Energy Retrofitting of a Commercial Building Towards a” Net Zero Energy Building” by Simulation Model

Abstract

Energy is one of the major drivers of a growing urban infrastructure development. The consumption of energy by different sectors of urban infrastructure are very high and the amount of energy produce is not enough to meet the huge demand of energy. According to several types of research, it is found that building sector is consuming about 40% of energy which is very significant. For heating and cooling of building sector 32% energy is used and its major impact is greenhouse gas emission. This study presents a simulation model that combines building properties and energy consumption of an existing commercial Building in Ahmedabad city (India). This research targets to study how to integrate active design strategies and energy-efficient building materials to improve the building performance and reduce energy consumption towards Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB). This research will suggest few changes in materials of building will be considered as retrofitting and it can lead to the concept of Net Zero Energy building (NZEB). For the analysis and simulation of energy, DesignBuilder software is used. © 2019 The Authors. Published by Budapest University of Technology and Economics & Diamond Congress Ltd. Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Creative Construction Conference 2019.