Energy-efficiency building retrofit planning for green building compliance

Abstract To promote sustainable development and expedite the progress on moving to a green building sector, the government of South Africa has developed an energy performance certificate (EPC) standard for buildings. A building is required to obtain a certain rating from the EPC in order to comply with the country's green building policy. Therefore, finding optimal retrofit plans for existing buildings are essential given the high investments involved in the retrofit of buildings that do not currently comply with the policy. This paper presents an optimization model to help decision makers to identify the best combination of retrofit options for buildings to ensure policy compliance in the most cost-effective way. The model determines optimal retrofit plans for a whole building in a systematic manner, taking into account both the envelope components and the indoor facilities. A roof top PV system is utilized to reduce the usage of electricity produced from fossil fuels. The model breaks down the long-term investment into yearly short-term investments that are more attractive to investors. Tax incentive program available in the country is taken into account to offset the long payback period of the investment. Economic analysis is also built into the model to help decision makers to make informed decisions. The retrofit of an existing office building is taken as a case study. The results show that 761.6 MWh energy savings and an A rating from the EPC can be obtained with a payback period of 70 months, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the model developed.

[1]  Xiaohua Xia,et al.  A multi-objective optimization model for energy-efficiency building envelope retrofitting plan with rooftop PV system installation and maintenance , 2017 .

[2]  Siaw Kiang Chou,et al.  Achieving better energy-efficient air conditioning - A review of technologies and strategies , 2013 .

[3]  Xiaohua Xia,et al.  Optimal control of maintenance instants and intensities in building energy efficiency retrofitting project , 2015, 2015 54th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC).

[4]  Giuliano Dall'O',et al.  Building energy retrofit index for policy making and decision support at regional and national scales , 2017 .

[5]  Xiaohua Xia,et al.  Optimal maintenance planning for sustainable energy efficiency lighting retrofit projects by a control system approach , 2015 .

[6]  Xiaohua Xia,et al.  Industrial energy systems in view of energy efficiency and operation control , 2016, Annu. Rev. Control..

[7]  Xiaohua Xia,et al.  Energy dispatch strategy for a photovoltaic-wind-diesel-battery hybrid power system , 2014 .

[8]  Xiaohua Xia,et al.  A Multistate-Based Control System Approach Toward Optimal Maintenance Planning , 2017, IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology.

[9]  Carol C. Menassa,et al.  Virtual Retrofit Model for aging commercial buildings in a smart grid environment , 2014 .

[10]  Bo Wang,et al.  Optimal maintenance planning for building energy efficiency retrofitting from optimization and control system perspectives , 2015 .

[11]  J. Kaňuk,et al.  Assessment of photovoltaic potential in urban areas using open-source solar radiation tools , 2009 .

[12]  Xiaohua Xia,et al.  Optimal power flow management for distributed energy resources with batteries , 2015 .

[13]  Kalyanmoy Deb,et al.  A fast and elitist multiobjective genetic algorithm: NSGA-II , 2002, IEEE Trans. Evol. Comput..

[14]  Christine Raynaud,et al.  A review on the properties of cellulose fibre insulation , 2016 .

[15]  Agis M. Papadopoulos,et al.  State of the art in thermal insulation materials and aims for future developments , 2005 .

[16]  Xiaohua Xia,et al.  Control problems in building energy retrofit and maintenance planning , 2017, Annu. Rev. Control..

[17]  Tingting Liu,et al.  Cost-benefit analysis for Energy Efficiency Retrofit of existing buildings: A case study in China , 2018 .

[18]  Dorota Chwieduk,et al.  Towards sustainable-energy buildings , 2003 .

[19]  Amirhosein Jafari,et al.  Selection of optimization objectives for decision-making in building energy retrofits , 2018 .

[20]  Jiangfeng Zhang,et al.  Energy Efficiency and Control Systems–from a POET Perspective , 2010 .

[21]  Fausto Freire,et al.  Integrated life-cycle assessment and thermal dynamic simulation of alternative scenarios for the roof retrofit of a house , 2014 .

[22]  Paul Cooper,et al.  Existing building retrofits: Methodology and state-of-the-art , 2012 .

[23]  Amanda L. Webb,et al.  Energy retrofits in historic and traditional buildings: A review of problems and methods , 2017 .

[24]  Catarina Thormark,et al.  A low energy building in a life cycle - its embodied energy, energy need for operation and recycling potential , 2002 .

[25]  Randolph Kirchain,et al.  Streamlined environmental and cost life-cycle approach for building thermal retrofits: A case of residential buildings in South European climates , 2018 .

[26]  X. Xia,et al.  Demand side management of photovoltaic-battery hybrid system , 2015 .

[27]  Manuela de Almeida,et al.  Cost effective energy and carbon emissions optimization in building renovation , 2012 .

[28]  Xiaohua Xia,et al.  A Multi-objective Optimization Model for Building Envelope Retrofit Planning☆ , 2015 .

[29]  Rodney Anthony Stewart,et al.  Guidelines, barriers and strategies for energy and water retrofits of public buildings , 2018 .

[30]  Xiaohua Xia,et al.  Optimal scheduling of household appliances with a battery storage system and coordination , 2015 .

[31]  Ignacio Zabalza Bribián,et al.  Life cycle assessment of building materials: Comparative analysis of energy and environmental impacts and evaluation of the eco-efficiency improvement potential , 2011 .

[32]  Xiaohua Xia,et al.  An optimal maintenance plan for building envelope insulation materials after retrofitting , 2015, 2015 Chinese Automation Congress (CAC).

[33]  Sam M. Sichilalu,et al.  Optimal control of a fuel cell/wind/PV/grid hybrid system with thermal heat pump load , 2016 .

[34]  I. Kim,et al.  Adaptive weighted sum method for multiobjective optimization: a new method for Pareto front generation , 2006 .

[35]  R. Marler,et al.  The weighted sum method for multi-objective optimization: new insights , 2010 .

[36]  Xiaohua Xia,et al.  An optimal model for a building retrofit with LEED standard as reference protocol , 2017 .

[37]  Vanessa Valentin,et al.  An optimization framework for building energy retrofits decision-making , 2017 .

[38]  Jiangfeng Zhang,et al.  Energy consumption of air conditioners at different temperature set points , 2013 .

[39]  Darrell Whitley,et al.  A genetic algorithm tutorial , 1994, Statistics and Computing.

[40]  Bo Wang,et al.  Large-scale building energy efficiency retrofit: Concept, model and control , 2016 .

[41]  Frédéric Kuznik,et al.  A review on phase change materials integrated in building walls , 2011 .

[42]  X. Xia,et al.  Combined residential demand side management strategies with coordination and economic analysis , 2016 .

[43]  Pandu R. Vundavilli,et al.  Multi-objective optimization of green sand mould system using evolutionary algorithms , 2012 .

[44]  Seppo Junnila,et al.  Assessment of financial potential of real estate energy efficiency investments–A discounted cash flow approach , 2015 .

[45]  Luis C. Dias,et al.  Multi-objective optimization for building retrofit strategies: A model and an application , 2012 .