Accepted Manuscript

Achieving energy efficient buildings via retrofitting of existing buildings: A case study

Zhihua Zhou, Shuzhen Zhang, Chendong Wang, Jian Zuo, Qing He, Raufdeen
Rameezdeen

PII: S0959-6526(15)01268-8
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.09.046
Reference: JCLP 6135

To appear in: Journal of Cleaner Production

Received Date: 27 April 2015

Revised Date: 10 September 2015
Accepted Date: 11 September 2015

Please cite this article as: Zhou Z, Zhang S, Wang C, Zuo J, He Q, Rameezdeen R, Achieving energy
efficient buildings via retrofitting of existing buildings: A case study, Journal of Cleaner Production
(2015), doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.09.046.

This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to
our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo
copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please
note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all
legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 Achieving energy efficient buildings via retrofitting of existing buildings: A

2 case study

3 Zhihua Zhoua, Shuzhen Zhanga, Chendong Wanga, Jian Zuob,∗ , Qing Hec, Raufdeen

4 Rameezdeend

PT
a
5 Tianjin Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and

RI
Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China;

b
7 School of Architecture & Built Environment; Entrepreneurship, Commercialisation and Innovation Centre

SC
8 (ECIC), The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia, Adelaide 5005, Australia

c
9 Tenio Architecture and Engineering Co., Limited, China;

U
AN
d
10 School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, Adelaide 5000, Australia.

11
M

12 Abstract: Retrofitting of existing buildings plays a critical role to achieve sustainable development.
D

13 There are a number of factors that affect the effectiveness of building energy efficient retrofitting.
TE

14 These factors can be broadly categorised as technology and management. A case study approach was

15 employed in this study to examine effective ways of building energy efficient retrofitting based on
EP

16 one year of monitoring. Several feasible schemes of building energy efficient retrofitting were

17 identified according to the characteristics of the case building. The best scheme was chosen according
C

18 to results of simulation, comparison and analysis. The focuses of building energy efficient retrofitting
AC

19 were placed on energy conservation and indoor environment quality. In particular, during the

20 operation stage, staff can regulate the terminal unit in accordance with their own demands. Results

21 showed that the building operation can satisfy staff’s individual requirements after the retrofit.

22 Similarly, the annual energy consumption can be reduced by 57% compared to the national average of

∗
C Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 8 8313 1470.
E-mail address: Jian.Zuo@adelaide.edu.au (J. Zuo).
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 office buildings in China. These findings provide useful inputs for the future building energy efficient

2 retrofitting practices as well as policy making process.

3 Key words: Existing building; retrofitting; operation strategy; indoor environment

4 1. Introduction

PT
5 The building sector is one of the largest energy consumers and GHG emitters (Zuo et al., 2012; Jiang

6 et al., 2013; Russell-Smith et al., 2015). In order to mitigate the significant environmental impacts

RI
7 derived from the building sector, green buildings have experienced a rapid growth during the last

SC
8 decades all over the world (Zuo and Zhao 2014; Zhang 2013). Similarly, green buildings have

9 featured in a large number of national policies to counteract the issues associated with climate change

U
10 (Kiss et al., 2013; Li and Shui, 2014).
AN
11 Kibert (2008) defined green building as: “… healthy facilities designed and built in a resource-

12 efficient manner, using ecologically based principles” (p.9). There are a number of green building
M

13 rating tools all over the world, such as the LEED (U.S.), BREEAM (UK), DGNB (Germany),

14 CASEBEE (Japan), Green Star (Australia) and Assessment standard for green building (China)
D

15 (MOHURD, 2006). Priorities vary according to economic development level, resources and
TE

16 environmental conditions of each country. However, three broad categories are shared within these

17 green building rating tools, namely ecological environment, energy efficiency, and indoor
EP

18 environment. It is worth noting that there are some rating tools specifically for the transformation of
C

19 existing buildings (EB), such as the U.S. LEED-EB, Japan CASBEE-EB, and CASBEE for

20 renovation.
AC

21 It is well recognized that retrofitting existing buildings plays a crucial role to achieve the goals of

22 green buildings (Koester et al., 2006; Bruce et al., 2015). This is due to the large ratio of existing

23 buildings to new constructions. Similarly, functional changes or more stringent energy efficiency

24 standard spurred the building energy efficient retrofitting market. For instance, the "Green Building

25 Action Plan" released by the Chinese central government clearly specified that the total floor area of

26 retrofitting existing buildings will reach 570 million square meters by 2015 in China (General Office
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, 2013). In order to facilitate the action plan,

2 subsidies are provided for the retrofitting of building envelop and heating meters in existing buildings.

3 This subsidy is RMB ¥45/m2~¥55/m2, which is about $7.0/m2~$8.6/m2 (Bao et al., 2012). Similarly,

4 in Unites States, taxation benefits are made available for those existing buildings that satisfy

5 requirements of "Energy Star" (Lester, 2013). In Japan, solar PV system is encouraged to be used in

PT
6 existing buildings, and excessive electricity generated from the solar PV system can be fed into the

7 grid for some compensation (Chowdhury et al., 2014). All these policies motivate the building energy

RI
8 efficiency which indicates that energy efficiency is one of the major factors to be considered when

9 retrofitting existing buildings.

SC
10 There are a number of approaches of building retrofitting. Previous studies have predominantly placed

U
11 focuses on the technological aspects such as the installation of renewable energy systems, e.g. solar
AN
12 PV (Chan et al., 2010; Fiaschi et al., 2012). Building envelope is another key technical issue been

13 considered during the building retrofitting (Asadi et al., 2012; Desmedt et al., 2009). Similarly,
M

14 significant attention has been paid to improve the efficiency of HVAC systems (Pérez-Lombard et al.,

15 2011; Jaffal et al., 2012). Over the last decades, managerial related factors have received an
D

16 increasingly level of attention. For instance, policy instruments should be in place to facilitate
TE

17 building retrofitting practices. On contrary, building user’s behaviour and attitude affect the

18 performance of building retrofitting significantly (Kelly, 2009; Uihlein and Eder, 2010). The other
EP

19 useful management mechanism is energy performance contract where a professional consultant is

20 engaged to ensure the effectiveness of building retrofitting (Xu et al., 2011). Similarly, decisions on
C

21 building retrofitting should also be made from an end user perspective (Miller & Buys 2008). Thus,
AC

22 the thermal comfort level and indoor environmental quality should be taken into consideration during

23 the green building developments (Zuo and Zhao, 2014). No matter what methods have been used for

24 building retrofitting, one of most critical factors to be considered is the economic viability. Therefore,

25 usually economic analysis is undertaken where the payback period is one of most common indicators

26 (Amstalden et al., 2007; Ma et al., 2012; Huang et al., 2012).

