South Korea has set the goal to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 32.5% based on the business as usual (BAU) scenario by 2030. To achieve the goals of energy saving and GHG emission reduction, the building sector is strengthening the insulation...
South Korea has set the goal to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 32.5% based on the business as usual (BAU) scenario by 2030. To achieve the goals of energy saving and GHG emission reduction, the building sector is strengthening the insulation performance of new buildings and obligating zero-energy buildings step by step.
For these policies to be effective, it is necessary to secure technical and economic feasibility and provide energy information that can be easily understood and determined by building managers. As a concrete planning unit for energy conservation, information provision on the current status of energy use by effective end uses (e.g., heating, cooling, hot water, lighting, and ventilation) is important because it encourages building managers to improve energy performances voluntarily and can play a role in facilitating the establishment of specific policies.
This study collected and analyzed energy consumption data by end use by installing a measurement system in office buildings, so that the building energy information regulated to provide energy consumption information by source could be expanded for providing energy use intensity by end use. Therefore, in this study, based on the principles established in previous research, office buildings were first selected, out of the different types of buildings in the register. In addition, classification variables (total floor area and completion period) were considered to design statistically meaningful samples in terms of measurement system installation for energy consumption by end use. The classification levels of total floor areas were divided into < 3,000㎡ , 3,000 ㎡~ 9,999㎡, and >10,000㎡, considering the differences in the main installed facility systems, such as heat source types, air conditioning systems, lifting, and water supply facilities. The classification levels of completion periods were before 1992, 1993 to 2002, and after 2003, considering the periods when the insulation design standards were greatly strengthened.Accordingly, 67 sample office buildings were selected, and the measurement system was installed based on the measurement principle of energy consumption by end use and statistical processing method established in the previous research. The energy consumption data by end use from January to December 2019 was collected. In addition, considering that some of the data collected from the measurement system were missing values and outliers, a scheme for correction processing was established and applied.Before deriving the energy use intensity by end use in the sample office buildings, the validity of the measurement data was reviewed, and energy use-related characteristics were analyzed by dividing them into building, facility, and utility sectors. The validity of the measurement data was reviewed based on the difference ratio between the measured data in this study and the billing data. The billing data represented the actual energy consumption recorded in the bill statement on electricity/gas charges, and the billing details were written based on electricity/gas consumption charges, not building units. Therefore, in this study, the difference ratio was examined in several sample office buildings for which the measurement data and billing data showed similar range. The billing data was acquired from electricity/gas consumption details provided by the open access system on building data. As a result of the comparison, the electric energy consumption showed a difference ratio of 0.4–5.1%, whereas the gas energy usage indicated a difference ratio of 1.2–5.4%, confirming the similarities between the measured data and actual consumptions. Energy use-related characteristics in the sample office buildings were divided into building, facility, and use sectors based on the data collected from a field survey. The building sector included construction characteristics such as structure types, core form, floor height, ceiling height, and heat transmission coefficients (exterior wall and windows). The facility sector included total energy source types and facility systems applied to eight end uses (heating, cooling, hot water, lighting, ventilation, electric appliances (typical floor), lifting, and water supply) that were defined in this study. The utility sector included energy use related characteristics in actual sample office buildings, such as occupancy types, management types, daily average working hours, cooling/heating periods, and cooling/heating temperature settings. For estimating intensity from the measurement data obtained through a series of processes, the upper and lower 10% data were removed from the valid data for each end use to minimize the effects of overestimated or underestimated intensity. The obtained data were categorized based on the aggregate floor area where the measured energy was used in total sample, total floor areas (< 3,000㎡ , 3,000 ㎡~ 9,999㎡, and >10,000㎡), and completion periods (before 1992, 1993–2002, after 2003). Annual energy use intensity by end use was calculated and analyzed based on these categories. In addition, the distribution patterns and trends of energy use intensity by end use derived from this study, were analyzed along with the data from other countries. The analysis results are summarized as follows, and the annual energy use intensity by end use is abbreviated as EUI.
