A study on the energy performance of three schemes for widening application of water-cooled air-conditioning systems in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Government intends to reduce greenhouse gases emissions from power stations through widening application of the more energy efficient water-cooled air-conditioning systems (WACS) in buildings. Consideration is being given to the development of centralized, district wide systems for supplying seawater for once-through condenser cooling (the CPSSCC scheme), or for make-up of water losses at cooling towers (the CPSSCT scheme) such that buildings that are restricted to using air-cooled air-conditioning systems (AACS) may adopt or convert to WACS. Development of district cooling systems (DCS) for supplying chilled water to buildings is another feasible option. This paper describes a study into the energy benefits of implementing these schemes in Hong Kong. Application of the analysis method to a territory-wide study for Hong Kong showed that these schemes were all technically feasible and economically viable. It was estimated that compared with all buildings using AACS, the economic saving that could be realized through implementing these schemes in large scale are around 6% for the CPSSCC scheme, 2–3% for the CPSSCT scheme and 20–23% for the DCS scheme.     

香港环球贸易中心冷却水系统优化控制研究

提出了常规中央空调冷却水系统的优化控制策略.该控制策略是香港理工大学智能建筑研究所与香港新鸿基地产发展有限公司共同研究开发的中央空调系统系列智能优化控制策略之一.这一优化控制策略将应用在香港环球贸易中心.该方法可以自动设置系统冷却水的供水温度(即冷却塔的出水温度)以保证系统自适应于动态的工作条件并保持高效率.该方法在这一建筑及空调系统的虚拟环境下进行了测试和验证.     

Benchmarking Hong Kong and China energy codes for residential buildings

Mandatory energy codes to curb energy use of residential buildings have been formally launched in China for more than two decades but little has been publicized in literature. Similar codes are not available for residential buildings in Hong Kong, but most residential buildings in Hong Kong, especially public housing estates, are HK-BEAM certified to demonstrate their compliance with regulatory and basic design requirements. Given HK-BEAM is internationally recognized and there are doubts about the effectiveness of the China codes, how the energy efficiency of the HK-BEAM certified buildings compare with buildings in compliance with the China codes is of interest to most building designers and policy makers. This paper describes how the energy efficiency of a case study building in compliance with the China codes compare with the one in compliance with HK-BEAM. The energy simulation by HTB2 and BECRES reveal that the case study building in compliance with the China codes is 51.1% better in energy use. In the study, the relative impact of each compliance criterion on energy use and cooling load has been quantified by sensitivity analysis. The sensitivity values indicate that energy use is most sensitive to air-conditioning operation hours, indoor design temperature, coefficient of performance (COP) of the room air-conditioners (RAC) units, and the envelop characteristics. The results of this study indicate that a HK-BEAM certified building cannot satisfy the China codes requirements. This provides good reference to the policy makers, the building owners, and to the China and Hong Kong Governments when considering reciprocal recognition of building energy codes.     

An integrated model for the design of air-cooled chiller plants for commercial buildings

Cooling load calculation is the first step in designing the air-conditioning system of a building. The calculated cooling capacity with appropriate buffer is then used to select the number and size of chillers in the system. N + 1 is a common formula used by designers to size the chiller plants in Hong Kong buildings, where N is the actual number of chillers required and 1 is a redundant chiller provided to ensure reliability. This paper reviews the problem of excess capacity and discusses the risk exposure of chiller systems without redundant chillers. The cooling load profiles of the chiller plants of four medium-sized commercial buildings in Hong Kong are reviewed. The risk exposure of chiller systems without redundant chillers can be minimized by applying risk-based preventive maintenance. The just-in-demand design reduces capital cost of the building and frees up funds for continuous energy measurement and improving the energy efficiency of chiller plant systems. This paper presents a model for designing chiller plants that improves the energy efficiency of the plant in a cost effective and thoughtful manner. It is designed with consideration of the life cycle of the plant and real-time continuous commissioning, monitoring, measurement, comparison and execution for better energy management.     