3
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 Since 2006, green buildings have gained a rapid development in China. By the end of 2013, a total of

2 1446 buildings have been certified. However, only 104 buildings gained the operation certification,

3 less than 8% of the entire green building stock (China Society for Urban Studies, 2014). According to

4 the assessment criteria of LEED, the average energy consumption of gold-platinum certified buildings

5 should be lower than that of sliver and certified projects. However, previous study showed that it was

PT
6 quite opposite in reality (Turner and Frankel, 2008). In other words, it is not necessary that certified

7 green buildings are always associated with higher energy efficiency. Indeed, the operational

RI
8 performance of green buildings is determined by a number of factors such as the orientation of

9 assessment criteria (Newsham et al., 2009; Scofield, 2013). Operation strategies and management

SC
10 play crucial roles to ensure that green building achieves its designed goals.

U
11 There is no lack of studies on building energy efficient retrofitting. However, vast majority of these
AN
12 studies relies on theoretical simulations. Very limited studies focused on operation strategies, and

13 there is lack of efforts to examine the effectiveness of building energy efficient retrofitting.
M

14 The research methodology is provided in the next section. This is followed by the selection of
D

15 building energy efficient retrofitting scheme with the consideration of building envelope, and heating,

16 ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system. Especially, rational operation strategies of various
TE

17 energy supply equipment were investigated to meet the demands of the staff with the optimal building
EP

18 energy efficiency. Finally, outcomes and performance of building retrofitting are discussed.

19 Implications are provided for future practices and policy making.

C

20 2. Research methodology
AC

21 A case study approach is adopted in this research in order to identify effective ways of transforming

22 existing buildings to green buildings. Case study approach is suitable for “how” and “why” types of

23 research questions (Yin 2013). This research aims to examine how effective are technologies and

24 operational strategies to achieve this goal and has been commonly employed in sustainable building

25 and urban development related studies (Meng et al., 2014; Huang et al., 2012; Johannsdottir et al.,

26 2014).
4
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 The Tenio Building was selected in this study to serve the research purpose. It was built in 1998 as an

2 electronics factory. It was not an energy-efficient building as there was lack of related design standard

3 for energy efficiency in public buildings. In 2011, Tenio Architecture and Engineering Co. Ltd. rent

4 this building as the office. More than 230 employees occupied the building during this study. The

5 function of the building was changed from electronic factory to office building and one more storey

PT
6 was added which saw the floor area expanded from 5000m2 to 5700m2. The chief architect

7 coordinated the data collection process for this study. Key project documents reviewed in this study

RI
8 included: drawings, intranet notification system, energy consumption monitoring system, and design

9 simulations.

SC
10 2.1 Scheme selection

11
U
There are two main components of retrofitting existing buildings, i.e. building envelope and HVAC
AN
12 system. Factors to be considered for building envelope retrofit include the selection of window to wall

13 ratio (WWR), external wall insulation, roof insulation and window type. For HVAC system, cold and
M

14 heat sources, indoor air-conditioning terminal units and operation strategies need to be taken into
D

15 consideration.
TE

16 WWR refers to the ratio of window opening area to external wall (including windows) area. Windows

17 generally have a larger heat transfer coefficient than the external wall. This is compounded by the
EP

18 solar radiation through the window. As a result, buildings will have a larger cooling load if their

19 windows are too large. However, increasing WWR can significantly reduce the lighting energy
C

20 consumption and enhance the comfort level of building users, and hence improve their work
AC

21 efficiency. Therefore, the trade-off between the operation energy consumption and building users’

22 demands needs to be considered during the selection of WWR.

23 The lower the building envelope heat transfer coefficient, the lower the energy consumption. However,

24 the improvement of building envelope insulation leads to the increase of the capital cost. Therefore, in

25 this study, return on investment method, which is given in Formula (1), is adopted to determine the

26 retrofitting scheme. The shorter the payback period, the more reasonable retrofit scheme is.

5
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 (1)

2 Where, is the payback period, year; is the incremental capital cost between the ith scheme and

3 the reference scheme, 10k yuan, is the reduced operation cost between the oth scheme and the

4 reference scheme. , where, is the annual operation cost of the oth scheme, 10k

PT
5 yuan/year; is the annual operation cost of the reference scheme, 10k yuan/year; k is the total

6 operation period of the building, year.

RI
7 2.2 Questionnaire

SC
8 A questionnaire survey was conducted with staff for their satisfaction level of the indoor

9 environmental quality after the building retrofit. The questionnaire was distributed across four seasons,

U
10 and the main contents covered thermal comfort, acoustics, visual comfort, air quality and overall
AN
11 quality (Table 1).

12 2.3 Validation of simulation models

M

13 The case building is located in Tianjin which is classified as the cold region of China. The average
D

14 temperature in winter is -3~5°C and the average temperature in summer is 26~37°C with an annual
TE

15 temperature of 12°C on average. Originally, the external wall was built by 200mm thick sand-free

16 macro-porous blocks with the heat transfer coefficient of 0.97W/(m2•K). The roof was built by
EP

17 150mm thick cement vermiculite with the heat transfer coefficient of 0.91W/(m2•K). Monolayer

18 Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP) was used for the external windows. Its heat transfer coefficient
C

19 was as high as 5.8 W/(m2•K). The WWR was 0.2 for all orientations of this building.
AC

20 Before the retrofit, test of indoor temperature, outdoor temperature, and building heat consumption

21 test were undertaken on February 7, 2014 from 1:00 to 24:00. In addition, a physical model was

22 established for simulation via eQUEST according to the building envelope, indoor terminal units and

23 other actual situations of the case building. The physical model is shown in Figure 2. The indoor and

24 outdoor temperatures obtained from the test were imported into the model and the simulation results

25 are shown in Figure 3. As shown in Figure 3, the average difference between the simulation and

6
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 actual heat consumption is 8.9% with a standard deviation of 0.127. The simulation error is acceptable

2 compared with the test results. Therefore, this model and its boundary conditions are used for further

3 analysis in this study.

5 3. Scheme selection

PT
6 The case building is retrofitted as the building envelope cannot satisfy the relevant requirements

7 specified in the national standard, i.e. Design Standard for Energy Efficiency of Public Buildings

RI
8 (DSEEPB) (MOHURD, 2005). In addition, before the retrofit, the heating units were radiators and

SC
9 cooling units were split air conditioners. There was no dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS) in the

10 building. Only local exhaust fans were installed for removing the harmful gases inside the building

U
11 and the fresh air was obtained via negative pressure infiltration. This kind of HVAC system cannot
AN
12 satisfy the environmental requirements of the office building. Therefore, both HVAC system and the

13 building envelop were required to be retrofitted. The requirements of artificial lighting, computers and
M

14 other office equipment, fresh air rate and occupant density after retrofit are provided in Table 2.

