DETERMINANTS OF UNIVERSITY BUILDING OPERATION ENERGY CONSUMPTION THROUGH A CASE STUDY

With the expansion of public buildings in China and rise in carbon emission from energy consumption, it has become essential to improve the efficiency of public building operation energy consumption to reduce carbon emissions. However, it is not clear how to optimally reduce the energy consumption of public buildings from a holistic perspective. This study identifies the factors impacting energy consumption of public buildings by reviewing existing literature and establishes a framework for illustrating the interactions between the identified factors. The framework is validated through a case study of a university building in Beijing by methods of direct observation, instrument measurement, scrutiny of the building’s operation records, simulating, and fitting. The framework demonstrates the interactions among the building energy consumption factors, which include social and economic factors, technology factors, building factors, environmental factors, occupant behavior patterns, and energy consumption equipment. The results of the study reveal the operation energy consumption of the case study university building regarding electricity consumption, energy utilization intensity, illumination of the building, and occupant behavior. It was found that indoor illumination intensities are affected by WWR, orientation of the room, and distance from the window, and that there is a functional relationship between illumination intensity and distance from the window. The outcomes of the study have significant contributions to the body of knowledge on energy consumption of public buildings. Theoretically, the proposed framework can help with understanding the relationships among the different factors affecting the energy consumption of public building operations. Practically, the measures arising from the study’s empirical evidence, which include using a building automation system, installing solar panels with a potential to generate 31.6% of the building’s total consumed energy, and improving occupants’ habits with impact of saving 18.8% of the total energy consumption of classrooms, can help optimize the operation of public buildings for improving energy consumption efficiency.