Design and commission a zero-carbon

building for hot and humid climate

..............................................................................................................................................................

Trevor S.K. Ng, Raymond M.H. Yau, Tony N.T. Lam and Vincent S.Y. Cheng*
Building Sustainability Group, Arup, Level 3 Festival Walk 80 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon,
Hong Kong SAR, China
.............................................................................................................................................
Abstract
The Construction Industry Council (CIC) Zero-Carbon Building is a net zero-carbon building that was
designed for local hot and humid climate of sub-tropical Hong Kong. Over 80 sustainability features of
the architecture and building systems have considered the life-cycle carbon emissions, including the

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embodied carbon of construction materials, emissions associated with the construction process, the 50-
years of operation and decommission of the building. The total life-cycle carbon emission was off-set by
on-site renewable energy generated by photovoltaics (PV) and bio-diesel combined cooling heating and
power (CCHP) system. To optimise the design, a series of climate-responsive strategies on passive
architecture were applied to the construction of the building. These include the high-performance facade,
effective air tightness and optimised window design that allows the application of natural ventilation and
daylighting. Reduction of 20% energy demand was achieved by these passive designs. To further lower the
carbon emission on operation, energy-efficient air-conditioning (A/C) systems using desiccant
dehumidification, underfloor air supply and radiant cooling have also contributed on achieving an
ultralow energy use value. Amalgamated saving of these passive and active systems are over 45% when
compared with the design per existing local building energy codes.

Keywords: zero carbon; combined cooling heating and power; bio-diesel; photovoltaics; Hong Kong
*Corresponding author:
vincent.cheng@arup.com Received 20 March 2013; revised 30 July 2013; accepted 28 August 2013

................................................................................................................................................................................

1 INTRODUCTION
The emerging imperative to reduce carbon footprint worldwide
is to bring down its emission from building to zero level.
Buildings account for a big portion of energy use in a country/
region, over 40% in the case of the USA [1] and over 60% for
Hong Kong [2]. Zero-Energy Building (ZEB) and Zero-Carbon
Building (ZCB) are becoming a global design trend worldwide
as the strategy for de-carbonation, and therefore creating a
climate neutral community as the ultimate target. In the UK, the
legislation called for all zero-carbon emission from new housing
by 2016. The European Parliament recently has also set the
target for all new construction to be zero energy by 2019. In
2007, California energy regulators set a goal for all new homes to
be built to net zero energy standards starting in 2020. Various
initiatives/policies are in place to accelerate this trend. Pilot
ZEB/ZCB projects were built in recent years first in Europe as
the key initiative of governments and now exist in many places
in the world.
In Asia, many challenges lie ahead for getting to net zero
energy/carbon for buildings. Blindly copying European or
North American architecture and construction techniques leads
to higher consumption rates than conventional design. Lacking
the knowledge of local contexts, in terms of climatic conditions
and building performance, and appropriate technologies for
analysing and construction of ZCB/ZEB have created the barrier
for standardising the practice of low carbon in this region [3].
More efforts are required from the government and the industry
to tackle the technical issues and build up the experiences.
In response to the quest of low carbon technologies applic-
able to Hong Kong, the Construction Industry Council (CIC)
commissioned the design and construction of a ZCB in Hong
Kong in 2011. The purpose of the buildings is to create a place
for the industry to demonstrate the technologies of the con-
struction and practices of building design and construction. The
CIC ZCB has designed with various uses to engage the profes-
sionals and practitioners for a common goal of creating a better,
safer and more sustainable environment to the industry. The

International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2016, 11, 222–234

# The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which
permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
doi:10.1093/ijlct/ctt067 Advance Access Publication 6 October 2013 222

