ENERGY EFFICIENT RETROFIT OPTIONS FOR INSTITUTIONAL BUILDINGS IN INDIA

Abstract

Considering present day energy crisis and rising fuel prices, it can be predicted that in near future several existing buildings would outrun its working life span and be considered as wasteful and uneconomic to maintain and operate businesses despite being functionally and structurally sound. The energy bill to run the existing facilities may be so high that construction of a new building abandoning the existing one may seem preferable. Knocking down the old structure and constructing new ones in busy urban areas is not very easy; it causes environmental hazards, cripples the traffic movement, and suspends functions held in the previous building largely until the new one is constructed. Retrofitting of such building can be a better alternative once the economic and environmental aspects are considered. Retrofit would not only be a solution for reduced energy consumption, it'd also result in curbing direct and indirect greenhouse gas emission. Authorities across the globe have taken a number of measures like solar wind, geothermal, tidal, biofuel etc. to reduce overall environmental impact of buildings. Energy efficient retrofitting is one such potential measure that despite being used extensively in developed nations like USA and UK, India till date shies away from it. Retrofitting is an instance of modernizing or expanding existing facilities with new or modified parts, devices, systems, or equipment, not in existence or available at the time of original production/ construction/ manufacture. Scope of retrofitting measures varies depending upon the target set by responsible stakeholders for a project. Followings are broad categories for retrofit options: 1. Functional Retrofitting 2. Structural Retrofitting 3. Mechanical retrofitting 4. Green Retrofitting Energy efficient retrofitting is a part of a much large scenario which is green retrofitting. Green retrofitting consists of three major action areas which are Water management, Solid waste management and Energy efficiency. Literature review- Several field studies have been done on energy efficient retrofitting, which have measured and documented the energy savings and demand reduction of residential office retail and school buildings. The work mostly conducted in the USA and UK includes Akbari et al. (2007) Akbari and Rainer (2000) Akridge (2008) Boutwell and Salinas (1999) Hildebrandt et al. (1998) Konopacki et al. (1998) and Parker et al (1997, 1998a, 1998b & 1999). All of them shows an annual reduction of energy demand ranging from 40-80% approximately. Case studies- Case study is very useful method to look into the paradox of energy efficient retrofitting in India. Due to its capacity to explain causal links and proper analysis of the case in its real life context, not only it helps to identify the problems, but also helps to find a solution. Multiple case study strategy has been chosen to use multiple sources of information from various retrofit projects and analyze their strengths and weaknesses. The case studies assorted here are unique in their characteristics. The in depth study of the strategy and technique used in the retrofit of the Empire State Building provides a clear idea on technical and financial aspects. The Helmus building retrofit shows that the will and enthusiasm of the client. The case of Clinton Presidential Centre depicts some typical problems of wrong orientation of buildings can be retrofitted with advanced technology. Objective and research process- The aim of this dissertation was to analyze the potential of energy efficient retrofitting to reduce the energy demand of the institutional buildings, which are expected to serve for many years in the future. A process was devised that incorporated the following steps- 1. Identification of a building with significant potential The selected building should be in a condition to serve a long span of time in future to maximize the benefits and properly utilize the investment on it. 2. Instrument handling and collection of data Instruments measured the weather conditions (dry bulb temperature, relative humidity) outside the building, temperature humidity and illumination level inside the building. The total power consumption data was collected from the electrical engineering division,, but monthly energy consumption data was not available. 3. Analysis of data and development of simulation model The data from the field survey was then analyzed and the simulation model was developed. The results of the simulation of the base case was then cross checked with the data which was acquired from the field survey. 4. Finding out the scope of improvement of energy efficiency of the building After the selection of the base case, the objective was to find out the areas of improvement of the energy performance of the building by studying the building physically and and using the simulation tools like Ecotect, VisDOE, etc. 5. Selection of individual strategies which have potential to be implemented in the particular case The further step was to explore the available feasible solutions for the areas of improvement. This includes literature survey, market survey and study of successful retrofits done earlier. It is basically to decide which strategies to be chosen from the large number of available solutions. The conversation with some professionals was important to decide which solutions suits the best for the particular project 6. Deciding the areas of intervention There were three main areas of intervention that was decided according to the travel path of heat from outside to the user inside. They are 1. The Building Surrounding, 2. The Building Skin and 3. The Building Interior, equipment and fixtures. 7. Making of packages After the selection of individual strategies, the grouping or packaging of the strategies was done to analyze their cumulative potential regarding the Lecture Hall Complex building using the simulation tools. First package consists of most inexpensive yet effective strategies which can reduce the energy consumption to a substantial amount. This package is named as package A. The next package is another step towards the energy efficiency combining some more strategies with package A and termed as package B. Package B can be addressed as the optimum solution for the energy efficiency maintaining a balance between cost and energy efficiency. The next step is the ultimate level of energy efficient retrofit. This package combines all the effective solution to reduce the energy demand with package B. This package is addressed as package C. 8. Development of scenarios To analyze the efficiency and applicability of packages four scenarios have been developed. Each scenario will tell about the monthly heat gain, Total electricity load and estimated savings. Scenario 1- stands for the existing situation of the building i.e. the base case. Scenario 2- Application of package A over the base case. Scenario 3- Application of package B over the base case. Scenario 4- Application of package C over the base case. 9. Analysis of the energy consumption for the retrofitted case and comparison with base case. The packages are picked to be implemented on the model of base case and simulated to analyze how much potential they really posses to increase the energy efficiency of the building. After the analysis it was evident that retrofitting of this building can be a very good option to reduce the operational cost as well as reducing the carbon footprint of the building.