Performance of energy conservation measures in Canadian office buildings

Abstract

Buildings account for 30% of the total energy use in Canada. It is well understood that improving energy performance of buildings is an effective way to reduce their energy use and carbon emissions. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the performance of various energy conservation measures (ECMs), from cost, energy, and peak demand perspectives for three office archetypes in six Canadian climate zones. For this purpose, this study developed a simulation-based methodology for generating and simulating a wide range of ECMs automatically. The impacts of ECMs compared to the baselines as per the requirements of the National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings (NECB) were then evaluated. The results indicate that switching to electrical equipment is a cost-effective way to improve energy performance. Across office archetypes and climate zones, 71% of the solution sets at tier 4 use electrical equipment, whereas only 24% of the solution sets at tier 1 use electrical equipment. The results also show that reducing internal loads yields more energy and cost savings in larger offices and milder climates. For instance, the load-related ECMs lead to a maximum energy saving of 13% in the small office archetype while this is 18% in the large office archetype. However, HVAC system performance has a larger impact in smaller offices and colder climates. For instance, the small office archetype has a maximum energy saving of 29% using HVAC-related ECMs while this is 25% in the large office archetype. These findings provide important insights for designing new office buildings in heating-dominated climates.