pemilik bangunan untuk membuktikan bahawa terutamanya sistem dan
penghawa dingin sistem tenaga bangunan 'yang subsistem ' dapat memainkan
peranan utama dalam kemungkinan mewujudkan kesedaran Tenaga teknologi
Kecekapan dan akhirnya menjimatkan kos untuk kedua-dua bangunan komersil dan
pejabat di Malaysia. Menyiasat dijalankan dan data kuantiti dari 2 senario; pertama
oleh retrofitting bangunan yang sedia ada dan, kedua data dari EE bangunan pejabat
direka ', pemerhatian adalah jelas bahawa teknologi tenaga yang cekap boleh ditiru
dan akan menghasilkan potensi penjimatan walaupun untuk pemilik bangunan yang
sedia ada yang telah dipasang bangunan mereka. Manakala bagi bangunan yang
direka untuk menjadi cekap tenaga telah menunjukkan bahawa terdapat
kemungkinan besar penjimatan kos dan pada masa yang sama memainkan peranan
dalam membantu dalam mempromosikan teknologi hijau sebagai sebahagian
daripada peranan tanggungjawab sosial korporat mereka untuk memberikan
perspektif yang jelas kepada Pemaju untuk aktif menggunakan teknologi Cekap
Tenaga dalam pembangunan masa depan. Simulasi keputusan lagi mengesahkan
kebenaran penjimatan tenaga potensi.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE
DECLARATION ii
DEDICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv
ABSTRACT v
ABSTRAK vi
TABLE OF CONTENT vii
LIST OF FIGURE x
LIST OF TABLE xi
LIST OF CHART xii
LIST OF APPENDIX xiii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xiv
1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Problem statement 3
1.3 Aims and objectives of the study 3
1.4 Methodology 4
1.5 Limitations of Dissertation 5
1.6 Organization of the dissertation 6
2 GREEN DEVELOPMENT 8
2.1 Introduction 8
2.2 Green Building 9
2.3 Demonstration Buildings 10
2.4 Green Building Index (GBI) 11
2.5 Component of GBI 13
2.6 Energy Efficiency in Industrial Existing Building 17
viii
2.7 Types and nature of building’s energy consumption 19
2.8 Consumption analysis of building energy consuming systems 20
2.9 Description and its classification of “Office Building” 21
2.10 Office building energy performance benchmark 21
2.10.1 Breakdown of Chiller Energy 22
2.11 Energy efficiency application in office building 24
2.12 Approaches use to measure building energy saving potential 26
2.12.1 Basic method 26
2.12.2 Benchmarking 27
2.12.3 Whole building metered approach 27
2.12.4 Retrofit isolation approach 28
2.13 Computer simulation 29
2.14 Estimation by experts’ through experience approach 30
2.15 Summary 31
3 DATA GETHERING 33
3.1 Introduction 33
3.2 Data gathering 34
3.3 Physical characteristics of the selected buildings 35
3.3.1 Functions of the surveyed buildings 35
3.3.2 Age of the surveyed buildings 36
3.3.3 Height distribution of the surveyed buildings 37
3.3.4 Floor Area distribution (GFA) of surveyed buildings 37
3.3.5 Building Space Usage 38
3.3.6 Building Occupancy 39
3.3.7 Building Functioning Time 39
3.3.8 Building Indoor Environment 40
3.3.9 Central plant air conditioning systems 40
3.4 Identification of energy consuming equipment and systems 41
3.5 Summary 44
4 DATA ANALYSIS 45
4.1 Introduction 45
4.2 Total building HVAC system energy consumption 46
4.2.1 To derive the peak load requirement: 47
4.2.2 To derive the yearly cooling load required for each of the building: 47
ix
4.2.3 Operating cost based on calculated RT 48
4.2.4 To derive the possible cost saving of the surveyed buildings: 48
4.3 EE technology implemented in surveyed Buildings 50
4.3.1 Lighting Power Density 53
4.3.2 Lighting Control 54
4.3.3 HVAC Sizing Design Practices 55
4.3.4 AHU Efficiency 56
4.3.5 Chiller Efficiency 57
4.3.6 Multiple Chillers 57
4.4 Auditing and Retrofitting Existing Buildings into Energy Efficient
Buildings 58
4.5 Summary 58
5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 60
5.1 Introduction 60
5.2 Review and achievement of research objectives 61
5.3 Physical properties of build in relation to EE 63
5.4 Recommendation and Contribution of this study 64
5.5 Significance of the research 65
5.6 Limitations of study 65
5.7 Further studies 66
5.8 Summary 67
Bibliography 69
Appendix A 71
Appendix B 77
x
LIST OF FIGURE
FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE
2.1 Energy Index Breakdown ...................................................................... 22
3.1 GFA, Age & height of surveyed buildings ........................................... 38
4.1 Samples of LED light & Tech data ....................................................... 53
xi
LIST OF TABLE
TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE
2.1 GBI Point allocation (non residential) 14
2.2 Green Building Index classification 15
2.3 Assessment Criteria for industrial existing Building 15