ZCB features more than 80 sustainable installations. The sched-
ule of accommodation of the building is summarised in Table 1
and the architectural outlook design is shown in Figure 1. The
construction was completed in June 2012.
This paper addresses the design approach on arriving at the
most appropriate strategy on building and system designs and
solution for tackling the difficulties on commissioning the core
system, i.e. the CCHP system of this ZCB. Lessons learnt on the
implementing ZCB in Hong Kong will be discussed.
2 APPROACH OF ZCB DESIGN
2.1 Climate-responsive designs
Climate is the most important factor that shapes the design of
low-/zero-carbon building. Hong Kong’s climate is characterised
by two distinct seasons, winter and summer. As indicated in
Figure 2, summer months tend to be hot and humid; winter
months are cooler and dry. People have a tendency to escape
from the hot summer into the buildings which are normally
conditioned mechanically. Typical cooling season is about 2000
degree-hour in Hong Kong, a huge difference compared with
200 degree-hour of London and 1300 degree-hour of
San Francisco. This cooling demand posts a huge challenge on
the adoption of passive architectural designs prevailing in
Europe and North America. A study by Givoni et al. [4] has
shown that psychological responses to the sub-tropical climate
can be significantly improved by blocking direct solar heat (re-
ducing resultant temperatures) and encouraging breeze (increas-
ing skin evaporation) due to accramodisation effect; this extends
the natural ventilation period throughout the year—a key
climate-responsive design strategy of the project.
In the mid-seasons, there is a good potential for the buildings
to be naturally ventilated. Massing buildings to allow the air to
pass through freely can significantly reduce the time mechanical
ventilation and cooling systems operate. The ZCB project site
Emissions reduction
from excessive
Carbon Neutral
electricity produced
ðon annual basisÞ ¼ þ
from renewables
‘displacing’ grid
consumptions
2.3 Carbon neutrality and energy cascade
To achieve carbon neutrality, renewable energy facilities within
the boundary were designed. There are two major renewable
systems within the site boundary, namely PV panels and a
small-scale bio-diesel CCHP plant. The area of PV panels,
limited by the roof areas, has been optimised for cost-
effectiveness. It can only provide 66% of required renewable
energy for carbon off-set. Also, solar energy is not constant and
therefore not reliable and cannot fully satisfy the building
Design and commission a zero-carbon building
layout is designed with cross-ventilation and microclimate en-
hancement in mind. The large open space creates a wind corri-
dor for the prevailing south-easterly wind to flow across the
urban native woodland, effectively reducing the ambient tem-
perature through evapo-transpiration. The building shape also
enhances cross-ventilation. As the wind flows over the sloped
roof, and leaves the sharp-trailing edge, a low-pressure region is
created leeward of the building. This creates a suction effect that
inducts the pre-cooled air from the urban woodland into the
building for cross-ventilation.
2.2 Life-cycle considerations
There is no worldwide standard on the definition for ‘Zero
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Carbon’ building. The generally accepted practice is to estimate
the components of carbon emission of building and off-set
them by renewable energy, using stand-alone or grid-connect
approach [5]. Here we have adopted the life-cycle concept
(Figure 3). A number of carbon-emission producing processes
were identified to be associated with the life-cycle of the build-
ing, from material manufacturing, construction process, 50
years of operation and finally decommission of the building. To
achieve carbon neutrality, renewable energy facilities within the
site boundary were designed to produce sufficient energy to
meet the demands of energy consumptions associated with the
activities inside the building over an annual basis—such that the
net carbon will be zero and also that all the life-cycle emissions
can be ‘off-set’ by the on-site renewable energy at the end of 50
years of service life. As ZCB is connected to the local grid which
allows energy to be exported and the production of on-site re-
newable energy off-sets the power consumed from grid over an
annual basis, the emission associated with this energy input
should also be considered. The concepts for carbon calculation
for neutrality on annual basis are shown as follows:
Emissions
Emissions
associated with
associated with
þ biodiesel supplied to
electricity supplied
the site
to the site
demands in all instants on-site power generation by bio-diesel
generator plays a crucial role for carbon neutrality. The decision
to use bio-diesel as a renewable energy source was helped by the
fact that the fuel was produced locally in Hong Kong with waste
cooking oil as feedstock. The emission factor for the use of bio-
diesel from waste cooking oil is very low since it not only dis-
places the combustion of fossil fuel, but also avoids the generation
of methane gas at landfills. Detailed analyses were performed on
how and when energy is used in the building and devised an
International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2016, 11, 222–234 223
T.S.K. Ng et al.