Energy performance of a cooling plant system using the inverter chiller for industrial building

The purpose of this paper is to clarify energy performance of the cooling plant system in the industrial building using actual measured operating data and numerical simulation analysis. One aspect of industrial buildings is that they have large energy consumption for manufacturing and air-conditioning compared with office and commercial buildings. Some examples of high-efficiency technologies installed in this particular cooling plant system are inverter chillers, integrated cooling towers and a free-cooling system. The inverter chiller which has been put on the market recently is state-of-the-art technology. The maximum COP of the inverter chiller reaches about 18 under certain conditions and integrated cooling towers make lower temperature cooling water as the whole capacity is large. Actual operating data indicates satisfied values for chiller and system COP during the running period and the simulation results show that the cooling plant system can cut down annual electric power consumption by about 48% compared with conventional cooling system.     

Effects of alternative control strategies of water-evaporative cooling systems on energy efficiency and plume control: A case study

This paper reports the evaluations of energy efficiency, plume potential as well as plume control of a huge chiller plant using water-evaporative cooling towers for heat rejection for a super high-rising commercial office building in a subtropical region of Hong Kong. The evaluations were carried out in a dynamic Transient Simulation Program (TRNSYS)-based simulation platform using alternative control strategies including set-point control logics of the supply cooling water temperature and cooling tower fan modulation control methods as well as different number control means of cooling towers. The results show that different control strategies have significant effects on the energy efficiency of the chiller plant. The quantification of the energy efficiency demonstrates significant energy-saving potential by using advanced technologies for implementing optimal control strategies in this cooling system. The results also reveal that the plume may occur frequently in spring and summer seasons and occasionally in other months due to the odd subtropical weather conditions. Control strategies also have significant effects on the frequency of the plume occurrence. The effective energy efficiency control and effective plume control using wet–dry (i.e., hybrid) cooling towers are also discussed.     

Drivers of moderate increase in cooling energy use inresidential buildings in Hong Kong

Increase in cooling energy usage of the residential sector in Hong Kong has been moderate in the most recent ten years(2004-2013).Factors and drivers responsible for this are of interest to policy makers in search of performance improvement but such information is not available in extant literature.This paper reviews the policy instruments introduced in Hong Kong during this period of time and examines the different engineering factors contributing to improvements in cooling energy efficiency.Whether the policy instruments have been instrumental in bringing about changes in engineering design and thus improvement in cooling energy efficiency is evaluated on the basis of the equipment and building envelope characteristics of 64 residential developments in Hong Kong.Different statistical analyses reveal that the use of more energy efficient room air-conditioning units(COP),smaller window-to-wall ratios(WWR)and walls with higher U-values are the engineering factors(WallU)that have contributed to moderation of growth of energy consumption;these were driven by policies introduced by the Hong Kong Government.Regarding the sensitivity of the three engineering factors,it was found that COP was the highest amounting to 0.455,followed in descending order by Wal-1U and WWR.Their sensitivities were 0.289 and 0.006,respectively.     

Application of switchable glazing to high-rise residential buildings in Hong Kong

For typical high-rise residential building in Hong Kong, we evaluated the impact of using switchable glazing on energy use for space cooling. By using software EnergyPlus, it was found that application of switchable glazing would lead to a reduction in annual cooling electricity consumption by up to 6.6% where the actual amount depends on existence of overhangs, orientation of building wings, types and locations of rooms. Energy saving by this magnitude, however, cannot justify use of switchable glazing in residential buildings in Hong Kong, mainly because of the high glazing cost.     

