The Development of a Measurement Methodology to Complete a Full Energy Balance for Commercial Buildings

Abstract

There is a growing focus on the need for buildings to be energy efficient due to rising energy prices and the recognition of global warming. Over the past twenty years the sector that saw the least improvement from energy efficiency measures in Canada was commercial and institutional buildings. Though there are many contributing factors, they tend to stem from a lack of available information on building energy usage. In order to rectify this situation more information would be needed to better tune building energy efficiency measures to commercial buildings. Most current research on building energy usage focuses on building consumption, building energy models, or direct measurements from residential buildings. There is little research on measuring a building energy balance of commercial buildings even though the commercial sector accounts for 20% of the overall building energy consumption in Canada. At present, all industry standards focus on the consumed energy in a building, generally natural gas and electricity consumption. Buildings consume energy to meet the demands for occupant comfort within the building and there are many different energy flows and parameters that affect the occupants’ comfort within a building. Solar gain, conduction and infiltration are some of the energy flows that can negatively affect a building’s temperature for occupants, reducing their comfort. In order to reduce the consumed natural gas and electricity, more information on the impact of these energy flows and parameters within a building is required. A five step process was developed to guide the design of an in-situ system that is capable of measuring a complete energy balance of any commercial or institutional building. The focus in this research project is to create an accurate, cost effective sensor array that is a permanent fixture within a building. By utilising these semi-permanent sensors, the interactions between the different energy flows can be better understood. It will also generate more concrete evidence on energy flows to potentially improve building automation systems. In addition to the process, a case study of the Hatch Centre on McMaster University’s campus was completed, giving concrete examples that help to illustrate the procedure.