15 3.1 Building envelope

D

16 As specified in the current standard of office buildings, the heat transfer coefficient of the external
TE

17 wall, roof and external windows should be ≤0.6(m2•K), ≤0.55(m2•K) and ≤2.3W/(m2•K) respectively.
EP

18 When selecting the envelope scheme, the WWR should be determined in the first instance, followed

19 by the insulation.
C

20 3.1.1 WWR selection

AC

21 Control variable method was used in this study to simulate the building energy consumption under

22 different WWRs via eQUEST. The original WWR is 0.2 for all orientations of this building. At first,

23 the original WWRs are remained constant for east, west and north, and the south WWR is changed to

24 0.25, 0.3, 0.35, 0.4, 0.45, and 0.5 respectively. Simulation results showed that with the increase of

25 south WWR, the cooling energy consumption increases and the heating energy consumption

26 decreases gradually. In addition, artificial lighting energy consumption decreases as well due to the

7
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 increase of south WWR. The relationship between the annual total electricity consumption and south

2 WWR is shown in Figure 4. Figure 4 shows that the annual total electricity consumption decreases

3 initially before ascending with the increase of south WWR. The minimum annual total electricity

4 consumption occurs when WWR is 0.4. Thus, the final suggested scheme of south WWR is 0.4.

5 Consequently, the north WWR is changed to 0.15, 0.25, 0.3, and 0.35 respectively, and other WWRs

PT
6 are remained at their original value. The simulation results of annual total electricity consumption are

7 shown in Figure 5. It can be seen that the annual total electricity consumption increases continuously

RI
8 with the increase of north WWR. Therefore, north WWR remains at the original value of 0.2.

9 Moreover, east and west WWRs remains at 0.2 as the area of east and west external walls are

SC
10 relatively small.

U
11 3.1.2 Building envelop selection
AN
12 According to the analysis shown in the previous section, the WWR of east, west, south and north is

13 0.2, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.2 respectively. Different kinds of thermal insulation can be selected for external
M

14 walls and roof. According to common types of windows and their heat transfer coefficient available in
D

15 the market (Tianjin Urban & Rural Construction Commission 2010), several schemes are established

16 through permutation and combination. Consequently, the cooling and heating demand of each scheme
TE

17 are simulated and the appropriated insulation of building envelop is determined via the method
EP

18 described in 2.1.

19 3.1.2.1 External wall and roof

C

20 There are 4 options to retrofit the external wall (i.e. WB, W1, W2, and W3), and 3 options to retrofit
AC

21 the roof (i.e. RB, R1 and R2) (Table 3). WB and RB just satisfied the requirements specified in

22 DSEEPB 2005. The retrofitting cost showed in Table 3 is determined according to the project budget.

8
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 3.1.2.2 External windows

2 There are four retrofitting options for the external windows (Table 4). GB just satisfied the

3 requirements specified in DSEEPB 2005. The retrofitting cost showed in Table 4 is also determined

4 according to the project budget.

PT
5 3.1.2.3 Determination of building envelope retrofitting scheme

6 The permutation and combination of external walls, roof and external windows with different thermal

RI
7 insulations lead to 48 different schemes in total (Figure 6). All 48 schemes are simulated under the

SC
8 same condition of cooling and heating systems, indoor electric equipment and ventilation, and

9 building annual energy consumption. As a result, 50 years of operation cost are calculated (see Table

U
10 5). During the calculation process, heat pump units are selected as the cold and heat sources with the
AN
11 average coefficient of performance (COP) of 3.5 in summer and 3.8 in winter. The electricity tariff is

12 taken as ¥1/kWh. It can be found that among three types of building envelope, the external windows
M

13 contribute to the building energy conservation most significantly, followed by the external walls. By

14 contrast, the roof has the least effect due to its relatively small area. However, the incremental capital
D

15 cost per area of the external windows is the highest. Therefore, through comprehensive comparison,
TE

16 the shortest payback period is 5.8 years which can be achieved by scheme 6. The DSEEPB is under

17 revision and the new version is likely to be implemented within two years. Thus, all of the schemes
EP

18 using WB, RB and GB are not considered. For the rest of schemes, scheme 19 has the least payback

19 period; and W1, R1 and G2 are selected for the retrofitting of the case building. Therefore, final heat
C

20 transfer coefficients of external walls, roof and external windows are selected as 0.26W/ (m2•K),
AC

21 0.32W/ (m2•K). 1.9W/ (m2•K) respectively.

22 3.2 HVAC system

23 The heat source of the original building was provided by a thermal power plant 15 kilometres away,

24 and the cold source is split air conditioner. This kind of HVAC system does not satisfy the

25 requirements of office buildings.

9
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 3.2.1 HVAC system selection

2 HVAC system includes cold sources, heat sources and other indoor terminal units and systems. Cold

3 and heat sources have significant impacts on the building energy consumption and indoor HVAC

4 terminal units are more influential to the indoor environment.

PT
5 3.2.1.1 Cold and heat sources

6 A split air conditioner is a conventional cold source for buildings. This cooling approach is

RI
7 significantly influenced by the outdoor temperature. The higher the outdoor temperature, the higher

SC
8 cooling load is. However, under such circumstance, the refrigerating efficiency declines due to the

9 decrease of cooling capacity of air conditioner unit, which leads to higher energy consumption. Other

U
10 cooling methods, such as a direct-fired absorption chiller, are associated with high operation cost. By
AN
11 contrast, ground-coupled heat pumps (GCHP) have gained an increasing level of application in China.

12 Originally, the central heating system was used for the building in winter where the efficiency of the
M

13 coal-fired boiler in the thermal power plant is taken as 80% and the heat loss of pipeline network is

14 taken as 8%. As a result, the consumption of 46.4 kg standard coal (kgce) is required by the thermal
D

15 power plant to supply 1GJ of heat to the building. By contrast, COP of GCHP in winter generally is
TE

16 around 3.5. If the GCHP is adopted as the heat source, 79.4kWh electricity will be consumed to

17 supply 1GJ heat to the building. As 0.316 kgce is required to produce 1kWh of electricity, GCHP only
EP

18 consumes 25.1 kgce to supply 1GJ of heat. This demonstrates significant energy savings. Despite

19 more drilling cost associated with GCHP, the operation cost is much lower, and the payback period is
C

20 about 3.5~4 years (Wang, 2001). Therefore, the GCHP was selected as the cold and heat sources after
AC

21 the retrofit.

22 3.2.1.2 Indoor terminal units

23 Due to the condensing temperature of refrigerant, the temperature of heat supply is usually around

24 45°C when GCHP is used as heat source (Hepbasli et al., 2003). If the radiator is used under this

25 supply temperature, indoor heat transfer effect will be relatively poor. If the fan coil unit is used,

10
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 warm air will go towards the ceiling in winter which reduces the temperature of the workplace and

2 meanwhile decrease the thermal comfort level. The effective running time of radiant floor heating is

3 2.7 times of that of the fan coil system (Li and Su, 2011). Similarly, radiant floor heating is more

4 appropriate for the heat source with lower supply temperature (Wang, 2013). During summer with the

5 relatively low cooling load, underground water can be directly used as the cold source to cool the

PT
6 building through the radiant floor cooling system. This kind of strategy is called as free cooling.

