Commercial building retrofitting: Assessment of improvements in energy performance and indoor air quality

Abstract

Climate change is regarded as one of the greatest challenges facing the mankind. There is a global drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors. The building sector being responsible for around 40% of the energy consumption and one third of the greenhouse gas emissions in the world, needs to play a leading role in the fight against global warming and climate change. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems account for a major proportion of the total energy consumption in buildings, especially in hot and humid climates. This study aims to investigate the prospects of retrofitting in commercial buildings in terms of improvement in energy performance and indoor air quality. An administration building of a commercial organization has been selected as a case study. The building, with a net covered area of 2115 m2 and an occupancy of 250 people has been retrofitted with energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality improvement measures. The study discusses retrofit solutions in terms of energy saving as well as the associated cost. The results reveal that the implemented retrofit measures reduced the building's energy load by 39%. Improvements in the indoor environmental quality on various fronts such as thermal comfort, illumination, noise control and reduction in pollutants such as particulate matter (PM10), total suspended particulate (TSP), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), and Volatile Organic Compound (VOCs) have also been highlighted.