Case Studies

Case study: Buildings

Roeland De Meulenaere
Laborelec
January 2008

Energy Efficiency

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Introduction
With all the environmental problems caused by CO2 emissions, energy saving
is a hot topic at the moment. But how much do energy savings cost? How long
does it take until you recover your investment? Where can you save energy?
And how much CO2 emissions are actually avoided?
This document provides answers to questions such as these, based on
commonly used methods of saving energy. Various possibilities for saving
energy are discussed in detail.

The five case studies presented in this document are:

1.

Frequency regulator and oxygen sensor for superheated boilers

2.

Energy management system

3.

Thermal bridges

4.

Ventilation

5.

Lighting

The following energy prices are used in the case studies:

Electricity: 75/MWh
Gas: 25 /MWh
Fuel oil: 0.60 /l

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Frequency regulator and oxygen sensor for

superheated boilers
Introduction
Many buildings are heated with natural gas. In many cases the boilers in which
the gas is converted into heat do not operate efficiently, due to faulty regulation
or poor adjustment. In this case we look at the real-life example of a hospital.

Present situation
The boilers in the hospital work with simple on/off regulation and an excess
supply of air in order to guarantee full combustion of the natural gas. The air is
brought to the gas by means of a fan.
In such a system the excess air which does not actually contribute towards the
combustion also has to be heated up by the flame. The hot air disappears up
the flue along with the combustion gases. This can be avoided by controlling
the supply of air more accurately, resulting in lower gas consumption because
less air has to be heated up.
In this case four superheated boilers are used, one of 8 MW and three of 11.7
MW.

Proposal
We examined whether one of the 11.7 MW boilers could be fitted with a
frequency regulator on the air supply fan, and/or an oxygen sensor in the flue
pipe with feedback to the regulator.
A frequency regulator yields electricity savings compared to the present
regulation with a damper valve (depending on the load on the boiler), while an
oxygen sensor yields fuel savings (depending on the burner setting).

Savings and investment

The air supply fan was fitted with a frequency regulator. The power
consumption is proportional to the cube of the speed (rpm). In other words, a
small reduction in speed yields a large saving in power.
The oxygen sensor makes it possible to raise the efficiency of the boiler by
reducing the amount of excess oxygen, so that less fuel is used to generate the

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same amount of heat.

Theoretical calculations were carried out using simulation software with the
frequency curve based on a standard normal distribution of the fan power. The
savings yielded by the O2 sensor were calculated on the basis of the
combustion coefficient at different O2 levels and the thermal consumption of the
system.
These calculations yielded the following savings, assuming 6000 hours of
operation per year and a flue temperature of 190C:

Table 1: Calculated values and the savings achieved using an oxygen sensor
and a frequency regulator
Present situation

New situation

Electrical power of fan

22 kW

22 kW

Electricity consumption

132 MWh/year

64 MWh/year

5%

2%

Combustion efficiency

90.1%

91.4%

Thermal consumption

54756 MWh/year

53977 MWh/year

Excess oxygen

Saving
68 MWh/year

779 MWh/year
24575 /year

Various installers were invited to submit offers. One of these offers (in Belgium)
represented a capital cost of 39.883 (incl. VAT), which in turn represented a
payback period of 1.6 years.

Energy management system

Introduction
An energy management system (EMS) is a central controller for utilities, with a
single computer controlling everything throughout the building: temperatures,
lighting, time switches etc. The computer also logs all the data. Such a system
can yield considerable energy savings if properly used. For example,
ventilation/airco/heating can be switched off at night or during weekends. Note
that an EMS by itself does not yield any energy savings: what counts is making
the right use of it!

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Present situation
In a hotel the rooms are kept at a temperature of at least 20C. If there are
guests in the room they can adjust the temperature as they wish. The
ventilation system is already fitted with a heat recovery system.

Proposal
By using an energy management system the temperature in the rooms can be
controlled separately.
If a room is unoccupied the temperature can be set lower than the present 20
C. In the winter a minimum of 16C is enough, and by having a minimum of 18
C in summer no cooling is necessary, only heating. There is a difference in
temperature between winter and summer because the comfort temperature is
different.
Note that the temperatures chosen depend on the thermal inertia of the
building. If the building has high inertia it is better to set the temperature higher,
because people will set the heating very high when they come in and not turn it
down again, as the walls take a long time to warm up. Conversely, if the inertia
is low then the temperature can also be set lower.

