200 Braddell Road Singapore 579700
Building and Construction Authority
Positive, Zero and Low Energy Buildings for Singapore (Phase 1: Evaluation and Validation of Key Technology Solutions)
- Project Key Words:
- Energy simulation, Commercial buildings, Schools, Tropical climate, Zero Energy Buildings.
- PI:
- Mr. Yann Grynberg
- Organization:Energy Research Institute @ NTU
- Designation:Program Director, Sustainable Buildings Technologies
- CO PI(s):
- Prof. Wong Yew Wah
- Organization:Energy Research Institute @ NTU
- Designation:Deputy Director, Smart & Sustainable Building Technologies
- Collaborators:
- Building & Construction Authority
- Project Period:
- 01/06/2016 To 15/09/2017
- Project Description:
The purpose of this research is to assess the achievability of positive (PE), zero (ZE) and super-low (SLE) energy-efficiency targets for low, mid and high-rise typical buildings in Singapore with the current technological advancement – specifically for schools and office buildings.
The ‘Positive, Zero and Super Low Energy Buildings’ (PE/ZE/SLEB) Initiative is thus proposed to serve as a technology RD&D platform to integrate building energy efficiency with solar PV adoption to deliver a sustainable built environment for Singapore. The aim is to establish a set of proposed definition of zero energy building, nomenclature, and associated technological solutions that can be adopted by the building industry. The desired outcomes of the study should further support research in specific technologies, sustainable building design and construction, recommendations and best practices to achieve the following:
Short-Term outcomes• Establish definitions that can be utilized;• Facilitate building industry to build zero energy buildings involving management and close monitoring of energy consumption;• Increased research and promotion of studies on user-centric buildings;• Increase educational opportunities on best practices in the building industry• Increased safety, security, and future resilience at reduced energy cost.Long-term outcomes
• Adoption and proliferation of zero energy buildings that are user-focused;• Deployment of renewable energy systems in commercial buildings;• Increased occupant satisfaction and productivity• Expansion of individual zero-energy buildings to campus, community and eventually Zero-Energy districts that are focuses on occupants’ energy needs;• Revisions of prescriptive standards;• Enhanced educational opportunities
- Lead Organization:
- Energy Research Institute @NTU (ERI@N)
- Project Impact
- The existing buildings sector alone contributes with approximately 15% of all emissions, and to 31% of the electrical energy consumption of Singapore (BCA, 2016a). When retrofitting existing buildings, the choice of strategies and technologies is limited, depending on existing features as building design and building systems, economic factors and strategic objectives of the owners.Apart from the cases where PEB and ZEB statuses can be reached, other measures need to be taken if carbon emissions are to be tackled. From an ecological point of view, sustainability is not about summing the efficiency of the system’s parts, but is more about the synergy between the parts and the efficiency of the system as a whole. To achieve lower energy consumption in buildings, there must certainly be a change in the social patterns, the user behaviour and expectations in general. Our buildings need to maximize the use of low-energy consuming naturally ventilated spaces and compromise selected high-air conditioned environments to achieve better savings. Energy efficiency should however also be strived for at a bigger scale. Achieving energy efficiency on a district level might be, from an organizational and political point of view, more difficult, but is technically and energetically a great opportunity to balance out flaws and strengths of the built environment. The impact of this project is in guiding Singapore to the future of urban sustainability: The economy as a whole must be decarbonized.
- Project status:
- On-Going Completed Terminated
- Project Outcomes:
-
Positive (PEB), Zero (ZEB) and Super-low (SLEB) Energy buildings all fall into three progressive categories of high energy-efficient buildings. These titles, referring to different ratios of energy production vs energy consumption are highly dependent on the use, geometry and proportions of the building, with ZEB as the tipping point towards self-sustenance.
Making a ZEB building at present requires true commitmentTo summarize the findings of this research:a. Most ZEBs tend to be small, low-rise buildings.b. Educational buildings have relatively good chances of achieving ZE- and PE- targets.c. Office buildings have a great potential for energy-savings and some eventually achieve ZEB.d. Energy efficiency in hotel buildings is quite difficult to reach due to the strict operating and user-specific schedules.e. Current PV technologies do not enable a mid/ high rise ZEB.
Achieving ZEB for new buildings is the natural target for any administration to pioneer and drive the breakthrough of high energy-efficiency in buildings. Most buildings that achieve ZEB are new buildings, designed to achieve energy-efficiency through a balanced interaction of all their features. Still, ZEB is difficult to achieve for new buildings over four storeys, as long as these are fully air-conditioned, as our society has become accustomed. From this research, it can be seen that a seven-storey building, with cutting edge technology installed, can achieve ZEB but only after incorporating a large amount of naturally ventilated spaces. However, to effectively reach an overall reduction in energy consumption and meet the targets for greenhouse gas emissions, the energy-efficiency question regarding the existing building stock must find an answer.
SLEB is to be the target for all buildings, to drive a better diffusion and market uptake. Rather than pushing a limited number of buildings to achieve extra-high efficiency (ZEB), greater savings could be achieved on a wider scale by setting high efficiency (SLEB) standards for all buildings, effectively upgrading the whole building stock.