Table 1. Schedule of Accommodations of CIC ZCB. energy matching strategy that aligned the consumption pattern
of the building. The strategy was based on the first and second
Accommodation Net floor area
(m2) laws of thermodynamics—energy is not destroyed, just becomes
lower grade when used. Hence energy usages are lined up in
Entrance lobby and reception terms of the energy grade such that the lower-grade energy
Orientation / break-out / information 100
output from one piece of equipment is utilised as the input of
Temporary exhibition area
Temporary exhibition zone with renew showcases from 150 another in an energy cascade. Figure 4 illustrates the schematic
local industry / stakeholders diagram of the PV and CCHP systems operation. Electricity gen-
Permanent exhibition area erated will serve the building and the landscape area; any surplus
Permanent exhibition zone on low-/zero-carbon design 490 electricity will be fed into the grid. Waste heat from the generator
and technologies
will be recovered to drive the absorption chiller and desiccant de-
Multi-purpose room
Audio–visual presentation for organised visits / public 260 humidification system. The energy generated and feed-in to grid
lectures, CIC seminars, conferences were continuously monitored by intelligent metering and trans-
Eco-office 1 mitted to Building Management System (BMS).

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Live showcase and active eco-office for CIC 230
Eco-office 2
Live showcase and active eco-office 120
Eco-home þ display gallery
Demonstration of low-/zero-carbon home design, features 150
3 ENERGY SIMULATION
and engagement for low-carbon living
Souvenir shop Whole building energy simulations were conducted at the early
Souvenirs / eco-products retail 10 design stage to predict the energy consumption of the ZCB. The
Eco-café results were used to size the building energy systems as well as re-
Ancillary catering facilities of the ZCB, with an eco-theme 10 newable energy systems for neutralisation. At design stage, this
for sustainable food
Total net floor area 1520
process was also important to evaluate the effectiveness of different
design strategies to reduce the loads (cooling and electricity) and

Figure 1. Photo of CIC ZCB.

