Energy consumption for domestic hot water use in Norwegian hotels and nursing homes

Abstract

Domestic Hot Water (DHW) production constitutes a significant proportion of the energy demand of modern buildings, and as the building envelope is improved the share increases. This article discusses the results from a measurement campaign in Norwegian hotels and nursing homes. The energy demand for DHW and distribution heat losses for 3 hotels and 3 nursing homes are shown. The results show that number of bedrooms is a better parameter for describing DHW consumption than sqm of heated floor area. There are large variations in the measured distribution losses, mainly due to malfunctioning of the hot water circulation system. For nursing homes, the measured energy consumption is significantly lower than the normative profiles, which can have large impact on the requirements for the design of the building heating system. For hotels, the measured energy consumption is in the range of the normative profiles.