7 Without requirements of operating the cooling unit, the energy consumption is reduced and operation

RI
8 cost is saved. When indoor cooling load is large and dehumidification is required, indoor environment

9 requirements can be achieved by running water chiller units and fan coils. As a result, radiant floor

SC
10 heating system is adopted in this building along with fan coil units after the retrofit. Radiant floor

11 heating system is installed in all the areas with heating demand, and polystyrene board insulation with

12
U
heat transfer coefficient of 0.05W/(m•K) is installed on the bottom of the heat exchanger in addition
AN
13 to general floor structures to reduce heat loss. Moreover, feed-forward control is on-demand during

14 the operation as radiant floor heating has strong thermal inertia.

M

15 After the retrofit, the DOAS is adopted for the indoor fresh air requirements. The ceiling fans which
D

16 can be controlled by users are installed in order to satisfy the indoor air flow and individual
TE

17 requirements of temperature. Apart from indoor HVAC system retrofit, the water storage system is

18 installed. It stores the heat or cold produced by GCHP units at night when electricity tariff is low
EP

19 (¥0.427/kWh) for the case building and release them in the daytime when the electricity tariff is high

20 (¥1.313/kWh). The energy storage capacity of the water storage tank is 60m3 and full automatic
C

21 control system is designed for the system.

AC

22 3.2.2 Operation strategies

23 The operation of the GCHP units and HVAC systems is controlled by Building Management System

24 automatically. For instance, the designed indoor temperature is 18°C in winter and 26°C in summer.

25 The designed relative humidity is 25%-40% and 50%-65% in winter and summer respectively. The

26 HVAC system and the GCHP units are adjusted automatically according to these set points. In

11
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 addition the office automation system provides an information platform to employees about the

2 target of energy conservation as well as the real-time data (e.g. indoor temperature, relative humidity,

3 fresh air rate, pollution concentration). This motivates employees’ energy conservation behaviour and

4 allows them to see the energy conservation results at any time.

5 3.2.2.1 Summer season

PT
6 At the beginning of GCHP operation, the outdoor temperature and relative humidity are relatively low.

RI
7 Similarly, test results show that the water temperature of the ground heat exchanger fluctuated between

8 13~18°C. This indicates that it is appropriate to supply the radiant floor system as a cold source.

SC
9 Utilizing its thermal mass of the slab, the cold is stored at first and then gradually released to indoor

10 environment. Thus, the problems derived from the high cooling load during work hours can be

11 avoided.
U
AN
12 During mid-summer, the outdoor temperature and relative humidity are high which lead to the
M

13 increase of cooling load of the building. As a result, free cooling cannot satisfy indoor environment

14 requirements. Consequently, GCHP units are switched on automatically where fan coil units and fresh
D

15 air system are used for cold supply and dehumidification. During this period, free cooling is still
TE

16 available during early morning.

17 Towards the end of the summer, the outdoor temperature and relative humidity gradually declines,
EP

18 which reduces the cooling and humidification load. After operating for most of the summer season,

19 the soil temperature increases to a certain degree. However, free cooling can still be used. When the
C

20 outlet water temperature does not satisfy the indoor cooling requirement, the GCHP units are put into
AC

21 operation.

22 3.2.2.2 Winter season

23 With the same water temperature, the radiant floor heating system provides better thermal comfort

24 and is more efficient than the fan coil unit. In addition, the GCHP units run for heat storage during the

25 period of low tariff. When the electric tariff is high, the energy storage system supplies heat to the

12
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 building. To supply the same amount of heat, 50% of operation cost can be saved compared to

2 conventional heating methods.

3 In winter, radiant floor heating gradually supplies heat during the late night so that the indoor

4 temperature is maintained at a relatively low level. When outdoor temperature is high and solar

5 radiation is relatively strong, the heating load decreases and the radiant floor heating system supplies

PT
6 less heat to the building or even stop running. The employees that operate the whole system are also

7 required to explore the regular pattern of the system and control the system based on the actual

RI
8 demand.

SC
9 The operation period of water storage system is from 11:00 pm to 7:00 am. During the winter season,

10 the hot water storage temperature is 56°C, and the heat storage capacity is 2153kWh. When the hot

11
U
water in the storage tank is 50°C~30°C, it flows into fan coil system to rise the indoor temperature
AN
12 rapidly. When the hot water in the storage tank is 35°C~20°C, it flows into the radiant floor heating

13 terminals to supply heating to the building.

M

14 4. Results
D

15 After retrofit, the appearance of the case building is shown in Figure 7. The architect has received the
TE

16 Gold Award by the ARCASIA Architecture Award (ARCASIA) for architectural 2014 (Category F:

17 Sustainability) because of the distinctive design of this case building. Similarly, its operation is highly
EP

18 regarded, being awarded the Exemplar for Green building and low energy building by the Ministry of
C

19 Housing and Urban-Rural Development. Meanwhile, the case building obtained the Three-Star Green

20 Building Label by the Chinese Green Building Council after the retrofit. Similarly, its operation is
AC

21 highly regarded and has been awarded the Exemplar for Green building and low energy building by

22 the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

23

13
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 4.1 Indoor temperature and relative humidity control results

2 In this building, the facility management team can control the heat and cold supply according to the

3 outdoor meteorological conditions as well as the indoor temperature whenever necessary. In China,

4 the heating charge is in accordance with the areas in most buildings so that various cooling and

5 heating days are set out in national regulations. In order to improve the comfort level of indoor

PT
6 environment, heat supply period and cold supply period was 29 days and 20 days more than that

7 specified in the national program respectively during the winter of 2013-2014 and the summer of

RI
8 2014 in the case building (Table 6).

SC
9 4.1.1 Summer season

U
10 There were three periods of the entire cooling season, i.e. June 6~July 7, July 8~September 2 and
AN
11 September 3~September 22. Operation strategy varied across these three periods.

12 Free cooling operation strategy was employed from June 6 to July 7. The variations to the indoor
M

13 temperature and relative humidity during this period are shown in Figure 8. The GCHP started

14 running from 6:00 am, supplying water into the radiant floor exchanger to cool the building all day
D

15 long. When necessary, employees can use ceiling fans to meet their individual requirements of the
TE

16 indoor temperature. The system was shut down around 5:00 pm. During this period, the indoor

17 temperature was always below 27 °C while the relative humidity reached a comparatively higher
EP

18 level at the end.

