Analysis of energy saving potential in commercial buildings of Hong Kong

Along with the population and economic growth, and the associated expansion of the building stock, Hong Kong has shown a dramatic increase in energy consumption in recent years, particularly electricity use in commercial buildings. Over half of the electricity in Hong Kong is consumed by the commercial buildings, and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning(HVAC) is the largest end-user in such buildings. For the sake of environmental protection and sustainable development, some measures need take. In this study, the major factors influencing the electricity use of HVAC systems were studied with the building energy simulation program EnergyPlus, which include chiller efficiency, space cooling temperature, variable vs constant air flow, fan efficiency and lighting intensity. From the analysis of the simulation results, it can be found that great energy saving potential exists through improving the efficiency of using electricity in commercial buildings, especially the portion that is used for HVAC in such buildings, and a combination of desirable system parameters for energy efficiency of commercial building is proposed.