2.4 IEB Assessment criteria score card 16
2.5 EE score breakdown 18
3.1 Configuration of surveyed buildings 36
3.2 Distribution of GFA and usage space 38
3.3 Occupancy rate and operating hours of surveyed buildings 39
3.4 General data for GFA, Age, Height, and operating hours 40
3.5 Number of Buildings and Electric Energy Use per Square Foot of
Floor Area by Census Division 42
3.6 Type of Building Installation for the Buildings 43
4.1 Peak load for the yearly cooling load required 47
4.2 Performance of the chiller plant cost of production, in RM/ year. 48
4.3 Energy consumption of the retrofitted building 49
4.4 Energy consumption of the various Energy Efficient designed
building 50
xii
LIST OF CHART
CHART NO. TITLE PAGE
2.1 Distribution of energy consumption of central air conditioning 20
4.1 Samples of controllable LED lights 55
xiii
LIST OF APPENDIX
APPENDIX TITLE PAGE
A Survey form for a conventional AND Energy
Efficient designed building
71
B Survey form for retrofitted building 77
xiv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AC Air conditioning
ACA Air-conditioning area (m2)
AHU Air handling unit
ASEAN Association of south-east Asian nations
BSP Building simulation program
CA Common area
CAC EC Central air-conditioning energy consumption (kWh/year)
CAC EE Central air-conditioning energy efficiency (kWh/m2/year)
CBECS Commercial buildings energy consumption survey
CH EC Chiller system energy consumption (kWh/year)
CH EE Chiller energy efficiency (kWh/m2/year)
CHWP EC Chilled water pump energy consumption (kWh/year)
CHWP EE Chilled water pump energy efficiency (kWh/m2/year)
CPA Car park Area
CT EC Cooling tower energy consumption (kWh/year)
CT EE Cooling tower energy efficiency (kWh/m2/year)
CWP EE condensing water pump energy efficiency (kWh/m2/year)
DSP Detailed simulation program
ECM Energy conservation measurement
EC Energy consumption
EE Energy efficiency
EMCS Energy management and control system
EPA Environmental protection agency
ESCO Energy Services Company
EUI Energy use intensity
FCU Fan coil unit
GFA Gross floor area (m2/FT2)
xv
GFA ex cpa Gross floor area excluding car park area (m2/FT2)
GLA Gross lettable area (m2/ft2)
HBLC Heat balance loads calculator
HVAC Heating, ventilating and air conditioning
LSAC Standalone air-con of the landlord
M&E Mechanical and electrical
MEPR M&E plant room area
M&V Measurement and verification
OHF Operating hours factor
OR Occupancy rate (%)
PC Personal computer
RCU Remote control unit
SE Savings estimate
SP Saving potential
TSAC standalone air-con of the tenant
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Buildings are responsible for a significant share of the world’s environmental
footprint. In the United States, buildings were responsible for 38.9% of total energy
consumption and 72% of electricity consumption in 2006. Heating, ventilation, and
air conditioning (HVAC) make up the largest portion of commercial building energy
use (52%). The second largest use of energy in commercial buildings is lighting,
which accounts for 20% of a building’s energy consumption on average. Lighting
and HVAC improvements therefore represent a significant opportunity for energy
efficiency in buildings.1
In addition to energy use, building occupants in the U.S. use
3.4 billion gallons of water each day, and are responsible for the majority of waste
generation. Building-related construction and demolition debris amounts to 169
million tons per year, or approximately 26% of total nonindustrial waste generated.
Combined with waste disposed of during operation and renovations, building-related
waste constitutes two-thirds of all solid waste generation in the United States.2
(JIMOH, 2011)
1 World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Transforming the Market, Energy Efficiency in
Buildings, http://www.wbcsd.org/DocRoot/rVDgBRKvPngUrqivMHNM/91719_EEBReport_WEB.pdf
2 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Buildings and the Environment: A Statistical Summary,
http://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/pubs/gbstats.pdf
2
Typical energy breakdown in Malaysian office buildings is 50% for
air‐conditioning, 25% for lighting and 25% for small power (equipment). In addition,
air conditioning energy is not only due to heat from solar gain in building but also
due to heat from electrical lighting, electrical equipment, conduction (through
building fabric), provision of fresh air in building and people occupancy. Each of
these items contributes a significant part to the air‐conditioning energy used. Unless
air-conditioning is not used at all, it is not possible to reduce energy consumption in
building by 50% or more by addressing one item alone.