C

19 After July 7, the outdoor temperature increased gradually. Although the outlet water temperature did
AC

20 not increase significantly, the temperature and relative humidity could not meet the requirements in

21 some days. Therefore, the GCHP system was switched on after July 8. Free cooling system worked

22 from 3:00 am to 8:30 am. As a consequence, the room temperature reduced and cold was stored in the

23 floor. The outdoor temperature gradually increased after 8:30 am when staff began to work. Then the

24 GCHP unit was turned on to cool and dehumidify the building. Finally, free cooling restarted at

25 around 4:00 pm till the end of work hours. The outdoor temperature fluctuated between 20 to 30°C

14
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 while the indoor temperature was largely stabled from 25 to 26 °C (Figure 9). Despite a large

2 fluctuation of the outdoor relative humidity, the indoor relative humidity was always below 65%

3 which met the requirement of the design standard.

4 During the late summer (September 3~September 11), the outdoor temperature and relative humidity

5 declined which resulted in the cooling load became lower. So free cooling was the major method to

PT
6 cool the building supplemented by the GCHP system. Since September 12, free cooling could

7 completely satisfy the requirements of indoor temperature and relative humidity till September 22

RI
8 when the cooling season was finished.

SC
9 4.1.2 Winter season

U
10 The heating operation strategy is comparatively simple in winter. During 11:00 pm to 2:00 am, when
AN
11 the electricity tariff was low, the GCHP units operated to supply heat to the energy storage system.

12 During 2:00 am to 7:00 am when the electricity tariff was low as well, the GCHP units operated not
M

13 only to supply heat for energy storage, but also to maintain the indoor temperature in a low

14 temperature heating mode. During 7:00 am to 11:00 am when the electricity tariff was high, the
D

15 energy storage system released heat to the building. At about 8:00 am when employees began to work,
TE

16 the energy storage began to release heat to the fan coil unit simultaneously in order to raise the indoor

17 temperature quickly. After 8:00 am, the energy storage released heat to the radiant floor heating
EP

18 system till 5:00 pm. When the storage heat was not sufficient, the GCHP units started running.

19 4.2 Energy consumption

C
AC

20 After one year of operation, the electricity consumption per unit floor area of this building was 46.65

21 kWh/(m2•a). Of which, the heating and cooling electricity consumption was 13.2 kWh/(m2•a) and 5.8

22 kWh/(m2•a) respectively. Due to the constraint value of 9.8 kgce/(m2•a) in winter (MOHURD, 2015)

23 and 16.1 kWh/m2 in summer (Jiang and Wu, 2010), this building saved 58% and 64% of electricity

24 from heating and cooling respectively. Figure 10 shows the distribution of the electricity consumption.

25 Where, socket represents the electricity consumed by the sockets inside the building, such as

15
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 computers, printers, duplicators, and projectors. Network represents the electricity consumed in the

2 network computer room which has monitoring equipment and network operation equipment for

3 offices.

4 4.3 Indoor environment

PT
5 4.3.1 Temperature and relative humidity

6 A longitude study was undertaken to monitor various operation parameters such as indoor temperature

RI
7 and relative humidity. The operation of the building was monitored from October 2013 to September

SC
8 2014 (as shown in Figure 11). The indoor temperature was relatively low in some days of February.

9 This is arguably due to the fact that there is no employee worked during these days in the Spring

U
10 Festival and the heating system only worked at a minimum level to avoid frozen indoor pipelines.
AN
11 Otherwise, the indoor temperature was generally maintained between 20°C and 26°C (as shown in

12 Figure 11 (a)) to satisfy the thermal comfort requirements of Chinese people. The relative humidity
M

13 was between 24% and 62% which satisfies the design standard (as shown in Figure 11 (b)).

14 Natural ventilation is the main approach to supply fresh air to the building. It was fulfilled by means
D

15 of opening windows during autumn and spring. In the event of haze weather, DOAS was opened to
TE

16 clean outdoor air before entering the building. Indoor CO2 concentration had been monitored to

17 control the amount of indoor fresh air.

EP

18 4.3.2 User satisfaction

C

19 A total of 60 questionnaires were distributed to examine employees’ perception of indoor

AC

20 environmental quality with 45 responses. Results are shown in Figure 12.

21 As shown in Figure 12, the overall satisfaction of the indoor environmental quality is highest in winter,

22 followed by spring, autumn, and is lowest in summer. However, the overall satisfaction of the indoor

23 environmental quality is always higher than 90%, which indicates that users are very satisfied with the

24 indoor environment. Further investigation shows that users are most satisfied with the visual comfort

25 whereas the acoustic environment is ranked last. This is mainly attributed to the disturbance of
16
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 employees between each other due to the open space. This is compounded by the noise from outdoors

2 due to window opening during spring and autumn. In terms of thermal comfort, user satisfaction is

3 lowest in summer. In particular, respondents work at upper levels or at south side of building reported

4 a lower level of satisfaction with the thermal comfort. This is mainly due to the stronger solar

5 radiation received on the upper storeys than the ground floor. In addition, warm air always goes up

PT
6 and travels to the upper storeys through stairs and share spaces. The average temperature of top storey

7 is 2~4 °C higher than that of the ground floor.

RI
8 5. Discussion

SC
9 Building retrofit is complex in nature where both the original basic structure and the new functions of the

10 building need to be taken into consideration. Lessons learnt from this case study project are discussed as below.

11
U
5.1 Renewable energy is not necessary the best choice for green buildings
AN
12 There are two types of items specified in the Evaluation standard for Green Building (ESGB), i.e.
M

13 mandatory items and optional items (MOHURD, 2006). One of the optional options is “the proper

14 utilization of renewable energy technologies such as solar energy, geothermal energy, wind energy, etc.”
D

15 For those office buildings with high building density and occupant density in the large city, wind energy is
TE

16 not suitable. Utilization of solar energy such as solar water heating and solar power generation has gained

17 a noticeable growth in past decade. However, there have been debates on the costing and environmental
EP

18 performance associated with the solar power generation during its lifecycle (U.S. Energy Information

19 Administration, 2012; Ma, 2012). Comparatively, GCHP has advantages such as lower capital cost and
C

20 operation cost, and it can highly match the building cooling and heating demand. Therefore, GCHP can be
AC

21 widely used as long as the drilling area can be satisfied. Indeed, renewable energy with high capital cost is

22 not necessary a better choice than conventional technologies (e.g. GCHP) particularly where there is

23 stringent demand on payback period.

24

17
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 5.2 The energy conservation and emission reduction from the energy system optimization via GCHP

2 According to the monitoring results, the heating consumption was 263,340kWh in winter and the cooling

3 consumption was 201,005kWh in summer for the case building. The underground cold source was well

4 utilized through GCHP and the annual electricity consumption for the HVAC system was 19kWh/ m2•a, i.e.

5 6.6kgce/ m2•a. The HVAC system consumed 37.6 ton standard coal (tce) and emitted 111.6t CO2 in total.

