Optimizing Office Building Energy Performance Through Integrated Design of Space Layout and Envelope using eQuest

Abstract

Buildings accounts for one third of the global operational energy consumption and GHG gas emissions. The report by IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) shows that office buildings show increasing trend in energy consumption. The share of demand for heating, cooling and lighting the spaces in building sector is significant in office buildings as these are most frequently used spaces. The proper design of office buildings can help to reduce the operational energy consumption at global level. This study seeks to find the optimum design solution of office buildings to achieve the objective. The space layout / plan form is very important design parameter along with design of external walls. The Window Wall ratio is again an important design parameter in the design of external wall / envelope. This study utilizes computer simulations to study the impact of space layout / plan form and WWR on energy consumption in office buildings in the sei arid climate of Lahore. The tool used to generate the results is computer software eQuest. Office plan of 6th Floor of EE-2 building at University of Lahore, Pakistan is modelled as case study. The results show that plan form / space layout has significant effect on energy consumption