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Building Simulation 2020, 13(6): 1191-1204 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-020-0653-y
Research Article | Issue | Published: 17 July 2020

Evaluation of the dynamic energy performance gap of green buildings: Case studies in China

Show Author's Information Dan Wang1,2,  Xiufeng Pang1,2( ),  Wei Wang1,2,  Zewei Qi1,2,  Ying Ji1,2,  Rongxin Yin3
Department of Building Environment and Facility Engineering, College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Built Environment and Energy Efficient Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, MS 90R3111, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Keywords:
green buildings, dynamic performance gap, energy use in buildings, case studies
Cite this article:
Wang D, Pang X, Wang W, et al. Evaluation of the dynamic energy performance gap of green buildings: Case studies in China. Building Simulation, 2020, 13(6): 1191-1204. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-020-0653-y
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Abstract Full text About this article

The green building concept originated from the need and desire for more energy efficient and environmentally friendly construction practices. With a boom in certified green buildings in recent decades, however, various stakeholders have raised concerns about the actual energy performance of such buildings. While studies have shown significant gaps between the expected and actual energy use of green buildings, the methods used in the analyses have been considered inappropriate. A dynamic approach has been suggested to quantify the discrepancy between the expected and actual energy use in green buildings. However, although the concept of the dynamic approach has been discussed in several studies, a process and methods for applying the approach in real applications are not available in the literature. This study introduces a process and methods for practicing the dynamic approach and provides five case studies of using this approach to assess the energy performance gap of green buildings. The analyses show that the dynamic performance gap of the five buildings ranges from 3.0% to 53.5%, with a median of 24.7%, and the average dynamic gap of the HVAC system is nearly two orders of magnitude greater than that of the non-HVAC system. The degraded controls of HVAC systems may be a main cause of the performance gap.


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About this article

Evaluation of the dynamic energy performance gap of green buildings: Case studies in China

Show Author's information Dan Wang1,2, Xiufeng Pang1,2( ), Wei Wang1,2, Zewei Qi1,2, Ying Ji1,2, Rongxin Yin3
Department of Building Environment and Facility Engineering, College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Built Environment and Energy Efficient Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, MS 90R3111, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

Abstract

The green building concept originated from the need and desire for more energy efficient and environmentally friendly construction practices. With a boom in certified green buildings in recent decades, however, various stakeholders have raised concerns about the actual energy performance of such buildings. While studies have shown significant gaps between the expected and actual energy use of green buildings, the methods used in the analyses have been considered inappropriate. A dynamic approach has been suggested to quantify the discrepancy between the expected and actual energy use in green buildings. However, although the concept of the dynamic approach has been discussed in several studies, a process and methods for applying the approach in real applications are not available in the literature. This study introduces a process and methods for practicing the dynamic approach and provides five case studies of using this approach to assess the energy performance gap of green buildings. The analyses show that the dynamic performance gap of the five buildings ranges from 3.0% to 53.5%, with a median of 24.7%, and the average dynamic gap of the HVAC system is nearly two orders of magnitude greater than that of the non-HVAC system. The degraded controls of HVAC systems may be a main cause of the performance gap.

Keywords: green buildings, dynamic performance gap, energy use in buildings, case studies

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 13 August 2019
Accepted: 17 April 2020
Published: 17 July 2020
Issue date: December 2020

Copyright

This is a U.S. government work and not under copyright protection in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply 2020

Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2017YFB0604000, No. 2018YFC0705900) and with additional support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51628801) and the Young Top-Notch Talents Team Program of Beijing Excellent Talents Funding (2017000026833TD02). The authors are grateful for the support of these sponsors.

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