PT
6 Similar calculation is conducted if the HVAC system is replaced by boiler and air-cooled water chilling

7 units and different fuels are used for the boiler, namely coal, natural gas and oil. Through calculations

RI
8 under the similar situations, the energy consumption will be 43.2tce, 36.0tce and 36.8tce and CO2 emission

9 will be 105.3t, 59.1t and 74.7t respectively in winter. In summer, the electricity consumption of the air-

SC
10 cooled water chilling system will be 55835kWh and the CO2 emission will be 57.5t. In summary, when

11 utilizing coal-fired, natural-gas-fired or oil-fired boiler as the heat source and utilizing air-cooled water

12
U
chilling units as the cold source, the total CO2 emission is 162.8t, 116.6t and 132.2t respectively. Only the
AN
13 scheme utilizing natural-gas-fired boiler with air-cooled water chilling units emits the similar amount of

14 CO2 emission with the one selected by the case building. By contrast, the energy performance of other
M

15 schemes is significantly lower.

D

16 5.3 The building energy efficiency is closely related to operation strategy

TE

17 Various types of heating and cooling systems are installed in the case building, and there are robust

18 control system and operation strategy in place. Nevertheless, the operation strategy should not be
EP

19 static during the operation. Rather, dynamic control and management are required according to actual

20 situations. Consideration to be taken include: when the radiant floor heat transfer system should be
C

21 used, when the fan coil system should be used and when both of them should be used together. Other
AC

22 issues are: when the DOAS should be operated, when the indoor environment requirements can be

23 satisfied by opening the windows only and what number or area of the windows should be opened as

24 appropriate. All of these factors need to be well controlled by the system operating staff together with

25 other employees according to their actual demands. Radiant floor heat transfer system contributes to a

26 better indoor thermal comfort as it does not provide any draft sensation to users. In terms of energy

27 conservation, radiant floor heat transfer system has significant advantages through feed-forward

18
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 control according to actual situations. Especially in summer, free cooling source from underground

2 can be adopted which leads to a much higher energy efficiency. With the supplementary functions of

3 dehumidification and load regulation supplied by the fan coil, the users’ requirements are well

4 satisfied.

5 Moreover, DOAS consumes a large amount of electricity. It was found in this study that sometimes the indoor

PT
6 environment requirements could be satisfied by only slightly opening the windows without running the DOAS.

7 As a result, the electricity consumed by the fan and the system could be saved which helps to improve the

RI
8 energy efficiency significantly. The number and level of the windows opening were dependent on monitoring

9 results the actual indoor air quality and the staff’s demands. In the event of polluted weather such as haze days,

SC
10 the DOAS with air purifying units are operated to mitigate the adverse effect of outdoor pollution on indoor

11 environment.

U
12 5.4 The operation results are not always in accordance with the design expectations
AN
13 The water storage system can store energy during the night when the electricity tariff is low and release energy

14 during the day when the electricity tariff is high. With the same amount of energy supply, 30% operation cost
M

15 can be saved through replacing HVAC system operation with water storage system. This is due to the fact that

16 the tariff during the peak period is three times of that during the valley period. Therefore, the operation strategy
D

17 was designed to operate water storage system to supply energy as the first choice both in summer and winter and
TE

18 GCHP system was used as a supplementary system to cover the gap. However in actual operation, it was found

19 that the units discharged heat to the underground when storing cold in summer, and the free cooling supplied by
EP

20 GCHP was badly influenced as a result. By comparison, free cooling can save ¥7953 more than water storage

21 system with the same amount of cold supply. Thus, the water storage system no longer operates in summer, and
C

22 it only operates in winter. The heat storage capacity is 6.5GJ during the night in winter and the operation cost
AC

23 saving is about ¥26064 annually according to the calculation. While the capital cost of the water storage

24 system is 180k RMB, its payback period changes to 6.9 years which exceeds the design expectation if it only

25 operates in winter. The operation results are not always in accordance with the design expectations. This is

26 because there is no such specific data at the design stage and the operation is optimized continuously by

27 regulation during the actual operation.

28 In addition, the indoor air quality was ensured by the DOAS in design. However in actual operation, staff can

29 open the windows or run the DOAS to satisfy their demands according to the actual indoor air quality

19
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 monitoring results and their feelings. This results in significant energy conservation. Due to different

2 preferences of indoor environment, employees may have different feelings to the same indoor environment.

3 Thus, the satisfaction level of employees will further increase if there is task ventilation system which can

4 supply proper amount of fresh air to employees according to their own demands.

6 6. Conclusions

PT
7 Previous studies placed focuses on single aspect of building energy efficient retrofitting, e.g. building

RI
8 envelop, workspace design, and functionality. Similarly, simulation of energy saving potential and

9 economic viability was most commonly adopted methodology in these studies (Aynur et al., 2009;

SC
10 Wang et al., 2007; Ouyang et al., 2009; Ouyang et al., 2011). This study examined the building

11 energy efficient retrofitting factors via a case study where the focus was placed on both technology

12
U
and operational management. The building energy efficient retrofitting factors were examined not
AN
13 only in design stage but also in the operation stage.
M

14 This study selected several feasible envelope schemes according to the characteristics of the case

15 building at first, and installed various energy supply equipment, then designed relatively numerous
D

16 optional operation strategies for operation stage. There is a great deal of flexibility and operability in
TE

17 terms of GCHP operation and individual control of indoor environment, and the energy conservation

18 effect is significant as well. Based on the test results and discussions, the main conclusions are
EP

19 provided as follows.
C

20 (1) Conventional technologies were used in the case study office building, such as improving the
AC

21 insulation of the building envelop, retrofitting of HVAC system. Similarly, operation strategies play a

22 crucial rule to capitalize the benefits of building energy efficient retrofitting.

23 (2) After building energy efficient retrofitting, the staff can adjust the fresh air rate according to their

24 own demands, and regulate the temperature of their workplace to a comfortable level via the ceiling

25 fans. As a result, the staff was generally satisfied with the overall indoor temperature, acoustic, and

26 visual comfort.

20
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 (3) Due to the retrofitting, the annual total electricity consumption of this building was 46.65kWh/m2.

2 Of which, the heating, cooling and annual electricity consumption (excluding heating and network

3 computer room) is 13.2kWh/m2, 5.8kWh/m2 and 25.8kwh/m2 respectively, accounting for 47%, 36%

4 and 43% corresponding value of the office buildings in Tianjin with the similar scale. With less

5 energy consumption, staff enjoyed more cooling and heating days than other buildings.

PT
6 (4) It is not necessary to use renewable energy technologies with high capital cost and severe

7 pollution. However, using conventional technologies can help to achieve green building certification

RI
8 if a proper operation strategy is in place.

