Reducing carbon dioxide emissions through energy-saving renovation of existing buildings

Abstract

The rapid expansion of worldwide tourism industry significantly increases the energy consumption in hotel buildings. Hence, the renovation of existing hotel buildings is imminent for achieving energy-saving goals of construction sector. This study takes C hotel in eastern China as an example. First, based on BECS energy-saving design and SPSS statistical analysis software, this research dynamically simulates the energy-saving renovation effect of enclosure structure and compares various renovation schemes by adopting the method of orthogonal experiment and variance analysis. Second, through the renovation practice, energy performance in lighting and air conditioning system are analyzed in the whole process of renovation. The results show that the energy-saving renovation can effectively reduce the energy consumption of existing buildings and the CO2 emission. Specifically, the energy-saving rate of the enclosure structure and energy systems are 14%– 20% and 60%–70% respectively. As for carbon emission, 947.55 tons of total CO2 emissions per year are eliminated through the renovation project. After the energy-saving renovation, the CO2 emission reduction of the enclosure structure is 247.65 tons per year; and the CO2 emissions reduction of the renovation of air-conditioning system and lighting system are 220.88 tons and 479.09 tons per year respectively. Additionally, the dynamic investment payback period of hotel energy-saving renovation project is between 8–9 years. Therefore, it demonstrates that the renovation of hotel buildings plays an essential role in benefiting environment, economy and social welfare.