Savings and investment

The simulation software used for this calculation determines the amount of heat
required in terms of degree-hours. A degree-hour represents the difference
between the actual temperature and the reference temperature, summed per
hour over a certain period. For instance, if the reference temperature is 15C,
the software calculates how many hours the average outside temperature was
less than 15C during the time intervals concerned. If the average outside
temperature is 13C for one hour and 14C for another hour, then there are 3
degree-hours during this two-hour period. This information can be used to
calculate the amount of heating required.
By comparing the old and new situations and comparing them with one
another, it is possible to see how much heat was being wasted in the old
situation.
If these data are multiplied by the boiler efficiency and the efficiency of the heat
recovery system, we obtain the ultimate saving. The price of the energy
management system is not taken into account in the calculation, since prices
vary greatly according to the number of measuring points, the regulation
functions, read-outs etc.

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Table 2: Calculated values and the savings achieved using an energy

management system
N of rooms

146

Occupancy

61%

Efficiency of heat recovery system

50%

Present situation:

Zero occupancy

20C

Consumption

1714 kWh

Proposal:

Zero occupancy
Winter (November to March)

16 C

Summer (April to October)

18 C

Consumption
Winter

763 kWh

Summer

451 kWh

Total consumption

1213 kWh

Saving:

1 room empty all year round

501 kWh

All rooms, actual occupancy

29091 kWh
727 /yearr

Other utilities connected to the energy management system:

outside lighting

corridor lighting (set to 50% at night)

ventilation system in conference rooms and restaurant

lobby lighting

etc.

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Thermal bridges
Introduction
A cold bridge is formed where a material used in part of an outside wall has better heat conduction than
the wall itself, if there is no additional insulation around it.
Thermal bridges are a frequent problem in buildings, allowing heat to escape in winter and to enter in
summer, so that more energy has to be used for heating and cooling respectively.
The best way to deal with thermal bridges is avoid them during construction of the building in the first place.
In existing buildings they can be eliminated by fitting additional insulation. However, the insulation must be
properly fitted and must include vapour-proof flashing.
Thermal bridges can be detected using thermal imaging.
In the case study considered here, the thermal bridges are load-bearing beams that are not insulated.

Present situation
In the walls of the building there are 35 metal beams that are not insulated, forming thermal bridges with all
the attendant energy losses. They were detected using thermal imaging.

Fig. 1: A cold bridge

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Fig. 2: A cold bridge made visible by IR thermal imaging

Proposal
Thermal bridges can best be eliminated at the design stage of the building, as
prevention is better than cure.
However, if they are detected at a later stage then they should be insulated as
best possible.
In order to fulfil the requirements of vapour proof flashing, the metal beams
were insulated with rolls of polyurethane (PU) covered with a thin layer of
aluminium on the outside.

Savings and investment

By definition, a cold bridge has a very high U value (heat transfer coefficient):
the higher the U value, the greater the heat losses. The U value depends on
the thickness of the part and the material of which is made. The aim of fitting
extra insulation is to make the U value as low as possible. In this case the U
value of the beams was reduced from 5.87 to 0.6 W/m.K.
The difference in the U value is multiplied by the difference between the
average inside and outside temperature and the operating hours of the heating
system. By taking into account the efficiency of the heating system and the
cross-sectional area of the beam, the annual saving can be calculated.

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Table 3: Calculation of the savings achieved by eliminating thermal bridges

Heat transfer coefficient (U) of the beam without insulation

5.87 [W/(mxK)]

Heat transfer coefficient (U) of the beam with

insulation

0.6 [W/(mxK)]

Inside temperature during the day

18C

Efficiency of the heating system

58%

Operating hours

5800hours

Annual energy saving (per m of insulated

beam)

Area to be insulated

316kWh/year

43.89m

Annual energy saving

(0.33m x 3.8m x
35 pieces)

13.9MWh/year

Fuel:

fuel oil

Energy price:

0.6/litre

Annual saving in energy costs (per m of

insulated beam)

Annual financial saving

18.96

832.15

Cost of the insulation work

5.08/m

Payback period

0.3years

(36.58/
(12m*0.6m))

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Ventilation
Introduction
New buildings nowadays are designed to be as airtight and well-insulated as
possible, but it is still important for the building to be properly ventilated. The
ventilation can be controlled by making the building airtight and installing a
good ventilation system. This makes it possible to ensure not too much or too
little ventilation, and avoids wasting energy by having to cool the air too much.
Older ventilation systems are frequently overdimensioned, and so it can help to
retrofit them with a frequency regulator combined with CO2 sensors. The
sensors make it possible to maintain good air quality without supplying too
much fresh air. However, such retrofitting is not always possible and in some
cases can also be very expensive. One alternative is to recirculate the excess
amount of air extracted, as the extraction air does not have to be heated up so
much with respect to the fresh outside air drawn in, or even does not have to be
heated at all. The aim in this case is to recirculate as much air as possible.

Present situation
The ventilation system in this case is a ventilation group with a mixer section,
set to a fixed minimum amount of fresh air (20%). This applies to all operating
times, despite being set to the minimum.