Combined space cooling and water heating system for Hong Kong residences

The combined space cooling and hot water preheating system that utilizes the rejected condenser heat is considered one of the most cost effective energy conservation measures. However, simultaneous consumption characteristics are absent in public domain. Questionnaire surveys have been conducted to obtain the relevant information from 126 households residing in high-rise public rental residential buildings in Hong Kong, achieving a confidence level of 95%. The candidate households were selected by a convenience sampling approach, and the questionnaire was constructed using either forced-choice format or in numeric response format. The data obtained were verified by correlation analysis. Data collected includes the occupancy pattern, the installed air-conditioner and water heater characteristics, and the utilization pattern of air-conditioning and hot water. Based upon the collected data and site measurements, hourly, daily and monthly heat recovery and hot water heating demand profiles were established, as well as the correlation between tap water and outdoor air temperatures. The combined profiles enable the evaluation of the feasible use of the combined system, and for future sizing of hot water storage tanks. The potential energy and fuel cost saving associated with the use of the proposed combined system for typical public rental housing in Hong Kong was estimated to be 50%.     

Simulation of hybrid ground-coupled heat pump with domestic hot water heating systems using HVACSIM+

A hybrid ground-coupled heat pump (HGCHP) with domestic hot water (DHW) supply system has been proposed in this paper for space cooling/heating and DHW supply for residential buildings in hot-climate areas. A simulation model for this hybrid system is established within the HVACSIM+ environment. A sample system, applied for a small residential apartment located in Hong Kong, is hourly simulated in a typical meteorological year. The conventional GCHP system and an electric heater for DHW supply are also modeled and simulated on an hourly basis within the HVACSIM+ for comparison purpose. The results obtained from this case study show that the HGCHP system can effectively alleviate the imbalanced loads of the ground heat exchanger (GHE) and can offer almost 95% DHW demand. The energy saving for DHW heating is about 70% compared with an electric heater. This proposed scheme, i.e. the HGCHP with DHW supply, is suitable to residential buildings in hot-climate areas, such as in Hong Kong.     

A study on the energy penalty of various air-side system faults in buildings

Automatic fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) can help enhance building energy efficiency by facilitating early detection of occurrence of system faults, especially those of air-conditioning systems, thus enabling rectification of the faults before much energy is wasted due to such faults. However, building owners may not invest in FDD unless they are convinced of the energy cost savings that can be achieved. This paper presents the results of a study on the energy cost impacts of a range of common system faults in variable air volume (VAV) air-conditioning systems, which are widely adopted for their good part-load energy efficiency. The faults studied include room air temperature sensor offset, stuck VAV box damper, supply air temperature sensor offset, stuck outdoor air damper and stuck/leaking cooling coil valve. The simulation results indicate that some faults may significantly increase energy use in buildings, for example, negative room air temperature sensor offset, stuck open VAV box damper, negative supply air temperature sensor offset, stuck open outdoor air damper and stuck open and leaking cooling coil valve. Since building occupants may adapt to the symptoms of these faults, such as reduced room air temperature, and thus may not complain about them, the occurrence of such faults are not immediately apparent unless a FDD system is available. Some other faults, e.g. positive supply air temperature sensor offset, positive room air temperature sensor offset, stuck closed cooling coil valve and stuck closed VAV box damper, may allow less energy to be used but will lead to unbearable indoor environmental conditions, such as high indoor temperature. Such faults, therefore, can easily be detected even without a FDD system, as there will be feedback from the building occupants.     

Statistical analyses on winter energy consumption characteristics of residential buildings in some cities of China

The purposes of this paper are to analyze winter energy use of residential buildings in different cities of China, and to figure out the influence factors of winter residential energy use. The investigated residences were located in seven typical cities of five architectural thermotechnical design zones. Questionnaire surveys revealed building characteristics, household characteristics, the utilization of domestic appliances, and thermal environment in winter. Winter energy consumption in different cities bears obvious regional characteristics. In south China, Hong Kong has the largest mean household energy use amount, and Changsha and Chongqing follow Hong Kong; Kunming in the warm zone has the small energy use. In north cities, if district space heating is excluded from total energy use, Urumqi and Xi’an have the energy use at the smallest level, but space heating use is very huge. The energy use amounts of space heating of Tangshan, Urumqi and Xi’an are several times as large as the amounts of all the end uses in the southern cities. The analysis on influence factors of winter energy use are made for Chongqing and Hong Kong, respectively, by Quantification Theory I, and the results show there exist obvious differences in influence factors between the two cities.     

