Improvement Proposal of Bottom-Up Approach for the Energy Characterization of Buildings in the Tropical Climate

The energy characterization of buildings can be done by bottom-up methods such as energy simulation models (samples or archetypes). A sample consists of the selection of real buildings and an archetype is a theoretical building that represents them. Nevertheless, both approaches have shortcomings for the creation of energy models. This work proposes to improve the sampling approach from the validation of input data, and calibration of models by individual adjustment processes. The studied category corresponds to multi-family buildings of median incomes from the Metropolitan Area of Bucaramanga (Colombia). This study presents the energy model of five existing buildings and an archetype, calibration results, energy characterization, and comparative analysis between both approaches. The sampling approach indicates that housing units and general services demand an average of 76.9% and 23.1% of consumed energy, respectively. The average energy consumption by housing units is 22.38 kWh/m2·year caused by appliances (85.3%), lighting (11.2%), and air conditioning (3.5%). The archetype presents similar results for the energy consumption of housing units (kWh/m2·year), but notable differences concerning a specific behavior of inner spaces, being the sampling approach more accurate to characterize to a building category.