The auditing and analysis of commercial building energy conservation design in Taiwan

Field measurement indicated that HVAC system consumes over 45 % energy of a typical commercial building in this area, and is the main cause for power shortages during the summer. A research program was initiated by the National Science Council to conduct energy auditing on commercial buildings where energy use data were collected and visualized for diagnostics through computer. Chiller plant power consumption recorded showed that around 0.7 kW/RT performance was obtained for a typical 200 USRT centrifugal chiller operating under local weather conditions, which is comparable to the performance under ARI 550 test conditions. Furthermore, ASHRAE standerd procedure to simulate centrifugal chillers was applied which successfully correlated refrigeration capacity, power consumption, chiller supply water and cooling water temperatures. This experimental model enabled performance evaluation under full load and partial load conditions and deviations were controlled within 5 %. VAV ( Variable Air Volume ) system was also studied followed with fullscale experiment, resulting in energy savings of over 20 % under partial load conditions. These successful results constructed the important database of the local building energy code, and is discussed in detail in this paper.