Simulation of ventilated facades in hot and humid climates

The Hong Kong climate is sub-tropical with hot and humid weather from May to September and temperate climate for the remaining 7 months period. A mechanical ventilation and air-conditioning (MVAC) system is usually operated to avoid the high temperatures resulting in high peak cooling loads. The facade design has a significant influence on the energy performance of office buildings. This work evaluates different ventilated facade designs in respect to energy savings.Thermal building simulations (TRNSYS) were linked to nodal airflow network simulations (COMIS) for detailed ventilated double-skin facade performance. In order to validate the model, simulations were carried out for an office building in Lisboa; the results were compared with measured data from the same building. The simulation results of surface and air temperatures show good agreement with the measurements. The results of the study can be used to reduce surface temperatures by using different materials for the roller blind that is positioned in the cavity of the double-skin facade. The results can further be used to reduce the high peak cooling loads during the summer period. This may result in significant energy savings and a reduction in the system's cooling capacity. It proved that a careful facade design can play an important role in highly glazed buildings and provides potential for energy efficiency.     

Outdoor design conditions for HVAC system design and energy estimation for buildings in Hong Kong

Outdoor design conditions are important for heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) system design and energy estimation for buildings. A research study on the determination of outdoor design conditions for HVAC applications in Hong Kong is presented here. Methods for determining outdoor design conditions are examined and the existing data for Hong Kong are studied. New design data developed from the latest weather database compiled for Hong Kong are provided. The characteristics of the Hong Kong climate are studied from the 33-year long-term statistical distributions of its hourly dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperatures. Significance, properties and proper selection of outdoor design conditions for HVAC design are then discussed. It is hoped that designers can assess critically the outdoor design conditions they have taken for granted for their building design and evaluate suitable data for design weather based on their applications and risk levels.     

Raising evaporative cooling potentials using combined cooled ceiling and MPCM slurry storage

Evaporative cooling is able to generate the cooling medium at a temperature approaching to the ambient wet bulb temperature. In this paper, a low-energy air-conditioning strategy is proposed, which is a combination of cooled ceiling (CC), microencapsulated phase change material (MPCM) slurry storage and evaporative cooling technologies. The assessment of evaporative cooling availability and utilization is done for five representative climatic cities, including Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Lanzhou and Urumqi in China, and the energy saving potential of the proposed air-conditioning system is analyzed by using a well validated building simulation code. The results indicate that the new system offers energy saving potential up to 80% under northwestern Chinese climate and up to 10% under southeastern Chinese climate. The optimal design method of the slurry storage tank is also proposed based on the slurry cooling storage behaviors and cooling demand variations of the ceiling panels.     

Primary energy implications of ventilation heat recovery in residential buildings

In this study, we analyze the impact of ventilation heat recovery (VHR) on the operation primary energy use in residential buildings. We calculate the operation primary energy use of a case-study apartment building built to conventional and passive house standard, both with and without VHR, and using different end-use heating systems including electric resistance heating, bedrock heat pump and district heating based on combined heat and power (CHP) production. VHR increases the electrical energy used for ventilation and reduces the heat energy used for space heating. Significantly greater primary energy savings is achieved when VHR is used in resistance heated buildings than in district heated buildings. For district heated buildings the primary energy savings are small. VHR systems can give substantial final energy reduction, but the primary energy benefit depends strongly on the type of heat supply system, and also on the amount of electricity used for VHR and the airtightness of buildings. This study shows the importance of considering the interactions between heat supply systems and VHR systems to reduce primary energy use in buildings.     