(1) EUI(Energy use intensity) in total sample In the total sample, the descending order of EUIs by end use was as follows: electric appliances (typical floor)> heating> cooling> lighting> ventilation> hot water > lifting > water supply. Electric appliances (typical floor) and heating showed high EUIs of 43.3 and 36.6 kWh/㎡·year, respectively. Cooling and lighting EUIs recorded 25.5 and 15.1 kWh/㎡·year, respectively; ventilation and hot water EUIs were 5.2 and 4.2 kWh/㎡·year, respectively; lifting and water supply EUIs recorded the lowest values of 3.0 and 0.7 kWh/㎡·year, respectively. This result indicates that electric appliances (typical floor) carry the largest proportion and the most important part in annual energy consumption reduction, followed by heating, cooling, and lighting. (2) EUI(Energy use intensity) by gross floor area Gross floor area showed a positive correlation with cooling, ventilation, and elevation EUI and a negative one with electronic device (reference floor) EUI. In other words, a higher gross floor area increased cooling, ventilation, and elevation EUI and decreased electronic device (reference floor) EUI. Gross floor area had no particular correlation with other use EUI.
Heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, elevation, and water supply EUI were found to be the highest in the group with the largest gross floor area. Business facilities with a large gross floor area usually utilize a central heat source-based HVAC system, and it is often difficult to control the system individually in such facilities. In addition, lighting density is often high, multiple elevators including emergency elevators are installed, and water is supplied in a tankless booster or elevated tank type, not a direct city water type. These characteristics may have contributed to the finding that the group with the largest gross floor area had the highest heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, elevation, and water supply EUI.
Electronic device (reference floor) EUI was the highest in the group with the smallest gross floor area. As the energy consumption of electronic devices was almost constant depending on the gross floor area, the group with the smallest gross floor area seemed to have the highest electronic device EUI. Hot water EUI was the highest in the group with the medium gross floor area, and it is believed to have no close correlation with gross floor area.(3) EUI(Energy use intensity) by completion time Completion time had a positive correlation with water supply EUI; the latest completion time increased water supply EUI. Completion time had no particular correlation with other use EUI.
Heating and electronic device (reference floor) EUI was the highest in the group with the oldest completion time. As business facilities constructed a long time ago often have poorer performance in insulation and enclosure and typically do not have a function to cut off standby power, the group with the oldest completion time is believed to have the highest heating and electronic device (reference floor) EUI.
Lighting and water supply EUI was found to be the highest in the group with the latest completion time, but the difference was not significant. Cooling, hot water, ventilation, and elevation EUI was the highest in the group with the middle completion time, and it is considered to have no close correlation with completion time.(4) Comparative analysis of EUI(Energy use intensity)s based on data from the US and UK Among the end uses classified in this study, for the US CBECS 2012 and UK BEES 2014–2015, heating, cooling, hot water, lighting, and ventilation were defined as the same, but the rest of end uses had different definitions. Accordingly, other end uses such as electric appliances were further classified and compared. In all three research cases, electric appliance and heating EUIs recorded the highest values, whereas hot water EUI was the smallest. In short, in all three research cases, electric appliance and heating end uses take a crucial part in energy saving; hot water required low energy consumption compared to other end uses. Compared to CBECS 2012 and BEES 2014–2015, EUIs in this study recorded around 40–60% in heating, hot water, lighting, ventilation, and electric appliances, except for cooling. It is assumed that there were differences in EUI values due to the differences in total floor areas and classification of completion periods of targeted sample buildings in other countries, as well as dissimilarities in climate characteristics, energy consumption calculation, and statistical processing methods by end use. In this study, 67 sample office buildings in Seoul and neighboring areas were selected and measurement systems were installed to collect energy consumption data by end use from January 2019 to December 2019. Furthermore, based on the measurement data, EUIs by end use were calculated after classifying into total sample, total floor areas, and completion periods, together with a comparative analysis of data from the US and UK, such as the CBECS 2012 and BEES 2014–2015. Based on the analysis, this study confirmed the necessity of providing energy use data in office buildings in South Korea. The detailed analysis of energy consumption based on the classification levels (total floor area and completion period) can be used as a basic dataset for the efficient analysis of energy consumption in office buildings.