Analyze the energy-saving benefits of Taiwan’s existing advanced energy-saving strategies through energy simulation

Abstract

Building energy consumption accounts for more than 30% of global energy consumption. Nearly zero energy building (nZEB) is an important strategy for energy saving and carbon reduction in the building sector. nZEB design could be separated into two key strategies: "Advanced energy-saving design", which requires highly efficient envelop components and mechanical systems, and "Renewable energy", which requires renewable generations to offset building energy uses.
Taiwan's green building evaluation system provides various advanced energy-saving design strategies to achieve energy-saving beyond the codes. The purpose of this study is to explore the energy saving benefits of Taiwan's existing advanced energy-saving design strategies, especially strategies that were typically used in green buildings. This study first established two reference building energy models, a school building and an apartment, by EnergyPlus. Additionally, we formulated a series of step-by-step advanced energy-saving strategies and determined the maximal energy-saving strategy packages, which could help the two types of buildings achieve the highest rating score in the energy-saving category in Taiwan’s green building evaluation system. Following, inputting the strategies into the two models, and simulating their energy efficiencies. The results show that: a school building, which implemented the maximal energy-saving strategy package that achieves the highest energy-saving score in green building evaluation system, could save about 56.2% energy when comparing with a typical school building that complies with the building codes. Regarding apartment building, applying the maximal energy-saving strategy package could reduce 51.3-54.2% apartment energy use when comparing with a typical apartment that complies with the building codes. Moreover, we found out that shading design affects the energy-saving benefits of using efficient building materials. School buildings are generally constructed with side corridors, and the shading effect of the side corridor would reduce the energy saving benefits of using efficient building materials.