A new database of building-space-specific internal loads and load schedules for performance based code compliance modeling of commercial buildings

Abstract

Building-level loads and load schedules prescribed by current modeling rules save modelers time and provide standards during whole building performance modeling. However, recent studies show that they sometimes insufficiently capture the entire building performance due to the varied loads and load schedules for different space types. As a solution to this issue, this paper presents a database of default building-space-specific loads and load schedules for use in energy modeling, and in particular code compliance modeling for commercial buildings. The existing sets of default loads and load schedules are reviewed and the challenges behind using them for specific research topics are discussed. Then, the proposed method to develop the building-space-specific loads and load schedules is introduced. After that, the database for these building-space-specific loads and load schedules is presented. In addition, one case is studied to demonstrate the applications of these loads and load schedules. In this case study, three methods are used to develop building energy models: space-specific (using knowledge of the distribution and location of space types and applying the space-specific data in the developed database), building-level (assuming a lack of knowledge of the space types and using the building-level data in the developed database), and calculated-ratio (assuming knowledge of the distribution of space types but not their locations and calculating weighted average values based on the space-specific data in the developed database). The energy results simulated by using these three methods are compared, which shows building-level methods can produce significantly different absolute energy and energy savings results than the results using space-specific methods. Finally, this paper discusses the application scope and maintenance of this new database.