Moving towards net zero - Improving thermal comfort and energy performance of prototype supermarket stores in India

Abstract

The demand for supermarkets and centralized shopping spaces is growing rapidly in India. Reducing the energy use impact of these buildings is significant from both the owners as well as global environmental perspectives. Energy consumption in a typical supermarket is mainly dominated by HVAC and lighting, which make these systems the ideal candidates for energy efficiency opportunities. Indoor thermal comfort is also a key factor for supermarket designs as the end user spends a considerable amount of time once inside and peak occupancies can be high. This paper presents an approach for meeting end user thermal comfort with minimum operational energy within the constraints of capital investments. Simple payback analysis has been done to select the most optimum strategy in a three-tier approach to achieve Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB) goals. Several design recommendations have been developed into three packages based on energy efficiency, first cost impact, energy saving, thermal comfort, and payback. The three packages are: Package-1: Optimized design (low cost); Package-2: Enhanced thermal comfort, and Package-3: Achieving NZEB goals The simulation results show that Package-1 results in 27% energy savings with a slight improvement in thermal comfort compared to a typical supermarket store. Package-2 results in enhanced thermal comfort along with 30% energy savings. Package-3 saves 34% energy and provides significantly better thermal comfort. The cost analysis shows that the capital cost increased by 32%, 40%, and 63% with a simple payback period of 1.3 years, 1.4 years and 2.0 years for the three packages respectively.