SC
9

U
10 Acknowledgments AN
11 This work was supported by Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Re

12 public of China (Contract No. 2013BAJ09B01, 2015BAJ01B01), and environmental charity

M

13 project funded by the Chinese Ministry for Environmental Protection (Contract No.
D

14 2013467070). The authors are thankful to anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and
TE

15 feedback.

16
C EP

17 References
AC

18 Aynur, T. N., Hwang, Y., Radermacher, R., 2009. Simulation comparison of VAV and VRF air

19 conditioning systems in an existing building for the cooling season. Energy and Buildings. 41(11),

20 1143-1150.

21 Bao, L., Zhao, J., Zhu, N., 2012. Analysis and proposal of implementation effects of heat metering

22 and energy efficiency retrofit of existing residential buildings in northern heating areas of China in

23 “the 11th Five-Year Plan” period. Energy Policy. 45, 521-528.

21
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 Bruce, T., Zuo, J., Rameezdeen, R., Pullen, S., 2015. Factors influencing the retrofitting of existing

2 office buildings using Adelaide, South Australia as a case study. Structural Survey. 33(2), 1-17.

3 China society for urban studies, 2014. China Green Building 2014. China Architecture & Building

4 Press. (in Chinese)

5 Chowdhury, S., Sumita, U., Islam, A., Bedja, I., 2014. Importance of policy for energy system

PT
6 transformation: Diffusion of PV technology in Japan and Germany. Energy Policy. 68, 285-293.

RI
7 General Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, 2013. Action plan of Green

8 Building. http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2013-01/06/content_2305793.htm

SC
9 Hepbasli, A., Akdemir, O., Hancioglu, E., 2003. Experimental study of a closed loop vertical ground

U
10 source heat pump system. Energy Conversion and Management. 44(4), 527-548.
AN
11 Jiang Y., Wu X., 2010. Annual report on China building energy efficiency. China Architecture

12 &Building Press. (in Chinese)

M

13 Jiang, P., Dong, W., Kung, Y., Geng, Y., 2013. Analysing co-benefits of the energy conservation and

14 carbon reduction in China's large commercial buildings. Journal of Cleaner Production. 58, 112-120.
D

15 Kibert, C.J. (2008) Sustainable construction: green building design and delivery, John Wiley and Sons,
TE

16 Inc, Hoboken, NJ.

EP

17 Kiss, B., Manchón, C. G., Neij, L., 2013. The role of policy instruments in supporting the

18 development of mineral wool insulation in Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Journal of
C

19 Cleaner Production. 48, 187-199.

AC

20 Koester, R. J., Eflin, J., Vann, J., 2006. Greening of the campus: a whole-systems approach. Journal

21 of Cleaner Production. 14(9), 769-779.

22 Lester, T. W., 2013. Dedicating new real estate transfer taxes for energy efficiency: A revenue option

23 for scaling up Green Retrofit Programs. Energy Policy. 62, 809-820.

24 Li X.H., Su H., 2011. Experimental comparison of radiant floor heating and fan coil heating. Sichuan

25 Building Science. 37(01), 250-253. (in Chinese)

22
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 Li, J., Shui, B., 2014. A comprehensive analysis of building energy efficiency policies in China: status

2 quo and development perspective. Journal of Cleaner Production. 90, 326–344.

3 Ma D., 2012, Research on grid-connected solar power system. Inner Mongolia Scientech and

4 Economy, 16, 14-15. (in Chinese)

5 MOHURD, 2005. Design standard for energy efficiency of public buildings, GB/T50189-2005.

PT
6 MOHURD, 2006. Evaluation standard for green building, GB/T50378-2006.

RI
7 MOHURD, 2015. Standard for Energy Consumption of Buildings, GB****—2015.

SC
8 Newsham, G. R., Mancini, S., Birt, B. J., 2009. Do LEED-certified buildings save energy? Yes,

9 but…. Energy and Buildings. 41(8), 897-905.

U
10 Ouyang, J., Ge, J., Hokao, K., 2009. Economic analysis of energy-saving renovation measures for
AN
11 urban existing residential buildings in China based on thermal simulation and site

12 investigation. Energy policy. 37(1), 140-149.

M

13 Ouyang, J., Lu, M., Li, B., Wang, C., Hokao, K., 2011. Economic analysis of upgrading aging

14 residential buildings in China based on dynamic energy consumption and energy price in a market
D

15 economy. Energy Policy. 39(9), 4902-4910.

TE

16 Russell-Smith, S. V., Lepech, M. D., Fruchter, R., Meyer, Y. B., 2015. Sustainable target value design:
EP

17 integrating life cycle assessment and target value design to improve building energy and

18 environmental performance. Journal of Cleaner Production. 88, 43-51.

C

19 Scofield, J. H., 2013. Efficacy of LEED-certification in reducing energy consumption and greenhouse
AC

20 gas emission for large New York City office buildings. Energy and Buildings. 67, 517-524.

21 Tianjin Urban & Rural Construction Commission , 2010. Tianjin design standard of public buildings,

22 DB29-153-2010.

23 Turner C., Frankel M. 2008. Energy performance of LEED for new construction buildings. New

24 Buildings Institute, Vancouver.

23
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1 U.S. Energy Information Administration. Levelized Cost of New Generation Resources in the Annual

2 Energy Outlook 2012[EB/OL]. http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/electricity_generation.cfm.

3 Wang, F. H., Wang, D. Y., Luo, X. L., 2007. Energy Consumption Simulation and Energy Saving

4 Analysis on Envelope of Existing Building. Building Science. 2, 005.

5 Wang, L.F., 2013. Evaluating the energy conservation effect of low temperature radiant floor heating

PT
6 system, Heilongjiang Science and Technology Information, 24,197. (in Chinese)

7 Wang, Y., 2001, Economic analysis of ground source heat pump technologies, Building Energy &

RI
8 Enviroment, 20(5),12-13. (in Chinese)

SC
9 Zhang, X.,2013. Going green: Initiatives and technologies in Shanghai world expo. Renewable and

10 Sustainable Energy Reviews. 25, 78-88.

11
U
Zuo, J., & Zhao, Z. Y., 2014. Green building research–current status and future agenda: A
AN
12 review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 30, 271-281.
M

13 Zuo, J., Read, B., Pullen, S., Shi, Q., 2012. Achieving carbon neutrality in commercial building

14 developments–Perceptions of the construction industry. Habitat International. 36(2), 278-286.

D
TE
C EP
AC

24
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Table 1 Questionnaire on the user satisfaction of the indoor comfort.

Sex Age
Indoor temperature □satisfied □unsatisfied
Indoor relative humidity □satisfied □unsatisfied
Draught sensation □satisfied

PT
□unsatisfied
Acoustic environment □satisfied □unsatisfied
Visual environment □satisfied □unsatisfied

RI
Overall quality □satisfied □unsatisfied

SC
Table 2 Indoor equipment and occupant factors.