Due to the rapid technological change in Malaysia on electrical lighting,
air‐conditioning and availability of cheap energy from the mid‐20th century onwards,
unhealthy design practices in energy efficiency has crept into building design and
operation. Today, one can easily identify hundreds, if not thousands, of items in
building design and construction that can be made better to improve energy
efficiency in buildings. In fact, many building product suppliers are aggressively
marketing building material with claims of energy efficiency for the building.
With so many options available from the market place, it has become quite
confusing for building designers. Are all the claims made by suppliers 100%
truthful? Is it really possible to save the amount of energy claimed? In addition, due
to the complexities of energy efficiency in buildings, it is easy to mislead the market
by providing and/or withholding information. One simple example that is often heard
in the industry is the ‘oversell’ of reducing solar gain in building. While it is true that
reduction of solar gain in building is a very important part of an energy efficient
building but claims of 50% reduction of solar gain in building is not the same as 50%
energy reduction in building.
In this document, I will attempt to correct the misinformation in the building
industry by providing simple and clear advice on the energy efficiency impact of
typical design options already practiced by many architects and engineers in
Malaysia. These design options provided are not new to architects and engineers. An
attempt is made in this document to provide a general guide on the real and
3
quantifiable benefit of these design options. With the provision of quantifiable
benefits, it is hope that decision by architects and engineers for energy efficiency in
building can be made quickly if not instantly on a majority of energy efficient design
issues.
1.2 Problem statement
More often than not, that a negative connotation or respond is receive on the
acceptability and on the implementation of Green Building technology and Energy
Efficient technologies in future development. That is still in the minds of most
developers, building owners and investors. Too those their main concern is why do
they need to invest larger capitol for the benefit and use of their tenant if they were to
implement GBI or Green certification?
Looking beyond the mere benefit of the prestige in the name of the building
which is certified as Green Building, there are other financial gains to the developers
or investors and building owner which they might have over sighted.
This study will look at the possibilities of potential savings in both new Green
building and also Energy Efficient technologies installed in older existing build could
be a saving for the owners of the building.
1.3 Aims and objectives of the study
The aim and objective of this dissertation are described as follows:
(i) To examine the concept of Green commercial and office building and to
identify the main Energy consuming component and systems found in
all commercial and office building in Malaysia;
(ii) To identify various Energy saving potential through the installation of
Energy Efficient technology adaptable in commercial and office office
4
building and to quantify the amount of potential saving benefited
through the installation of EE technologies.
Results of this work should help to demonstrate the effects of some efficiency
measures and provide a clear understanding of energy efficiency in buildings and
specifically in commercial and office buildings outlining what would be the most
feasible renewable technique to be adopted in commercial and office buildings,
although there is a large amount of information and products available about energy
efficiency in commercial buildings of which some are contradictory. This
dissertation aims to provide a clear and quantifiable perspective to Developers,
building management companies and professionals to actively utilize Energy
Efficient technology in future developments
1.4 Methodology
The comparative study on the prescriptive and performance of each building
will vary as there are no two building alike, of which each has its own specific data,
requirements, and function and look and feel. Generally, the physical attributes of
the building and the M&E installations are not unique to any one building so to
follow the same methodology to obtain the necessary data for the study, namely:
(i) Collect data on the attributes of the building and the M&E installation
which consumes energy to develop the energy-efficiency indicator(s)
and conduct the benchmarking exercise; it is used as the dependent
variable;
(ii) Collect data of the building physical and system parameters as the
independent variable(s); these variables are selected based on two
criteria: First, they were considered as the more influential parameters
affecting electricity use, and secondly, they were the “must have” for
most buildings;
5
(iii) Estimate the potential saving roughly and determine whether the
building systems path or the whole building performance path is to be
adopted;
(iv) Determine the significant indicators among the variables according to
the analysis;
(v) Calculate the difference of the saving between retrofit or to design
new commercial and office building.
1.5 Limitations of Dissertation
This study faces certain limitations which are given as follows:
(i) Constraints of time;
(ii) Constraints of measurements, resources and access to office
buildings have led to a small sample size selected and limited
number of buildings. In this study, only 9 buildings were surveyed
and investigated. However, this sample size is still adequate for
building system benchmarking and energy saving modelling
process.
(iii) The average annual office building energy consumption in the last
one year of the investigation is assumed as the building baseline
energy consumption. This may bring some errors in the saving
estimation. But since this dissertation is just a study of energy
saving potential, the difference is neglected between the average
annual electricity bill of one year and the accurate baseline value.