Fig. 3: The ventilation group

Proposal
The aim was to limit consumption outside office hours. This was achieved by
reducing the amount of fresh air drawn in (so that less cold air has to be

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warmed up), and by lowering the temperature at which air is blown in.
It was not technically feasible to fit frequency regulation without replacing a
large part of the ventilation group. It was therefore decided to adjust the mixing
register more accurately, so that more air was recirculated and thus less air had
to be heated up.
The proportion of fresh air was reduced to 10% during the hours when there is
nobody in the offices, and the temperature was lowered to 18C.

Savings and investment

Table 4: Calculation of the savings achieved by readjusting the ventilation
system
Heating
Energy consumption of
air processing

Operating times
Air flow rate

Former situation

0000-2400
10000 m/h

New situation

0600-1900
10000 m/h

1900-0600
10000 m/h

Proportion of fresh air

20%

20%

10%

Fresh air flow rate

2000 m/h

2000 m/h

1000 m/h

21 C

21 C

18 C

Room injection temperature

Degree-hours at desired
injection temperature
N of operating hours of
ventilation system

Amount of energy required

90504 C*h
8331 h

46921 C*h
4439 h

MWh/
81.08 MWh/year 42.03 year

Saving

32248 C*h
3629 h

14.44 MWh/year

24.60 MWh/year
In this case also the calculation is based on the degree-hour method.
For a ventilation group with a flow rate of 10,000 m/h this can yield a gas
saving of 24.6 MWh if the minimum air settings are reduced to 10% and 18C
during office hours. This represents an annual saving of 615. The only
investment is the labour cost necessary to adjust the settings.

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Lighting
Introduction
Lighting is an item that normally has little attention paid to it, as relighting is
seldom economically feasible (due to a large number of separate users, low
consumption per user and low number of operating hours). Relighting is usually
done as part of a larger project, when it is necessary to draw up a complete
lighting plan.

Present situation
The office rooms (10 x 30 m on five floors) in this case study have 150 lighting
units (30 per floor), each with two fluorescent tubes of 36 W. The units are fitted
with an electromagnetic ballast and have white reflectors, which however have
become dulled over the course of the years. The units are attached to the
system ceiling in three rows.

One floor

Lighting units

W
I
N
D
O
W
O
S

30m

10m
Fig. 4: Schematic representation of one floor

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Proposal
Initial energy savings were obtained by fitting new lighting units (at the same
points) with an electronic ballast instead of an electromagnetic one. Further
savings were achieved by the new units having more efficient mirror optics, so
reflecting the light better. This enabled a lower lighting power to be used.
Yet more energy savings were obtained by regulating the lighting level
according to the amount of natural light. At times when there is a lot of daylight
the lights nearest to the window are switched off entirely, while the ones in the
middle operate at a lower level.

Savings and investment

Data:
The lights burn from Monday to Friday, 0600 to 1900, 52 weeks per year. The
number of operating hours is therefore 3380 hours per year.
There are 150 lighting units, each with two fluorescent tubes.

Savings possibility 1:
In the current situation the energy consumption per lighting unit is 86.4 W (sum
of the two tubes plus the starter losses), giving a consumption of 43.8 MWh per
year.
The energy saving in the new situation is obtained by using electronic ballasts
whose energy loss is practically nil (1 or 2% of the total consumption). In
addition, more efficient mirror optics enable the consumption to be lowered to
32.3 MWh per year.

Savings possibility 2:
The electronic ballasts afford the possibility of dimming the lights, and with a
simple extension they can be regulated according to the amount of natural light,
so that the lighting units do not have to operate constantly at full power.
It is assumed that the lights nearest the windows will operate at 100% for 3
hours per day. The ones in the middle row will operate at 50% for 10 hours per
day and at 100% for 3 hours, while the ones farthest from the window will
operate constantly at 100%.
The installed capacity of the new lighting units (and ballasts) is 9577 W.
1/3 operating constantly: 10.8 MWh
1/3 operating for 10 hours at 50% and 3 hours at 100%: 6.6 MWh
1/3 operating only 3 hours per day: 2.5 MWh

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Total consumption: 19.9 MWh

The additional saving is 12.5 MWh.

Investments:
Savings possibility 1 costs 75 per lighting unit (total: 11,250), while
possibility 2 costs 20 per unit ( 3,000).

Summary:

Table 5: Calculation of the savings achieved by lighting modifications

Present
Saving 1
Saving 2

ConsumpCumulative Invest- Cumulative Payback Cumulative

tion
Saving
saving
ment
investment time
payback
44 MWh
32 MWh
26%
26%
11250 11250
13.2 13.2 years
20 MWh
39%
55%
3000
14250
3.2
7.9 years

Here it should be noted that possibility 2 is not independent of possibility 1,

since only electronic ballasts can be dimmed.

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