Factors
U Input value
AN
Artificial lighting 9W/m2
M

Computers 36 W/ m2
D

Fresh air rate 30 m3/h•person

TE

Occupant density 20 m2/person

C EP
AC
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
Table 3 The options of external wall and roof insulations and their heat transfer coefficients.
U-value Retrofit cost
Scheme Methods
W/(m •K) yuan/m2
2

WB 30mm thick extrude plastic board 0.6 52

W1 100mm thick extrude plastic board 0.26 163

PT
W2 150mm thick extrude plastic board 0.19 223

W3 200mm thick extrude plastic board 0.15 302

RI
RB 50mm thick extrude plastic board 0.55 42

R1 100mm thick extrude plastic board 0.32 94

SC
R2 200mm thick extrude plastic board 0.17 234

U
AN
Table 4 The options of retrofitting external windows and their heat transfer coefficients.

U-Value Retrofit cost

Scheme Methods 2
W/(m •K) yuan/m2
M

GB Single-frame-double-glass 2.7 383

G1 FRP-single-frame-double-Low-E-Hollow 2.3 550

D

FRP-frame-double-Low-E- hollow with

TE

G2 1.9 667
argon gas
South:
FRP-single-frame-double-Low-E-Hollow 1.9 667
EP

with argon gas

G3
Other directions:
FRP-frame-triple-Low-E-double-hollow 1.5 842
C

with argon gas

AC
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Table 5 Annual energy consumption and payback period.

Annual energy Annual operation

Scheme Capital cost Payback
Scheme consumption cost period
number
kWh/m2•a 2
yuan/ m •a 10k yuan year
1 WB-RB-GB 60.3 60.3 38 ——

PT
2 WB-RB-G1 57.1 57.1 48 6.0
3 WB-RB-G2 56.0 56.0 55 7.7
4 WB-RB-G3 55.8 55.8 62 10.4

RI
5 WB-R1-GB 58.7 58.7 43.5 6.3
6 WB-R1-G1 55.2 55.2 53.5 5.8

SC
7 WB-R1-G2 54.0 54.0 60.5 7.0
8 WB-R1-G3 53.8 53.8 67.5 8.8

U
9 WB-R2-GB 57.6 57.6 58.5 14.6
AN
10 WB-R2-G1 54.1 54.1 68.5 9.5
11 WB-R2-G2 52.0 52.0 75.5 8.8
12 WB-R2-G3 51.8 51.8 82.5 10.2
M

13 W1-RB-GB 58.8 58.8 60.5 27.6

14 W1-RB-G1 55.5 55.5 70.5 13.1
D

15 W1-RB-G2 53.8 53.8 77.5 11.7

TE

16 W1-RB-G3 53.6 53.6 84.5 13.5

17 W1-R1-GB 57.1 57.1 66 16.9
18 W1-R1-G1 53.6 53.6 76 11.0
EP

19 W1-R1-G2 51.8 51.8 83 10.2

20 W1-R1-G3 51.6 51.6 90 11.6
C

21 W1-R2-GB 56.0 56.0 81 19.5

22 W1-R2-G1 52.5 52.5 91 13.2
AC

23 W1-R2-G2 50.6 50.6 98 12.0

24 W1-R2-G3 50.4 50.4 105 13.2
25 W2-RB-GB 58.4 58.4 72.5 34.7
26 W2-RB-G1 55.1 55.1 82.5 16.7
27 W2-RB-G2 53.5 53.5 89.5 14.6
28 W2-RB-G3 53.3 53.3 96.5 16.2
29 W2-R1-GB 56.8 56.8 78 21.8
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
30 W2-R1-G1 53.2 53.2 88 13.7
31 W2-R1-G2 51.5 51.5 95 12.5
32 W2-R1-G3 51.3 51.3 102 13.8
33 W2-R2-GB 55.7 55.7 93 23.1
34 W2-R2-G1 52.1 52.1 103 15.5
35 W2-R2-G2 50.3 50.3 110 14.0

PT
36 W2-R2-G3 50.1 50.1 117 15.1
37 W3-RB-GB 58.2 58.2 88.5 46.2

RI
38 W3-RB-G1 55.0 55.0 98.5 21.9
39 W3-RB-G2 53.3 53.3 105.5 18.7

SC
40 W3-RB-G3 53.1 53.1 112.5 20.1
41 W3-R1-GB 56.6 56.6 94 29.0
42 W3-R1-G1 53.0 53.0 104 17.6

U
43 W3-R1-G2 51.3 51.3 111 15.8
AN
44 W3-R1-G3 51.1 51.1 118 16.9
45 W3-R2-GB 55.5 55.5 109 28.6
46 W3-R2-G1 51.9 51.9 119 18.8
M

47 W3-R2-G2 50.1 50.1 126 16.9

48 W3-R2-G3 49.9 49.9 133 17.9
D

Note: WB-RB-GB in Table 5 represents the reference building.

TE

Table 6 The comparison of heating and cooling period of this building with the national program.
EP

Heating season Cooling season

C

National program 15/11/2013 – 15/3/2014 15/6/2014 – 15/9/2014

AC

This building 1/11/2013 – 30/3/2014 2/6/2014 – 22/9/2014

 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

PT
RI
Figure 1 Original appearance of the case building.

U SC
AN
M
D
TE

Figure 2 Physical model of the case building for simulation.

EP
C
AC

1
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

PT
RI
SC
Figure 3 Hourly indoor & outdoor temperatures during the test day, and actual & simulation heat consumptions.

U
AN
M
D
TE
C EP
AC

Figure 4 The relationship between building annual total electricity consumption and south WWR.

2
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

PT
RI
Figure 5 The relationship between building annual total electricity consumption and north WWR.

U SC
AN
M
D
TE
C EP
AC

Figure 6 Various schemes for the building envelope.

3
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

PT
RI
Figure 7. Site photos of the case building after retrofit.

U SC
AN
M
D
TE
EP

Figure 8. Indoor & outdoor temperatures and relative humidity under free cooling mode.
C
AC

4
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

PT
RI
SC
Figure 9. The operation results from July 8 to September 2.

U
AN
M
D
TE
EP

Figure 10. The distribution of electricity consumption.

C
AC

5
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

PT
RI
SC
(a) Indoor temperature (b) Relative humidity

Figure 11. The operation results of indoor temperature (a) and relative humidity (b).

U
AN
M
D
TE
C EP
AC

Figure 12. Users’ satisfaction with the indoor environmental quality.

6
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Highlights
• Effective ways of building retrofit are examined based on one year of monitoring.
• Best retrofit scheme is selected via simulation, comparison and analysis.
• Operational strategy should be dynamic to accommodate actual situations.
• Operational results are not always in accordance with designs.
• Renewable energy is not necessary best choice for building retrofit.

PT
RI
U SC
AN
M
D
TE
C EP
AC