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Title: Assessment of the Potential to Achieve very Low Energy Use in Public Buildings in China with Advanced Window and Shading Systems

Journal Article · · Buildings
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  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab., CA (United States)
  2. Tongji Univ., Shainghai (China). College of Mechanical Engineering
  3. Chongqing Univ. (China). Urban Construction and Environment Engineering

Here, as rapid growth in the construction industry continues to occur in China, the increased demand for a higher standard living is driving significant growth in energy use and demand across the country. Building codes and standards have been implemented to head off this trend, tightening prescriptive requirements for fenestration component measures using methods similar to the US model energy code American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 90.1. The objective of this study is to (a) provide an overview of applicable code requirements and current efforts within China to enable characterization and comparison of window and shading products, and (b) quantify the load reduction and energy savings potential of several key advanced window and shading systems, given the divergent views on how space conditioning requirements will be met in the future. System-level heating and cooling loads and energy use performance were evaluated for a code-compliant large office building using the EnergyPlus building energy simulation program. Commercially-available, highly-insulating, low-emittance windows were found to produce 24-66% lower perimeter zone HVAC electricity use compared to the mandated energy-efficiency standard in force (GB 50189-2005) in cold climates like Beijing. Low-e windows with operable exterior shading produced up to 30-80% reductions in perimeter zone HVAC electricity use in Beijing and 18-38% reductions in Shanghai compared to the standard. The economic context of China is unique since the cost of labor and materials for the building industry is so low. Broad deployment of these commercially available technologies with the proper supporting infrastructure for design, specification, and verification in the field would enable significant reductions in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in the near term.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1209924
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1248923
Report Number(s):
LBNL-187100; PII: buildings5020668
Journal Information:
Buildings, Vol. 5, Issue 2; ISSN 2075-5309
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (8)

Urbanisation and its impact on building energy consumption and efficiency in China journal September 2009
The reality and statistical distribution of energy consumption in office buildings in China journal July 2012
A close look at the China Design Standard for Energy Efficiency of Public Buildings journal April 2009
A validation of the Radiance three-phase simulation method for modelling annual daylight performance of optically complex fenestration systems journal January 2013
Building energy efficiency in different climates journal August 2008
Energy performance of building envelopes in different climate zones in China journal September 2008
The reality and future scenarios of commercial building energy consumption in China journal January 2008
Experimental study on a duty ratio fuzzy control method for fan-coil units journal February 2011

Cited By (1)