Simulation of energy saving potential of a centralized HVAC system in an academic building using adaptive cooling technique

Application of adaptive comfort temperature as room temperature set points potentially reduce energy usage of the HVAC system during a cooling and heating period. The savings are mainly due to higher indoor temperature set point during hot period and lower indoor temperature set point during cold period than the recommended value. Numerous works have been carried out to show how much energy can be saved during cooling and heating period by applying adaptive comfort temperature. The previous work, however, focused on a continuous cooling load as found in many office and residential buildings. Therefore, this paper aims to simulate the energy saving potential for an academic glazed building in tropical Malaysian climate by developing adaptive cooling technique. A building simulation program (TRNSYS) was used to model the building and simulate the cooling load characteristic using current and proposed technique. Two experimental measurements were conducted and the results were used to validate the model. Finally, cooling load characteristic of the academic building using current and proposed technique were compared and the results showed that annual energy saving potential as much as 305,150 kW h can be achieved.