BUILDING ENERGY SIMULATION CASE STUDY OF A COMMERCIAL OFFICE SPACE IN GURUGRAM, HARYANA

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INTRODUCTION

With the advent of technology buildings have shifted from traditional to modern architecture. As of 2010 buildings have a 32% share in the total energy demand and generate around 30 % of CO2 emissions . This sector consumes around 30 % of the world’s electricity produced. Developed countries have seen a more tectonic shift from traditional to modern architecture and the use of modern material. For example like in India the building sector is more energy intensive and constitutes around 40% of the national energy consumption. Around 60% of the building load was for space cooling and heating. Similarly in European nations 40% of the energy was consumed by the building sector .

Building energy break-up

METHODOLOGY

A building interacts with both the internal and external environment. The parameters mentioned above contribute to the load of the building. Load calculation is a lengthy and complex process and involves many calculations and iterations. The complexity is increased as the size of the building increases. The major loads contributing to energy consumption are :

1. Lighting Load

2. Cooling load

3. Equipment Load

4. Heating load Over the years and with the advancement of computer softwares various tools have come up which can help the designers to predict and analyze the load calculations and building energy performance with good accuracy and with a substantial decrease in effort.These simulation programmes model the thermal, visual ,ventilation and other energy consuming processes to measure the building energy performance. The calculations are done on the basis of input data of parameters like HVAC,lighting,occupancy,equipments and building form and orientation.

figure 2. Steps in modelling

BUILDING ENERGY SIMULATION

Building energy simulation is the process of calculating building load and energy performance using softwares with a good accuracy and substantial decrease in effort.The calculations are done on the basis of input data of parameters like HVAC,lighting,occupancy,equipments and building form and orientation. A simulation software uses a simulation engine which calculates energy flows on a hourly basis for 8760 hours of the year.

figure 3. Simulation Engine

The tool used for the purpose is e-QUEST. This is a widely used ,time proven whole building performance design tool .It is highly user friendly and its graphical interface helps users to visualize their model .Besides it also has parametric runs which can compare the results of various varying inputs for the same project .It can also compute financial analysis and cost of energy consumption .It uses simulation engine of DOE 2.2.

DESCRIPTION OF CASE STUDY

The project here, AI REALBUILD is a 14 floor office space in the heart of bustling metropolis of Gurgaon. The facility includes two basements, five floors of multilevel parking and nine floors of office space. The total conditioned area is 83, 260 sqft and the site area is 33,153 sqft. The project is seeking for certification under IGBC new building ratings system.

The project is simulated for both base-case and proposed design case and the input parameters for both have been discussed below.

BASE- CASE DESIGN

For designing base case the project follows ASHRAE 90.1.2010 appendix G methodology using whole building performance method. The input parameters are discussed in the table below.

DESCRIPTIONSPECIFICATIONUNITS
LOCATIONGURUGRAM 
WEATHER FILENEW DELHI_BIN 
CLIMATE ZONE AS PER ASHRAE1A 
MODELLING SOFTWAREE QUEST 3.65 
BUILDING AREA83260Ft2
HOURS OF OPERATION15HOURS
WALL U-VALUE0.124BTU/h-ft20F
ROOF U-VALUE0.063BTU/h-ft20F
WINDOW GLASS U-VALUE1.2 
WINDOW GLASS SHGC0.25 
INTERIOR LIGHTING LPDAS PER ASHRAE 90.1 Space by Space method 
EQUIPMENT POWER DENSITY2.5 for office areasW/ ft2
HVAC SYSTEMVariable air Volume 
CHILLERWater cooled screw chiller type 
NO. OF CHILLERS2 
CAPACITY OF EACH CHILLER9.6Mbtu/hr
CHW Supply TEMP550F
COP4.8 
FAN POWER0.9Kw/cfm
FRESH/OUTDOOR AIRAS PER ASHRAE 62.1 
Table 1.Basecase input values

PROPOSED CASE

DESCRIPTIONSPECIFICATIONUNITS
LOCATIONGURUGRAM 
WEATHER FILENEW DELHI_BIN 
CLIMATE ZONE AS PER ASHRAE1A 
MODELLING SOFTWAREE QUEST 3.65 
BUILDING AREA83260Ft2
HOURS OF OPERATION15HOURS
WALL U-VALUE0.37BTU/h-ft20F
ROOF U-VALUE0.087BTU/h-ft20F
WINDOW GLASS U-VALUE0.47 
WINDOW GLASS SHGC0.39 
INTERIOR LIGHTING LPDAS PER LIGHTING DRAWINGS 
EQUIPMENT POWER DENSITY2.5 for office areasW/ ft2
HVAC SYSTEMVariable Refrigerant flow 
COP4.41 
FAN POWER0.3Kw/cfm
FRESH/OUTDOOR AIRAS PER DBR 
CONTROLSDAYLIGHT AND OCCUPANCY 
Table 2.Proposed case input values

RESULTS

Results of the analysis are summarized in the Table below. The building has the potential to achieve approximately 3509940 INR (20%) in annual utility savings per year compared to a minimally compliant ASHRAE 90.1-2010 building. Calculations are shown in the following table.

LIGHTS(kWh)MISC EQUIP. (kWh)SPACE HEATING(kWh)SPACE COOLING(kWh)PUMPS & AUX(kWh)VENT FANS(kWh)TOTAL(kWh)
3985644285731921365176303012302902742163557
Table 3.Base-case energy 0 degree
LIGHTS(kWh)MISC EQUIP. (kWh)SPACE HEATING(kWh)SPACE COOLING(kWh)PUMPS & AUX(kWh)VENT FANS(kWh)TOTAL(kWh)
3985644285732616945142403007412913752230150
Table 4.Base-case 90 degree
LIGHTS(kWh)MISC EQUIP. (kWh)SPACE HEATING(kWh)SPACE COOLING(kWh)PUMPS & AUX(kWh)VENT FANS(kWh)TOTAL(kWh)
3985644285732601325165653016462927072233288
Table 5. Base-case 180 degree
LIGHTS(kWh)MISC EQUIP. (kWh)SPACE HEATING(kWh)SPACE COOLING(kWh)PUMPS & AUX(kWh)VENT FANS(kWh)TOTAL(kWh)
3985644285731708475207483019432914082147430
Table 6. Base-case 270 degree
LIGHTS(kWh)MISC EQUIP.(kWh)SPACE HEATING(kWh)SPACE COOLING(kWh)PUMPS & AUX(kWh)VENT FANS(kWh)TOTAL(kWh)
201014428573201949487934456249901754920
Table 7. Proposed case
Base-caseEnergy Consumption(kWh)Savings(%)Savings(INR)
0⁰216355719.998404453509490
90⁰2230150
180⁰2233288
270⁰2147430
Average2193606.25
Proposed case1754920
Table 8.Energy Consumption