224 International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2016, 11, 222–234


energy demand. This had helped the architects and engineers to
make the design decision using the standard cost–benefit analysis.
Building energy simulation was conducted using the simulation
tool IES ver 6.4 [6]. Two major inputs were needed—hourly
weather databases and ZCB building designs (architectural ele-
ments and building systems). The Typical Meteorological Year
(TMY) method, developed by the Sandia National Laboratories in
the USA and the most widely adopted methods for determination
of typical weather years [7], were adopted in the study. ATMY con-
sists of 12 typical meteorological months (TMMs) selected from
various calendar months in a 25-year period (1979–2003) mea-
sured weather database [8]. An 8760 hourly TMY weather file was
used to represent the Hong Kong prevailing climatic characteristics.
Figure 2. Challenging climatic conditions of Hong Kong on meeting thermal
environmental conditions for human occupancy.
Figure 4. Schematic diagram of PV and CCHP systems operation.
Design and commission a zero-carbon building
3.1 Base building
New buildings in Hong Kong are becoming more efficient; this
is partially attributed to the mandatory Building Energy Codes
(BEC) in 2012 to new buildings [9]. The codes provide the best
practice design guidelines for all new developments in Hong
Kong. Along with the regulations, BEC regulates the design of
Overall Thermal Transmittance Values (OTTV) [10] of building
fabric and minimum requirements of major building services
systems including those for the air-conditioning (A/C), electric-
al, lighting and escalators etc. They therefore form the baseline
and design targets for practitioners. To achieve the objective of
ultra-low energy use, the ZCB was designed to substantially
surpass such baseline performance.
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Figure 3. Concept of life-cycle approach for ZCB.
International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2016, 11, 222–234 225
T.S.K. Ng et al.
Figure 5. Results of energy simulation on energy use of various building
systems.
Figure 5 shows the energy use distribution predicted for the
baseline model. The energy use intensity (EUI) of typical exist-
ing office buildings ranges 250– 350 kWh/m2 [11], while our
base building design per BEC is around 157 kWh/m2. In other
words, adoption of BEC requirements can effectively reduce
energy use in building.
3.2 Energy performance of ZCB
Table 2 summarises the design values of the key parameters of
the ZCB. Energy model was performed with these values as the
design case; the predicted EUI of ZCB is 86 kWh/m2, i.e. 45%
lower than that of the BEC-compliant baseline building. Due to
its nature of mixed-uses (for office, conference and exhibition)
and intensive application, the CIC ZCB is relatively more
energy-intensive than other ZCB buildings of cities with similar
climate. For example, the EUI of the ZCB of Singapore is only
46 kWh/m2 according to the published data [12]. The nature
and operation schedule of building may cause the large differ-
ence in the annual energy use.
3.3 Effectiveness of design strategies
The effectiveness of energy saving strategies operated in the con-
texts of Hong Kong, i.e. those passive and active systems were
predicted by energy simulation. Figure 6 summarises their rela-
tive effectiveness. The design considerations and performances
of these strategies are summarised in the following paragraphs.
3.3.1 Facade thermal performance
It is essential to minimise the envelope loads to reduce the heat
build-up. The peak cooling load of the ZCB is calculated to be
163 W/m2 while most of the time cooling load is 80 W/m2.
Table 3 shows the cooling load breakdown of this building if it
226 International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2016, 11, 222–234
were built to BEC standards. It is observed that fabric loads
make up the majority proportion as the building has a high
envelope-to-floor area ratio.
Reduced window-to-wall ratio Approximately 10 times the solar
heat gains come through windows compared with opaque
facades. Minimising the extent of glazing has a dramatic effect
on the solar heat gain. The south-west facade is with no glazing
to avoid heat gains from afternoon low angle sun and the
ramped nature of the section naturally reduces window-to-wall
ratios on the south compared with the north. The overall
window-to-wall ratio of the ZCB is 0.4. The value was optimised
to meet the daylight requirement.
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Envelope absorptivity and facade insulation Minimising the flow
of heat through the opaque walls is also important. Two steps
reduce this impact: (1) lowering the absorptivity of the facade
reflects more heat away from the building, reducing the surface
temperature—absorptivity below 0.3 and (2) adding insulation to
the wall stops the flow of heat through the walls—u-value below
0.6 W/m2K for the walls and below 0.2 W/m2K for the roof.
To achieve an absorptivity of below 0.3, white walls or glazed
finishes can be used. Photovoltaic panels will sit above the
roof, these have high absorptivity but the ventilated air gap
beneath them will reduce heat transfer to the building. To
achieve 0.6 W/m2K, the building was designed to incorporate
4– 5 cm of high-quality polyurethane board or 8 –9 cm of
glass fiber insulation. To achieve 0.2 W/m2K, the building
incorporated 12– 15 cm of high-quality polyurethane board or
18 – 20 cm of glass fiber insulation.
3.3.2 Daylighting
The profile of the building tilting to the north had provided the
maximum opportunity of daylight while reducing the solar pene-
tration of the building. Effectively, the north light design has inte-
grated into the building design and provides daylighting
requirement for most of the spaces. To increase the amount of
natural light which reaches the middle of the floor plate, the
building incorporates an active skylight and light pipes. The sky-
light illuminates both the upper and lower exhibition spaces, and
the two light pipes sit above the lower exhibition space. The active
skylight, shown in Figure 7, consists of a standard skylight with
moveable fins located above. The fins are rotated to adjust the
amount of daylight that passes through the skylight. The building
is designed to rotate the fins manually from the exhibition space
below. This will allow occupants to experience control over the
building around them—the idea being they will adjust fins to
allow more light on an overcast day and less on a sunny day. The
light pipes are reflective light transmitting tubes to lead in add-
itional natural daylight into the inner part of the building.
3.3.3 Envelope air-tightness
This is particularly important for low energy design in Hong
Kong climate because dehumidification of high humidity of in-
filtration has a disproportional impact on the size of mechanical
 Design and commission a zero-carbon building

Table 2. Design assumptions for system design and energy simulation.

