Sustainable Buildings’ Energy-Efficient Retrofitting: A Study of Large Office Buildings in Beijing

Shiyu Wan, Grace Ding, Goran Runeson and Yisheng Liu
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Shiyu Wan: Faculty of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Grace Ding: Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo 2007, Australia
Goran Runeson: Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo 2007, Australia
Yisheng Liu: Faculty of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-24

Abstract: Energy-efficient retrofitting has emerged as a primary strategy for reducing the energy consumption of buildings. Buildings in China account for about 40% of total national energy consumption. Large office buildings account for the most. Less than 5% of the building area of existing office buildings is energy efficient. Energy-efficient retrofitting for sustainable buildings is a complicated system that involves various sustainable dimensions and operational technical schemes. Making multi-criteria decisions becomes a challenging problem for stakeholders. Based on the theory of sustainability, this paper establishes a sustainable analysis framework to guide stakeholders to select an optimal technical combination of energy-efficient retrofit measures for large office buildings. Based on empirical data collected in Beijing, a number of energy efficiency measures are selected, tailored and applied to a virtual model of a typical large office building. Technical features and the energy performance are simulated accordingly. The energy consumption, energy-saving ratio and lifecycle costs are derived to identify the optimal configuration. The outcome of this research offers a feasible technical plan for stakeholders relating to technical design and design making. The study finds that an LED lighting system and frequency conversion device for the cooling water chiller cannot only sufficiently reduce the building’s energy consumption but also perform economically. Different thermal insulation materials for reconstructing the building envelope have no obvious effect on the thermal performance in comprehensive simulations of technology combinations. The sustainable analysis framework offers theoretical and practical support and can be used as a reference for the other types of buildings in future research.

Keywords: energy-efficient retrofitting; large office building; building energy-efficiency technologies (BEETs); sustainability; lifecycle cost; multi-criteria decisions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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