A data fusion scheme for building automation systems of building central chilling plants

Accurate and reliable building load measurement is essential for robust chiller sequencing control, building air-conditioning system performance monitoring and optimization. This paper presents a scheme adopting the data fusion technique to improve the quality of building cooling load measurement of building automation systems. The strategy uses two types of measurement information on the cooling load, i.e., “direct measurement” of building cooling load, which is calculated directly using the differential water temperature and water flow rate measurements, and “indirect measurement” of building cooling load, which is calculated using a model using the instantaneous chiller electrical power input. Capitalizing their own advantages and disadvantages, a data fusion algorithm is developed to merge these two types of data to remove outliers and system errors as well as to reduce the impacts of measurement noises. Meanwhile, a method is implemented to provide quantitative evaluation of the degree of reliability of the merged measurement. Validation of the data fusion algorithm is conducted using field data collected from a chiller plant in a high-rising building in Hong Kong.     

Energy savings in a building using regenerative evaporative cooling

This paper explores the potential of reducing the annual energy consumption of a central air-conditioned building through advanced evaporative cooling systems. The building considered is a typical three floor library building of a University. The regenerative evaporative cooling technology is coupled with the liquid cooled water chiller system to accomplish the energy conservation objective. Comparisons of the regenerative evaporative cooling are made with simple evaporative cooling to bring out the importance such a system. The well-known building simulation software, TRNSYS is used to carry out the heat load calculations and the dynamic simulations of the building. Annual energy consumptions of different components of the air-conditioning system are estimated for the existing water chiller system as well as for both coupled evaporative cooling systems (simple and regenerative). The annual energy consumptions, the indoor temperature, the relative humidity and the thermal comfort index ‘PMV’ are compared for all the three different air-conditioning systems. The coupling of direct and regenerative evaporative cooling technologies with water chiller system has shown, respectively, 12.09% and 15.69% savings in annual energy consumption of the building, while maintaining PMV between ?1 and +1 for most of the hours in the year.     

Modeling the performance characteristics of water-cooled air-conditioners

Water-cooled air-conditioning systems (WACS) are widely used in the commercial sector for energy efficiency, but not in the domestic sector. It has been found that there are no mathematical models and energy simulation programs to enable detailed investigation and evaluation into the energy performance of water-cooled air-conditioners. To improve the applicability of water-cooled air-conditioners in the domestic sector, the development of a prediction model for energy performance analysis is needed. This paper addresses the development of an empirical model for predicting the operational performance and energy consumption for the use of water-cooled air-conditioners. The model consists of four sub-models which has taken into account the energy consumption of the condenser water system. A prototype WACS was set up and tested in an environmental chamber to validate the resultant model. The overall COP of the WACS was found to be greater than 3 at 90% rated capacity. The predictions from the model compared well with the experimental results, with RMS error within 11%.     

Future trends of building heating and cooling loads and energy consumption in different climates

Principal component analysis of dry-bulb temperature, wet-bulb temperature and global solar radiation was considered, and a new climatic index (principal component Z) determined for two emissions scenarios – low and medium forcing. Multi-year building energy simulations were conducted for generic air-conditioned office buildings in Harbin, Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming and Hong Kong, representing the five major architectural climates in China. Regression models were developed to correlate the simulated monthly heating and cooling loads and building energy use with the corresponding Z. The coefficient of determination (R²) was largely within 0.78–0.99, indicating strong correlation. A decreasing trend of heating load and an increasing trend of cooling load due to climate change in future years were observed. For low forcing, the overall impact on the total building energy use would vary from 4.2% reduction in severe cold Harbin (heating-dominated) in the north to 4.3% increase in subtropical Hong Kong (cooling-dominated) in the south. In Beijing and Shanghai where heating and cooling are both important, the average annual building energy use in 2001–2100 would only be about 0.8% and 0.7% higher than that in 1971–2000, respectively.