Annual Energy Consumption Cut-Off with Cooling System Design Parameter Changes in Large Office Buildings

Ju-wan Ha, Soolyeon Cho, Hwan-yong Kim and Young-hak Song
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Ju-wan Ha: Department of Architectural Engineering, Graduate School, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52828, Korea
Soolyeon Cho: School of Architecture, College of Design North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Hwan-yong Kim: Department of Architectural Engineering, ERI, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52828, Korea
Young-hak Song: Department of Architectural Engineering, ERI, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52828, Korea

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-16

Abstract: A variety of greenhouse gas reduction scenarios have been proposed around the world to ensure sustainable developments and strengthen the global response to the climate change. To cope with this, it is urgently needed to reduce the amount of energy used for the heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and refrigerating (HVAC&R) systems in large buildings. This study discusses the reduction of cooling energy in large office buildings through the minimization of changes in components and equipment, such as heat source equipment and pumps, changes in the layout and operating methods of chilled water circulation pumps, and changes in the temperatures of chilled and condenser water. To do this, this study targeted an entire cooling system consisting of a hydronic system, a chiller, and a cooling tower, and conducted a quantitative analysis of the energy consumption and of the reduction achieved through a change in the pumping system type in the cooling system and a change in the Korean standard design and temperature of chiller and cooling tower via EnergyPlus simulations. The simulation results showed a cooling energy reduction of 103.2 MWh/yr, around 15.7%, where the primary constant-speed system (Case A) was changed to a primary variable-speed pump (Case B) in the configuration with a chilled water circulation pump. To reduce the cooling energy further, annually 142.3 MWh, around 21.7%, Case C in this study changed the outlet temperature of the chiller and temperature difference from 7 °C, 5 K to 9 °C, 9 K. Finally, when applying a change in the condenser water production temperature from 32 to 23.9 °C in accordance with ASHRAE Standard 90.1 for Case D, a cooling energy saving of 182.4 MWh/yr was observed, which is about 27.8%.

Keywords: large office; chilled water; cooling tower control; low-temperature condenser water; energy consumption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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