Feature Design

Thermal characteristics
Window-to-wall ratio north-east facade 10%
Window-to-wall ratio south-east facade 80%
Window-to-wall ratio south-west facade 0%
Window-to-wall ratio north-west facade 56%
Shading coefficient 0.33, double low-E window panes
Visual light transmission 0.54
Horizontal overhangs on the south facade 458 angle
Vertical louvers on the north-west facade 238 angle
Skylights Shaded by variable louvers
Wall U-value and absorptivity ,0.6W/m2K and ,0.3
Roof U-value and absorptivity ,0.2W/m2K and ,0.3
Room Design condition

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Internal design conditions
In general 25.5 + 18C DB; 55 + 10% RH
Office 25.5 + 18C DB; 55 + 10% RH
Exhibition area 25.5 + 18C DB; 55 + 10% RH
Multi-function room (normal operation) 25.5 + 18C DB; 55 + 10% RH
Server room 22 + 18C DB; 55 + 10% RH
E&M plantroom , 408C DB
Lighting load (office) 6 W/m2 (200lux þ task lighting)
Lighting load (exhibition area) 6 W/m2 (200lux þ task lighting)
Lighting load (multi-purpose room) 6 W/m2 (300lux)
Equipment load (office) 20 W/m2
Equipment load (exhibition area) 10 kW
Equipment load (multi-purpose room) 5 W/m2
People load (office) 130 W/person
People load (exhibition area) 130 W/person
People load (multi-purpose room) 95 W/person
Room Occupancy (m2/person) Occupancy (person) Fresh air (l/s/person) Fresh air (l/s/m2)

Occupancy and fresh air

Exhibition 4.7 — 4.3 0.3
Display 4.7 — 4.3 0.3
Multi-purpose room — 300 4.3 0.3
Eco-office 8 — 2.5 0.3

plant and its energy use. Good air tightness also reduces the risk
of condensation. Infiltration occurs primarily at window and
door joins, these features was designed to reduce infiltration to
below 5 l/s per m2 of door area and to below 2 l/s per m2 of
window area.
3.3.4 Optimising microclimate and natural ventilation
Enhanced natural ventilation can reduce building energy loads
as air is moved through the building naturally for, in this case,
30 – 40% of the year (when used in conjunction with ceiling
fans). As shown in Figure 8, with the computational fluid
dynamic (CFD) modeling technique, the building is oriented to
receive the site prevailing south-easterly wind, in order to opti-
mising the natural air flow availability. A thermal dynamic study
has shown that under natural ventilation operation, cool
fresh-air is brought in through orifices, warmed by the internal
loads and exhausted. An internal temperature at 25.58C is to be
maintained. For this level of internal gains, natural ventilation
can function below external temperatures of 208C, accounting
for increased air movement due to ceiling fans. This delivers a
minimum air exchange rate of six air changes per hour under
typical conditions.
3.3.5 Radiant cooling
Radiant cooling systems rely primarily on radiation heat transfer.
Typically, chilled water is circulated through ceiling panels or
beams to maintain comfort in the building. The circulated water
collects and removes heat from the space. Radiant systems are
more energy-efficient than air-based systems. They require less
parasitic energy ( pump and fan energy) to deliver cooling. The
higher operating temperatures mean that chillers can operate
more efficiently if they are not required to serve other cooler
areas. Because the floors are radiantly cooled, the air tempera-
ture can be higher to achieve the same level of comfort. Higher
air temperatures also result in lower heat losses to the outdoors.
Also, radiant cooling systems are silent in operation and this
enhances occupant comfort.
A limiting factor for the panel temperature and the cooling
capacity is the dew-point temperature in the space. Standards
recommend a limit for the relative humidity in a space to 60 or
70% relative humidity, which at an air temperature of 268C

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T.S.K. Ng et al.

