High Performance Commercial Buildings in India
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India is one of the largest growing economies in the world with economic growth rate of 8.9%. Commensurate with economic growth, urbanization in India is growing fast. The construction sector in India is witnessing high growth due to increased demands for housing, strong demographic impetus, expansion of organized retail, and increased demand for commercial office spaces by multinationals and IT hubs.
With a near consistent 8% rise in annual energy consumption in the residential and commercial sectors, overall energy consumption in buildings has seen an increase from a low of 14% in the 1970s to nearly 33% in 2004/05. This is directly related to higher greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, it is the need of the hour to design and construct High Performance Energy Efficient Buildings.
To fulfill this objective, TERI, in association with BEE (Bureau of Energy Efficiency), Ministry of Power, Government of India, and White Box Technologies, USA, has undertaken a project 'High Performance Commercial Buildings in India' to make commercial buildings in India energy efficient.
The project aims at establishing the relevance and impacts of low-energy passive strategies and ECBC (Energy Conservation Building Code) -recommended measures on improving energy performance of commercial buildings in five climatic zones of India. ECBC was launched by the BEE in 2007. It sets minimum energy performance standards for the design and construction of large commercial buildings.
About ECBC
The Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Government of India, launched the ECBC (Energy Conservation Building Code) in 2007 for commercial buildings with peak demand in excess of 500 kW or connected load in excess of 600 kVA.
Analysis done during the development of the ECBC shows energy savings in the range of 27%-40% in an ECBC-compliant building over a typical commercial building with an annual energy consumption of 200 kWh/m2.
The ECBC sets minimum energy performance standards for the design and construction of large commercial buildings. It encourages energy-efficient building systems, such as building envelope; lighting; HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning); water heating; and electric power distribution, within the building facilities while enhancing thermal and visual comfort, and productivity of the occupants.
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The project further targets fully air-conditioned new commercial buildings and aims at mainstreaming high performance buildings through large scale adoption of energy efficient building design strategies and the ECBC.
Commercial buildings from different eras in India are being analysed under the project. First, the old existing commercial buildings are being analysed for their Energy Performance Index (EPI), comfort levels, construction, and equipments installed.
The second era is the pre-ECBC era, in which commercial buildings were designed with solar passive design features. In these buildings, designers are able to achieve satisfactory energy savings through the adoption of low-energy/solar passive design strategies and reduce energy consumption and meet required thermal/visual comfort norms as per Indian codes and standards. These buildings, however, do not comply with the ECBC. These buildings are documented and analysed as case studies in this project.
ECBC-compliant, new commercial buildings are the next set of buildings that are studied under this project.
Therefore, persistent efforts for adopting low-cost alternative passive strategies for energy saving is what lies at the core of the project.
With a near consistent 8% rise in annual energy consumption in the residential and commercial sectors, overall energy consumption in buildings has seen an increase from a low of 14% in the 1970s to nearly 33% in 2004/05. This is directly related to higher greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, it is the need of the hour to design and construct High Performance Energy Efficient Buildings.
To fulfill this objective, TERI, in association with BEE (Bureau of Energy Efficiency), Ministry of Power, Government of India, and White Box Technologies, USA, has undertaken a project 'High Performance Commercial Buildings in India' to make commercial buildings in India energy efficient.
The project aims at establishing the relevance and impacts of low-energy passive strategies and ECBC (Energy Conservation Building Code) -recommended measures on improving energy performance of commercial buildings in five climatic zones of India. ECBC was launched by the BEE in 2007. It sets minimum energy performance standards for the design and construction of large commercial buildings.
About ECBC
The Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Government of India, launched the ECBC (Energy Conservation Building Code) in 2007 for commercial buildings with peak demand in excess of 500 kW or connected load in excess of 600 kVA.
Analysis done during the development of the ECBC shows energy savings in the range of 27%-40% in an ECBC-compliant building over a typical commercial building with an annual energy consumption of 200 kWh/m2.
The ECBC sets minimum energy performance standards for the design and construction of large commercial buildings. It encourages energy-efficient building systems, such as building envelope; lighting; HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning); water heating; and electric power distribution, within the building facilities while enhancing thermal and visual comfort, and productivity of the occupants.
FPRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT="
The project further targets fully air-conditioned new commercial buildings and aims at mainstreaming high performance buildings through large scale adoption of energy efficient building design strategies and the ECBC.
Commercial buildings from different eras in India are being analysed under the project. First, the old existing commercial buildings are being analysed for their Energy Performance Index (EPI), comfort levels, construction, and equipments installed.
The second era is the pre-ECBC era, in which commercial buildings were designed with solar passive design features. In these buildings, designers are able to achieve satisfactory energy savings through the adoption of low-energy/solar passive design strategies and reduce energy consumption and meet required thermal/visual comfort norms as per Indian codes and standards. These buildings, however, do not comply with the ECBC. These buildings are documented and analysed as case studies in this project.
ECBC-compliant, new commercial buildings are the next set of buildings that are studied under this project.
Therefore, persistent efforts for adopting low-cost alternative passive strategies for energy saving is what lies at the core of the project.