 |
||
Energy Efficient Building Services |
||
BuildingsPage 2Page 3Page 4Page 5Page 6Page 7 |
Internal Heat Gains in UK OfficesWhile undertaking the monitoring of the energy efficiency of air-conditioning systems, the internal heat gains encountered within each office building studied has been assessed in order to facilitate the analysis of the monitoring information. Although this assessment has also provided better understand the relationship between 'actual' and 'design' loads in the UK building industry. The actual internal loads have been calculated for 30 air-conditioned office buildings throughout the UK, drawn from comprehensive surveys of the buildings, their occupancy and services. The surveys were typically conducted on a single visit to each site between April 2000 and October 2002. The loads have been calculated for each office studied using the CIBSE nameplate-ratio method. Worst-case power demand and full occupancy were assumed in order for the calculated gains to represent likely maximum gains for comparison to guidance used in the sizing and design of building services plant. Comparison to rules-of-thumb and standards for building services design show that the common practice of using the upper limit design guidance for internal gains lead to the overestimation of internal heat gains in all the Offices studied. Furthermore 40% of the sites had calculated heat-gains below the minimum guidance values, indicating that the current guidance leads to the significant over estimation of heat-gains within UK Offices. However, a clear pattern of internal heat gains emerged which would allow a more accurate estimation of internal heat gains based on occupant density, as shown in the graph below. In the light of forthcoming legislation, these findings could have major implications for sizing building services in the UK. A paper further detailing these results can be downloaded in PDF format from the following link: Evaluatiuon of Heat Gains |
|