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Figure 6. Summary of energy simulation results for different design strategies.

(798F) corresponds to a dew point between 17 and 208C (63 and Table 3. Estimated cooling load and the breakdown for the zero-carbon
688F), i.e. lower than the floor temperature (218C typical). building.
In the design, the radiant system is sized to deliver 50 W/m2 Components Cooling load (kW)
accounting for about 30 – 50% of the total heat load. Energy
savings occurs through the reduction in fan-power (by 30 – 50%) Fabric load 64.4
Equipment load 18.4
but is slightly off-set by an increase in pump power—additional Lighting load 6.0
energy for chilled water circuit. People load 20.2
Given the risk for condensation, radiant panels is applied to Fresh air load 53.4
areas away from the perimeter zone with appropriate control Total peak cooling load 163
methodology discussed in later sections. The radiant panels are
provided with higher water temperature (compared with conven-
tional fan coils), leading to higher Coefficient of Performances temperature difference ¼ 108C for both systems and hence both
(COPs) at the chillers. Expected cooling energy savings is 6– systems will have similar volume flow rate.
12%. Corresponding overall energy reduction is 1–3%. Energy savings arises in two key areas: (1) the plenum under-
floor design and low-velocity outlets minimises pressure drop and
3.3.6 Underfloor air-supply hence fan power (15% reduction in fan power) and (2) the higher
Underfloor systems mainly use the same A/C equipment, e.g. chil- supply air temperature allows greater extent of free-cooling
lers, pumps, and AHUs as in conventional A/C systems. The main number of days suitable for free cooling increases from 200 h each
difference between the two is the manner that air is being distrib- year to 600 h each year. Overall energy reduction expected from
uted. To avoid drafts, the temperature of the supply air is higher the use of underfloor systems was predicted to be 0.5–3%.
in an underfloor system (15–208C compared with 10–158C of
conventional A/C). While jet-throw systems are considered semi- 3.4 On-site renewable energy generation
stratified, the fully stratified displacement systems will have a After applying the passive and active design measures for energy
higher return air temperature even though the exhaust inlets are efficiency, the building and landscape energy consumption is
located at similar height at the ceiling. The final temperature dif- greatly reduced to the following:
ference between inlet and exhaust will depend on the detailed
air-flow and will be the subject of further studies. As a reasonable - 116 MWh/year electricity consumption by the building
starting point, the effect of increased stratification is assumed to - 15 MWh/year electricity consumption by surrounding
be exactly off-set by the effect of increased supply temperature, i.e. landscape

228 International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2016, 11, 222–234


Figure 7. Active skylight of the ZCB.
Figure 8. Building massing and orientation optimising natural ventilation.
To achieve net zero carbon, these energy demands were met
through renewable means. An additional 99 MWh/year will be
exported to the grid to off-set the embodied energy in major
building materials and if possible the embodied energy in other
building components, water use and transportation energy of
Design and commission a zero-carbon building
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users. This also gives the opportunity for carbon trading for
such additional energy output in the future.
The site is surrounded by buildings with one high-rise office
tower, located at the southern location, completely overshadow-
ing during winter solstice. The expected power output per
International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2016, 11, 222–234 229
T.S.K. Ng et al.

square meter of panels is 85 kWh/m2. The panels will also
require 50% of mounting and servicing space in between. The
installed PV cells are monocrystalline and polycrystalline PV
systems. Complete coverage of the building footprint with
Table 4. Life-cycle calculation on energy and carbon balance in 50 years.
1015 m2 PV panels can produce only 87 MWh/year of electricity,
i.e. insufficient for our needs.
A bio-diesel CCHP system was designed as a suitable add-
itional renewable system [13]. A CCHP system is suitable as the
thermal energy produced can be used to drive an absorption
chiller system to provide cooling to the building which reduces
the electrical energy use for chillers by 85%. Table 4 summarises
the energy and carbon balance with the application of bio-diesel
CCHP and PV systems.

