Assessing energy saving potential of building envelope solutions for an office building assumed to be constructed in 03 cities with different climate conditions in Vietnam

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to simulate and evaluate the energy use intensity (EUI) of an office building assumed to be built in 03 typical cities in different climate zones of Vietnam: Ha Noi City (in the Northern Delta climate zone), Da Nang City (in the South Central Coast climate zone), and Ho Chi Minh City (in the Southeast climate zone). The energy simulation for the office building is carried out under 02 scenarios with a focus on evaluating different solutions for the building envelope (external walls, windows, and roofs). The baseline scenario considers applying the traditional solutions for building envelope such as red brick for external walls, conventional single glazing for windows, and non-insulated flat roof. Meanwhile, the energy saving scenario considers applying energy saving solutions such as use of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) brick for external walls, soft-coated low-E double-glazing, and flat roof using EPS insulation material. The energy simulation results show that the simultaneous use of energy saving solutions for the building envelope under the energy saving scenario could bring significant energy savings (about 17.44-22.49% of the total energy consumption of the studied office building) compared to those under the baseline scenario. The research results also indicate that different energy saving solutions for different envelope structures (external walls, windows, and roofs) applied to office buildings built in localities with different climatic conditions could have different energy saving potentials.

Key words: Office building; Energy simulation; Energy use intensity (EUI); Building envelope.