Information obtained from office buildings managers may not be
absolutely accurate. In addition, information such as area,
equipment operation schedule is calculated manually and it is
inevitably subjected to a degree of human error.
6
1.6 Organization of the dissertation
Chapter 1 presents the background of the study, research aims & objectives,
scope and limitations of the study.
Chapter 2 introduces what Green building is about, its system components
installed in commercial and office buildings and energy performance in Malaysia.
The issues highlighted in this chapter include the definition and classification of
commercial and office buildings, types and nature of office building systems’ energy
consumption, office building energy performance; the benchmarking and energy
consumption estimation is also described here. An outline provided for the research
methodology to be used in this dissertation. It also describes the selection process of
office and commercial buildings.
Chapter 3 describes on the data gathering and mode to obtain the data from
various sources. The details data collate on the various parameter is analysis for the
commercial and office building’s Energy performance with reference the building’s
energy consuming systems partially for the central air conditioning systems and
other related sub-systems. The basis of the sampling and the type of sampling is
considered.
Chapter 4, outline the analyses of the data obtain from the field and presented
it in a comparative analysis on the energy saving potential of each category of
buildings. The basis of the surveyed Buildings and the type of sampling is
considered to effectively gauge the effectiveness of energy consumed verses the
energy efficiency technology employed in building.
The potential saving is demonstrated in this chapter with references to the
various calculated methods and through the benchmark method to quantify the
potential cost saving in implementing energy efficient technology either through
retrofitting of older and existing buildings or to design build that are meant to be
Green building with the EE installations in the building.
Chapter 5, in the chapter the conclusion and recommendation is draw
conclusively that the study objectives are met and that the potential saving is possible
7
with a summary of the main findings, contributions and recommendations for future
studies and the limitation of the current study.
69
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ASHRAE. (2002). Guideline 14-2002: Measurements of energy and demand savings.
American society of heating refrigeration, and air-conditioning engineers,
Inc., .
ASHRAE. (2010). Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality. ASHRAE Standard
62.1-2007 .
Chin, C. T. (2012). Detailed Study and Report on the Current Building Designs and
EE Building Applications ‐ Draft. Building Sector Energy Efficiency Program
(BSEEP).
Claridge, D. E. (1994). Can You Achieve 150% of Predicted Retrofit Savings? Is it
Time for Recommissioning?,. Proceedings of the 1994 ACEEE Summer Study .
Commission of EU. (2003). DIRECTIVE 2002/91/EC OF THE EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 16 December 2002 on the
energy performance of buildings. Official Journal of the European
Communities.
Danish Agency for International Development (DANIDA). (2005). Overall Thermal
Transfer Value OTTV.
David E. Claridge, M. L. (1996). Implementation of Continuous Commissioning in
the Texas LoanSTAR Program: ‘‘Can You Achieve 150% of Estimated Retrofit
Savings’’ Revisited. American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.
Hong, T. Z., Chou, S. K. and Bong, T. Y. (2000). Building simulation: an overview
of developments and information sources. Building and Environment .
Hong, T. Z. (2000). Building simulation: an overview of developments and
information sources. Building and Environment .
70
JIMOH, B. (2011). ENERGY EFFICIENCY TECHNOLGIES FOR BUILDINGS:
POTENTIAL FOR ENERGY, COST, AND CARBON EMISSION SAVINGS.
CLAREMONT McKENNA COLLEGE , 2.
Lee, S. E. (2004). Performance Benchmarking and Enhanced Energy Efficiency of
Buildings,. Paper presented at the International Congress on Architecture and
Technology, Technology,. Frankfurt, Germany.
Melchert, L. (2007), The Dutch sustainable building policy: A model for developing
countries. Building and Environment 42, pp. 893–901
Report for the APEC Energy Working Group. (11-12 May 2011 ). PEER REVIEW
ON ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN MALAYSIA. APEC- Draft Final Report .
Sharp, T. (1992). Energy Benchmarking In Commercial Office Buildings.
Toh, E. S. (2000). An energy assessment method for office buildings in Singapore,.
Master thesis, Department of Building, National University of Singapore .
Urban Redevelopment Authority. (1998). Real Estate Statistics Series of Urban
Redevelopment Authority in Singapore,. Stock & Occupancy .
William Chung, Y. H. (2005). Benchmarking the energy efficiency of commercial
buildings. Applied Energy 83 (2006) 1–14 .
William J. Kennedy, B. L. (2003). Guide to energy management -Fourth Edition.
The Fairmont Press.