Energy Carbon

Energy use 4 COMBINE COOLING, HEATING AND

Embodied energy due to construction 14 MWh —
materials
POWER SYSTEM

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Energy use due to construction process 4 MWh —
Energy use of ZCB 116 MWh/year — The core element of the central system is the CCHP powered by
Energy use of the landscape area and 15 MWh/year — bio-diesel for carbon off-set. The commissioning of the gener-
others ator and absorption chiller is complicated. It requires the cali-
Generation bration of the condensing water temperature to provide the
Output from bio-diesel tri-generation 143 MWh/year —
system (100 kWe)
cooling design capacity and the supply temperature of the
Output of PV panels 87 MWh/year — chilled water for the A/C systems.
(1015 m2)
Offset
Surplus energy export 99 MWh/year — 4.1 System selection
Carbon emission reduction by on-site — 7100 Four options of CCHP system were investigated; the relative merits
renewable energy (over 50 years) tonnes and drawbacks are discussed in Table 5. Key considerations for
selection are:

Table 5. System selection for overall optimised energy efficiency.

System option descriptiona Option 1 Option 2 Option 3 Option 4

Chiller for underfloor A/C

Quantity 1 no.  100 kW 1 no.  100 kW 2 nos.  70 kW 1 no.  55 kW (absorption chiller)
(absorption chiller)
1 no.  40 kW 1 no.  40 kW 2 no.  55 kW (electric chiller)
Chilled water supply / Return temperature 9 / 138C 9 / 138C 9 / 138C 9 / 138C
COP (electric chiller) 5 5 N/A 5
Chiller efficiency (absorption chiller) N/A N/A 0.7 0.7
Chiller for chilled ceiling
Quantity 1 no.  40 kW 1 no.  40 kW 1 no.  40 kW 1 no.  55 kW (electric chiller)
(absorption chiller)
Chilled water supply / return temperature 15 / 198C 15 / 198C 15 / 198C 15 / 198C
COP (electric chiller) 5 5 N/A 5
Chiller efficiency (absorption chiller) N/A N/A 0.7 N/A
Peak power rating by chiller (kWp) 36 36 N/A 16
Overall cooling system efficiency 5 5 N/A 10.2
(cooling capacity / power rating)
Annual electricity consumption by chillers (kWh) 21 300 21 300 N/A 2000
Annual building energy consumption (exclude chillers) 95 000 95 000 95 000 95 000
(kWh)
PV area required (m2) 3000 N/A 1000 1000
CCHP power generation requirement (kWp) N/A 45 45 80
Heat rejection (high grade) from CCHP (kW) N/A 0 0 80
Heat rejection (low grade) from CCHP (kW) N/A 102 102 80
Waste heat recovery capacity (kW) N/A 0 102 55 (absorption chiller);
125 (desiccant dehumidifier)
CCHP operating hour N/A 24 h/day (summer only) 24 h/day (summer only) When absorption chiller is on
a
Option 1: electricity generated by PV; cooling by electric chiller. Option 2: electricity generated by CCHP; cooling by electric chiller. Option 3: electricity
generated by CCHP and PV; cooling by absorption chiller. Option 4: electricity generated by CCHP and PV; cooling by absorption chiller and electric chiller.

230 International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2016, 11, 222–234

 Design and commission a zero-carbon building

† System sized to instantaneous cooling demand

† Smaller central plant size
† PV panels contained within building footprint and covered
walkway
† Electric chiller increases resilience
† Excess electricity exported during peak hours (high value)
† Potential for waste heat for desiccant dehumidification
† Optimised running cost

Option 3 which provides the opportunity of energy cascade

was concluded to be the most energy efficient option. The
central cooling plant consists of absorption chiller operating
alongside with water-cooled electric chiller. Absorption chiller

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‘absorbs’ the waste heat from the bio-diesel generator and pro-
duces chilled water. Minimal electricity demand is required in
this process. The absorption chiller will deal with the cooling
load provided by underfloor A/C and ceiling air supply, while
the electric chiller will cater the remaining cooling load and will
also serve as back-up chiller to ensure system reliability. Figure 9
illustrates the CCHP bio-diesel generator and absorption chiller.

4.2 Design capacity

The CCHP system uses bio-diesel to generate both electrical and
thermal energy to run the chiller system and meet the building
cooling and electrical loads. The system is renewable as the fuel
is bio-diesel. The size of the system is 100 kWe and will operate
when a cooling demand is present.
In this design, a new approach towards chilled water produc-
Figure 9. Main equipment of CCHP-bio-diesel generator and absorption tion was adopted in the building. The idea of energy grading
chiller. was applied to match renewable energies to the remaining

Figure 10. Annual energy balance of energy consumption and renewable generation.

International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2016, 11, 222–234 231

T.S.K. Ng et al.
Figure 11. Annual carbon trade-off of the ZCB.
energy demands. The technique is ‘energy grading’: ranking the
full range of possible renewable sources against end-use energy
needs, to generate a checklist of building design priorities. The
key issue is to match the lowest possible grade of source against
the grade of the end demand.
Energy grading highlights interesting issues, like the inherent
inefficiency of many conventional systems that consume high-
grade energy and deliver only low-grade energy to building
users. It is understood that the high-energy penalties of chilled
water production can be supplied by waste heat rather than the
conventional grid electricity. Figure 10 illustrates the annual
energy balance of energy consumption and renewable gener-
ation. By applying the general carbon conversion factor of
0.7 kgCO2-e/kWh in Hong Kong [14], the carbon emission
values were calculated. Figure 11 shows the carbon trade-off for
the whole year. It is observed that carbon emissions in cool
season (November– March) can be fully off-set in summer time
(June –September).
4.3 Commissioning
The CCHP was installed and commissioned to test the system
performance. The instantaneous testing results of the generator
and absorption cooling systems are plotted in Figure 12. At the
design power generation (100 kWe), the absorption chiller is
able to deliver a cooling capacity of 70 kW. The COP is at 1.1
with overall thermal efficiency of 80%. As shown in Figure 12,
the chilled water temperature can achieve the design conditions,
i.e. supply temperature at 98C and return temperature at 128C.
More testing results are expected in the future after a longer
period of occupancy of the building.
232 International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2016, 11, 222–234
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5 CONCLUSIONS
The design of ZCB needs to consider the particular local con-
texts. In Hong Kong, the CIC ZCB was designed for local hot
and humid climate of sub-tropical Hong Kong. A new concept
of defining ZCB adopting life-cycle concept was proposed.
Designing of the ZCB has incorporated a series of sustainable
designs on passive architecture and energy-efficient active
systems were applied to the construction of the building. These
include the high-performance facade with low OTTV, effective
air tightness and optimised window design which allows the op-
eration natural ventilation and daylighting. Energy-efficient AC
systems using desiccant dehumidification, underfloor supply and
radiant cooling have also contributed on achieving ultra-low EUI
values. Over 45% energy saving is achieved when compared with
the local standard. The concept of energy-cascade was introduced
to maximise the overall thermal efficiency of the bio-diesel CCHP
system. The overall thermal efficiency is 80%, a significant per-
formance that helps to lower the carbon footprint of the building.
The total life-cycle carbon emission was off-set by on-site renew-
able energy generated by PV and bio-diesel CCHP systems.
The commissioning was performed to test the performance
of the CCHP system. The instantaneous data including gener-
ator output power, absorption chiller cooling capacity, supply
and return chilled water temperatures were logged and investi-
gated. With several rounds of condensing water temperature
calibrations, it is observed that the system is able to deliver
design cooling capacity and design chilled water temperatures. A
comprehensive analysis of commissioning is expected in the
future when more testing data are available.
 Design and commission a zero-carbon building

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Figure 12. Output of bio-diesel CCHP.

International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2016, 11, 222–234 233

T.S.K. Ng et al.
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